Re: Modesty & 5 Simultaneous Open Spaces

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Larry--

I appreciate your point that Open Space transcends AND includes hierarchy in
organizations.   My current client has raised very interesting and thoughtful
questions about hierarchy and Open Space and their appropriate uses during
this project.

They are in the midst of an ambitious building project, and will combine the
staffs from two separate offices in the new building.   I had wondered if the
urge to "command and control" would take over as the workload increased and
tensions rose.   What I am seeing instead is that team meetings continue to be
democratic.   The group identifies the needed tasks, and whoever has passion
(or needed experience) for a particular task takes responsibility.   Groups that
started working on a particular issue in the Open Space, right after
grounbreaking for the building, are continuing to work on many important issues,
gathering input and making recommendations or decisions.   New work groups are
developing their own procedures for how they will work together.

The place where I am seeing control is the appropriate place, the project
management for the building construction and the move.   They are doing a good
job of tracking all the many elements of the project and seeing that the
elements come together in the appropriate sequence.   But I am not seeing people move
to making unilateral decisions or to giving orders, under the stress of time
pressures.   My sense is that they may be somewhere "between stages" in the
model you mentioned.   And that the pressures of the physical transition have
not caused much regression to an earlier way of being together.

Very interesting!

Joelle

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