Dear John,
in my case, I have been through 45 years of what you describe in your
journey.
The first 28 years working on "how can we appropriately help guide the
definition of the banks of the river so the flow is powerful and focused
and dynamic" and the last 17 years expanding space for the river to
explore and structure its dynamic and focus it sees appropriate for
whatever it is up to.
In other words, working on ways of getting out of the way, skipping
control, unattaching myself from the goals of the river...
Now, I would not say that the first 28 years were wasted time as they
were part of my journey but much of my ongoing unlearning is tough.
I am happying myself with the journey including mystifying myself with
what on earth is that force that I call "selforganisation", something
that seems to lead to all kinds of unexpected, never heard of,
completely improbable etc. developments, transitions, paradigm shifts,
etc... just the everyday life I see around me.
Nice effects of working under these "assumptions" have been for me not
to care about peoples or groups or organisations or systems assumptions,
their goals, the quality of their cooperation or their dialog, how
leadership is playing out, feedback-loops, their energy level, their
motivation, their team spirit, organigramms... in fact, I know that
busying myself with all that stuff would just reduce the immense energy
I need to get out of the way...
I find it hard work and wonder who else is on that journey and how they
are faring...
Greetings from Berlin
mmp
On 19.09.2013 03:14, John Watkins wrote:
As much as I love OST, and as much as I recognize the inevitability and
desirability of emergent processes, as well as their power to engage and
compel people, after some twenty-seven years (probably more, but at
least officially) facilitating groups and watching groups engaged in
deep conversation about important topics, I firmly believe there is
nothing like the appropriate and creative application of a structure to
a conversational problem or issue at the right time. That is, so often
as people talk, an idea for how to organize the conversation for maximum
creative input emerges (and often it is someone with some knowledge of
great process tools, though that may not necessarily be an official
"facilitator") that dramatically increases the ability of the group to
dig deeper and go further and achieve some intention or accomplishment
they might not have without it. An example is using graphic organizers,
such as concept mapping tools, to organize the ideas that are emerging
in the conversation. Or analytic tools, or causal mapping tools, or
ways to rank ideas. All of these add value to conversation by providing
structures that enhance emergent purposes toward accomplishing something
of value. So, to me, the challenge becomes, not, how can we get out of
the way and let it all just flow, but how can we appropriately help
guide the definition of the banks of the river so the flow is powerful
and focused and dynamic? Great questions, always, frame great
conversations, per Harrison's point below. And sometimes it helps to
have a process to use to address them. World Cafe is one such process
that helps structure the conversation and guide the energy. I see it as
a creative tension. I see it also as a necessary tension to address in
how groups work together. I'd love to hear others' reflections on this
question.
John
On Sep 18, 2013, at 4:20 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
You will not be surprised to learn that I suspect you are working much
too hard. Just open space with a question – “What are the issues and
opportunities for bringing Justice to our world?” If anybody cares, it
will be rich. And no special design required.
ho
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 04843
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com <www.openspaceworld.com%20>
www.ho-image.com <www.ho-image.com%20>(Personal Website)
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*From:*[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>[mailto:[email protected]]*On
Behalf Of*Evan Walsh
*Sent:*Wednesday, September 18, 2013 4:35 PM
*To:*OSLIST
*Subject:*[OSList] Facilitating the Uncovering of Assumptions
Beautiful OS community,
My question is not strictly focused on Open Space or its application,
but since I know you each have a wealth of experience in all kinds of
hosting, I couldn't help but see if you could help me.
For an upcoming conference, we would like to host spaces that
encourage participants to (i) discover how assumptions that are left
unexplored contribute to broken systems and injustice, and (ii)
explore and identify assumptions we may be holding that could be
playing into those systems of injustice.
So my question for you is: Do you know of any amazing activities,
structures, spaces that facilitate the uncovering and identification
of assumptions?
Ideally we would like this uncovering to happen in a safe and
constructive way (i.e. We don't want people shouting at one another
pointing out their biases).
One example we've thought of us theHuman Library
<http://humanlibrary.org/>, which is a beautiful way of breaking down
barriers. Any other examples you've come across? Any stories to share?
Have you seen this happen in OS? What lead to it?
Thank you,
Evan
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