Dear Marei,
this thorough review of „OST with a twist“ is a gem.
It would not surprise me if it would become an eye-opener for spotting
other „OST with a twist“.
From me, several thoughts:
--- the OST process has no trademark and is not owned by any one
individual and Harrison sometimes points out that he is not the inventor
but simply stumbled onto it with the help of some earthly spirits, in
fact exactly two of them BUT if you use it, you are committing yourself
to pass on what you learned
--- one of the mantras for me has become Critical Practice Reflection
(CPR, not trademarked, mentioned by one of the elders): "Reflect on the
OST event that I just facilitated and look for one thing I would do
without next time I facilitate an event"
--- this almost always has a control reduction effect. Thats important
because I know that a sure fire way to reduce the space for
selforganisation is "control". The space shrinks and if it disappears
altogether, whoosh the group, organisation or system evaporates(but dont
dispair, it never shrinks to absolut zero and no matter how much it
shrunk it will blow up again under supportive conditions such as
described in the book
--- doing one thing less also makes the process simpler... and, if it
works, easier to reproduce. And this is important, if OST is to spread.
I am interested in having many folks getting into using the OST approach
because I know how liberating it is to selforganise. OST is available to
everyone, not just the caste of specialized facilitators
And one last thing: Nothing can be partially inspired by xyz if you
remove the core notion of xyz.
Greetings from a very hot day in Berlin... here the government of Berlin
no longer uses the neutral term "climate change" but "climate heating"
to scare us, I is scared!
mmp
Am 05.06.2019 um 01:53 schrieb Marai Kiele via OSList:
Hello Nick Martin,
I find myself tense in my belly after reading your newsletter today:
I just wanted to share with you a popular WorkshopBank tool
<https://t.dripemail2.com/c/eyJhY2NvdW50X2lkIjoiMjM3MTU2MiIsImRlbGl2ZXJ5X2lkIjoiNjc1OTQzNzE4MiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd29ya3Nob3BiYW5rLmNvbS9vcGVuLXNwYWNlLXRlY2hub2xvZ3k_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1kcmlwXHUwMDI2dXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbFx1MDAyNnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXctdG9vbC1vcGVuLXNwYWNlXHUwMDI2X19zPXFtZXdvcGZiZnpzMnBvY3ltZTRnIn0> you
can start using with your clients right away. Let me know what you think.
You suggest that the reader lets you know what they think. I choose to
do that.
I also choose to do that in the form of an open letter, as several
months back you asked on the os-list for input to your description of
the OST process for the Workshopbank.
You introduced your version of „OST with a twist“, and there was a
somewhat heated discussion on this list about it.
I participated in both, revising and giving you feedback on your
description (as requested) and discussing about „is something with such
a twist still OST?“
Your twist was about giving the leaders control about the topics.
Back then I used the analogy that you are mixing red wine with coca cola
(which some people actually do and drink — I tried it out as a teenager).
And that calling such a beverage „red wine with a twist“ is an
inaccurate representation of a) red wine and b) the taste that a
consumer will experience.
(side note: usually, this mix is done with red wine of poor quality)
In my analogy, OST is the red wine and controlling the process is the coke.
In your description, you early on distinguish between OST and OST with a
twist. I first appreciated you for making that distinction so upfront.
Then I read what you wrote under:
*If you’re following the traditional Open Space Process...*
*
1
Gather your participants together and briefly explain how Open Space
events work using Harrison Owen’s 1 Law and the Guiding Principles
as appropriate. Traditionally you should do this with everyone in a
circle around youbut you don’t necessarily have to.
*
2
Ask participants to spend 10 minutes thinking through if they have
any issues they’d like to raise.
*
3
If there is a general agreement that the issue has enough support
and passion behind it invite the issue owner to add the issue to the
schedule.
*
4
Once all issues have been added invite the participants to sign-up
for the sessions they’re planning on attending (they are free to
change their mind later if they want to).
*
5
Your sessions start.
There is much more on this page that, as I see it, is NOT "the
traditional Open Space Process“. I am giving just some further examples:
https://workshopbank.com/open-space-technology
Process for a Session
*
1
Each session should be a round group of chairs (no table in the
middle) with preferably one facilitator to lead the discussion and a
scribe on the flip-chart.
*
2
A session starts with the issue owner welcoming and thanking the
group for coming and then giving a description of the issue as they
see it.
*
3
The facilitator then leads the discussion inviting people to give
their input at their request.
*
4
The scribe records the discussion on flip chart paper making sure to
mark Issues, Ideas, Questions (that can’t be answered today) &
Actions. When a flip is finished they should tear it off and put it
in the center of the circle or on a nearby wall for people in the
group to see.
*
5
Allow people to leave and arrive as they see fit though don’t allow
them to interrupt or slow-down your progress. It is a new arrival’s
responsibility to catch-up with the discussion using the flip chart
outputs no matter how high up or important they are.
*
6
When the issue looks like it has been covered and there are no more
inputs coming from your group thank them for their time and invite
them to join other groups if the session time is not over.
To me, calling this description "the traditional Open Space Process“ I
wonder if
- I am totally rigid and should just loosen up to the variations of OST
- You have never experienced a traditional Open Space Process
- You just don’t care about the originality and instead rather cater to
business needs of controlled processes that limit self-organisation
- I misremember all my trainings with Harrison Owen, Michael M Pannwitz,
Michael Pannwitz jr, Joe Töpfer, and last but not least Birgitt Williams.
- or… ?
I totally don’t get it.
I don’t like what you are doing.
I also dislike that you market this description of „the traditional Open
Space Process“ as „a popular WorkshopBank Tool“.
I feel sad when I imagine people following your description and
spreading the word that „this is the traditional way of doing OST“.
Using my former analogy:
I imagine what you are doing is like a beverage shop introducing someone
who has never tasted a good red wine to that beverage.
Because this person usually drink coke, they are being given red wine
mixed with coke (to match their taste buds).
And then they are being told, „this is a traditional Cabernet Sauvignon“.
I want you to revise your description and move your adaptions away from
"the original version" to „OST with a twist“.
Are you willing to do that?
Probably even better: Call it „…………….. - a process partly inspired by
Open Space Technology“
I look forward to your response,
Marai
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marai-kiele/
https://about.me/maraikiele
_______________________________________________
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
Past archives can be viewed here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
--
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000
[email protected]
Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 483 resident Open
Space Workers in 76 countries working in a total of 141 countries worldwide
www.openspaceworldmap.org
At my publisher you find books and task cards on open space, most in
German, some in English, some as ebooks, some multilingual
https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Kommunikation
_______________________________________________
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
Past archives can be viewed here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
