"Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again"

[Harrison Owen]

At 09:38 AM 12/28/2001 +1000, Robert.Chaffe wrote:
>Harrison,
>Thanks for the copy of your long proposal.  It does seem rather complex and I
>wonder if we need to follow this path to win the job?  A self organising
>system,
>learning organisations, etc.  are all constructs that we use to describe the
>reality in an organisation that works and is sustainable.  Somehow we need to
>find a way of allowing the client to discover their own words to describe
>their
>organisation and keep the Jargon for our own use.

Absolutely correct, in my view. Simple is best. And when dealing with a
client it is essential to start with the language, thought forms, mythology
and ideology of the client. Further, it has been my experience that all
clients (read all people that I have met) are "already there." Some while
back, there was a lot of conversation about bringing Spirit to Business. My
response what that was sort of Carrying Coals to Newcastle. A waste of
time. What was not a waste of time, however, was enabling the client
(person, people) to recognize and enhance what they already had/were. Call
it Helping them to grow their Now. Every time we open space with a client,
I think we make a start at that process, but I don't think that is the end
of the process. To the extent that people perceive their Open Space
experiences as "only" a better, more productive meeting (which it certainly
is) they are only skimming the surface to their disadvantage. However, at
the end of the day, they must see their own depths in their own terms. To
help them do this -- if they want the help -- I find it useful to have
critically considered what those depths might look like -- which means for
me going to my own depths and engaging in a process of critical thought and
reflection, which almost inevitably generates some language (aka "jargon").
Insisting that they use my jargon, however, is not helpful.

>Every time I start to give long responses to what Open Space is or can do I am
>reminded of the words from South Pacific  "Fools give you reasons, wise men
>never try!"
>
>For the business  we could ask.
>"Do you want to make the best of the current opportunities to grow your
>business?"
>" Do you want to make the best use of the resources of your business?"
>"Do you want your staff totally committed  new business plans and actions?"
>  "Are you prepared to work with your staff to create a new business that is
>better than what any of you thought possible?"

My experience exactly. I suppose if I have a mantra it is Don't sell
(explain) Open Space -- Do it! Don't talk about the method, theory,
esoterica of Open Space, talk about results. All true. And then there is
more... Leadership appears in new ways. Acknowledge that and go deeper.
Community appears in new ways. Recognize that and go deeper. Compensation
(pay checks) must come in some new packages. Think about that and go
deeper. Accounting systems serve a closed system way of being in
organization. A self organizing system, which manifests in Open Space, has
a different metric. What is that????

To be sure, things get a little complicated, and we certainly could get
buried in arcane esoterica, to say nothing of mind-boggling jargon, but we
have a secret weapon. Just open some more space, and let the fresh air in.
But I don't think we can do our job and also avoid the complexities. Sort
of comes with the territory.

Harrison

>Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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