Hello friends in Open Space, I just wish to say a very big thank you to all of you who participated in feedback about OSONOS, my struggles, my viewpoint. The comments were good, thoughtful, and what is most important to me, there were so many (on the list and dozens sent individually) which means that we must be a real community. Real communities care about each other and are willing to be engaged. I like that. I would just like to clear up one point about me. I like strangers. Always have. One of my hopes for this list is that we build community through it. We now have access to the record of proceedings thanks to Peggy Holman for her hard work and you can see that we actually also had some very good conversations. The good news is that Open Space works. The bad news is that Open Space works :-)
I think that we have some things to keep working at and working through, for those that are interested. I am going to note below some of the conversations that I hope we have and that I think we need to really put our heads together to come up with our best wisdom. Mostly, I realize that we have alot of assumptions that we don't have a forum for noting or clarifying and so I thought I would start here. 1. I assume that others want the development of a community of Open Space "practitioners" so that we can support each other, learn from each other, mentor each other, etc. 2. I assume that as soon as we come together for a common purpose, that we then qualify as an organization. And we know that organizations operate better (thanks Rod) if they are clear about their purpose and values. We still need to do that, although bits and pieces of the work have happened. 3. I then assume that the best kind of organization is the Open Space Organization--this is basically about using the principles and learnings that we have about an Open Space event and using them to organize ourselves for the long haul. It's a little more complicated than that. And takes a lot of thinking to get the foundation well laid, the field tilled. Mostly about understanding the purpose (heart) and then about clarifying our "givens" or non-negotiables. For me, one of these is clearly sorting out what Open Space is and what it isn't. A much harder task than meets the eye. I have been plugging away at trying to get answers to this for some time now. Now please don't misunderstand. This is not about dogma. Heaven forbid! It is about root, fundamentals. I do know that everyone will apply their own style and persona to how they "do" open space. I think another "given" that needs to be sorted out is what it means to "hold space". I hear much in the way of who holds space and how we hold it together and so on. But what do we all mean. 4. Can an organization be truly emergent without taking care of the above, or do we need to till the field and claim it as a wheat field or a corn field and define it by at least that much (creating the container in which the emergence can happen!) For me, we have the knowledge about how to work with organizational excellence, the inspired organization. We need to apply it to ourselves, and to do that we first need to have lots of conversation. This list is one of those places. The institutes are another. Maybe posting these questions on the websites are another. I don't know. I know I would love the discussion so that I can get clearer. My vision is one in which we are an Open Space Organization, with givens and purpose clearly defined. To allow for beautiful growth. The organization is World Wide Open Space. And it will mentor and enable Open Space to be used around the world. And who knows, through Open Space, we may yet find our way to world peace. Warmest regards, Birgitt Birgitt Bolton of Dalar Associates www.openspacetechnology.com 55 Ravina Cres., Ancaster, Ontario, Canada L9G 2E8 phone: 905-648-5775 fax: 905-648-2262
