Hmmmm . . . With regards to the generally accepted role of the OST ³Facilitator² -- I essentially agree that Lisa provides an accurate interpretation.
And that is why I rarely ³facilitate² OST anymore. My issue is with the concept of ³facilitator². Originally, to facilitate meant to make something easier -- from the Latin facilis or fac(ere) ³to do or make² + -ilis ³easier². So in its simplest expression, I could as a facilitator make things easier by: sharing knowledge; or increasing the ease of performance of any action or state of being; or assisting individuals or groups in accomplishing their objectives through conversations on particular topics; or actively participating in engaging and involving others in accomplishing objectives. In the OD world, a facilitator is ³someone who skillfully helps a group of people understand their common objectives and plan to achieve them without personally taking any side of the argument. The facilitator assists the group in achieving a consensus on any disagreements that preexist or emerge in the meeting so that it has a strong basis for future action². In my past experiences with OST, ³without personally taking any side of the argument² came to mean -- being a ³space-holder² and not being a ³participant². When I do this from a "Living in Open Space² perspective, this becomes an instance of a Separation Fallacy. The Separation Fallacy supposes that it is possible and/or desirable for me to view myself as distinct from the systems of relationships and dynamics that I engage (observer, ³witness², act in or upon, hold space for, . . . ). This calls for me as a facilitator to be ³independent² of the other participants -- a proposition which for me is a physical and meta-physical impossibility. My friend Charlie Johnston would call this experience ³differentiation without integration². >From a "Living in Open Space² perspective, I am always ³holding space² and always full-on participating in every interaction with others and the environment -- be it in one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many relationship dynamics. As an archetypical ³Butterfly², I am very aware that my ³Presence² creates a response in the field -- whether I am speaking, sleeping, napping, quacking, etc. So for me, the questions are not about whether I exert undue (and negative) influence in a context -- but how I exercise my ³Presence² and leadership in any situation (any context). Is the impact of my views, intentions, communications, and behaviors an ³opening of space² with and for myself and others -- or is the result a ³closing of space²? Do I need to modify my being and doing? As a result of my ³Presence² and leadership -- does the leadership and creative capacity of the individuals and collective manifest and/or increase, or does it remain only a potentiality and/or decrease? Do I need to modify my being and doing? Does the individual and collective capacity and practice of Hearing, Seeing, and Loving (HSL) increase or decrease as a result of my ³Presence² and leadership? Do I need to modify my being and doing? >From a "Living in Open Space² perspective, I am required to ³show-up² and ³hold space² in every interaction -- be it a one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many, OST conferences, intimate contacts, whatever; I am required to take responsibility for what I love; I am required to Hear, See, and Love myself and every sentience that I encounter; I am required to be as aware, mindful, discerning, nurturing, and compassionate as I can be in each moment. Because ³Facilitator² is such a loaded word with ³authority and control² prickles studding its exterior and interior usage, of late I have preferred to think about what I do as ³Hosting² -- from the Latin hospes ³receives visitors² with a kind, welcoming, and generous reception of or disposition toward or treatment of guests (visitors, strangers, emergence, coherence, and disturbance). I am joyfully content to ³host² conversations in which I fully participate in: holding space; taking responsibility for what has meaning and passion for me; Hearing, Seeing, and Loving myself and others; constantly paying attention to being as aware, mindful, discerning, nurturing, and compassionate as I can be in each moment; and working to manifest my ³Presence² and leadership in ways that increase the leadership and creative capacity of the individuals and collectives that I come into relationship with. In this way, I strive to increase the overall experience of interconnectedness, creativity, joy and peace. And hopefully, I can do this without falling into a ³Unity Fallacy² where I confuse ³Wholeness² (multiplicity) with ³Oneness² (singularity) -- thus forgetting that the converse of ³Unity² (oneness or singularity) is ³Wholeness² (multiplicity or diversity) --> not separateness or uniformity (sameness). My friend Charlie Johnston would call this experience ³integration without differentiation². So while ³hosting², I continually challenge myself to hold a view of system ³wholeness² that includes every aspect of what I can sense and imagine regarding -- (1) Consciousness (Self-Awareness) (2) Whole-Person (physical | emotional | intellectual | consciousness) (3) Whole-System (all Stakeholders) (4) Community | Relationships (Interconnectedness) (5) Whole-Life Cycle (Continuity) In the Field . . . where we meet . . . Mark R. Jones Chief Executive Officer The Sunyata Group The Integral Wellness Group ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PO Box 58788 Renton, Washington USA 98058-1788 Phone: 425-413-6000 e-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lisa Heft <[email protected]> Reply-To: OSLIST <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 10:06:27 -0400 To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Facilitator must be part of the conversations Dear all - Jack's and Marc's comments make me think that our holding space for the group - for both the client and the participants - is the embodiment of trust. We breathe, we believe, we trust the people and the process, we are always there (in physical presence and or in Harrison's case at times in our dream state during our naps ;o) ). We are completely present. I do not feel it is separate from or outside the group. I feel we are all very much interrelated. We are (in the Open Space event) all part of a vast living system (of systems, of systems, of systems...)...with one (or a duo or team) of us holding space, to be midwife to emergent life, to witness, if you will, the marvelous transformation we (the space-holders) know is happening at every moment - on levels from the cellular to the stellar to the realms we little tiny humans cannot even know. We breathe, we trust, we hold trust. We help others breathe....and trust...and trust themselves... Lisa Lisa Heft [email protected] http://www.openingspace.net * * ========================================================== [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 * * ========================================================== [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
