Harrison,
Thank you so much for this story. It is such a powerful reminder -- when
there's disturbance, open space. Even when already in Open Space, open it
wider.
Your talk of your sleepless night reminded me of an experience during an
Appreciative Inquiry Summit. The group of a couple hundred people had just
generated about 10 provocative propositions (for those not familiar with AI
jargon, these are statements describing the desired future). The group was
standing, looking at the statements and I said something that I never do --
something about reaching consensus.
(A quick aside...since I ran into OS, achieving consensus ceased to hold any
interest to me. I think OS transcends the need -- when people experience the
profound sense of convergence of what they collectively and individually care
about, they simply move to action that aligns with each other. No need to
spend tedious time building consensus.)
So, these unexpected, unwanted words had left my mouth. Sure enough, a couple
people started to get entrenched in their positions. It was clear we weren't
going to reach consensus standing there. Worse, almost everyone else was solid
in their feeling of close alignment and ready to get on with things. So I
asked for a group who would be willing to get together on behalf of the whole.
About 8 people agreed to work things out. We met that evening and decided to
come together an hour before the whole group was meeting in the morning because
we were too fried to meet that night.
I hadn't a clue what to do to work through the differences when I went to bed.
Not a lot of sleep...and what I finally realized was that my role was to create
and hold the space for them to hear each other. That was a huge leap of faith
for me as I was letting go of any certainty that we would reach any sort of
agreement. And the work of the last day was riding on this.
The group of 8 came together in the morning. I told them an insight that I had
during my sleepless night: when there's one voice that seems to be holding
things captive, rather than resenting them and trying to convince them to
change their mind, there was another, more useful way to see this. That person
was speaking an important truth and our job was to hear the message they were
struggling to express because it held some kernel that was important to the
health of the whole. With this introduction, I passed the talking stick (sound
familiar)? That's all it took. Ironically, nothing from the wording the day
before changed. The people who had felt shut down, now felt heard and were
ready to move on.
Peggy
----- Original Message -----
From: Harrison Owen
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Unintend Consequences, Collateral Damage and Truth
Telling
Larry -- they did give me some warning. Sort of like . . . there may be some
"political stuff'' which I read as trouble. I told them not to worry.
Everything works in Open Space. I didn't tell that what works. I figured we
would find out. As for the timing, you are right -- my walk from the circle
came on the morning of the 2nd day. Evening news the night before set the
stage. The dissidents (which was about 99% of the group) read their manifesto.
In no uncertain terms they said -- We aren't going to take it any more. Details
to be worked out. That is where we left it, and once those words had been said
(or rough equivalent) everybody was in shock. People in that organization don't
talk that way, and when they do, minds are blown. And they were. Anyhow, as I
thought about the next day (day 2) is was apparent to me that the Moose had to
be honored and buried. And people needed time to make the decision to do that.
which is why I opened the space big time. They needed some air to come to grips
with the new reality. And they did.
ho
----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Peterson
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: Unintend Consequences, Collateral Damage and Truth Telling
Thanks for the truth Harrison - about the event and about your experience
in it.
Did you see any of it coming in the planning before the event? Sometimes
it is a real surprise when the air is out, the dead moose in on the table and
the spirit is ebbing.
I'm not clear from your story when you "left the room". If it was like
Rome, I assume it was on Day 2 in the morning? If so, what was evening news
like? Or did this happen in the middle of a one day event - an impromptu
evening/morning news with a break and permission to leave. A little more
detail here would help me.
Larry
Larry Peterson
Associates in Transformation
Toronto, ON, Canada
416.653.4829
la...@spiritedorg.com
www.spiritedorg.com
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