Open Space client opportunity

Harrison Owen owenhh at mindspring.com
Fri Jul 21 06:26:44 PDT 2000


At 05:53 PM 7/17/00 -0400, you wrote:
>As I sit here today putting together an outline programme for Diageo (as
>requested), I realise that I am not as strong as  I might be in myself, in
>terms of moving from Open Space events into an on-going Open Space presence
>- or in the longer run an Open Space Organisation.  The client has said
>that they do not want this to be a 'one-off' - more the start of a journey
>- which is perfect.  And they have asked for thoughts on what the follow-on
>or journey might look like.

*********************************
Romy --

I am not sure that what I have to say here will be of any direct help is
framing specific "how tos" and "what nexts," but if I was sitting where you
are sitting, here is where I would start -- at least conceptually.

Opening point -- The issue is not to create an Open Space Organization (by
whatever name) -- but rather to acknowledge it. It already exists, even
when it is covered over by layers of bureaucracy and years of traditional
practice. Heresy I know, but here is the thinking behind the outrage. It
starts with a growing certainty for me -- That there is no such thing as a
non-self-organizing system. There are only a number of (deluded) folks who
think they did the job and therefore have the right/duty to be in charge.

The connection between Open Space and self-organization is pretty obvious,
and when I think about both the joy and power (to say nothing of creativity
and productivity) of  an organization working in Open Space -it all comes
back to being (consciously) what we already are --- self-organizing. I
would argue that the major hang-ups we experience organizationally come
about when we do things that are contrary to our essential nature as
organizations -- like try and be in charge, etc.

So, when we talk about an Open Space Organization we often do so as if this
was something we must bring to an existing organization, I think it is
already there, and our role is to help folks to realize it.

Doing an Open Space is the first step -- give people the experience of
being authentically what they already are. It's called honesty, and it is
amazing what happens when we are honest. Things like pretence, hideouts,
guilt and similar sorts of things just seem to disappear, or at least feel
a lot better -- and as icing on the cake, we actually get something useful
done. So that's a start.

Next step is to anchor the experience. We know that for many people the
Open Space experience goes so fast and feels so good that they can't
believe it. So it is useful to spend some time (not a lot of time) in
reflection... Questions like -- what happened, how did it happen, and would
we like it to happen again????

Then something a little odd ball -- Look for the same experience in your
organization. We usually spend time enumerating all the problems. I suggest
looking at what works. Find that spot in the organization where it is
really fun and productive, and my bet is that the operative procedure there
will look a lot more like an Open Space than the Rules of Engagement as
found in the Organizational manual.  The "spot" may not be  a large one --
but unless the organization is totally moribund I am sure it will be found.

QED -- Guess what -- we don't have to do anything new. We just have to be
the way we already are (essentially).


I have gone pretty fast and the logic is a little loose... but it is much
easier to bring to life what is already present than to create something
totally new. Of course there is a problem. We have spent most of our
organizational life trying to get rid of and/or control the life of our
organizations. So some sort of behavior change will be in order. But at
least we will be starting from a point of experience...


As a sort of Post Script -- Dee Hoeck (sp?) -- Mr Chaordic Organization --
enabled a most remarkable organization, Visa International. It was
remarkable for at least two reasons. First it worked, and second -- nobody
organized it. What is  more remarkable is that since Dee came back to the
public view, he has been attempting to replicate his success with other
organizations. To the best of my knowledge, his success rate to date has
been "0" -- And the reason, I think, is that he is attempting to organize a
self-organizing system. Something work with that picture. I don't think we
need to make the  same mistake when dealing with an Open Space Organization.




Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-469-9269
Summer Phone 207-763-3261
fax 301-983-9314
website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh
Open Space Institute website www.openspaceworld.org
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