Joaquim – Marvelous question: “Is it better to open a little space,
or to
open no space at all? :-)” And I think the answer is pretty obvious
but for
reasons having little to do with Open Space Technology as a process.
Life
(at least my life) requires the opening of time/space. When all of
that
closes, so does life. Some people feel that they are protecting life
when
they put it in a box. I find just the reverse. The greatest gift I
have to
offer is respectful time/space. Of course I don’t own it, so
speaking of it
as a “gift” to others is a stretch, but I think we all recognize the
wonder
and power of being the presence of one who is graciously spacious.
You know
the sort I am talking about – somehow they call forth the very best
in us,
but not in the manner of a prescription (we must, should, ought). We
are
invited to be everything we can be, and we find in the warm presence
of that
person the essential time/space for that “everything” to manifest. I
suspect
this may be the ultimate expression of Love: the challenge to reach
our
fullness, and the acceptance of whatever that form our fullness may
take.
Not just challenge, not just acceptance – but both together,
simultaneously,
paradoxically, dialectically. That creates radical space/time, I
think – the
essential conditions for life.
We do this all the time. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. And some
people
seem to be able to do it more often and easily. A few manage to do
it all
the time. The clock doesn’t seem to have much to do with the
situation, for
Gracious Spaciousness apparently operates outside of time. It might
even
create human time/space?
So opening space/time first last and always – whenever, however,
wherever,
with whomever…
YES!
And then we come to that curious thing we call Open Space
Technology, which
as far as I am concerned is nothing but a special application of
“Gracious
Spaciousness.” Over the years we seem to have developed a pretty
clear sense
about useful time periods. Nothing cast in concrete, but less than 4
hours
feels pretty cramped and more than 2 ½ days is too much of a good
thing. But
the Goldilocks (just right) time always depends… on the group, the
issues,
the environment, etc. And finding that Goldilocks moment is in part a
function of our (as facilitators) Gracious Spaciousness, I think. We
need to
challenge the group to be everything they could be, which is almost
inevitably several steps beyond their comfort zone. Sometimes we
even have
to ask some pointed questions such as – “Do they really have such a
low
opinion of themselves that the future of their organization (life
and work)
is only worth a few hours?” They alone can decide, and we of course,
will
have to accept their decision – even if we also have to say that
given their
decision, we really don’t think Open Space is the way to go.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joaquim
Baptista
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 6:57 AM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
Greetings,
All I've done were 5 short OST meetings plus a longer but biased OST
track
at a conference.
I understand that these short meetings were not ideal, they did not
lead to
strong conclusions. On the other hand, it would have been impossible
to ask
parents that were strange to each other to commit more time to meet.
These meetings lasted between 2h and 4h. They were still quite
effective in
opening space between people, having them find out that there are
others
like them, and identifying shared concerns that deserve further
attention.
While people usually complain that there was not enough time to talk,
everyone loves it. And I strongly believe that, if I invited them to
talk
for 1.5 days, they would just refuse.
When the meeting ends, its their responsibility to continue talking
elsewhere, if they wish to do so. Sometimes, they do.
Is it better to open a little space, or to open no space at all? :-)
On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 6:42 AM, Koos de Heer <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Catherine,
My experiences with really short OST meetings are mixed. My
experiences with
OST meetings for demonstration purposes are not so good. Only
spectators, no
play. So I only do an Open Space meeting if there is a real issue to
be
discussed by passionate people.
A short Open Space meeting is at least 3 hours when I do it. I do
not agree
to anything shorter. My favorite is a day and a half. There seems to
be a
tendency that organizations do want the benefits of Open Space but
have
increasing trouble investing the time to make it possible. Sometimes
I think
that the biggest change we can offer is not the format of the Open
Space
meeting, but the idea to spend time on things, to stop measuring every
minute against the KPIs of a balanced score card.
Having said that, a three hour meeting is much better than nothing
at all.
Key is to manage the expectations of the client. The benefits of a
three
hour meeting are certainly worthwile, but not way as good as those
of a day
and a half. If they are happy with the three hours, you can tell
them they
have seen nothing yet and there is much more where this came from.
Cheers
Koos
At 00:19 11-6-2012, [email protected] wrote:
Hi, I did a 4-hour open space last year. It went really well.
People seemed
to enjoy it and a lot came out of it but not as much as I would have
liked. But everyone went away happy to have had the experience.
Best,
Donna
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
From: Graydancer <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, June 10, 2012 3:48 pm
To: [email protected], World wide Open Space Technology email list
< [email protected]>
My Open Spaces are usually a day (though we have meet & greets &
sunday
brunches to provide some wiggle room). They seem to work well. I was
recently asked to do a 6-hour open space for about 350 people in
Chicago. It
went well - very well - but we had a LOT of time beforehand to prep
the
people through online forums, etc, as well as a lot of participants
who had
been to other open spaces.
That being said, with one or two exceptions, everyone there loved
it. My
only frustration was with people who said "No, I didn't go, it just
sounded
too disorganized." For some reason, the idea of something being
self-organizing is just anathema.
I think shorter OS's can work...but I would never want to do one
shorter
than the 6 hours. Even that felt way too short. Good, but like a
book that
you really wish didn't end...
Gray
On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 4:29 PM, Catherine Pfaehler <[email protected]
>
wrote:
I can only add that the only time I did such a short OST in order to
demonstrate the methode did NOT lead to a client relationship. Iâ
€™ve come
to notice that even a 5.5 hr OS-event is too short. We deprive
people of the
experience of what it is like to have ENOUGH time for their thoughts
and
ideas and actions and projects to actually emerge if we agree to
such short
periods of time.
Thank you for asking, Catherine C., and thank you for your answer,
Harrison!
Love, Catherine P.
Catherine Pfaehler
Burckhardtstrasse 2
CH - 3008 Bern
+41-(0)31-536 05 31
________________________________
Von: Catherine Corbaz [ mailto:[email protected]]
Gesendet: Sonntag, 10. Juni 2012 19:20
An: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Betreff: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
Dear Harrison
of course I'll trust you. You put the right words on my inner
feelings and
gave me strong arguments to tell the sponsor, if needed. Your point
to do do
it after and let emerge an opened discussion, is a perfect idea.
Thanks a lot,
Catherine
Le 10 juin 12 à 18:07, Harrison Owen a écrit :
Catherine – I know you have maade your plans. And Plans can change.
Here are
some thoughts that might move the changes along… First – The best
Presentation on Open Sn Space is “Do it!†Nothing else comes even
close.
Second – Doing a Presentation about Open Space before an Open Space
creates all sorts of difficulties, none of which you want. No matter
what
you say, no matter how good you are – whatever you say will just
confuse
people. If they have never experienced Open Space, they simply won’t
believe you. And if they have had the experience, they don’t need
the
explanation. Even worse, a Presentation up front will inevitably put
the
people in a “head†mode, thinking about the process. They will be
wondering about other processes, potential modifications, what â
€œthey†say
in the literature. All good thoughts, but definitely not needed at
the onset
of an Open Space. Just get on with the business, do what comes
naturally,
and forget about the process. After all it works all by itself. No
help
needed. And don’t try doing “just a little bit of Open Spaceâ€
It is
always frustrating, because just about the time you get rolling, it
is time
to stop. If these people really want to Celebrate – Go for iit and
make sure
they have plenty of time/space for the occasion!
And then if they really want a Presentation, do it at the end. I
assume you
will have a closing circle and after the people have shared their
comments,
ask them by way of summary “What did you notice particularly about
our
time together that was strange, new, surprising, different? I think
you will
find that the People as a whole will create a marvelous
presentation, and of
course you can comment if you care to.
Trust me. You won’t be disappointed.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
OSLIST
Go to: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
From: [email protected] [
mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Catherine Corbaz
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2012 11:31 AM
To: World email list wide Open Space Technology
Subject: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
Dear OS-friends,
I’ve been invited to moderate an OST for the 10th birthday of a
studying
program of a high Engineering and business school. It is called
Human System
engineering.
The purpose is to celebrate the anniversary and to make an OST in
order to
collect ideas, projects of the students to allow this program to live
further. The purpose is also to present OST as a method to work with
collective intelligence , etc. Inviter people will be students and old
students, the professorship will also be invited.
At the beginning we spoke of a one day OST. After a first meeting
with the
preparation group, they proposed me to do something shorter, with a
presentation about OST. I agreed with their suggestion. But i'll
make my
presentation as short as possible, with the message: the best
presentation
is to experiment it. So I might have 1/2 more, who knows?
But i've never do such a short OST. So presently the agenda (in may
head)
look like:
- a short introduction (sponsor + OST introduction : 15’),
- Market place&agenda (15’).
- Two break-out sessions of 35 min.
- closing circle (20')
We expect 30-50 people.
Anyone with a similar experience. I remender reading something about
a 1.5
hours OST?
Any comment, remark, welcome.
NB: this OST is a short of follow-up of the french publication of
Christine
Kohler.
Regards
Catherine Corbaz
Roseaux 20
CH-2503 Bienne
+41 32 323 38 43
+41 79 794 38 55
https://sites.google.com/site/catherinecorbaz/
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