At 01:14 AM 6/13/2002 +0200, Avner Haramati wrote:
Starting the 3rd day with closure that enable people to work through what
happened to them in the last 2 days was briliant. It freed the energies of
the people to use all the afternoon, evening and some of the day after to
take full responsibility and to plan very significant projects.
It is always nice to be called brilliant -- justified or not. In
the moment it seemed like the only thing to do. And it represented perhaps
my major learning from the whole affair, at least in terms of working in
Open Space. It had been my intention to "do" the Open Space according to
the book, by which I mean 2 days discussion with convergence and action
planning on the morning of the 3rd day. However, as the second day ended,
and I sat with all those feelings through the night, the "standard
approach" seemed less and less adequate. The feelings were so deep and raw,
and the the issues discussed so broad and still forming (with one or two
exceptions) that any notion of convergence, prioitization and action
planning seemed premature at the least, and possibly grossly insensitive to
the real place the people found themselves in. I have no question that,
good troopers as they were, had I started down the standard pathway, folks
would have followed -- but I knew it would be an empty process. Just going
through the motions as it were. Truthfully, I didn't really know where I
was headed when the 3rd day started, and when last I had talked to my
colleagues Avner, Tova, Carol and the sponsors the evening before I had
indicated my intention to go straight ahead "according to the plan."
However, when I saw the faces of the people that morning as they came into
the circle, I knew we had to go a different way, and at that point I had no
time for consultation with "The Team." Thus I began as I previously reported.
My intention and hope was to totally open the space so that people
could honestly choose where they wanted to go -- even if that meant simply
hanging up the towel and going home in disgust. And frankly I did not have
a clue what was going to happen when I left the circle, or what the
situation would be upon my return. As it turned out whatever happens is the
only thing that could have -- and as usual it was just perfect -- perfectly
what it was. Given the space, the folks always know best.
My specific learnings were several. First -- a radical
confirmation of what we all know. Attachment to pre-determined, fixed
outcomes, even something as broad as prioitization, convergence, and action
planning, is a one way ticket to disaster. A second learning, and this was
a surprise, was that extreme levels of anxiety, conflict and pain (which we
had in abundance) can and will change the dynamical pattern of the Open
Space, It still work as always, but not the way I had grown to expect.
To be more specific, I have noticed (as many others have as well)
that in a troubled group, the first day is likely to be filled with angry
bitching, and on the second day folks will get down to the business of
solving what they were crying about the day before. In Rome, the pattern
was exactly reversed. On day one, we certainly had intense conversations
with some real, raw feelings, but compared to Day 2, it was pure "Love and
Light." I think what happens is that the whole group is so constricted
physically, mentally, and emotionally (probably spiritually as well) that
when they first hit Open Space they find it possible to take a deep breath,
perhaps the first one in a long time. The euphoric sensation of actually
being alive, breathing freely, and being conscious of it is almost
narcotic. I am not suggesting that the feelings are in some way "unreal" --
for the genuine presence and authenticity of that group on that first day
was overwhelming. But it was not the whole story. Strengthened by that
"breath of fresh air" the group could then do what it did -- take a real
dive into all the shit of their common lives. The net result was as I
described. Day I -- Real light. Day II Dark Hell. I felt at that point that
it was critical to provide unfettered space with no expectations in which
the group, individually and collectively, could make a judgement. Was Day I
just a phantasm? And Day II the somber reality? Or were both truly what
they seemed -- Real Light and Real Darkness. It was a moment of reflection
and choosing.
My third learning was yet another confirmation of what we all know. Trust
your gut. Faced with the kind of stuff we were dealing with, the rational
mind just spins out of control with possibilities and stratagems spilling
all over the ground. Not useful. For me the only possibility was to take a
deep breath (several), clear the battered mind, or better yet -- shut it
down, and go to a quiet centered place well beyond thinking and knowing.
And then do what you have to do.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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