Hi Dave, I think you are very right about the list serve as a great community of people creating, co-creating, problem solving (root being to probe),and questioning (root being to quest). And we support each other tremendously. Whoever shows up are the right people. There are about 270 of us on the list at present. I also think the Open Space on Open Space is another key and great way to keep on learning from each other. There are thousands of people who have come through Open Space Technology training in the last decade. And there are thousands more who have read the User's Guide and are off and running. And there are many who have done neither but been a participant in an event and then facilitate their own.
I suspect that each of us on the list has our own perception and interpretation of Open Space Technology and we work from that perception and interpretation. When I take people through a training program (a learning journey) I start with a list of all of the possible ingredients of the FORM that can be identified that make up an Open Space Technology meeting and then I ask the people to keep things in a minimalist perspective, honoring Harrison's minimalist approach. They take items off, and then we proceed with the rest of the program. And then we look at our lists again after an examination of our individual and unique perceptions of the ESSENCE Open Space Technology. There is no one right perspective, as you know. We each use our insights, our observations, our intuition, and develop our own perspective. And then eventually go back to our lists in terms of ingredients of the FORM of what makes up Open Space Technology. It is amazing how many items get added back in, and with the awareness of each individual of why they personally have this as their personal list. It is an amazing process, a privilege to watch, and what I consider very sacred work, to go at this in the depths of the person. I will speak to a group about all of the decision making that goes on in an OST meeting. There is the ideal situation and then there is what we really have to work with. And I speak to the group about the importance of not tampering with the essence when they make their decisions and they will likely make good decisions. Birgitt Birgitt Williams Make Genuine Contact! Dalar Associates: organizational effectiveness consultants Striving for Success? Ready to exceed your expectations? Contact us for consulting services, training, conference and meeting facilitation, and keynote speaking. www.openspacetechnology.com <http://www.openspacetechnology.com> -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of (David Koehler) Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 5:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: when a client hires Open Space Technology, is this what she gets? In a message dated 9/11/00 2:27:27 PM Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << Birgitt -- I think you're on to something -- how can we establish competence without resorting to something insipid like certification? >> Just to jump in on this conversation, isn't that what we have developed in part with the listserv? Here is a network of individuals who are in touch with one another and with OST events that are taking place all over the world. I'm not sure that we can ever be successful in guarding against those who might "sell" something incomplete and call it open space. Rather, it seems we could do more to create awareness that a community of people exists who know one another (even if only via the web), and who share and learn from each other on a daily basis. What we're in effect looking for is authenticity. I think we give that to ourselves. Thanks, Dave Koehler * * ========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected] Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed * * ========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected] Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed
