Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual

Tue Apr 24 04:40:55 PDT 2007

From: Tania Ashworth [mailto:Tania.Ashworth at aad.gov.au] 
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 8:07 PM
To: hhowen at verizon.net
Subject: RE: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual [Sec=Unclassified]

Scott,

At present I am learning how to live within the community where I have
facilitated two Workshops with OST as a mechanism for 'organisational
transformation' - management have elected to drop the 'change' since the
first OST Workshop. (In my former roles I have come into a community, held a
Workshop and returned to my office - I still worked with many of the
participants but not on a daily basis). It is 1 month since the last
Workshop where 70 of the 200 employees were invited to attend the 2 day
event, and for 50 of the 70 this was the second OST experience. My
observation after both Workshops is a noticeable 'heightened' positive vibe
(spirit) in the Division and a 'lightness' - lots of fun references to the
memories of butterflies, bumble bees and space invaders! - and more so after
the last Workshop because a core group of people were more comfortable with
the process and knew they were going to feel good after it and that it was a
worthwhile investment of their time. 

Where I work has the typical 'silos' we know and love and small pockets of
collegiate or collaborative discussion take place but it is not the norm
however the notion of community - which is typically spoken of in Antarctic
terms but less at Head Office - is emerging and becoming more common in the
vernacular and in the behaviour of management and staff in general. My
challenge is staying in integrity (of observation and support) and 'on
board' through the transformation while working within the machine. In the
lead up to both Workshops I felt quite exposed. Although I trust the
process, if it went tits up then I still had to live with these people!
Thankfully they rose the occasion and continue to 'want more of this' so the
journey continues to weave OST into the normal workplace practices while
still working towards making myself redundant although, as a member of the
'community', it will end up being a nicer place to work and I probably won't
want to go! Luckily I also have a Policy and Environment background which is
relevant to the Division. 

My feeling is that the invisible structure of OST works for this community
as it is a leveller - the Division comprises a mix of scientists, policy
makers, bean counters and logisticians, electricians, engineers and
operational people cross cut by gender and age groups from old school to
Generation Y. OST enables many of these chasms to be crossed in a legitimate
way and they are becoming a 'community' through experience. I have a few
sets of paintings of the feet, butterflies, bumblebees and space invaders
that I put up at meetings just to remind people of the 'laws'; we also sit
around a table; I bake a cake to share; and we start and finish when we are
ready - we book a couple of hours and it goes as long as it needs to on the
topic set. Setting a meeting space up like this each time is creating a
ritual and I try to apply the transaction analysis method to the exchange -
more positive interactions than negative - to gauge whether we are
continuing to move forward or not. This ritual is permeating other forums
around the place and will hopefully over time include me less and less until
new and more positive habits are formed.how long this will take is ? none
the less, a robust and constructive community is being formed and over time
we will bring in more of our external stakeholders into the space and grow
the Divisional sense of community more widely. 

Long story but hopefully an insight into living within the community after
an OST event.also, there is a rationale behind the selection of invitees and
the purpose of the Workshop - it is not meant to appear exclusive. 

Cheers, Tania

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harrison
Owen
Sent: Tuesday, 24 April 2007 5:34 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual [Sec=Unclassified]

Scott

Love it! Back in my "early days" back when I was writing and thinking a lot
about myth, ritual, culture, story etc. I coined a phrase I really liked.
"Mythos manifests Spirit." I used the Greek "mythos" as sort of a catch
basket for myth and ritual - for the simple reason that myth is spoken
ritual, and ritual is acted myth. You can't have one with out the other. So
one word for the two of them. And the function - is to manifest Spirit. But
this is more than acting and story telling unless it is really good acting
and story telling. Not just facts about Spirit - but face-to-face encounter.
Sounds a little esoteric - but I think we all have the experience. When a
good story teller is really on a roll, you don't just get "facts about" -
you get the feeling - Spirit. 

If you really want to go there, check out the 1st section of my book,
Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations.
http://openspaceworld.com/Spirit.pdf 

But I am curious. Why do you call it "pseudo- community"? My experience in
Open Space is that the experienced community may be very surprising,
unexpected, even mind warping - but very real for all of that. I have even
been so bold as to call it "Genuine Community." But does it last? Well yes
and no. What definitely does last is the memory that it occurred. And that
memory very often becomes the bench mark against which other "community"
experiences are judged. It is not uncommon to hear people say after an Open
Space and once they have returned to "the real world" - why couldn't we do
"that" (OS) all the time? Why not indeed? And what's to say that the
experience in Open Space is not the real world? We weren't doing drugs.
Nobody was hypnotized. Just a bunch of folks getting together - and it can
happen any time you want. Makes it pretty real to me.

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 Scott
Willard
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 1:42 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual

One thing that I would add to the definition of ritual is that ritual is all
about spirit.  I just finished reading The Healing Wisdom of Africa- great
book.  I believe it was by P.M. Some' and he states very clearly that ritual
is an opportunity for spirit to impact the lives of the observant.  To me,
that's what happens in OST.  One idea sparks the room and the market place,
conversations, evening news act as litany that welcomes the spirit of unity
and community to emerge.  

Writing this, I wonder about what happens after folks leave the room.  While
in the ritual space of OST a pseudo community is formed.  Do folks have
experience in fostering community once the meeting is closed and folks go
back to their homes?  I see the meetings that happen all over the world,
where folks go back time after time for OS on OS, but what about smaller
scale scenario's?

Scott Willard
Affinity Consulting Group
affinity-scottwillard.com 

----- Original Message ----
From: Andrew Ballance <andrew_ballance at yahoo.com>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 5:45:56 AM
Subject: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual

Hi again!

On the subject of my writing.. When it rains, it pours.. I didn't want to
clutter the previous post with too much reflection and interpretation. [If
you didn't read the previous post, you need to, or you might not know where
this is coming from]

There appeared to be a polarity at play here, between order and chaos, or
between imposed structure and self-organisation, something that the chaordic
thinkers have probably already chanced upon. To paraphrase what some of the
participants said, "Why do we need Open Space? Surely we can just decide to
be free, and have whatever conversations matter, that's our decision and
responsibility, and if anyone needs some help doing that, I'm here to help."
This is an important point: Open Space is a structure. To my mind, though,
there is an important dimension to it: it is a ritual structure. Rituals
allow us to say or do things that don't normally come out in everyday
conversation, they set the tone and say it's ok to express yourself now in a
particular way.
There are two definitions of ritual that I find quite interesting in this
context:
  - any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner
  - a prescribed code of behavior regulating social conduct, as that
exemplified by the raising of one's hat or the shaking of hands in greeting
It's clear to me that OS already is the first of these. That's great,
because that's the way we get results, or rather that's the way in which we
as facilitators regular social conduct for a period of time. But what about
that word 'prescribed'? What do you think of that? What happens if it is
prescribed? By whom? If it's not by anyone in particular, then that means OS
is accepted practice. But as accepted (expected?) practice.. does that limit
its effectiveness? Is that no longer a structure that generates energy, but
one that feels like an imposition and so acts as a dampener?

OK, enough philosophising for one day. Not that I expect we can come to an
answer to these questions, I'd be interested to hear what other people think
about OS as ritual?

Andrew

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