Unfortunately I will begin teaching in about a week and my time will be
under much greater demands than in summer. I'm also active in a most
inspiring response to the current alarming political situation in my
home state, including by using OST. I'll at least be dropping by to
share how that goes.
Cheers,
Chris
On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 8:01 AM, Artur Silva <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi Chris:____
Nice to see you back to a list were you were once a frequent
contributor, until you had your time and interests diverted to
another movement and list, as you have now explained. ____
You were not, by the way, the only person that almost disappeared
from this list. In fact, as I see it, it was like a schism, with
some people that stayed beyond, for reasons that only they know, but
anyone can speculate about.____
I was not in your virtual table of the pub and could not taste the
pinot noir, but it happens that I was in a close table, drinking an
Oporto wine, and could not avoid listening to your interesting
story.____
I think that there are a lot of interesting stuff in your post, that
probably could give occasion to have (or repeat) discussions about,
in other threads (one probably - again - about the "givens" question
- if one does not want to search the archives; another about the
history of what you have called the ""falling out"that apparently
was at the origin of the schism, that has an historical interest,
and maybe others on and off topic).____
But, for the moment, and to stay on topic, I would like to remember
that you wrote:____
«When I completed the Genuine Contact "Working with OST" workshop, I
received a certificate, but not a certification. (The distinction
is important because there was no intention on the workshop leader's
part to evaluate my "competence" in any way.)»____
I could not understand the difference between "certificate" and
"certification" (maybe I had already drunk too much Oporto wine or,
more probably, the cause is my lack of English proficiency...).
Could you be so kind to please elaborate a bit more about what is
the difference between the two concepts?____
Thank you and best regards____
Artur ____
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Chris Weaver <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*Sent:* Friday, August 9, 2013 5:45 AM
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] Certification?
Greetings All,
Ah, I can't resist jumping in to stir the pot. It is an honor to
join a thread peopled by so many folks whom I respect (and
appreciate and love) so much. I invite you to settle in for rather
a long story, which may, at some point, have something to do with
"certification."
After learning of Open Space in Anne Stadler's kitchen, I walked
around as a newbie at the OSonOS in Monterrey (the one fifteen years
ago, from which Harrison was unexpectedly absent, due to a nasty
flu, I believe), with my jaw hanging open to meet so many bold and
brilliant facilitators (I remember especially Michael P, Alan
Stewart, Brian Bainbridge, Roxy, and Birgitt Bolton) sharing stories
that I sweetly strove to wrap my head at least half-way around.
For a few years I engaged actively on the OSLIST as I began to
facilitate some OST meetings (without even "finishing the book," as
I recall) in the Seattle school where I worked as a teacher. In
1999 I landed here in North Carolina, where I attended my first OST
workshop as part of the Genuine Contact Program with Birgitt
(Bolton) Williams who had recently landed a few hours away.
Now I will say that I have an assumption only that at around that
time there was something of a "falling out" between Birgitt and her
work and the work of some other OS facilitators. I do not know, nor
need to know, the details. But I do know that there are some points
of practice that have generated some heated passion in the community
and that I think are worthy of putting on the storytelling table.
(I know that there is not supposed to be a table, but I suddenly
imagine myself with Jeff, Chris, Peggy, Harrison, Michael in a pub
somewhere with a rough wooden table, on which I am happily uncorking
a bottle of pinot noir.)
When I completed the Genuine Contact "Working with OST" workshop, I
received a certificate, but not a certification. (The distinction
is important because there was no intention on the workshop leader's
part to evaluate my "competence" in any way.) Based on my
participation in the four-day experience, I could, if I chose, refer
to myself as an authorized "Genuine Contact professional." The
workshop included an exploration of the form & essence of OST, as
gifted so effectively in Harrison's /User's Guide. /The workshop
also shared some suggested approaches and tools for working in depth
with the sponsor of an OST meeting (usually a leadership team within
an organization), both prior to and after the OST event. My own
understanding is that, by referring to myself as a GC professional
if I chose, I would be sharing the simple message that I had had
exposure to the approach of using OST that included these pre- and
post-OST meeting practices and tools. The choice of whether and how
to apply these practices and tools was up to me.
So that is the part that relates to this thread topic of
certification. As a practitioner, I honor the open-source nature of
OST as Harrison's "discovery" and gift to the world. I refer people
to the /User's Guide/ (and also the /Non-User's Guide /and other
community resources) frequently.
As an aside, I continued in the years that followed to participate
in workshops on other methodologies that are shared through the
Genuine Contact Program (most notably /Whole Person Process
Facilitation/, which I use very often). I collaborated with my
Genuine Contact colleagues around the world in developing the
minimal appropriate structure for our international community. I
participated in many mentoring circles, completed the Train the
Trainer workshop, and became one of the 43 "co-owners" of the
program. I also shifted my virtual community participation to the
GC List, and dropped off of the OSLIST for a number of years. (I am
enjoying being back.)
So here, the plot thickens :-). One of the practices included in
the GC "Working with OST" workshop is the use of...the "givens."
So, lubricated with wine, I am going to place the notion of givens
on the wooden storytelling table for our enjoyment. (This is worthy
of its own thread, of course, but I'll just keep going here.)
I have only infrequently worked as an external
consultant/facilitator. Most of my work with OST has been within
schools and community organizations. Over the years, I have come to
value highly the practices I learned in the GCP of working with the
sponsor prior to and after an OST (and I know that among other OST
facilitators, pre- and post- meetings such as these are skillfully
used and valued).
In my experience, the purpose of careful preparation with the
sponsoring team is to assist them in considering the state of their
organization. What is the story-line that has brought them to
considering an OST meeting? What's happening in terms of the grief
cycle within their organization? What (deeply now) is the /purpose/
of the meeting? What (deeply now) is the /context? /Basically, I
ask the questions, and the team has the conversations. All this I
explicitly place in the reality that when you sponsor an OST, there
is not, nor should there be, any turning back.
I use the givens as an essential tool in this process. I draw a
circle on a flip chart and say, If this circle represents the open
space, what are the non-negotiables that form the parameters of the
open space?
In the past, there have been passionate objections to this practice
on this list, based, I think, on the belief that to establish givens
is to close the space before it is even opened. My long-haul
experience within organizations has taught me something different.
What happens when I ask what the non-negotiables are is that a bunch
of stuff goes up on the flip chart. Then, I probe each one, and
ask, "Is this REALLY a given at this time for this meeting?" The
fifteen givens get whittled down to twelve, and then eight, and then
maybe five (ish). As you can imagine, the level of trust that
organizational leaders have in the people plays in heavily. I let
it be. I cannot make them trust more; I can only model trust, and
hold space for trust.
But I also find that the few givens that remain are, every time,
very important and meaningful. Some examples: Perhaps the
organizational purpose is a given, and perhaps there is value in
re-sharing the organizational purpose at the start of the OST.
Perhaps there has been a year of good work by a sub-group within
the organization that has culminated in a policy that not everyone
attending the OST is aware of, and that policy is a given. Perhaps
a "law of the land" that administrators, but not all participants,
know about is a given. Perhaps it is a given that the organization
will stay within a certain budget, and any ideas generated beyond
the budget will have to include the funding source to support them.
Yes, the givens are shared with the group at the start of the OST.
In my experience, this does not close the space, but rather it
opens the space clearly and honestly. More importantly, it is a
tool for building trust. When participants hear their formal
organizational leaders share, clearly and transparently, what the
givens are, they are more trusting that their own ideas will be
honored after the meeting and not squelched.
And this is what happens. Using givens is a way to profoundly
mitigate the phenomenon, with which any seasoned OST facilitator is
familiar, of leadership freaking out and clamping down on the
results of an OST. The practice does not (thankfully) prevent the
productive chaos and re-framing that happens after the meeting, but
it greatly reduces the phenomenon of /reactionary fear/ on the part
of formal leadership. The result is that leadership is more
inclined to sponsor another OST soon, and indeed to invite other
groups withing the organization to utilize OST themselves.
Perhaps because I have worked inside organizations for many years, I
have a deep respect for the challenges that formal leaders face.
Perhaps an organization is possible without any formal leaders,
but I have not yet encountered this. In the school where I work,
there is a fragile and indeed even tender respect for our formal
leaders whose responsibility it is to hold the space for the
organization in the community. When leadership is in its integrity,
followership is a natural and beautiful thing.
Okay, I will pour the last of the bottle into all the glasses.
Sadly, I won't hear your fine words until tomorrow, but so it is,
according to the odd and illusory parameters of space & time.
Take Care, with Love,
Chris
On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 8:21 PM, Donna Read
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Amen to that, Harrison! Blessings, Donna
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 8, 2013, at 17:36, "Harrison Owen" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Jeff – as a sometime perpetrator and totally confused
(certifiable) I can attest that if at any point I were to
intimate that I actually knew what I was doing, that would be
a significant error. However I feel quite comfortable in my
not-knowing if only because the “process” (OST) is not
something I “do.” Under the best of circumstances my
contribution is to invite folks to do what they already know
how to do – to be what they already are. It always works, and
it works even better when I get out of the way. ____
__ __
Harrison____
__ __
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