the dark side of circle practices -- and related themes

[Harrison Owen]

This stream has taken some interesting twists and turns.  The possibility
for human invention is seemingly without end, and the
temptation/compulsion/necessity to add and modify is not only ongoing, but
probably essential. This is how we learn and grow. This is the nature of our
restless spirit. Having said all of that -- it does seem to me that
occasionally you reach a point where something works with such simple
elegance that further modification and elaboration appears as almost a waste
of time. As they say up here in the Great State of Maine -- Don't fix it if
it ain't broke. I find a certain profound folk wisdom in this approach,
although obviously it might lead to stagnation and worse. In the case of
Open Space we may have reached such a point and time, but I don't think
stagnation is the likely outcome. I have heard any number of people say --
OS is so simple it can't work, as if simplicity were a fatal flaw. And of
course, OS is simple and does work (at least at the three levels I spoke of
previously (formally, substantatively, and over time -- maybe). When people
call OS "simple" they are referring to (I think) the procedure itself, and
the role of the facilitator -- and in truth, there is not much there.
However, when viewed more closely, any Open Space, even a small and short
one, is a monster of complex interaction with levels upon levels. The
remarkable thing is that it apparently happens all by itself -- which is
what self organization is all about.  It seems to me that we might more
profitably turn our attention and energy to the fascinating (I think) issue
and opportunity of leveraging (building upon) the simple elegance of our
common experience in Open Space. This is not about adding to the
procedure -- but precisely the opposite. If anything we should be thinking
about one more thing not to do with the goal of finding a simpler elegance
that verges on the stark.  As we progressively remove our selves and
accretions from the process, the process itself should stand out with
greater clarity and power. In my experience it becomes increasingly possible
to view the elemental process of self organization as it is and not as we
might think we are creating it. The rewards are great, I believe. First we
can appreciate, and maybe understand, one of the deep forces of our life
together. And then (perhaps more importantly from the point of view of the
ongoing human adventure) learn to cooperate with, and essentially use, that
force to our common advantage. Rather like gravity, which we do not create
and cannot eliminate,  we could learn to rely upon the power of
self-organization to lift our human enterprise to new heights, even as the
force of gravity allows us to fly in heavier than air machines.

And what about all those other great experiments -- Dialogue, Appreciative
Inquiry, Community Building, and I suppose "Circle practices" (although I am
not quite sure what they are)? Speaking just for my self -- I must say that
each of these have been profound teachers. From the practitioners of
Dialogue I have learned what intense and productive communication can be
like. From Appreciative Inquiry I have learned the incredible power of a
positive, appreciate approach to my fellow human beings. And from Scott Peck
and Co. I have learned much about the nature and function of effective human
community. Each of these has opened my eyes, sharpened my attention, and
raised my expectations in terms of what and how we can function at optimal
levels both individually and collectively. But my deepest learning occurs
when with open sharpened,  eyes I see exactly the same things happening in
Open Space -- all by themselves, and all without the overt intervention of
some prescribed, facilitated process. I find my emerging conclusion to be
basically mind-blowing -- although some may take it to mean that I have
blown (lost) my mind. It seems to me that genuine dialogue, deep
appreciation of difference, and the manifestation of real community are all
the natural concomitants of any fully functional self-organizing system. If
this is true, the real focus should be on enabling/allowing the
self-organizing system (which we all are) to do what it alone can do --
rather than trying to "fix" apparent and real problems encountered along the
way with special interventions and added processes, as fascinating as those
processes and interventions might be. As I said, Don't fix it if it ain't
broke -- just make sure that "it" (good old self organizing system) has
plenty of time and space in which to breath.

Harrison


----- Original Message -----
From: "Artur Silva" <arturfsilva at yahoo.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: the dark side of circle practices


> --- chris macrae <wcbn007 at easynet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > The process starts erring to absolute democracy of
> > everyone must have
> > equal time contributions to speak at each phase
> (...) In other
> > word's the circle's communal harmony ... can
> co-create such
> > deep love of nice
> > behaviours to each other that it misses the biggest
> > spiral out above our
> > communal thinking's common denominator
>
> That's interesting, Chris.
>
> I have been, at times, in situations like that one -
> circles (or squares) where everyone must "be in
> place", must "speak in his turn" and must have a "nice
> behavior".
>
> They call this democratic, but in fact it is a
> dictatorship. In a democracy I can stay silent if I
> want. When everyone is obliged to speak that is not
> democratic. This can be a "rules' dictatorship"
> (created by the rules previously defined,) a "leader's
> dictatorship" (the leader(s) imposes that everyone
> must speak), or even a more interesting type - a
> "majority's dictatorship" (where the rule is created
> at the moment by the majority).
>
> Apart from claiming to be democratic, this type of
> groups/sessions also claim that they are following
> "good principles". The two I have heard more often are
> "appreciation" (like in "appreciative inquiry") and
> "dialog".
>
> Democracy (and Open Space) are made of dialogs AND of
> discussions. If one suppresses discussion and impose
> dialog (as in "everyone must be nice to each other and
> hear the other with appreciation") then there is no
> democracy and no open space, I think.
>
> Apart from the fact that there are some people that I
> don't want to hear with appreciation (say, Bush, to
> give only one example) the point is even more strange.
> "Playing the appreciative game" (an expression I have
> created just know) is only one form of "playing games"
> - and that is the essence of Argyris and Schon's Model
> 1.
>
> If, in a meeting or organization, one imposes dialog
> and appreciation, then a close session or organization
> will come to place.
>
> Artur
>
> PS: I never heard to call this "circle" and even less
> Open Space. But I would not be too surprised if some
> would call that. I have already referred to a
> respectable group of practitioners of "Communities of
> Practice", USA based, that not long ago claimed that
> they had used "Open Space" (OST) in a meeting because:
>
> - they assembled in a circle
> - they gave participants the opportunity to ADD issues
> to a large group of issues pre-prepared by the
> organizers
> - they divided the large group in small groups to
> discuss those issues (by choice of the organizers, if
> I recall well - but I recall well that there was no
> reference to "the law" - people were not expected to
> leave their group! That would not be considered
> "appreciative" to the other group members, I
> suspect...)
>
> But don't worry about what some people do "in your
> name", Harrison. You can always remember what some
> have done (and are doing) in His name. And at least
> about you I know that you exists - something I am not
> prepared to say about the Other...
>
>
>
>
>
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