Tuning the bass note: a story from an organization using Open Space in an ongoing way.

Sun Apr 22 05:00:33 PDT 2007

Chris My, Friend  -- Bass Note. I like it! And to me it is more of a
thrummm. . .  those deep, practically inaudible, complex vibrations that
hold everything together. The double basses and cellos in a symphony
orchestra playing in their lowest registers, while flutes and violins do
their thing. But take away those basses and it all falls apart.

If you have to name it in an organization maybe something like: Spirit,
Organizational Consciousness, the informal organization - or
self-organization at work. I suspect that real organizational break through
(and wisdom) will arrive when it is clearly understood that the "thrummm,"
by whatever name, is NOT an incidental, but rather the essential core
without which everything else in the organization lacks substance.

Getting to this point may not be easy, if only because there is a massive
amount of tradition which says that The Organization is what we organize.
That is what it says in all the management books, what they (generally)
teach in business schools, and of course - the message of the conventional
wisdom. We all KNOW that The Organization is what the CEO runs. It was
designed by somebody, or several somebodies, it is described by the
organization chart, and managed by The Plan/Budget. Acknowledging the
"thrummm" turns all of that on its head. What we have assumed to be primary
(the formal organization) is in fact (I believe) just a little piece of
flotsam and jetsam floating on the great ocean of Thrummm. Well if you are
going to be a heretic, you might as well be a little poetic - or at least
try.

When the formal organization is in accord/aligned with the Thrummm
(informal/self-organizing system), everything works out pretty good. When
there is a disconnect, the formal organization becomes trivial, ineffective,
and essentially powerless. And I think you are absolutely right - Open Space
gives us the opportunity to listen to the thrummm - and thereby reconnect to
our deep rhythms. So Chris - your CEO may think what he is doing (allowing
for some open space) is sort of an add-on, a little something extra that
would be nice to do. I don't think so. I think it is the most important
thing he/she will ever do. 

Harrison 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

Open Space Training  <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com

Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org/>
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com 

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 2:26 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Tuning the bass note: a story from an organization using Open Space
in an ongoing way.

Hi friends:

It's been awhile since I posted a story about a group I was working with,
but I thought this one might be interesting.

I spent the last week shuttered away in a lovely retreat setting on northern
Vancouver Island amongst eagles, sea lions and killer whales working with a
national organization who is helping indigenous communities to create
effective governance that advances their rights and land title.  The
leadership of the organization are old hands with Open Space; the President
and I worked together for many years using Open Space in communities to
galvanize leadership, and the interim CEO is a close friend and OST
confidante.  These two gentlemen have been wanting the organization to adopt
Open Space as their basic operating system for a year now, and they have
hosted a couple of OST meetings within.  Last week we did two OST meetings
and some training to get things grounded even deeper. 

The organization's interest in OST is both as its operational system and to
use in communities to help leadership and community members do the work of
governance.  The community work is interesting, but what I learned this week
was more about how OST is used in a long term way within an organization. 

For the last couple of years the organization has been in a developmental
mode and it has focussed much on its structure, roles and responsibilities.
Everything that is done is - technically - supposed to be in a workplan and
supposed to be budgeted and accounted for.  However, the staff of the
organization were finding that there was much work that needed to be done
outside the plans and budgets that would make their formal work more
effective - no surprise really but they discovered how critical this work
is..  In an Open Space last year, the staff got quite turned on to the
potential of the process to identify the "out of the budget" work that
needed to be done.  A number of important projects were proposed and started
but they had thin support from leadership and other pressing issues took
over their time and attention.  Action waned and pessimism crept in. 

Last week marked the initiation for a new CEO who is very interested in
making sure there is time and space for staff to work on issues that support
the culture and the relationships within the organization.  This group is
spread wide and thin across Canada and so finding ways to work together
virtually is important, especially to support action planning and follow up
coming from what are becoming regular Open Space events.  So on Tuesday in a
full day OST meeting about the operations of the organization, there were
some excellent conversations on working as a network and supporting an
organizational culture that is both responsible to the plan and budgets, but
agile enough to be able to deal with unexpected opportunities.  Wednesday
and Thursday we did some in house training and then Friday, hosted by three
staff members, we opened space again for action planning on the sessions
that were held on Tuesday.  People got right down to action plans, some of
them creating gant charts and budget allocations.  All the action groups
made commitments for what I call "next first steps" and the new CEO,
recognizing the importance of what was unfolding in front of him invited the
staff to make sure that everyone prioritized the work that came from the OST
even over the other pressing issues they had waiting for them back at their
offices.  He wanted to be sure that the results of the OST had the best
possible chance for success even though they seemed not to be in the already
approved workplans. 

I wondered why this was, and we had a conversation along the following
lines: 

This group is using Open Space on a regular basis to take care of the work
that is not in the workplans, not in the budget and not necessarily even
directly a part of what their organization seems to be about. But what we
learned this week is that Open Space, used in this way, takes care of the
"bass notes" within an organization. There is a kind of deeper hum within
every organization - call it the culture if you like, but it's more like a
field - that supports the work, generates the working environment and
connects to the purpose of each person. People who are highly satisfied with
their jobs and organization will often feel connected to this deeper field.
They resonate with the bass note, the fundamental note of the chord. When
this note isn't present, it feels like work is not connected into a deeper
pattern. Understand here that I am talking not about organizational purpose
- it runs below that. It is more like organizational inspiration, operating
at the level of the spirit of the place. Making Open Space part of the
operating system of an organization results in tuning this bass note, or
perhaps sounding it again. We have a chance to open space to breathe a
little, get some distance from the mundane tasks of our job and ask some of
the bigger questions about who we are and where the organization is going. 

The folks in this organization are lucky that the upper leadership wants to
see things working this way and has provided them with the time and
resources both to meet in Open Space and to carry out the small projects
starting next week that keep the bass note humming. And of course, we tuned
up relationships as well, brought familiarity and warmth to an organization
that is spread thinly across the whole country so that people can remember
how we were when we were together, something that helps them continue to
work virtually.

Thought you'd like to know.   I'll post updates here as they progress.

Chris

-- 
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com

Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com * *
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