Is anything possible?

Tue Apr 4 07:15:36 PDT 2006

My predominant work has been in corporations of late. Definitely, with
all of the constraints and the layers of bureaucracy in corporations, it
is harder to work with OST or any other participatory approach that is
about change. However, I have found that those in corporations are truly
hungering/longing for this work. The yearning isn’t simply about a
meeting....it is for a whole different way of working. In my
perspective, every organization IS an Open Space Organization. Doesn’t
matter if it is a police department, a corporation, a community. It
doesn’ t need to be developed or created. What we offer is a method for
assisting the organization become conscious of itself as an Open Space
Organization in terms of how work really gets done anyway. And thus the
Conscious Open Space Organization (COSO) reveals itself. Yes, harder to
achieve in the corporate world. But well worth the effort. And there is
also lots of work to be done in communities too and that is very
rewarding too.

Blessings,
Birgitt

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 1:50 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Is anything possible?

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 <HYPERLINK
"mailto:hhowen at verizon.net"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 HYPERLINK
"http://www.openspaceworld.com"www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute HYPERLINK
"http://www.openspaceworld.org"www.openspaceworld.org 
Personal website HYPERLINK "http://www.ho-image.com"www.ho-image.com
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archivesVisit: HYPERLINK
"http://www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html"www.listserv.bo
isestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:HYPERLINK
"mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]
On Behalf Of Thomas
Herrmann
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 5:35 PM
To: HYPERLINK
"mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"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: HYPERLINK
"mailto:thomas at openspaceconsulting.com"thomas at openspaceconsulting.com 
HYPERLINK
"http://www.openspaceconsulting.com"www.openspaceconsulting.com

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

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
HYPERLINK
"http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist"http://www.openspaceworld.org/osli
st

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

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
HYPERLINK
"http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist"http://www.openspaceworld.org/osli
st

-- 
CHRIS CORRIGAN 
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: HYPERLINK
"http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot"http://www.chriscorrigan.com/pa
rkinglot
Site: HYPERLINK
"http://www.chriscorrigan.com"http://www.chriscorrigan.com 
Open Space Resources:  HYPERLINK
"http://tinyurl.com/r94tj"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 
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.4/299 - Release Date: 3/31/2006

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.5/300 - Release Date: 4/3/2006

*
*
==========================================================
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/20060404/3b51db9f/attachment-0008.htm>