Harrison....LOL! I haven't received an email in my inbox that pushed so many buttons in one email in a long time. I won't address all of them in this mail. Thank you for the smiles this morning. You are I must be long overdue to have lunch together. I remember the seven times that you were in Ontario with your Open Space Technology training and in my sponsor role I participated actively. I believe that one component of our work together that the participants loved was your sweeping comments followed by my perspective, often differing considerably from yours. I think we had a lot of fun with those differing perspectives at the time. And by 1993 at what was then called OSONOS I remember posting something that I did annually for a while....the topic 'Harrisy', a play on your name of course with the implication of 'what do we actually do that is different from what Harrison does/says he does'.
On the subject of planning and Open Space Technology, for more than two decades every group I have assisted with their planning have had one or multiple OST meetings as a VITAL part of the process. I cannot imagine planning without including OST. I started calling 'planning' a 'Preferred Future', similar to making intentions. It is not about control. It is about dreaming....together. It is about how we are all novices at co-creating our future....something we are figuring out on planet earth....that we have some significant impact on 'reality' as it unfolds.And just in case it is true that everything is spirit, that everything is conscious energy, we can affect that energy from an ocean of possibilities to a smaller sea of likely probabilities. To what extent can we do that? Don't know. Making intentions, creating vision boards, co-creating a picture of a desired future, giving ourselves permission to do so in whatever ways feels right and exciting....all are parts of us playing in this earth plane as adolescent creator gods and goddesses....playing, learning. So, some of us might do what you did in earlier days as captured by Billie Alban and Barbara Bunker in Large Group Interventions....we tack something on after the OST to help people formulate their co-created dreaming and help them put some traction with it beyond the enthusiastic traction created within the OST. Blessings, Birgitt On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 11:26 AM Harrison Owen via OSList < oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote: > Occasionally somebody ponders the possibility of Open Space and Planning – > as in, could you do Planning, Strategic and otherwise, in Open Space? My > immediate response has always been, Yes. As a matter of fact I have done > just that on a number of occasions. > > > > There is no question that when we “opened space for our future” (which > always seemed to be the essence of the theme), a marvelous time was had by > all. Something that looked very much like a “plan” emerged with attendant > work groups – all committed and in place, and of course the time taken for > the exercise was minuscule compared to standard practice. End of story. Or > is it? > > > > Planning, at least in common usage, has some association with controlling, > or even *creating*, the future. Indeed, many would argue that control of > the future is the whole point of planning. Open Space, on the other hand, > is all about self organization – which implies that control as we usually > understand it is impossible. So Planning in Open Space would seem to be an > oxymoron. You simply can’t get there from here. > > > > Upon reflection it does seem that Planning and Open Space go together > rather like oil and water. It is also true that on those occasions where I > was privileged to be with a group Planning in Open Space – it was > marvelous. Good stuff seriously happened, and best of all people really had > fun – even if there were times when it seemed like we were all hanging on > by our finger nails because things were moving so fast! > > > > Of course the “proof of the pudding” in this business is not, “Did you > make a plan?” but most importantly – Did it work? And it is precisely here > that things really get confusing. The plans not only “worked” as (self) > reported by the participants – But they worked faster and better than ever. > Almost to the point that it seemed the distinction between “planning” and > “doing” had dissolved. Wow! > > > > I can see another heresy just coming into view. Everybody “knows” that > Planning comes first. Neat, orderly, rational, deliberate – considered over > and over again. THEN... Action. But what would it mean if it happened all > at once? ... That there really was no meaningful distinction between > planning and doing? Not as an ideal, but as an experienced reality? > > > > Some might say that this is a clear indication of mental aberration – Mad > in a word. On the other hand... were the experience real (as in repeatable, > non-drug induced, whatever) we might just have to take another look at what > we mean by “Planning.” > > > > > > Harrison > > > > Winter Address > > 7808 River Falls Dr. > > Potomac, MD 20854 > > 301-365-2093 <(301)%20365-2093> > > > > Summer Address > > 189 Beaucauire Ave > > Camden, ME 04843 > > 207 763-3261 <(207)%20763-3261> > > > > Websites > > www.openspaceworld.com > > www.ho-image.com > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > Past archives can be viewed here: > http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org -- Birgitt Williams President & Senior Consultant of Dalar International Consultancy, Inc. http://www.dalarinternational.com Co-founder of the Extraordinary Leadership Network http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com Co-founder of the Genuine Contact™program and author of The Genuine Contact Way: Nourishing a Culture of Leadership http://www.genuinecontactway.com Co-owner of the Genuine Contact Co-owners Group Ltd. http://www.genuinecontact.net *Supporting leadership development for leading in a culture requiring agility and flexibility in a performance environment of constant change.* Leadership development at your own pace? Become a member of the Extraordinary Leadership Network http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com to participate in an online leadership development program designed to increase the leadership skills and capacity you need to perform in a performance environment of constant change. PO Box 19373, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27619 phone: 1-919-522-7750
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