How do you live in open space?

Amanda Bucklow amanda at facilit8.com
Thu Jan 20 01:47:10 PST 2005


Hello! Amanda here...

I think I always lived the principles of open space: That is only engaging
in the 'conversations' that really interest me, allowing the day to organise
itself, trusting that what needs to get done will get done, allowing time
for contemplation and sometimes taking a snooze whilst others do the work!!!
The last one will amuse Harrison!

I have also always had a profound sense of the futility of hierarchy. That
has got me into trouble when I have appeared to have no regard for
authority. And I used to wonder why I was so uncompetitive and why I had
this belief that the fundamental cause of shortages and surpluses was
'competition' or the principle of making massive profit. We are in a
capitalist society after all and my parents were both 'entrepreneurs'.

The big difference is that before open space was part of my understanding, I
used to beat myself up about it! Why couldn't I just get sorted? If I was so
impressive helping others to organise their lives why couldn't I just
organise my own? Living in Open Space is so counter to everything we are
taught about priorities, time management and how to get to success.

Now I practice the principles consciously and I do that by having many more
questions to fuel the 'journey'. When things get chaotic more often I feel a
sense of 'this is the natural order of things and it will change given room'
than an overwhelming desire to 'get a grip'.  Not always though!!! But there
is so much evidence for me that Open Space works at every level of human
life that I am certain the world could run without planned organisation and
it would deliver our needs.

I have five years experience working in the UK rail industry and I can
confirm that it works according to open space principles anyway! 5
organisational changes in 2 years have done nothing to change the
fundamentals of the way in which the 'people' go about their work because
the conditions for open space exist at a deep level: A real need,
complexity, conflicting perspectives, and a deadline of 'yesterday'. It
works for those who have as their question 'how do we run the trains on
time, safely?' It doesn't work for those who are really asking 'how do I
ensure that my bonus is bigger than so-and-so's!'

It has also occurred to me that every belief system I know anything about
recommends the principles of open space and then man gets his hands on it
and 'organises' it!

The story about the children and their present giving is so heart warming
and full of hope. Hope that they will succeed in holding on to that spirit
and be able to live their lives in Open Space all their lives.

What a fantastic question!!! Thank you!

Very best wishes to all
Amanda


020 7242 3108

-----Original Message-----
From: R. Duff Doel [mailto:duff at innergy.ca]
Sent: 19 January 2005 16:48
Subject: [Fwd: Re: How do you live in open space?]

oops, it replied directly to Theresa instead of to the list...

Hi All,

This has been a fascinating discussion. I am particularly moved to
discuss the idea that there would be objections us all living in open
space like: "Who will run the trains? Who will grow the food? Will there
be enough?"

I agree that those objections are there and that much of the world is
not yet ready (or motivated) to see past the corporate paradigm that
currently drives our collective society. I would like to offer an
observation that i had about 4 years ago.

We had two children in an alternative school. They were aged 3 and 4.
Not too long after putting them in the school they were invited to a
birthday party for a classmate. When it came time to present the gifts,
the children, by themselves, organized into a circle, each holding the
respective gifts they had brought. They all sat in quiet excitement for
a moment then one of the children got up and took her gift to the
birthday girl. All the children sat patiently thrilled at the excitement
of the opening of the present. After that gift had been received in
gratitude and everyone had the chance to see it, another child,
seemingly spontaneously got up and repeated the process.

This continued until all the gifts had been given. The parents were not
directly involved with the process at all (other than the original
suggestion that it would be a good time to do the gifts) but observed in
silence. There was no apparent "pecking order" in the children that
determine who was next. It was, to me, a pure example of open space
without the name.

When i asked the other parents and teachers about it, they said that the
same thing occurs in the classroom. The children rarely needed to line
up for limited resources, they would just take their turns as each one
was moved and there was rarely, if ever contention or resources sitting
unused. There was also no consistent hierarchy of order.

I agree that it will require a revolutionary paradigm shift to take the
culture from our present structure to a more open space way of living
but i have faith that it does work, that things do get done, and further
that perhaps we would be less driven by "the end justifies the means"
motivation that currently is destroying our environment and social
harmony. The seed is already there in the children. All we have to do is
feed and water it and get out of the way so it can grow.

duff

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