Wow, Robert, Harrison, Meg, Kenoli.... and you all - nice community,
thank you for your amazing, thoughtful, insingtful and... empowerful discussions on OS, OD and DO! best wishes elena novosibisk, russia ----- Original Message ----- From: <robert.cha...@nre.vic.gov.au> To: <osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu> Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 8:35 AM Subject: Re: OST vs OD > Meg and others, > OD and Do. You have sparked a need in me to get some thoughts off my chest. > > The way I see it there are two parts. > > One is the facilitator who creates and sustains the space for the > participants to "grow". > Two the participants themselves. > > Yes the process is simple but have you noticed that even people like De Bono > have some difficulty in selling SIMPLICITY. Much of our modern world has taken > simple things described them in new words (jargon) then marketed them as new and > special. > > In the medical world we know that the best defense against infection is simple > hygiene, like washing your hands before touching food etc. Not good enough in > the modern world I am asked to buy product XXXX because being a manufactured > product, it must be better than simply washing your hands. Many of the 'killer" > conditions of human kind can be most effectively dealt with by simple lifestyle > decisions, but do we exercise, eat food that matches our physical activity etc., > in most case the answer is no. > > We have become conditioned to look for the "savior". We have also been > conditioned manage not lead. Leading is dangerous, standing up and saying "the > king is naked" is not well rewarded. Every one likes to think that they can but > when the time comes it is much safer to stay with the norm. Just look at the > Congress of USA in its response to the current issues in the middle east. It > un-American to stand up for peace, win win and humanity. It is the same in many > workplaces. > > Therefore as the facilitator of Open Space we are actually taking a stand > against the norm. This takes a special kind of person, let's not devalue the > things that these people DO. Just as in the chemical world a true catalyst, the > agent of change is invisible in the final product so it is with open space. > > The participants although encouraged to bring their passion and commitment often > find it very difficult to change their learned behavior. We see people blossom > and groups create the most fantastic outputs within Open Space. We also see > people struggle as they are asked to take responsibility for their passion. > > Then we go back into the world around us. The facilitator, well we did it > ourselves so why bother, it is so simple anyone can do it. So we see the > organisation reform about their old norms and get on with the job. The > participants filled with the experience bounce back into the world, only to slam > headlong into brick walls of the REAL world. Confused, bruised and wiser they > may choose to keep going but many are not prepared for the hard yards required > to be successful. > > The culture for many conferences and forums requires the participants to write > the paper, referee other papers, be present, do a presentation, do a bit of > networking, eat and drink too much and go home. Work at the conference or apply > learning - that's not in the brief. > > For me Open Space is a form of traumatic experience, and an experience that > needs to carefully processed so that I use the goodness in the most effective > way when I leave the space for other parts. This is for both facilitator and > participant. It also means that it takes a special environment in > organisations to support the cultural change required to apply Open Space. I > believe that these organisations will be successful but most likely not the > most visible or profitable at least until the world changes to champion > sustainable, simple, life of interdependence . > > Rob > > * > * > ========================================================== > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html