What color open space - and the middle man

[oskorea]

What a penetrating insight! 

Thank you for your beautiful interpretation of human lives in most
organizations of our time.

Yet, it is wonderful to know that we are working together toward another end
of the rainbow in sharp contrast trusting that self-organising nature, the
universe is starting to take its reversing move.

Happy New Year to All Midwives of Peace,

park

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert
Chaffe
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 8:46 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: What color open space - and the middle man

Colour is our interpretation of data (photons) from  a source.

So what colour is open space is based on the source and the interpretation
of the data by the people it touches.

In life the way I interpret colour changes constantly and the only way I
know how I am seeing the colour is to share with others and to also ask what
their interpretation is.  The same source different interpretation - the
collective interpretation may be used to describe the common view.  The
challenge for me (as I  seek to understand how others perceive the current
situation)  is am I just puddling the data to form a grey mess or am I
seeking the highlights the contrasts and the life ( similar to a prism in a
shaft of white light split into a rainbow)?

The middle "man" please don't eliminate me!

  In a living and vital group of people that is ready to work with change
the process of self organisation will give each of us a chance to perform a
range of roles, leader, follower, middle "man" etc at times that are
appropriate to the fulfilment of the needs of the situation to achieve that
deeper purpose HO spoke about.  Self organising implies change and to use
the resources available to the best advantage.  The ebb and flow of life in
a complex system means at any one time the components of the system need to
know how best to relate to each other to deal with the current situation, in
large groups this requires a large range of skills and abilities.

As we enjoyed our annual street party, the food was eaten and the gifts
given the brooms appeared and the rubbish bins collected.  The community had
gathered at the appointed time and for an hour or so the street was full
with happy people of all ages then quite quickly the people left and the
street as clear.  We have all seen this happen.  The magic part was that
roles that people played to ensure it happened.  Yes it was the past mayor
who was pushing the broom to clean the street, the local pastor and Rotary
president collecting the rubbish and as the last people left the scene the
street was  
clean and ready to greet Christmas day with a smile.   No  
organisational chart, very few defined roles yet it required everyone to do
their bit to make the event  work.  For me this is a reflection of a
sustainable community.

One question that we might ask is how do we reward people for the
contribution they make?  The organisational chart would have us believe that
reward is defined by position in the "organisational chart" and we hear the
phrase climbing the ladder of success as if it was real.  The chart and
ladder are constructs, and unfortunately often used to control and dominate
enterprise and often is says  
nothing about the contribution, skills, energy etc  of the people.   
It would seem to me that while we reward position rater than contribution we
will not move to the most sustainable and highest performing enterprise!
Possibly the even more debilitating thing in enterprise is to describe
people by position in a redundant construct called the organisational chart.

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