speaking with Lena Marchuk and more

Sun May 30 09:37:19 PDT 2004

some observations regarding this question about russia,  future search,
os and skills, culture, history... questioning not the observations, but
only some of the conclusions and stories being told ABOUT those
observations... noticing that some stories are more helpful than others...

first, it seems the thought that any form works better in russia because
of culture and history and lack of experience or skills seems
self-fulfilling and self-defeating... self-fulfilling because then we
try it less, and self-defeating because the people there are not going
to ever be anything but 'russian' and the 'russian culture' is a very
big thing to change, as a precondition to getting some things to 'work'
...and of course, on top of that, when things are ascribed to 'history',
well then that is even harder to change.

second, these conversations are not unique to russia.  in the last few
years, i've had the good fortune to be able to go around the world a bit
and introduce open space to people on different continents, in different
cultures.  i find they often say the same things i've heard over and
over in the US.  i remind them that General Motors is not a democracy,
and that americans spend 40-60 hours per week swimming around in
bureacratic hierarchies and only (maybe) vote once every four years.  i
have heard folks swear that catholics, sales folks, engineers, youth,
and others could not do and were not ready for os.

.... and it runs in a bit of a progression... (1) os can't work melts
into (2) well, i see how it can work but my colleagues, comrades,
leaders, whomever, would never get it and probably couldn't do it, and
then we show that people much like them actually can and do use it so
that (3) they agree to convene something and are sure nobody will come,
(4) lots of people come and then they worry that no topics will be
posted, (5) when many topics have been posted they come to me and say
"when will the sessions start?  they're not starting the sessions!" (6)
and then of course the sessions do start and they hover around a bit and
then come back, concerned that nobody is yet taking notes... and then
they get to worrying about action... and all the while mostly they are
ignoring that it is happening.

that said, there are certainly places where people would prefer to sit
still in the existing structure, rather than make a move... in open
space of any kind.  it is their choice at the moment not to look ahead
at what might be happening or upcoming... but to look at the present and
just hope it lasts... or just resign themselves that it can not ever be
different.  when they resign themselves, then they get stuck with the
current conditions, but they also get teh apparent comfort of no
uncertainty, no work, no responsibility, no surprises.  there are also
places where responsibilities are assigned in strict ways, or where
responsibility is hoarded by a leader.  in these places, low or
compressed passion, or narrow responsibility, it can be a slower, tricky
process to open space... but if we say that it is because the people are
russian or catholic or sales folks or lacking in skills... in some form
incapable... then we stay stuck indefinitely... better to say that
passion in a place is compressed NOW rather than skills are lacking, i
think... better to look for what is working, what we already have taken
responsibility for and ask about growing more of that...

i've not been to russia, so i find it surprising that there are these
reports of no goal setting, future... certainly young couples think
about getting someplace to live where they might start a family, even if
that place is not far from where they grew up... certainly farmers make
calculations for the sale of their produce before it's planted, weighing
the cost of seed and fuel and such... certainly you don't launch rockets
and space stations with no planning... roads get built and somehow meet
up with other things... there may be inefficiencies and idiosyncracies,
but the basic capacities are there...  it seems they have only to be
invited to be applied... again, grow more of what is workign...

and finally, i want to suggest that if future search is working...
consider that it is nothing more in a future search than a series of
open spaces... where the first several themes are dictated in a bit of
an order... and then the last one is 'action' and like you say, things
are either then going to get done or not... but i think it's more
helpful to say  'things didn't get done because passion was not
sufficient... or has not yet surfaced or not yet crested... or that
responsibility was assigned or withheld... or that resources are missing
or otherwise in short supply... because these questions set up the next
conversation... "well, what is really most important, what is it that we
seem to REALLY want, in light of what we've just seen?"  "where is
responsibility and how could it be assigned so as to allow more movement
in teh directiions we like?"  or "what are the resources that seem to be
missing and how might we get them or get on in some other way?" ...these
questions seem so much more workable than "how can we change the culture
of this place?"

my two cents here...

michaelh

Raffi Aftandelian wrote:

> Dear Harrison, Lena, and anyone else who has survived (like me!)
> scrolling through lots of html (aargh!) in their OSlist message,
>
> Thank you for your replies. For me, there are several ways to reach
> the unspeakable, as Tova Averbuch put it. What we as a
> group/community/organization want to achieve. It is hard for me to
> fathom that OS is THE way.
>
> On a gut level, I know that offering OS to organizations is part of my
> path, not the whole path. And my questions, doubts about OS help bring
> me to a more nuanced and careful yet passionate and interested place
> (in my attitude towards the technology).
>
> I think it is hard to say at this point if OS "works" or doesn't work
> here in Russia. While a lot of different people use OS, there isn't
> yet a virtual community of Russian-speaking OS'ers. We had a listserv;
> and Elena liked my nickname for us: "the silent community". That was
> because no one posted. I attribute the non-posting and non-existence
> of a Russian-speaking OS community -- real or virtual-- mostly to a
> lack of trust overall in the former Soviet Union. It is hard for me
> not to have judgement about this, because I have essentially chosen to
> make Russia my home. Maybe at some point I'll want to go back to what
> I call Bushastan (hence its citizens are Bushastanis, pardon the
> phrase). So, I think the verdict is out. One of the values of OS and
> FS here, I think, is that these approaches build up that key
> ingredient between people: trust.
>
> In terms of OS working (while all the pre-work conditions you describe
> happen), that's an important point. Risking making a generalization, I
> think that level of thoroughness does not happen. In other words, I
> work really hard with clients so that these conditions (doing the
> preparation work fully) are observed and it is rare that I feel it has
> been done adequately.
>
> But I do think there may be something to OS being "oversold" as a
> mentor and colleague put it. I am not sure I can develop the thought.
> As an analogy, I think of NLP. Now, I have never been trained in NLP,
> but I have read a number of books by its "founders" and have a friend
> and colleague who consciously uses NLP as an English teacher and
> interpreter. Initially, the NLP crowd poo-poo'd other therapeutic
> approaches, specifically humanistic ones. That therapists kept clients
> for years dealing with problems that could be solved in a single
> session. Now that may have true, but NLP in psychotherapy is not the
> answer to everything.
>
> And I am not sure OS is the answer to everything even when the basic
> conditions- presence of passion, space "open", etc.- are met. But I am
> loving the exploration for now and I do it with heart!
>
> On a side note, is there any way of setting up receiving the OSlist
> digest so that I just get text and no html code?
>
> Best,
> Raffi
>
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--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement

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