Half-way Technology (longish)

[Harrison Owen]

BJ Wrote: If you're still eyeballing this message, thanks for reading. The
writing helped me get greater clarity about ideas that have been rolling
just out of reach for a while.

 

Eyeballs glued - roll on Bj.

 

ho

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>


Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of BJ Peters
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 5:59 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Half-way Technology (longish)

 

Harrison-- I love your reflections! And I have some of my own random
thoughts. . .

It's my belief that this "halfway technology" paves the way for people (you,
us, our clients, etc) who "get it" to take it further (when and if ready) so
that we DO work ourselves out of jobs!

You continue to give OST as a gift to anyone who wants it and chooses to use
it, through your books and trainings. And we recipients, by sharing that
gift, by opening space wherever we can, (even though we get paid when
possible) are GIVING the gift to those who sit, stand, move, transform,
learn, create, act in that space we've held.

In the same way that the OST process is ever evolving (by finding effective
ways for the spaceholder to do less and inventing more efficient ways to
converge, etc.), the creative juices of this community and the larger
community of those who have experienced open space will flow, and simpler
ways of supporting self organizing and self managing will emerge.

I wonder if one of the reasons we rarely hear of long term lasting effect of
any organizational intervention is: this is the way it's supposed to be. If
change is constant, why do we expect a particular change effort to be
lasting? The efforts of the intervention will create results for the moment.
The results will contain a mixture of innovation, newness, seeming order,
chaos, conflict, confusion, etc. And then another element like management
change, economic change, market change will occur and the cycle will begin
anew. Wanting long term lasting results is our yearning for control and
predictability - both illusions. Some of us know that on a personal,
spiritual level, yet grasp for something more lasting in organizations.

Probably, I've muddied your waters. However, your reflections stirred
something in me. As an OD practitioner for many years, I've often said "I
don't know that any organization was ever changed long term because of an OD
intervention. And I bemoaned what I've called the short attention span of
"management" and felt sad that interventions were so short-lived because
that didn't seem to meet my need for adding value.

Now I'm thinking perhaps the measurement was wrong. Perhaps the client hired
me to stir the stew and see what emerged. Perhaps the people whose lives I
touched changed, in part, because of that touching. Lots of feedback has
been there to support that.

If you're still eyeballing this message, thanks for reading. The writing
helped me get greater clarity about ideas that have been rolling just out of
reach for a while.

Be Peace --BJ


BJ Peters
Institute for Conscious Connection
bjp1 at cox.net
602.279.4805

"Mutual empathy is the great, unsung human gift." --Jean Baker Miller


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