I agree with Michael and Joelle. "Whatever happens" is a key principle to inform how we operate in Open Space. At first I struggled a bit with that one. I later recognized that it was my desire to shape or control the outcomes that was driving that struggle for me. As a social justice activist, I was convinced that I had to control and that certainly something else "could have" happened if "right people" had been there, or if people only had a better consciousness of the real situation. I came to realize that once the space was opened, it was best for me and the participants to assume that whatever happened was the only thing that could have and then learn from that. The principle opens the group up to tremendous learning about where the group is at now -- not some ideal sense of where you think it ought to or should be. In my work with corporations or with activist organizations, if there is a need to provide perspectives or information to the whole group that will affect how people see what is possible, then that is done before opening space. However, accepting what manifests in Open Space as a reflection of the situation now is critical learning for deciding what to do next. We cannot change history only our perceptions of it. "Could" it have been different -- we like to think so. However, it wasn't and the complex of variables that led to what it was were the reality at the time, including our own behaviour.
Larry Larry Peterson Associates in Transformation 41 Appleton Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada, M6E 3A4 416.653.4829 Fax 416.653.0609 lpa...@inforamp.net www.inforamp.net/~lpasoc www.openspaceworld.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com 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 osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed
