Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

[gerardo de luzenberger via OSList]

"Facts of life"
I love it!!!
thanks mmp



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2015-01-22 21:55 GMT+01:00 Michael M Pannwitz via OSList <
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>:

> Dear Harold,
>
> "One Less Thing" to do appears to me to be "more" of a "principle" than
> the 4 or 5 "principles" many of us invoke (I call them "Facts of Life").
>
> When the isssue of "whatever" I want to NOT do any more, I ask myself:
> In which way does this support the force of selforganisation to unfold
> more freely.
>
> Asking that question myself, I might come to a conclusion that fits my
> perception of how effective not doing a particular "whatever" might be.
> Another facilitator (or participant or sponsor or) might come to a
> totally different conclusion. Also valid, is my guess.
>
> My own experience in the role of "participant" has been that delegation or
> sharing of tasks or having more than one facilitator (regardless of it
> being a 4 hour os or a multiple day event) destracted me in that I found
> myself trying to figure out why this was done. It did not shorten the
> facilitation nor did it make the facilitators more "invisible", in other
> words "my" time to deal with my issues was decreased.
>
> I remember, however, that my own experience as a 
> "participant/sponsor/facilitator"
> (especially at the Practice of Peace event in Berlin with Harrison) was
> very positive at the time with Harrison doing the facilitation on Day 1 in
> English, Anna Gochtchinskaia on Day 2 in Russian, and me on Day 3 without
> words and plenty of pantomine.
>
> In the many years of my facilitation life thereafter, I never engaged in
> replicating it, that is I did not add any of it.
>
> In another setting, where I was "sponsor/participant/facilitator" but
> being together with others in the same "role" and everyone with experience
> in the various roles, we practiced sitting in silence in the circle until
> someone got up and announced the first issue. It took about 5 to 7 minutes
> and we practiced this many times.
>
> The facilitation that impressed me most was that of Larry Peterson at the
> WOSonOS (at that time those events had the name "OSonOS") in Toronto in
> 1997... one year after I had run into Harrison and Romy and OST in the UK.
> At first I felt that his facilitation was without charisma, non-inspiring,
> non-impressive... later I felt it had been non-invasive, without control,
> with no frills, humble, unattached, attentive, disciplined... simply as
> close to invisible and still with utter presence...
>
> Greetings from Berlin... looking forward to the next WOSonOS this year in
> Krakow/Poland in September
> mmp
>
> On 22.01.2015 15:01, Harold Shinsato via OSList wrote:
>
>> I've been to several multi-day OST events where the facilitation was
>> delegated. Peggy Holman's Journalism That Matters in Detroit had
>> different facilitators that opened the space each morning. The Florida
>> WOSonOS had different facilitators each morning as well. The 2014
>> Opening Space for Peace & High Performance had different facilitators,
>> and so did the one this year - including different people for the
>> evening news.
>>
>> I, as facilitator for the opening and closing, had delegated the details
>> of how you post sessions to a colleague for my Montana OST in 2013. But
>> this year, Thomas "Tom" Brown, who opened the second day of the NYC
>> Opening Space at International House 2015, delegated the five principles
>> to the circle. I'd not seen that happen before, and it worked
>> brilliantly. Beautifully. Some walked a circle in the middle, like a
>> traditional OST facilitator. Some said something from their seats. Some
>> spoke just a few seconds, some took a minute or two. But it worked
>> really well. Kudos to Tom Brown.
>>
>> Will folks share how we can do "one less thing", including the actual
>> facilitation, and how it has worked to let that go to other organizers
>> or to the actual circle itself?
>>
>>  Thanks!
>>  Harold
>>
> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
>
>
>
> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 403 resident Open
> Space Workers in 69 countries working in a total of 143 countries
> worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.org
> ___
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an e

Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

[Harrison Owen via OSList]

Michael has really said it all for me, but just to underline a point or two
-- The job of the facilitator in Open Space is simple and quick: Enable the
space to open and quickly retire in an unobtrusive fashion. As I said
somewhere, Be totally present and absolutely invisible. This isn't about
"face time" for the facilitator, nor is it about sharing the glories and
burdens of facilitation. It is all about the participants, their passions
and needs which require some real space/time. Facilitators taking up
un-needed space/time defeats the purpose. I think.

Harrison

Winter Address
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
301-365-2093

Summer Address
189 Beaucaire Ave.
Camden, ME 04843
207-763-3261

Websites
 www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com
OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
OSLIST Go
to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

-Original Message-
From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
Michael M Pannwitz via OSList
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2015 3:55 PM
To: Harold Shinsato; World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

Dear Harold,

"One Less Thing" to do appears to me to be "more" of a "principle" than the
4 or 5 "principles" many of us invoke (I call them "Facts of Life").

When the isssue of "whatever" I want to NOT do any more, I ask myself:
In which way does this support the force of selforganisation to unfold more
freely.

Asking that question myself, I might come to a conclusion that fits my
perception of how effective not doing a particular "whatever" might be.
Another facilitator (or participant or sponsor or) might come to a
totally different conclusion. Also valid, is my guess.

My own experience in the role of "participant" has been that delegation or
sharing of tasks or having more than one facilitator (regardless of it being
a 4 hour os or a multiple day event) destracted me in that I found myself
trying to figure out why this was done. It did not shorten the facilitation
nor did it make the facilitators more "invisible", in other words "my" time
to deal with my issues was decreased.

I remember, however, that my own experience as a
"participant/sponsor/facilitator" (especially at the Practice of Peace event
in Berlin with Harrison) was very positive at the time with Harrison doing
the facilitation on Day 1 in English, Anna Gochtchinskaia on Day 2 in
Russian, and me on Day 3 without words and plenty of pantomine.

In the many years of my facilitation life thereafter, I never engaged in
replicating it, that is I did not add any of it.

In another setting, where I was "sponsor/participant/facilitator" but being
together with others in the same "role" and everyone with experience in the
various roles, we practiced sitting in silence in the circle until someone
got up and announced the first issue. It took about
5 to 7 minutes and we practiced this many times.

The facilitation that impressed me most was that of Larry Peterson at the
WOSonOS (at that time those events had the name "OSonOS") in Toronto in
1997... one year after I had run into Harrison and Romy and OST in the UK.
At first I felt that his facilitation was without charisma, non-inspiring,
non-impressive... later I felt it had been non-invasive, without control,
with no frills, humble, unattached, attentive, disciplined... simply as
close to invisible and still with utter presence...

Greetings from Berlin... looking forward to the next WOSonOS this year in
Krakow/Poland in September mmp

On 22.01.2015 15:01, Harold Shinsato via OSList wrote:
> I've been to several multi-day OST events where the facilitation was 
> delegated. Peggy Holman's Journalism That Matters in Detroit had 
> different facilitators that opened the space each morning. The Florida 
> WOSonOS had different facilitators each morning as well. The 2014 
> Opening Space for Peace & High Performance had different facilitators, 
> and so did the one this year - including different people for the 
> evening news.
>
> I, as facilitator for the opening and closing, had delegated the 
> details of how you post sessions to a colleague for my Montana OST in 
> 2013. But this year, Thomas "Tom" Brown, who opened the second day of 
> the NYC Opening Space at International House 2015, delegated the five 
> principles to the circle. I'd not seen that happen before, and it 
> worked brilliantly. Beautifully. Some walked a circle in the middle, 
> like a traditional OST facilitator. Some said something from their 
> seats. Some spoke just a few seconds, some took a minute or two. But 
> it worked really well. Kudos to Tom Brown.
>
> Will folks share how we can do "one less thing", including the actual 
> facilitation, and how it has worked to let that go to other organizers 
> or to the actual circle itself?
>
>  Thanks!
>  Harold
--
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-7

Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

[Martin Roell via OSList]

Harrison Owen via OSList wrote:
> Facilitators taking up
> un-needed space/time defeats the purpose. I think.

"Hello, and welcome to the third-day of this Open Space. Facilitator A
who had spoken on day 1 has given the responsibility to open the space
to me: let me introduce myself: I am Facilitator C from X in Z. It is a
great honor to be opening space for you today, after Facilitator A has
already delegated so nicely to Facilitator B yesterday, and didn't he do
a marvellous job? Thank you B, for opening space yesterday, and thank
you A for having delegated this important responsibility! And thank you
all for showing up today, after all, it is _you_ who this is about,
isn't it? It is all about the _participants_! And remember, the space is
always open! Except, I guess, when the facilitator is speaking! Hihi! So
now, after these words of introduction, let me explain to you the
*principles of Open Space*! You have all heard these before, but what
the hell, as I am standing here now and Facilitator A has given me the
responsibility"

I never got this "facilitation" on what-is-not-the-first-day. What does
it take more than to say: "Hi folks - anyone got any new topics?" and
sit down?

Love,
Martin

-- 
Martin Röll, mar...@roell.net, +49 1784984743
Twitter, Skype: martinroell | http://www.roell.net
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Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

[Harold Shinsato]

I've enjoyed the dialog from everyone - very thought provoking - thank 
you Martin, Harrison, Gerardo, Chris, John, and Michael.


Martin - thanks for your perspective. Going over the principles again 
the second and third days might seem redundant. I know that Paul Levy 
doesn't even mention them in many spaces he opens. And it's also true 
that in multiple day events, some people new to OST show up on the 
second or third days. But perhaps they can get the gist of it from 
everyone else. Have you been at any multi day OST's where they just got 
on with it at the openings, and didn't run through the law & principles? 
How did it work?


John - I like your resistance to the terms 'actual facilitation' and 
'delegation'. Would you to speak more about it? I feel conflicted even 
calling myself an open space 'facilitator', but I'm not sure there's 
better language for the role.


Michael & Harrison - thanks for your thoughts on the matter. I 
especially found thought provoking how Larry Peterson's uncharismatic 
presence was more effective at opening space than something more flashy. 
And I also sense that splitting the facilitation can take longer - and 
my first gut reaction was 'uh oh' - but I was quite surprised at how 
well it worked last week in NYC.


Harold


On 1/23/15 11:45 AM, Martin Roell via OSList wrote:

Harrison Owen via OSList wrote:

Facilitators taking up
un-needed space/time defeats the purpose. I think.

"Hello, and welcome to the third-day of this Open Space. Facilitator A
who had spoken on day 1 has given the responsibility to open the space
to me: let me introduce myself: I am Facilitator C from X in Z. It is a
great honor to be opening space for you today, after Facilitator A has
already delegated so nicely to Facilitator B yesterday, and didn't he do
a marvellous job? Thank you B, for opening space yesterday, and thank
you A for having delegated this important responsibility! And thank you
all for showing up today, after all, it is _you_ who this is about,
isn't it? It is all about the _participants_! And remember, the space is
always open! Except, I guess, when the facilitator is speaking! Hihi! So
now, after these words of introduction, let me explain to you the
*principles of Open Space*! You have all heard these before, but what
the hell, as I am standing here now and Facilitator A has given me the
responsibility"

I never got this "facilitation" on what-is-not-the-first-day. What does
it take more than to say: "Hi folks - anyone got any new topics?" and
sit down?

Love,
Martin



--
Harold Shinsato
har...@shinsato.com 
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush 

Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

[Suzanne Daigle]

Michael, what you described with Larry Peterson is also what I experienced
with Gail West in Taiwan at my first WOSonOS in Taiwan in 2009. A
simplicity and holding of space throughout that made room for so much to
emerge. I cherish the memory of it still in my soul.
Suzanne
On Jan 22, 2015 8:17 PM, "Michael M Pannwitz via OSList" <
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Dear Harold,
>
> "One Less Thing" to do appears to me to be "more" of a "principle" than
> the 4 or 5 "principles" many of us invoke (I call them "Facts of Life").
>
> When the isssue of "whatever" I want to NOT do any more, I ask myself:
> In which way does this support the force of selforganisation to unfold
> more freely.
>
> Asking that question myself, I might come to a conclusion that fits my
> perception of how effective not doing a particular "whatever" might be.
> Another facilitator (or participant or sponsor or) might come to a
> totally different conclusion. Also valid, is my guess.
>
> My own experience in the role of "participant" has been that delegation or
> sharing of tasks or having more than one facilitator (regardless of it
> being a 4 hour os or a multiple day event) destracted me in that I found
> myself trying to figure out why this was done. It did not shorten the
> facilitation nor did it make the facilitators more "invisible", in other
> words "my" time to deal with my issues was decreased.
>
> I remember, however, that my own experience as a 
> "participant/sponsor/facilitator"
> (especially at the Practice of Peace event in Berlin with Harrison) was
> very positive at the time with Harrison doing the facilitation on Day 1 in
> English, Anna Gochtchinskaia on Day 2 in Russian, and me on Day 3 without
> words and plenty of pantomine.
>
> In the many years of my facilitation life thereafter, I never engaged in
> replicating it, that is I did not add any of it.
>
> In another setting, where I was "sponsor/participant/facilitator" but
> being together with others in the same "role" and everyone with experience
> in the various roles, we practiced sitting in silence in the circle until
> someone got up and announced the first issue. It took about 5 to 7 minutes
> and we practiced this many times.
>
> The facilitation that impressed me most was that of Larry Peterson at the
> WOSonOS (at that time those events had the name "OSonOS") in Toronto in
> 1997... one year after I had run into Harrison and Romy and OST in the UK.
> At first I felt that his facilitation was without charisma, non-inspiring,
> non-impressive... later I felt it had been non-invasive, without control,
> with no frills, humble, unattached, attentive, disciplined... simply as
> close to invisible and still with utter presence...
>
> Greetings from Berlin... looking forward to the next WOSonOS this year in
> Krakow/Poland in September
> mmp
>
> On 22.01.2015 15:01, Harold Shinsato via OSList wrote:
>
>> I've been to several multi-day OST events where the facilitation was
>> delegated. Peggy Holman's Journalism That Matters in Detroit had
>> different facilitators that opened the space each morning. The Florida
>> WOSonOS had different facilitators each morning as well. The 2014
>> Opening Space for Peace & High Performance had different facilitators,
>> and so did the one this year - including different people for the
>> evening news.
>>
>> I, as facilitator for the opening and closing, had delegated the details
>> of how you post sessions to a colleague for my Montana OST in 2013. But
>> this year, Thomas "Tom" Brown, who opened the second day of the NYC
>> Opening Space at International House 2015, delegated the five principles
>> to the circle. I'd not seen that happen before, and it worked
>> brilliantly. Beautifully. Some walked a circle in the middle, like a
>> traditional OST facilitator. Some said something from their seats. Some
>> spoke just a few seconds, some took a minute or two. But it worked
>> really well. Kudos to Tom Brown.
>>
>> Will folks share how we can do "one less thing", including the actual
>> facilitation, and how it has worked to let that go to other organizers
>> or to the actual circle itself?
>>
>>  Thanks!
>>  Harold
>>
> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
>
>
>
> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 403 resident Open
> Space Workers in 69 countries working in a total of 143 countries
> worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.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
>

RE: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

[Harrison Owen]

Harold... Doubtless "it worked (in NYC)." But then again I find myself
asking, Worked for whom? And for what purpose? My intent in any Open Space
is always to insure that space opens as effectively, expeditiously, and
fulsomely as possible. With these hopes in mind I have concluded that the
less of me, the more space available for everybody else. Things seem to work
best when I practice Less is More with a vengeance, and always search for
one more thing not to do. The simple fact  of the matter is that I take up
an awful lot of space. It is also true that I actually enjoy doing that
under certain circumstances - Doing a Good Show can be very satisfying and
even useful. And for a story teller such as myself (some might call me a
born ham) the temptation is a real and present danger... to which I have
often succumbed J.  But when opening space, Show Time belongs to everybody
else. My time is "Exit Left - quickly and quietly. I think.

 

Harrison

 

Winter Address

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, MD 20854

301-365-2093

 

Summer Address

189 Beaucaire Ave.

Camden, ME 04843

207-763-3261

 

Websites

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com

OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
OSLIST Go
to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

 

From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
Harold Shinsato via OSList
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2015 1:39 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Delegating Open Space Facilitation

 

I've enjoyed the dialog from everyone - very thought provoking - thank you
Martin, Harrison, Gerardo, Chris, John, and Michael.

Martin - thanks for your perspective. Going over the principles again the
second and third days might seem redundant. I know that Paul Levy doesn't
even mention them in many spaces he opens. And it's also true that in
multiple day events, some people new to OST show up on the second or third
days. But perhaps they can get the gist of it from everyone else. Have you
been at any multi day OST's where they just got on with it at the openings,
and didn't run through the law & principles? How did it work?

John - I like your resistance to the terms 'actual facilitation' and
'delegation'. Would you to speak more about it? I feel conflicted even
calling myself an open space 'facilitator', but I'm not sure there's better
language for the role.

Michael & Harrison - thanks for your thoughts on the matter. I especially
found thought provoking how Larry Peterson's uncharismatic presence was more
effective at opening space than something more flashy. And I also sense that
splitting the facilitation can take longer - and my first gut reaction was
'uh oh' - but I was quite surprised at how well it worked last week in NYC.

Harold



On 1/23/15 11:45 AM, Martin Roell via OSList wrote:

Harrison Owen via OSList wrote:

Facilitators taking up
un-needed space/time defeats the purpose. I think.

 
"Hello, and welcome to the third-day of this Open Space. Facilitator A
who had spoken on day 1 has given the responsibility to open the space
to me: let me introduce myself: I am Facilitator C from X in Z. It is a
great honor to be opening space for you today, after Facilitator A has
already delegated so nicely to Facilitator B yesterday, and didn't he do
a marvellous job? Thank you B, for opening space yesterday, and thank
you A for having delegated this important responsibility! And thank you
all for showing up today, after all, it is _you_ who this is about,
isn't it? It is all about the _participants_! And remember, the space is
always open! Except, I guess, when the facilitator is speaking! Hihi! So
now, after these words of introduction, let me explain to you the
*principles of Open Space*! You have all heard these before, but what
the hell, as I am standing here now and Facilitator A has given me the
responsibility"
 
I never got this "facilitation" on what-is-not-the-first-day. What does
it take more than to say: "Hi folks - anyone got any new topics?" and
sit down?
 
Love,
Martin
 

 

-- 
Harold Shinsato
har...@shinsato.com
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush  

[OSList] Questions for those with more experience

[Leslie Zucker via OSList]

Hi everyone,
Going to the OSI in New York last weekend was the perfect prep for me to open 
space last night.  Thanks again to the gang who organized it and pulled it off 
so beautifully and professionally! 
I’m so grateful to get both that gentle tickle and firm knock on the head of 
what Open Space is and is not. 

I’m happy to report about my experience from last night and I also have a few 
questions for those with more experience…  
The theme was “Space for Dance and Dancers” in the Washington, DC area in the 
US.  It was a Thursday night event (5:30 - 9:00), it was free, catered, at a 
super accessible location and widely promoted. 
We had 67 RSVP ahead of time and 42 showed up. Not bad at all for the first 
time to try this within this community. The follow-up feedback survey has 
already gone out and feedback is very positive so far. Hooray! 

A few questions for those with opinions… 

In the Opening Circle, I did mention the importance of the notes for people 
(especially funding decision makers in the community) who could not be there at 
the event.  Nonetheless, the notes are underwhelming. Only about 5 out of the 
13 sessions turned in notes to the newsroom.  I’m creating the Proceedings 
document now, and I wonder if it merits putting any kind of paragraph at the 
beginning referring to the rich discussions that didn’t always result in notes. 
I'm feeling the need to provide some context for people who weren’t there and 
may be expecting more significant notes. I’m leaning toward saying something on 
the first page like…. “The following topics were proposed by the 42 
participants who attended the event. These 13 topics formed the “Marketplace” 
[insert picture of the Marketplace] -from which everyone could pick and choose 
from.  The conversations sessions were about 45 minutes each [insert agenda] 
and in some, notes were taken and in others, they were not. Many times the 
discussion is informal and unstructured, and doesn’t always get transcribed 
from verbal excitement into a documented representation.” 

 If anyone has included something similar in the Proceedings, can I see the 
text you used?  Any examples would be great!  

Also, in my experience - both as a facilitator and participant- of Open Space, 
the Closing Circle generally only includes half or fewer than half of the 
people at the Opening Circle.  I realize that the Law of Two Feet applies, and 
I wonder what anyone does or says to encourage participation all the way until 
the very end.  Your thoughts or recommendations about doing this? Verbiage you 
like would be a big help! 

All the best to all of you out there far and wide! 
Leslie

Leslie Zucker
Trainer, Facilitator and Life Coach for Life's Dancers
+1 (202) 425 7637
les...@lesliezucker.com
www.lesliezucker.com


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