I think I am becoming clearer about my point of discomfort with "Givens." Real Givens (as opposed to apparent) are truly immutable, or as close to it as such things go on Planet Earth. And for me that would include Gravity and the force of Self-organization, and maybe a few others which do not spring immediately to mind. Everything else is up for grabs, if not now then later. I absolutely concur with the notion that we must have serious and probing discussions with sponsors prior to an OS -- but the focus should not (probably) be about immutable Givens, but rather about what I might call "existential conditions as they see them." For me this conversation usually starts with two questions. 1) Why do you want to do this gathering? And 2) If it all "worked," what would have happened?
My focus is on a critical issue (for me). How open is the space? If all we are talking about is "motivating the troops" to implement the new marketing plan, for example -- it doesn't seem to me that the space is really open, and doing an open space would probably be counter-productive, if only because the troops might just start to take it seriously and change the plan, no matter what had been said about The Plan being a sacred Given. Most of the Givens I have heard people talking about are not truly immutable. It may be the case that nobody wants to force the issue, but the fact remains that all budgets change, all procedures mutate, all structures evolve, transform, or die. If I have a personal agenda with the sponsor in the pre-event meeting(s) it is to help them to understand that the space already is open, no matter what they may think or do about it. Their ultimate success will depend upon recognition of that fact, and a willingness to involve everybody who cares in the navigation of that space. If they go for less, they will get less. And for sure I will not have done anybody a favor if I create the (false) impression that someone has the power to keep certain things off the agenda and away from the Wall. Of course we all have our foibles and blind spots -- and for some period of time, maybe even a long time -- we can get away with it. But I believe it to be true that a clear eyed view of things as they actually are is useful. 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 osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Larry Peterson Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 5:52 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: givens Jeff: I think you are on to something. "Container" or "Givens" or things that are not intended to be on the table by the sponsor of an event are both social constructions and acknowledgement of "something" that is there. If I sit on a chair, that is gone, I will fall on my ass (or some other part of my anatomy) - I take that as given. If there is a business plan that requires board approval for change - that is usually taken as a "given". It does not mean that it cannot be changed, but it is there now - just like Human Rights Codes and others thing are likely there. Of course, in Canada, these things may be a little less open for immediate negotiation as they are in the US. I don't think George saw anything in Iraq that should be taken a given, other than his socially constructed vision for its future. I think it also relates to levels of awareness. At one level there are no givens, every moment comes into being with the opportunity for novelty. However, most rocks don't decide to decompose in a few days -- granite takes a little longer. Some of my clients, from their perspective, have some real givens that they construct. I think naming and reducing the number of them is helpful as part of planning to open space or deciding whether or not to open space in this situation with this client. Helping them consciously reduce the number of givens is useful learning, I think. Will open space work if that is not done - yes. However, I am seeing the consequences over this two week period. One client I'm working with now on a series of 14 OS has had some real variability in how she has set the context - how clearly she has told people what this part of the government is wanting to do, to engage them in and the fact that it will not commit resources to the self-organization it wants to seed in the community. The quality and energy of the events have been worse when she was not clear or passionate (she got a cold). People were more combatitive when she was not honest with them from the beginning about the situation. The OST has worked every time to engage people and energy around the theme. The issues emerge in the convergence and next steps when the context is not clearly and honestly set by the sponsor. Larry Larry Peterson Associates in Transformation Toronto, ON, Canada 416.653.4829 la...@spiritedorg.com www.spiritedorg.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
