Hello all,
about a month ago Larry Peterson wrote:
>Part of the issue, is the ability of the Open Space facilitator to connect
>to the spirit of the group in the opening and holding of the space. For me,
>that connetion is experienced viscerally when opening the space. At a
>certain point I know I'm connnecting and building the energy toward
>initiative from all levels. I am able to do that much more frequently now
>that a year or two ago.
In my last Open Sapce I had that feeling of "connecting" too (or I had it
more than ever before). Yet so far I am not sure whether it was "me"
being especially good that day or wether it was due to the exceptional
participants.
In this case a 5000-people-firm from western Germany merged with a
similar 500-people-firm from eastern Germany. The bigger company wanted
it to be a real merger and not a takeover. Within to weeks after the
merger happened officially a group of 85 senior managers and members of
the employee council ("Betriebsrat" = the german version of industrial
democracy) met for two days in Open Space. After I had opened the space
there were for most of the time at least ten people lining up for the
microphone.
I felt the energy building up when I gave my "introductory speech".
Participants were looking more intensely at me than at other open space
events. There was more eye contact. I attributed the energy to the fact,
most of the participants were senior managers. But may be it was also me.
This year I had the chance to facilitate 7 open space events. Two times I
was observed by friends, one of them a consultant-colleague, the other
one an actor. Both served as a mirror for me. Of course the most
important thing in order to get "in connection" with the group is to be
"in connection" with yourself. But improving "external factors" like the
way how you walk (or pace your walking) or your posture have an effect on
your internal state.
So far I am not sure wether I will be able to build up that high level of
energy which I experienced in the after-merger-open space mentioned above
in any group. I am not sure to what degree I can influence this at all.
For me this will be an interesting thing to observe.
Matthias zur Bonsen
Frankfurt, Germany
mzurbon...@compuserve.com
