Is anything possible?

Mon Apr 3 22:50:19 PDT 2006

I have been finding lately that in the world of business, government and big
organizations, people are much less likely to let go of control than in
community settings.  Corporations exist to stabilize and protect things:
assets, property, ideas, money, reputations...they are all about control.
Communities are messy, evolutionary, out of control and chaordic.   I find
that Open Space works beautifully in community settings, and works great in
organizations where you are all about building a community, or where the
leaders understand that the real way anything happens in the organization is
if you view the whole enterprise as a big messy community, in which the
agency of all contributes to the bigger good.  In general, you will find
very few people in corporations willing to take this risk, but in
communities, for the most part, this is how people operate.

I've given up on the holy grail of using OST in Fortune 500 settings to help
groups of IT managers find innovative work processes, for example.  It's
certainly possible there, and applicable and probably improves the world in
some small way.  But I've seen OST animate community action on poverty,
sustainability, rights, suicide, drug addiction, homelessness, food
security, economic development and child welfare.  I've seen people who have
nearly nothing find a true sense of power and purpose in the process.  So
I've taken to using it in places where it makes a huge difference in the
lives of people and communities, and I hold this arena in high regard,
because the people who take risks here do so with everything on the line,
and in some cases, everything means their life.

Dee Hock's quote is about living and life.  People live and die in
communities every day.  If they are willing to bring that richness of
experience to work in the corporations and organizations that exist all over
the place, Open Space will follow them in there and do all kinds of great
things.  But it will not make magic for folks who don't want to truly
experience the naked terror of "Is anything possible?"

Cheers,

Chris

On 4/3/06, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> Thomas -- I hear what you are saying, and I can certainly understand why
> certain executives would want to hold onto some "givens" (which I read as
> "controls"). And these are the same people who want certainties and
> guarantees. The only problem is there are no certainties, no guarantees in
> this life. There never have been, and there never will be. Yes, of course,
> there is one -- Life will end. But in the interim between beginning and
> ending -- everything is at risk, everything is uncertain. And that, of
> course is both the joy and terror of living. Dee Hock of Chaordic
> Organization fame has a nice phrase (amongst many) in his book. Dee was
> also
> the CEO of one of the world's largest corporations: Visa International.
> Goes
> like --
>
> "Life is not about control. It's not about getting. It's not about having.
> It's not about knowing. It's not even about being. Life is eternal,
> perpetual becoming, or it is nothing. Becoming is not a thing to be known,
> commanded, or controlled. It is a magnificent, mysterious odyssey to be
> experienced."
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland 20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
> archivesVisit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Thomas
> Herrmann
> Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 5:35 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Is anything possible?
>
> Dear friends in Open Space
> I am wondering where you find those leaders in organizations and
> corporations who are willing to support whatever will emerge from an
> OS-meeting? Unfortunately my experience is that this level of trust is
> very
> hard to find. I´ve also experienced leaders closing the space down, which
> could have been avoided if they had had some givens to hold on to.
>
> I always do my best to give the sponsor the possibility to make an
> informed
> decision about if they think OST is the meeting format they´d like to use.
> Using the concept of givens, I think makes it possible for the sponsor to
> open authentic space within the reality of that organization. Well, as
> he/she who is accountable perceives that reality anyway.
>
> Then of course it is important work to minimize the givens! And next time
> there may be fewer...
>
> But this question is not easy, if we´d have had an OS-meeting 15 years ago
> in Gothenburg about making the town internationally known, building an
> East
> Indiaman at a cost of 500 000 000 SEK would probably have been far
> exceeding
> any thinkable givens....now it is on its journey to China!
>
> So the question may be - is anything possible? And are the persons in
> charge
> willing to take responsibility for whatever happens - without any givens?
> I
> agree there is a difference when working focusing primarily within an
> organization where someone is in charge - or thinks he/she is in charge.
>
> I have a given tomorrow morning, have to get up early so:
> Warmest regards and good night
> Thomas Herrmann         Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
> Open Space Consulting   Fax   +46 (0)300-713 89
> Pensévägen 4
> 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
> Email: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
> www.openspaceconsulting.com
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>

--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
Open Space Resources:  http://tinyurl.com/r94tj

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20060403/ff59c6b9/attachment-0016.htm>