What follows here is an example of what
the proceedings from an open space event look like (the practice
of documentation). These are the actual notes from a real session
that took place at a conference for about 100 environmental educators
in Illinois, in May of 2000. On the next page, this piece ALSO
wraps the art of opening and holding space into a simple metaphor
-- the testable, teachable, tangible practice -- of blowing bubbles
with soap. In true Open Space form, it's all starting to move
and flow together here now.
TOPIC #19: Youth and (many others) in Open
Space (Technology)
CONVENER(S): Michael Herman
PARTICIPANTS: Wynne Coplea, Marsha Nix, Nancy
Saulsbury, Karen Zuckerman, and some others who joined in along
the way...
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, ACTIONS:
-Open Space Technology is a simple, powerful
approach to facilitation, learning and leadership in organization
and community that allows everyone who cares to take direct responsibility
for contributing what they can, to create the world they want,
in ways that are aligned with and support their co-workers, allies
and neighbors. Details at <www.globalchicago.net/mha/openspacetech.html>
and <www.openspaceworld.org>.
-We started with a couple of stories about
what youth and others have done using open space technology to
organize and manage their work. One such story is available online
at <www.globalchicago.net/mha/stories/youthaction.html>.
Briefly, it's the story of how 35 Racine Wisconsin youth started
what quickly became the largest YMCA Earth Service Corps <www.yesc.org> chapter in the
country. They also injected themselves into the creation of a
new skateboard park, were recognized nationally and contributed
learnings that have given rise to other youth-in-open-space events
and organizations. THE FIRST DISCOVERY WE HAD WAS THAT OPEN SPACE
IS AS MUCH OR MORE A PRACTICE IN ORGANIZATION, A POWERFUL WAY
TO BE *IN* ORGANIZATION, AS IT IS AN EVENT METHODOLOGY.
-Beyond this, we explored a whole range of
possible beginnings, with middle school students in the classroom,
with park district employees, with community action meetings,
even with environmental educators regionally and statewide --
to address themes from responsibility, recertification, environmental
education, peace and safefy, to name a few.
-The ingredients required to open a space
are: invitation (a truth-filled statement of a really important
need), invitation list (everyone who might have an interest or
make a contribution), a space and time to meet (logistics) and
some plans to support the story that emerges, so that it can
keep emerging and growing. These pieces have to be loosely aligned
and similarly scoped. Mostly, however, we need a truth-filled
statement about something REALLY important, complex, possibly
conflicted, urgent for a functionally, ideologically, or demographically
diverse group of people to respond to.
-Some websites with more info were noted...
(see More Stuff section)
-Finally, the following was written by Michael
during this conference and summarizes some of the story he told
during this session to communicate something of the spirit of
open space...
Opening Space
for the BIG Stuff:
How Leadership Can Bubble Up in Organization |
I really can't explain Open Space in a nutshell,
but I can explain space, open space, open space technology, organization,
leadership and management in just a few bubbles. That's a lot
of ground to cover, but it's all there in the bubbles we used
to blow out of soap and water.
Start with the spaces -- around us, within
us, at every level of life, between people and particles everywhere.
Blowing bubbles just makes it a little easier, and a lot more
fun, to play with space. When we blow bubbles, we put a little
bit of ourselves into a structure that we know is not going to
last. And we remember that the space we live in is open, with
bubbles, structures, ideas, sensations, tensions and flows arising
and passing away, every moment, at every level. Open Space Technology
is a simple, powerful way to align human and organizational activity
with the realities of the open space and flow of conversations
we already live in... and blowing bubbles is one way of understanding
and preparing for leading people and organizations in open space.
The bottles of bubbles they sell these days
come with a new, and supposedly improved, bubble-blowing wand.
This new tool has little ridges cut in one end that make it very
easy to blow lots of smaller, same-size bubbles. This seems a
lot like our organizations these days, where we have lots of
little meetings, all nice, neat, easy-to-schedule, one-hour sessions
that invite small groups of people to address small, one-hour
questions and issues. The breath of one day now gets you lots
of little same-size bubbles, a full schedule and busy day of
little little, standard, manageable meeting bubbles focusing
on so many small pieces of our story. But our most important
work, our most pressing questions take days, weeks, months or
more to work through!
The challenge then, is to blow some really
big bubbles, to put more of ourselves into some larger, deeper
gatherings and conversations that can dare to take on our most
important questions in organization and dare to invite everyone
who will be needed to answer them. Asking the largest questions
we dare is, to me, the real work of leadership and blowing bubbles
is a good practice for remembering what is happening when we
take responsibility for being this kind of leader, from anywhere
in the organization. Specifically, the practice is to take one
of these new-fangled bubble-blowing tools, made for many small
bubbles and try to blow a really, REALLY big bubble -- to begin
to redefine what BIG bubbles and effective organizations ARE.
This stretching, expanding redefinition of ourselves and our
work is what happens in events facilitated in Open Space.
When blowing a BIG bubble with one of these
modern tools, you'll need to take a really BIG breath, to literally
embody or become a bigger bubble yourself, before you can create
one in the world. In our modern organizations, this means breaking
our own unconscious routines, scheduling a big chunk of time,
stretching and expanding our own sense of what is possible, and
generally gathering spirit and energy for something really new
and important to begin. Next comes focus and attention. We think
BIG bubble, which means we have to decide just how big we think
is really possible -- and to be ready to keep going if we find
that we were thinking too small. We focus on BIG and we focus
on that little loop in the wand -- and begin to blow, to let
go. In organizations, leaders wrestle with the BIGness of the
questions they dare to raise. Sometimes they get so focused on
the little loops, their tools, and let the soap drip away before
they dare to blow at all. But when things really work, it's because
somebody somewhere in the organization took the lead, and scheduled
something BIG, put a BIG piece of truth on the table, and blew
it out there for people to respond and contribute.
Whether blowing big bubbles or leading in
organizations, the challenge seems to be all about putting as
much of ourselves as we can into a structure that is dynamic
AND fragile, expanding AND on the edge -- of POOF! We have to
blow hard enough to support the structure -- and gently enough
to keep from blowing it up or blowing it away before it's reached
its full potential. This tension between blowing hard enough
to grow it and carefully enough to stay connected mirrors the
balance between making our own plans and goals internally and
responding to external, customer demands. It IS the tension of
leadership, played out for us inside our chests and right in
front of our faces, in every attempt to blow a really BIG bubble.
And, of course, once a bubble of any size
is full, it must be released -- and allowed to make its own decisions,
follow its own course. There is no such thing as bubble editing.
Likewise, once the invitation is issued, the people are gathered
and the space is opened, the leaders must allow the structures
they've set up and the people they've gathered to raise their
own issues, make their own decisions, and practice leadership
for themselves, testing and validating their boundaries. Everyone
knows that bubbles and organizations must be set in motion, but
we must also remember that once they really start to move in
open space, no amount of managing, analyzing, explaining, or
other efforts to control them is going to be very helpful --
or change the ultimate result.
More and more, in fact, it is proving both
easiest AND most effective to let them go, in open space -- and
enjoy the beauty and power of simplicity mixing with chaos --
the beauty and power of ordinary people doing everything they
can think of, as fast as they can, to maximize their learning
and contribution, for themselves, their customers and their whole
organization.
And when it's over, it's over. Though, like
with the bubbles, we usually can't wait to get back into that
bottle and do it again -- but BIGGER!
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