Hi, Dan -
Whether small or large groups, it sounds like there are some very
specific interpersonal dynamics going on here.
Open Space - and all dialogue work - is so much more than the meeting
itself or the method used. And the meeting is an event that is part of
a living system and a chain of interactions, events and behaviors,
right?
Upon reflection - do you feel there is anything you could have done
differently in the invitation, the nature of invitation, in doing all
your investigation work as you analyzed before choosing the dialogue
tool (objectives, context, culture, what will happen before and after,
underlying issues and events, how this event fits into the culture or
work plan or interaction of a group, power dynamics...) and those
million other things one investigates, designs for, takes into
consideration and receives information about as part of the pre-work?
And: do you have any reflections about the way you open and frame
things and introduce the task folks are working on for the day - your
languaging, the way you create the invitational space - that you might
do differently?
I am not saying that you are the reason for any of this. But of
course there are many times when we cannot change a system or a
situation - however we can change our own way of naming, interacting,
navigating. And as Open Space is more than the tasks of Open Space -
as it includes the facilitator's pre-work, interaction with client,
extensive pre-work and yes as you are saying, presence during the
event itself. Perhaps there are things you felt you did really well
and things you noticed in these realms?
Cheers from Córdoba,
Lisa
Lisa Heft
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
Opening Space
[email protected]
Ask me about these 2011 workshops for facilitators and others who
convene people:
On Aug 3, 2011, at 1:03 PM, Dan Mezick wrote:
I am writing the community to find out if you have seen this pattern
with smaller Open Space meetings. I am asking because I am 2 for 2
with this pattern, when the group is less than 16 people.
1. They play along at the Open
2. They look at the marketplace and notice it is all mostly one
subject
3. They all decide to meet for this 'one big session' (self
organizing)
4. It starts to zoom in on authority, and have a tone of challenging/
questioning the formal authority, usually the Director/ Team Lead role
5. It causes some anxiety, mixed feelings/a problem for the
facilitator
6. What happens next is anyone's guess
Questions:
1. Have you seen this
2. Is this a commonly understood pattern
3. If you have experienced this, when you experience it, what do you
do... in that spot
4. If I ad facilitator judge the situation as "tipping into chaos",
is it bad form to intervene
Staying out of it is more than a little difficult to do. A range of
feeling comes up as facilitator...
Summary:
They self-organize, into one big session. They just all decide to do
this, (so far, looks OK per OST ground rules...) then it takes on
this dump-on-authority tone. The tone can be considered
insubordinate to some observers and participants. The "discussion"
is usually well within the stated theme for the OST meeting.
This appears to be a small-group pattern. I have no idea what the
upper end of the range might be, I have seen it in groups up to 16
people.
Your wise counsel is requested, if you have directly experienced this.
Regards,
Dan
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
