Hi John, thanks for this posting. I find that in opening the space, there is a magical moment when all (or the majority) of people in the room become the co-space holders. There is then less responsibility on any one person to keep the space open, and as a collaborative effort, if the space was truly opened, diversity of opinions and perspectives have a better chance of being spoken and being heard.
In truly opening the space, I some of what I say is "you may have a macro topic (very large) or a micro topic (very tiny) and both are welcome here. You may know alot about it or you may have only a question. If it is important to you I encourage you to get that topic out." And in the opening I set a tone that some things that are talked about may be opportunities and some may be concerns, but that this space is important for the people to talk about what matters to them. I think it is important for facilitators to be very open and to be personally comfortable with diversity which includes dissenting opinions. In our workshops over the years, I have noticed that one of the struggles that facilitators would like to work through is their own fear of conflict so that they can be more open. I also stay away from using any Appreciative Inquiry type guidance or questions in the opening, in the morning or evening news, and in the closing. Appreciative Inquiry, which I admire, has its place, but use of it within an OST meeting closes the space for the diversity and dissenting opinions and perspectives. Blessings to you, Birgitt -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]On Behalf Of john engle Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 2:37 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: creating space to hear dissenting opinions hi friends. i received this recently and thought i'd share it. an example of the danger involved when we fail to create space for dissenting opinions. john engle Evergreen Leaders Update #23 October 16, 2003 **************************************************************************** ** Subscriptions are free. You may forward or reprint this freely for your friends and colleagues. **************************************************************************** ** Brutal reality After the shuttle Colombia was launched last January several engineers in the lower levels of NASA suspected that the shuttle had been badly damaged by a piece of foam during lift off. But they couldn’t be sure because bits of foam had broken off during other launches without severely damaging the other shuttles. They didn’t think they could get a damage assessment through NASA’s leadership channels so they went backdoor to ask the Department of Defense to use their satellite or ground cameras to look for damage on the shuttle’s left wing. Defense agreed with the request but before they could complete the task one of NASA’s leaders discovered the engineers request and cancelled it without fully understanding the fears that led the engineers to make the backdoor request. No one knew the foam, when it hit the left wing at 500 mph, had knocked a hole in the membrane. During the re-entry the hole grew, destroying the shuttle, and killing all seven astronauts. During the subsequent investigation an investigator asked the leader who had cancelled the engineers’ request to the Department of Defense, "As a manager, how do you seek out dissenting opinions?" According to him she answered, "Well, when I hear about them…" "But Linda, what techniques do you use to get them?" According to an Atlantic Monthly article by William Langewiesche*the manager had no answer. It’s human nature not to want to hear bad news... (the newsletter goes on - to receive the entire newsletter or subscribe, contact richf...@plowcreek.org) _________________________________________________________________ MSN Search, le moteur de recherche qui pense comme vous ! http://search.msn.fr/worldwide.asp * --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.529 / Virus Database: 324 - Release Date: 10/16/2003 * * ========================================================== 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
