Tree -- Always nice to hear from you -- on or off topic :-) Regarding the situation you describe where late comers take a conversation in unwanted (from the convener's point of view) directions, I guess I can't see any hard and fast rules. My personal inclination (were I a participant or convener) would be just to see where things went, enjoy that (or not) and then make a decision as to what I did with my feet.
Harrison NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!! hho...@verizon.net Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: Tree Fitzpatrick [mailto:therese.fitzpatr...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 10:22 PM To: hho...@verizon.net Cc: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Process in Breakout Groups Like you, Harrison, any time I find myself in a formal Dialogue process, it seems, at least to me, like the dialogue gets hung up on process and stultifies the conversation rather than enhancing it. In OS, any participant is free to offer a specific process for their topic/session: there is just as much freedom to choose process as there is to choose topic. I am biased against designating a process . . . . BUT, on the other hand, I have been approached by participants in open space events that I have facilitated by topic/session convenors who told me they were frustrated because they weren't sure if they had a 'right' to redirect the conversation if it drifted off, especially way off, the original topic. I am thinking of one particular case where the convenor voicing this frustration felt that people drifting in late in the session didn't really 'get' what the conversation was supposed to be about, which was OK but, back to the frustration: could/should the convenor of the session have felt free to say "that's not really what we are talking about"? I know what I think but I like to ask questions. A couple years ago, I experienced my first Conversation Cafe. Vicki Robin, who co-created Conversation Cafes, was at my table. On each table for this cafe, there were little cards with a few minimal guidelines about the Conversation Cafe format. I don't know about the other tables but everyone at my table was an experienced facilitator in their own right. We all 'got' the rules right away and were eager to, well, have a conversation. It seemed to me that every time someone spoke, Vicki Robin spoke up to point out how what had just been said did or did not conform to her minimal guidelines and then she proceeded to make suggestions about how we might proceed. Then someone else would talk and then Vicki would wade in again with feedback and direction. It was, for me, very unsatisfying. I was yearning, yearning to chat but I got all jumbled up with rules and regs and I didn't, after awhile, feel like talking at all. I began to wait as politely as I could for it to be over. This experience really surprised me. Conversation Cafes originated in Seattle and I know lots and lots of folks who have participated in them and many folks who know Vicki Robin well and hold her in the highest regard. I don't even know her and I hold her in high regard. And, even after my unsatisfying experience in one tiny cafe conversation with Vicki, I still do. But I fully expected the originator of this lovely tradition to be really, really open and to really, really trust her own process. In the last round of chat during my first Conversation Cafe, Vicki, who definitely saw herself as directing and facilitating our little foursome, asked us for feedback about our experience. I came right out and said that I had felt over-processed, over-directed and shutdown by her high direction. She took it OK. And I have not run in to her since and if I do I sorta hope she won't remember me. All roads lead to open space. This is so obvious to me that I expect just about everybody to trust the power of self-organization, especially visionary leaders like Vicki Robin. Guess I've gone way off topic from Jimmy's inquiry. If a facilitator reading this 'needs' to get me back on task, feel free to say so! -- Warmly, Tree Fitzpatrick * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist