OST vs OD

[Chris Corrigan]

Michael mused:

>  in the training and practice workshops we're doing around the world
now,
>  the
>  focus is on practicing open space *as* organization...and i envision
a
>  time
>  when we create practice groups not just in communities but in
companies,
>  so
>  managers end up holding space for each other as co-practitioners...
no
>  need for
>  outside OD people in OS cases... just a peer to come witness and hold
>  space for
>  what is happening.   i think that managers and others who are doing
the
>  operations of the org learning to hold space for each other is one
>  equivalent
>  to having hold organizations 'wake up.'

My experience working with managers when we are working with this
approach is that when they "get it" they see their roles changing
radically. They turn away from monitors and towards space holders,
holding space for their teams in the greater context of the
organization, cleaving open more space in the wider organizational world
and inviting their teams to identify and do the work that can be done.
One manager I am working with at the moment has become "fierce" (as in
proud, not aggressive") in her defense of her team, facing the world
with a defiant stare with all this bubbling Open Space behind her, and
she is now turning her attention to the larger organization and inviting
others to do what they are doing.

As a whole, this rippling effect, the effect of spirited doing,
contributes to an awareness of work life that asks some serious
questions.  And those are questions that, once planted in one's mind,
can never go away.  Questions like "Is this really working?" or "Are we
really making a difference?"

Having those conversations swirl about within an organization, and
having those awarenesses evolve naturally is the purest form of
organizational development (read "evolution") that I know of.

Chris

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