Closure -- You Never Know

[John Dicus]

Here's a short story on closure.

Sometimes we never really know, when we attempt to open a bit of space, why
it never comes to pass.  And too often, we come to some conclusions about
our capabilities and effectiveness that might be unserving.

About five years ago I conducted a Systems Thinking session for the
leadership of  the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) police
department.  It went pretty well.  And that opened the door for a really
neat opportunity.  The Chief and one of his Captains wanted to host a
nation-wide get-together in Cleveland for all the nation's housing
authorities that had their own police department (or were thinking about
instituting one).  Moast housing authorities do not have their own.

They agreed to use Open Space for a full day of the two-day event.  It was
going to be televised on a closed-circuit TV network that served the
policing community.  During the event in Cleveland, they planned to talk
about neighborhood involvement, new challenges facing police officers,
improved communication with the greater metropolitan area, funding
strategies, and so on.  It was going to be really neat and break some new
ground for cooperation in an increasingly dangerous and frustrating
profession.

As the CMHA chief was literally about to put the invitations in the mail,
the CMHA Commissioner pulled the plug.  And she did it in a very commanding
and degrading way.  Well, it was a disappointment all around because the
level of excitement was extremely high.  A lot of high hopes.  People
involved in this work have so many unanswerable questions.  I was
disappointed as well.  And I always wondered what I might have done
differently to have given the effort a better chance of coming to fruition.

A few days ago, the person who was the CMHA commissioner at that time (5
years ago) was convicted of high-level fraud and misuse of her office
(funding diverted, books cooked, and so on).

I guess not everyone wants to bask in the sunshine that Open Space lets
into dark places.

You never know.

Take care,

John

--


John Dicus  |  CornerStone Consulting Associates
- Leadership - Systems Thinking - Teamwork - Open Space - Electric Maze -
2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City, OH 44280
800-773-8017  |  330-725-2728 (2729 fax)
mailto:jdicus at ourfuture.com  |  http://www.ourfuture.com

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