m RIGHT ON!
b On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Michael Herman <[email protected]>wrote: > i have a teacher who likes to put little reminders on pencils and pass them > around. one of my favorite pencils says: "really easy is often quite > difficult." > > i think this is true of open space. i've seen a number of situations where > the facilitator or the process itself was assumed to be a bit of magic, so > nobody needed to do much else to make it happen. this makes all kinds of > large and small "failures" possible -- all owing to some lapses in the > quality of attention, awareness, relationship. > > somebody once told me that carl rogers (some sort of psychologist, i think) > used to listen so intently that he would often break out in a sweat -- just > listening to someone. sometimes i think open space takes this sort of > quality or intensity of attention... or maybe of awareness. that the heart > is this active, even if the body is apparently doing nothing. like when so > many muscles are engaged in walking a balance beam, or timing a jump. > actively pulsing, checking, on and off, holding and releasing, inviting and > reporting. > > i'd guess a fair number of "failures" have their roots in forgetting that > os is this sort of active practice, even if a lot of the action is not > outwardly visible or dramatic or difficult. weirdenss seems to flow from > gaps in clarity, in attention, in awareness, in relationship. not so much, > i think, from gaps in actual outer logistics. > > m > > > > > > -- > > Michael Herman > Michael Herman Associates > > http://www.michaelherman.com > http://www.ronanparktrail.com > http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org > http://www.openspaceworld.org > > 312-280-7838 (mobile) > > > On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 12:07 PM, VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Harrison and all, >> >> Another example of an OS that went terribly wrong: >> >> It was a factory producing printing machines, both in Eastern and western >> Germany, and the participants were mixed from both areas. We had the o.k. >> from the four directors, to whom we had illustrated what to expect, and a >> final conference after the OS was already determined. One of the directors, >> the one who seemed to be the most employee-oriented, was choosen to say some >> words at the end of the OS. Our partner in the company was a young man from >> HR, very active, with good contacts to the directors. So he insisted that he >> should brief the director what to say at the end of OS. >> >> Everything went fine. The groups worked with joy and enthusiasm. We >> accompanied the whole OS with 3 people visualizing everything, and that was >> a big success, because everybody could see what had happened everywhere. >> After we had shown the pictures in a final slideshow, the director stood up >> and destroyed everything within 5 minutes. He said that he was disappointed, >> had expected other outcomes, and that the managers wood have a hard time to >> use some of the results. >> >> That was the end of the project for us, but much worse all the >> participants were angry and a big chance was lost for the company. >> >> Of course the mistake was to let the young HR-man brief the director. >> >> Reinhard >> >> Reinhard Kuchenmüller >> Dr. Marianne Stifel >> VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE >> Kuchenmüller & Stifel >> >> +39-0566-88 929 >> www.visuelle-protokolle.de >> >> >> >> >> Am 03/06/10 18:12 schrieb "Ralph Copleman" unter <[email protected]>: >> >> Harrison and all, >> >> I've had a few that sort of fell flat. >> >> One involved a group concerned about availability of services for senior >> citizens across an entire US state. Two-thirds of the room consisted of >> seniors themselves and, frankly, a lot of them ran out of energy about an >> hour after lunch. So they sat around, a number slumping in chairs with eyes >> closed. >> >> Another involved an exploration of customer service issues for an airline. >> Lots of corporate leaders from the airline present, along with their >> booking agents (this pre-dates internet booking sites), frequent flyer >> customers, and corporate travel execs who make travel policy for their >> companies. A great mix, actually. We were set to go from 8:00 a.m to 4:00. >> About 2:00, a group of participants more or less seized control of the >> meeting somehow (I wasn't in the room when it occurred) and got everyone to >> agree to shorten the meeting by a full hour. When I returned at 3:00, >> someone simply informed me, and asked that I begin the closing circle. So >> that's what I did. I never found out what actually happened. >> >> Not sure how to think about that last one, since I never found out how it >> all developed, but the following one is more like a true failure. >> >> I was asked to convene a two-day open space gathering for about 200 folks >> from around the US. It would be the annual meeting of an association of a >> certain type of public health officer (cannot recall the details). The >> whole thing was pretty dead from the outset –– I mean 200 people posting a >> total of only 15 sessions for two whole days!? I found out the theme was >> all wrong. The planning committee chose an idea that turned out to have no >> juice for the association's members. I had spent hours in conference calls >> with the leadership group and the planning committee, and they'd assured me >> that the idea they chose was at the heart of the challenges facing them and >> their organizations. Turns out that was dead wrong. Nobody else cared. I >> don't know how I might have seen through this situation ahead of time. >> >> I essentially agree with you, H. If the conditions are appropriate, it >> will work. But, if the three experiences above teach me anything, it's >> clear that stuff can always happens. >> >> Ralph Copleman >> >> * >> * >> ========================================================== >> [email protected] >> ------------------------------ >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, >> view the archives of [email protected]: >> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html >> >> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: >> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist >> >> * * ========================================================== >> [email protected] ------------------------------ To >> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of >> [email protected]: >> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about >> OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > > > * * ========================================================== > [email protected] ------------------------------ To > subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > [email protected]: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about > OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist -- Barry Owen Real Estate Broker Professional Coach Keller Williams Realty Connect with me @ Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Plaxo Call me: 615-568-2123 Read my Blog: http://activerain.com/blogs/barryo Visit The Owen Group http://www.theowengroup.net http://www.owengroupnashvillehomes.com Barry Owen’s Internet Portal to all blogsites, websites, and social networks http://tnrealestatetribalhub.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/barry-owens-web-portal/ Simply & BOLDLY Living the FourFold Way in Open Space! Quintessentially connected to the real estate industry to offer the ultimate experience for Home Buyers and Sellers in Middle Tennessee . . . Inquire within! * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
