Harrison, I think a powerful lesson that you made visible is providing fertile initial conditions (4 principles, 1 law, and a good question) engages people to work through challenges to what matters.
Peggy Sent from my iPhone On Jul 26, 2012, at 6:58 AM, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > Marie said -- "And Harrison, our own Krishnamurti. No fluff, just open > space! I admire your trust - which is why you're so bold." > > I am not so sure I was being "bold" -- but I surely trust the people to do > what they need to do given the time/space to do it. And they have always > come through. As for my part, I think it has much more to do with my > profound sense of limitations. There is no way in the world I could possibly > control the situation if only because I completely lack the ability to > figure out the complex interactions, to say nothing of the history of the > group involved. Only they are fully expert on their lives and living. So > rather that "bold" -- maybe humble? Maybe cowardice? > > ho > > 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 > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marie Ann > Östlund > Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 5:08 PM > To: World wide Open Space Technology email list > Subject: Re: [OSList] Dealing with conflicts > > Wow, thank you for all your responses and wonderful stories. Thank you > Peggy, that's a great example, and Christine - that's an interesting > process. > > I wanted to do something 'constructive' with everyone open enough to meet, > as many felt hopeless about the situation. The issue now was acute but they > had a 20-30 year history of difficulties and conflicts. > I only had a few hours so convened a circle and planned a short AI and World > Café, so that they would have some sort of exchange. The floor was > 'high-jacked' though by someone that had important new revelations to > communicate, and I let it be for some time before asking those wanting to > speak about this to convene somewhere else. Those that stayed convened in a > circle and I gave them a talking stick. That went well. > > I was pondering over how it would be to open space in this situation. > As Harrison says, when there is conflict, open space. > > In regards to having an agenda, Brendan, as a mediator I understand that > it's hard for people to hear each other when they are very angry or upset, > at the same time it's important for people to be able to express just how > angry or hurt they are. With OS I'm learning to trust people to do what they > need to do, and that they will manage themselves. I just wasn't sure if > opening space would really be advisable, even if I thought it might work. > There's nothing like truth, but still I don't want people to get hurt. > > And Harrison, our own Krishnamurti. No fluff, just open space! I admire your > trust - which is why you're so bold. > > Michael, yes do send me Practice of Peace (in english!). You're right that > it's all very much about convincing oneself, and writing to you all is part > of that process for me. > > Thank you Craig for trying to elicit some failure stories from the OS folks. > In conflicts people at least care enough to be in conflict, and OS is all > about what we care about so will have to work. > > Thanks! > > Marie Ann > > On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 3:55 PM, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: >> Good point Craig. We always learn from the exceptions/anomalies. In 27 >> years of opening space, often in genuinely “hairy” situations, I have >> never personally encountered a situation where “it didn’t work.” >> “Working” for me is a fairly pragmatic definition. Folks got together, >> dealt with their issues, and either found solutions or recognized that >> for reasons totally beyond their control, no solution was possible in >> the moment. All of this was done with a high degree of civility, respect, > and economy of effort. >> More often than not, participants will report that they even “had fun.” >> >> >> >> I have heard of situations that were less than positive. In every case >> the fundamental problem seemed to be that the sponsor/facilitator >> tried to “play it safe.” This could mean restricting the time/space >> for discussion, limiting the issues to be discussed (placing them off >> limits), and/or intervening along the way with some form of mediation. >> Some people tried to prepare the way by sharing “Handy Rules for >> treating each other nicely.” I don’t suppose that hurt, but I never >> saw that it made any difference. Truth is in the heat of discussion >> folks don’t seem to pay much attention to rules, except those that are >> generated internally and are integral to the conversation – which is what > I think happens in Open Space. >> >> >> >> Harrison >> >> >> >> 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.or >> g >> >> >> >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Craig >> Gilliam >> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 7:49 AM >> >> >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [OSList] Dealing with conflicts >> >> >> >> I do a great deal of conflict work professionally. I am a >> practitioner of OS as well. >> >> Rather than hearing only success (and I know that the definition of >> success >> varies) stories of OS and conflict, I am also interested in those >> times when someone felt OS did not work in a conflict situation, or >> did not work as well as he/she thought it would and what did you learn >> from those encounters. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Craig >> >> >> >>> Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:13:58 +0200 >>> From: [email protected] >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: Re: [OSList] Dealing with conflicts >>> >>> Dear Marie Ann, >>> the gathering Harrison describes (Israelis and Palestinians in Rome) >>> got him to write a book on why os events are so peaceful even in >>> highly conflicting situations. >>> If you like, I will send you a copy of "The Practice of Peace"... of >>> course, you can also get the german version I was involved in: "Raum >>> für den Frieden". >>> In my own experience there have been a number of highly conflicting >>> situations for which sponsors chose Open Space Technology. The >>> biggest job I had was to convince the sponsors that you need nothing >>> but open space and it worked every time (Israelis and Palestinians >>> meeting in Switzerland, Parish Board and church workers at issue with >>> each other, Board of Directors and Marketing Department of a Food >>> Corporation at issue, Welfare Organisation with all subsystems at >>> "war", Highschool with opposing factions of teachers...you name it). >>> Come to think of it, at the beginning of my OSpractice after 35 years >>> of OD consulting, I actually had to convince mainly myself that >>> highly conflicting situations is what os-events run on (one of the >>> five preconditions)... unlearning the old approaches (still very much >>> in >>> vogue!!) was the hard part. >>> Greetings from Berlin >>> mmp >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On 24.07.2012 22:35, Marie Ann Östlund wrote: >>>> Dear all, >>>> >>>> I just spent a week in a community in France that is divided by >>>> quite a large conflict. Have anyone of you used OS with a group of >>>> people where the conflict is at its hight and emotions are still >>>> strong? I can see that OS can be used in complex conflictual >>>> situations, but wonder whether you would first spend time bringing >>>> down their emotions to a 'manageable' level before attempting to >>>> bring them together into an OS. >>>> >>>> Do you have any experiences in this regard? I'd be very interested >>>> in your reflections! >>>> >>>> Thank you, >>>> >>>> Marie Ann >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> 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.or >>>> g >>>> . >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg >>> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany >>> ++49-30-772 8000 >>> [email protected] www.boscop.org >>> >>> >>> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 388 resident >>> Open Space Workers in 67 countries working in a total of 143 >>> countries >>> worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.org >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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
