Is anything possible?

avner avnerh at zahav.net.il
Tue Apr 4 08:18:53 PDT 2006


Thank you Chris for your beautiful piece. 

Yesterday we have  just concluded (with Tova and Shay) a complex project with the Jerusalem municipality with half a day of AI and a day of OS (180 people from all ranks and units and some guests). The theme was creating cross boundaries partnerships within and outside the Municipality.

The CEO givens were that anything within this theme that will be according to the 5 year plan (until 2009) and city policy will have his and the system full support. other issues are legitimate as well but the full support of the system will be considered.

Allthough I tend to agree with Chris about the differences between the business/high teck world and the community based organizations, I find that many sponsors in businesses are using these kind of givens.

A crucial point in the more structured organizations ( and most businesses are like that) is the threat of OS to the top management (and sometimes medium m.). As OS flattens the organization, unless they feel also as leaders of this process they won`t let it really fly high.
Sometimes CEO`s are using OS to surpass their management in order to bring more space/ energy/initiatives to their organizations. We have to be carefull how to work with it and not to be easily tempted. In these cases the OS itself can be a wonderfull thrilling event but it might be `killed` softly later, even when  the CEO is competent and charismatic.  


Avner Haramati
Jerusalem
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chris Corrigan 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 7:50 AM
  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 <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
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    -----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

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  -- 
  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 

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