Ringing Bells for sessions.
I guess I can understand why you might be tempted in a short Open Space with short sessions, but even then my feeling is that is a temptation to be resisted. Part of this is the whole question of participants really taking responsibility for what they care about - including the consequences of either not caring or caring in a different way. But the real reason is a deep feeling on my part that the essential task of the facilitator is to create the optimal conditions under which the self-organizing system (the group of participants) can function most effectively. It is NOT about keeping things "on time," except for the start, and maybe the ending. For whatever it is worth, I always make best effort to start "on time" - not that it always works out that way.:-) And when it comes to the ending, I feel the obligation to at least point out to folks that the official closing time has arrived so that those who have some necessity to leave (planes to catch etc) can do so. But in between beginning and ending it is all open space, or should I say open time? My learnings have been that self-organizing systems quickly generate their own sense of time, which has little to do with the passage of hands over a clock face, and everything to do with the flow or activity. Every group will perceive this somewhat differently, and who am I to say what is a long time or short time. Point is -- it is "their time," determined by their own sense of need, accomplishment and ultimately the flow of their engagement. I can never know how long people will require for a particular conversation, and I think we have all been surprised how much can actually be accomplished in a few moments when things are really flowing. Inserting "arbitrary" time breaks interrupts that flow. "Arbitrary" in the sense that they are determined by an external timetable (our schedule) as opposed to the emergent and internal sense of time which the group creates for itself. To me this is "organizing a self-organizing system," which in addition to being an oxymoron, usually turns out badly or at least awkwardly. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Peggy Holman Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 12:23 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Thoughts on a Town Crier Has anyone noticed more milling about before people move into sessions over the last few years? I'd been noticing enough of a trend this way that I always intend to explicitly tell people that there won't be anyone telling them when to move, that it is up to them to follow their own rhythms and interests. I haven't quite internalized this yet, so I usually forget. Anyway, I think I may have figured out what is going on. I just did an OS for a friend for a group of about 50. He uses OS a lot but wanted to be able to really participate in this one. He told me that he was a little surprised when the first round of breakout sessions was starting that I didn't tell people it was time to get started. He came to me when the first round after lunch were scheduled to start and asked me wasn't I going to ring a bell and let people know? I basically told him that I never did that. The participants were adults and could figure it out for themselves. He was floored and a little upset. He said he always lets people know. And then it dawned on me: there are more and more people who have experienced OS. Perhaps there are many practitioners doing what Jon does - telling people when it is time to start the next session. I realized that since most of these folks came at Jon's invitation, they were probably enculturated to responding to a bell. So I took what seemed a middle ground to me and rang a bell, saying, "It's 1:30 and all's well." I figured a town crier was a minimalist thing to do -- providing information without attachment to how people used it. I then spoke more with Jon because I wanted to understand his perspective. He said that to him, what is posted, like the session start times, are part of the commons and when he is holding the space, that is part of his contract with the group, to give them the information. He doesn't care what they do once they hear it. So, it strikes me that Town Crier is a good description of what he does. Given the trend I mentioned, I suspect Jon isn't the only one doing something like this. I'd love to hear other thoughts on providing information that marks the passage of time. from sunny (for a change) Seattle, Peggy ________________________________ Peggy Holman The Open Circle Company 15347 SE 49th Place Bellevue, WA 98006 (425) 746-6274 www.opencirclecompany.com For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to: www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook "An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is to become the fire". -- Drew Dellinger * * ========================================================== 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 * * ========================================================== 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