Thanks, Harrison for all those tips on fishing! I loved reading! Corina Castro e Silva (from Brasil) Paz e Bem!
Em 23/02/2012, às 19:31, "Harrison Owen" <hho...@verizon.net> escreveu: > There is an old saying to the effect that when seeking to help people it is > infinitely better to teach them to fish than to give them fish. The point is > obvious. When you learn how to fish you can feed yourself. The secondary > point may be less than obvious. When you are simply handed a fish the > conditions for learned helplessness and continued dependence, to say nothing > of subservience are created. Even with the best, most altruistic intentions > in the world, a fish handout has its problems. And what does all this have to > do with the price of tea in China? Not much, I guess, but I think it has a > lot to say about our roles as facilitators. > > One of the things I have always loved about Open Space is that it is not > rocket science. Anybody with a good head and good heart can “do it” – a > reality which has been proved time and time again. Early on I thought the > “magic” lay in the simplicity of the process – but it turned out it was worse > than that. There isn’t any process that “We do” – in fact the process does > us. Yes, I know – you have heard all this before… self organization at work. > We are simply remembering what we already know. But well before I made any > connection between Open Space and self-organization, I was struck by its > simplicity and universality – it simply worked… everywhere. The immediate > impact of this realization was a “tag phrase” I found myself uttering at > every opening of space. At the beginning and at the end I told the folks,” > There is absolutely nothing that I am doing with you that you cannot do for > yourselves.” It was all about teaching fishing. > > As time went along I found myself working the implications of this phrase. > Substantively, I told everybody who came to me that, while I would be pleased > to open their space, I would do it only once. Should they want to do it > again, I would help from the sidelines, and for all subsequent gatherings, > they were on their own. A second impact on my practice resolved into a simple > phrase: “Think of one more thing not to do.” > > Having come into the “business” (of facilitation) in the late ‘60’s I found > myself in the midst of a flowering of methods, techniques and procedures > emanating from the emergent OD movement in all of its manifestations. > Suddenly the “simple meeting” became a massive cookbook of possibilities. > Warm up processes, Ice breakers for starters. Interventions of all sorts > during the main course, with “Kumb’yah” and holding hands for desert. I > jest, but only just. Designing such a thing could take months and involve > dozens of people. And when it came to the actual meeting it almost seemed > that the Conference Committee plus assorted Facilitators outnumbered > participants by 2:1. I couldn’t help but wonder…was this trip really > necessary? > > In many ways, Open Space (OST) came to me as an answer to my questing. It is > true that two martinis helped and marked the birth, but I think the period of > gestation had been going on for a bit. I have joked that my essential > laziness was the primal cause, but more basic was a deep hope that there had > to be a better way. Was it not possible that human beings could engage in > intelligent conversation without “all that stuff?” The gin helped, I suppose > – but the answer was ridiculously simple: Yes – Just sit in a circle, create > a bulletin board, open a market place, and go to work. All the rest is > history, but I wasn’t out of the woods. > > Given my prior experience, to say nothing of the experience and practice of > my friends, I just could not believe that something so simple could possibly > work without help. Obviously we needed to “prepare” for Open Space. And so I > tried any number of warm-ups and ice breakers – trust games, relaxation > exercises, visualizations and more. Most were pleasant, maybe even fun – but > did they really add value? The only way to find out was not to do them – and > find out. > > As often happens, the first iteration of the experiment (dropping stuff) > happened quite unintentionally. I was in South Africa in the anxious days > immediately post Apartheid. We needed to do an Open Space -- FAST. Nobody had > ever heard of Open Space, but they were ready to try anything. So we just did > it. No preparation, no warm up, no nothing. Just the barebones: circle, > bulletin board, market place and to work. And to work they went! I learned > something, which has been confirmed again and again as the experience grew. > When space needs to open – Just Do it. But I must confess that holding hands > at the end still can feel good, although there is no need to sing Kumb’yah. > > But it wasn’t just the warm ups. As my experience with Open Space was > growing, friends and colleagues were creating their own approaches. Diana > Whitney and David Cooperrider with Appreciative Inquiry and Juanita Brown > with World Café, for example. Wouldn’t it make sense to sequence or combine > all these things? We tried, and it was fun – but did it really make any > difference? Did the work move more swiftly, were the conversations deeper? > Was the follow-on more effective? Despite my best efforts, I could see little > if any improvement, and I really wanted to. And to the extent that there was > a marginal plus, that seemed to have less to do with the cumulative effect of > the several approaches – and more to do with the simple fact that people had > been together longer. In fact on multiple occasions participants would come > up to me to ask why we hadn’t done it all in Open Space? “That is where the > cookie really crumbled,” one person said. (Translation: “That’s where the > conversation really got real.”) > > I know this is an argument I can never win. But the truth of the matter is > that there is no argument and I have no interest in winning. Each of us must > make our own judgment as to what might be the most effective and appropriate > in each situation. That said, the fact of the matter is that in 27 years of > observation I have never seen any group of people have the slightest bit of > difficulty entering into Open Space – even when the topic under consideration > was viciously volatile. Always worked, all by itself. I have, to be sure, > seen situations where the sponsors (and often the facilitators) were more > than hesitant. But for the people themselves – no problem. > > I suppose there could be an argument if my basic concern were to defend this > approach (OST) against all others, any combination thereof, or extraneous > heterodoxies. Were that the case, I am sure that I could be (should be!) > accused of a very biased, proprietary self-interest. But my interest is > rather different, and the simple truth of the matter is that I would be > delighted if all methods and approaches were simply to disappear – right > along with every last Facilitator. Throw out the Tool Box and The Profession! > No longer needed. It is all about teaching folks to fish. > > I judge myself and the impact of my work by a single criterion: How fast can > I become redundant? How soon can the folks fish for themselves? My task > becomes infinitely easier as the simplicity of my approach increases and the > necessity to explain fades away. Best of all would be a situation where there > is really nothing to explain – just Do it. And then remind the folks that > they did it, and can do it again. No more. No less. After that the only thing > left to do is post a sign: “Gone Fishing!” > > Harrison > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Dr. > Potomac, MD 20854 > USA > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) > Camden, Maine 20854 > > Phone 301-365-2093 > (summer) 207-763-3261 > > www.openspaceworld.com > www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST > Go to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
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