Hi Tree, Please read my original response carefully. I did not say that the ‘invitation is not what matters’. Yet, my experience is that no matter what the invitation says, people will do what they need to do at the OST meeting. Birgitt -----Original Message----- From: Tree Fitzpatrick [mailto:therese.fitzpatr...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 10:54 PM To: birg...@dalarinternational.com Cc: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Conflict in community Birgitt, I am surprised to read an OS practioner declare that the 'invitation is not what matters'.
If the invitation does not matter, than what does? Isn't the invitation of way of setting intention? Isn't holding intention for the space, um, what an open space practitioner does? For me, clarity of intention is very central to any OS event and, for me, the intention is set in the invitation. The invitation, of course, is cocreated by the event's sponsors and the collaboration of sponsors used to come up with the invitation is, in my mind, essential to what it means to open space. On 3/20/06, Birgitt Williams <HYPERLINK "mailto:birg...@dalarinternational.com"birg...@dalarinternational.com> wrote: Hi Chris, Having an OST would work well. No matter what the invitation says, on Day One, they will end up airing what they need to air. Then Day Two and beyond is where they will start to find their way. It is not the invitation that matters so much as the amount of time. People, given time and space, and a common purpose, will find their way in an OST meeting, with the facilitator aware of holding a resonant energy field of a frequency that is at harmony. On the flip side, curtailing the amount of time compresses the conflict energy. Birgitt -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:HYPERLINK "mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu" \nosl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Chris Corrigan Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 11:17 AM To: HYPERLINK "mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu" \nosl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Conflict in community Hi Folks: An inquiry for you. I've had a couple of conversations this week with people involved with local school boards in the United States. The common themes in these conversations include high degrees of local conflict, positional politics, an extreme lack of resources over which no one locally has any control and labour relations that are best described as toxic. IN a conversation today, one man said that he wanted to try Open Space simply as a way to have all the parts of the system understand each other. I suggested that this might not bring the peace he was looking for, as people who would come to that kind of meeting hoping to convince others of their righteousness would feel at the end of the day that they were either winners or losers. I thought that result wouldn't necessarily be transformational. When I asked him if instead we couldn't issue an invitation to invite people essentially to answer the question "how can we BE together differently in this system" he balked a little at the notion of a smaller group of "like minded" individuals. Of course I don;t see this as starkly black and white, but nevertheless, he thought an "airing of the issues and a shared understanding" were most important. So my question goes to people who have worked in this situation, with groups that are highly wedded to positions. What are the kinds of invitations that allow for "airing," generated shared understanding, and perhaps lead to transformative relationships? By the way, I told him I would do this for less than 1.5 days. Thoughts and reflections welcome. Chris -- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Weblog: HYPERLINK "http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot" \nhttp://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot Site: HYPERLINK "http://www.chriscorrigan.com" \nhttp://www.chriscorrigan.com Open Space Resources: HYPERLINK "http://tinyurl.com/r94tj" \n http://tinyurl.com/r94tj * * ========================================================== HYPERLINK "mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu" \nosl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of HYPERLINK "mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu" \nosl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: HYPERLINK "http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html" \nhttp://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: HYPERLINK "http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist" \nhttp://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist -- No virus found in this incoming message. 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Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.5/284 - Release Date: 3/17/2006 * * ========================================================== HYPERLINK "mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu" \nosl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of HYPERLINK "mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu" \nosl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: HYPERLINK "http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html" \nhttp://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: HYPERLINK "http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist" \nhttp://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist -- Warmly, Tree Fitzpatrick Hearthkeeper for Evolutionary Salons NOTICE: This communication is intended to be confidential to the person to whom it is addressed and is subject to copyright protection. If you are not the intended recipient or if you are unable to deliver this communication to the intended recipient, please do not read, copy, or show it to any other person, but notify the sender immediately. Thank you. -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.6/287 - Release Date: 3/21/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.6/287 - Release Date: 3/21/2006 * * ========================================================== 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