Thanks again Therese. I appreciate your clarification, in turn, of the way in which your circle evolved. Sounds wonderful. And I completely agree that it is a subtle task to hold space.
I honour your credentials as a steward of SW, an enterprise I have followed at a distance for several years (it is far from my home base in Toronto) and for which I have the greatest respect and admiration - not least in regard to it's acknowledgement of the work of Tom Berry, one of my heroes. I also respect your assertion that you "...feel free, in just about any setting, to ask for a pause if things feel off balance to me." With respect to your question: "what kind of facilitation would feel right to you if one member of a group felt that the energy of the group had gotten a bit off. . . if ringing a bell for a few moments of silence does not feel right, what, if anything, would feel right to you?" As you might expect from an Open Space facilitator of ten years experience, my view is that (your assertion) can at least potentially imply imposing one's own values/perspective on the group and as such could be considered as "controlling". I would try my dammednest to allow the law of two feet to do its work, "do" absolutely nothing and trust the group to take care of the emerging moment... With respect and caring, Winston ----- Original Message ----- From: "Therese Fitzpatrick" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 2:51 PM Subject: Re: the dark side of circle practices -- and related themes thank you, Winston, for your clarification. In my peerspirit/four directions circle, we decided at our first meeting that everyone was a "guardian" and anyone could ring the bell to call for a moment of silence. To tell the truth, I didn't remember the word guardian ever being used, although I suppose it must have been. I believe in the 'peerspirit' design, this 'guardian' role would rotate, which would diminish any potential for facilitator control. I am certain that the 'guardian' role described in the book was absolutely not intended to be a facilitator, actually. It reminds me of the role of process observer in a concensus model. The role of process observer reminds me of the role of an open space practitioner holding space. It is really an inner role,undertaken, IMHO, on behalf of the whole. It is a subtle task, to hold space. I see a need for human collectives to trust individual human beings to hold space on behalf of the whole. Indeed, I think much of the success of OS comes from the power of having individuals (OS practitioners) inwardly holding the space of OS meetings. I'd actually like to see the inner work of holding space (and, in other contexts, holding the organization and its goals) become more explicit. Maybe my peerspirit circle did things all wrong. . . you mention, Winston, that when the bell rings, the group waits for further instruction. In our group, we all assumed, without ever having discussed it, that those further instructions would come silently. . . and they always did. I may be projecting a lot onto your post, Winston, and if I misinterpret you, I apologize . . . what kind of facilitation would feel right to you if one member of a group felt that the energy of the group had gotten a bit off. . . if ringing a bell for a few moments of silence does not feel right, what, if anything, would feel right to you? I belong to an OS collective called Spirited Work. And I am a steward for SW, which we like to think of as SW Advanced Course. We have developed a practice at our stewards meetings similar to this guardian role. If any person at a meeting feels like things are off balance, they can remind the group to breath. We don't use a bell. No further instructions are given. It is a way to re-member that it is our aspiration to be aligned with one another. And to tell you the truth, we are not exactly rigid about calling for a breath. At the last stewards' meeting, people were excited and jumping onto each other's sentences and I started to feel like I had to look for openings to interrupt someone if I was going to get to say anything. . . I am a big talker and there I was feeling like I couldn't get a word in. It would have been a perfect time to ask the group to take and remember to breath. . . or a perfect time to ring a bell for a moment of silence. . . but what I actually did was that I said "I feel like I have to interrupt someone if I want to say anything." My colleagues paused instantly in silence, just for a moment. . . we collectively caught our breath, I guess. And then the meeting went on, at a slower pace. I apologize for taking up so much airtime in a post on this listserv. And I am mindful that I may be talking about something unrelated to your intentions, Winston. I feel free, in just about any setting, to undertake the role of 'guardian' or the holder of space. I feel free, in just about any setting, to ask for a pause if things feel off balance to me. I do not think this means I am controlling any group I am in. .. I think it means I am tuned in to the collective's energy. . . if I feel the need to ring a bell for a moment of silent or I feel the need to ask a group to stop and breath for a moment. . . is that facilitator 'control'? I think it is holding space on behalf of the whole. * * ========================================================== [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
