Hi All,
Time to stop lurking, I guess. ;-)
When the purpose of a gathering (or that part of a gathering) is to
explore ideas more than it is to make decisions, I create an additional
flip chart poster with four continua. As I open space (notice the lower
case) for groups, I extend the invitation to focus on:
- inquiry rather than advocacy
- discussion rather than debate
- conversation rather than argument
- understanding rather than defending
Participants have come to me to say that it helped them for me to make
this distinction in the kinds of possible discourse. They hadn't
thought about the fact that they had options to choose from when they
interacted on topics about which they felt passion.
Peace!
Diana
Diana Larsen
www.futureworksconsulting.com 503-288-3550
I'll be at the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference in
Portland OR USA, Oct 10-12, 2005. They are ready to accept
registrations! Sign up now for a great conference:
http://www.pnsqc.org
http://www.pnsqc.org/conference05/workshops.php
Other Upcoming Events:
- Open Workshop with Diana Larsen, Esther Derby & Ken Schwaber
"The Secrets of Agile Teamwork: Beyond Technical Skills"
Dec. 6-8, 2005, Portland OR USA
http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/events.html
On Sep 29, 2005, at 9:29 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
Very good point! I have just been invited to facilitate a gathering of
200
Rabbis and Imams from around the world -- on the question "Issues and
Opportunities for enabling peace between Jews and Muslims" (At least I
think
that is the question). And that nasty word "debate" came up in our
discussions of how to write the invitation. I can certainly understand
how
it jumps up -- given everybody's history. But it really is a bummer.
We do
need to think of some alternatives. "Engaged Conversation" might head
in a
more fruitful direction. And other possibilities would be wonderful.
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
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