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Open Minded?

I attended an Open Space1 day today with a networking group I belong to. The idea behind this approach is it enables large groups to discuss complex issues in a self-organising way and handle complex issues without having passions take over. I thought that it had some interesting lessons for life.

This approach allows people to talk about what is on their mind. In order to do so, they announce the topic they wish to discuss and if others finding this interesting they come and join in. At the point they lose interest, or find they are not making the progress they hoped, or simply something else seems more compelling they are free to go and join another parallel group discussing another aspect of the issue.

In other words, you can only discuss areas that are sufficiently interesting to all parties to secure their attention. So often in life there are these one-sided conversations, and people will mentally dial out long before the other has stopped talking.

The other interesting aspect of this is whilst person A might have proposed the topic to be discussed; the dynamics of the group will often take the conversation into different areas. Traditionally person A would have to try to drag everyone back to the topic under discussion. Using this method, whatever emerges is okay, so no one has to get defensive, and therefore no one needs to get aggressive either.

I wonder if we had more conversations which were a genuine exploration and where the power was equal, how might this affect our lives?

“An open mind leaves a chance for someone to drop a worthwhile thought in it”

Resources:

  2. Principles of Open Space:
    1. Whoever comes are the right people
    2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.
    3. When it starts is the right time
    4. When it’s over it’s over
      Plus the Law of Two Feet…. “If you find yourself in a situation where you are not contributing or learning, move somewhere where you can.”

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 17:32 and is filed under Business Change, Communication, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Personal Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Open Minded?”

  1. joanne_s says:
    23 April , 2008 at 07:44

    This strongly reminds me of the Art of Dialogue by Bill Isaacs. He describes the effect of truly thinking and creating something new together as having a conversation without sides. It is explicitly NOT the same as having a discussion, an argument, even a deliberation. Rather it is holding an open space and letting something new emerge from the conversation.

    There are very simple principles for achieving this, though the reality requires discipline to put aside agendas. They are: Listening, Suspending, Respecting, Voicing.

    Take a teambuilding situation – you ask each person to listen to what each other person has to say (without doing anything else in that moment, like thinking up the counter arguments!), to suspend their own views and reactions, to respect the other’s person’s value as another human being and member of the team, and then voice whatever comes to them that can make the conversation grow. It can be a real eye-opener onto what is normally happening in the team; which is generally waiting impatiently for the last person to be quiet so you can chip in your bit! 🙂
    Jo

    Jo Sumner
    http://www.whatifyoucould.co.uk

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