Harrison has mentioned a few times that goal oriented people work well in Open Space, and it rather bears repeating in my mind, because it seems like the cynics who typically try to find fault with the process describe themselves this way too.
The only time I had police and military in Open Space was at a kind of self-organizing Open Space youth job fair and the army guys offered a little recruitment session which was well attended. They loved it, because they got to be in charge of their own time, and no one told them how to spend it. They could be very focused on their outcomes and there was still room in the conference for folks to engage around other issues. I just think that it really can be said over and over that Open Space Technology is NOT about eschewing goal-oriented conversation and work in favour of "process," however loosely and pejoratively described. It is a glorious opportunity for BOTH/AND in this respect. If you can bring goal oriented action to the circle, so much the better for getting the results of the meeting out of the room. Passion and responsibility. This is really the yin and yang of OST, and without both, the full experience seems inhibited to me. So, I think you'll do fine with the police. It's really a question of saying to them "you have stuff you need to do? Fine, we have a process that will get everything out of the way so you can get down to it." Have fun, Chris --- CHRIS CORRIGAN Bowen Island, BC, Canada http://www.chriscorrigan.com [email protected] (604) 947-9236 > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harrison > Owen > Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 5:29 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Police > > Army, Navy, and Border Police (Immigration and Naturalization folks -- > INS) is all I can offer. Nobody died, and it all worked like usual. > Everybody was in uniform, but then again these were internal operations, > and uniformed is they way they naturally come. They did dress down for > the occasions -- fatigues as opposed to a full board of medals. In a > funny way, I found them much easier to work with than a lot of civilian > organizations (business and NGO). They are typically very goal oriented, > and a given a clear sense of direction (focused theme) -- they were off > and running with incredible energy. And when I suggested that they leave > rank at the door, they knew exactly what I meant. > > In a word, no problem. > > Harrison > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Drive > Potomac, Maryland 20845 > Phone 301-365-2093 > > Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com > Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org > Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm > [email protected] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gerard > Muller > Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 4:59 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Police > > Dear All, > > Has any of you facilitated an Open Space for a police force ? > > Greetings from Denmark, > > > > > > Gerard Muller > Open Space Institute Denmark > www.openspace.dk > Phone: (+45) 21269621 > > * > * > ========================================================== > [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, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
