Leadership in self organising systems

Larry Peterson larry at spiritedorg.com
Thu Nov 6 06:24:21 PST 2008


Michael, Doug and all:

I believe that there are lots of roles played by people in the ever
"becoming" field of relationships in a self-organizing system.  Over time,
some formal roles usually get established (and they certainly have in church
systems or in governments).  In order for the system to be vital and to
shift in new directions in relation to changes in its environment, emergent
leadership is required throughout and formal leadership must change. 

Obama has emerged as a leader and his team has used his community organizing
perspective and the internet to enable emergent leadership throughout the US
to get engaged. He has also engaged and inspired others through his
"rhetoric" and his "presence".  Sustaining that movement without becoming
entranced by the power and thus shutting down the emergence of others is
extremely difficult and also critical. 

I think "Wave Rider" is one way Harrison has helped all of us to become more
conscious of the nature of self-organizing human systems so we can go more
with the flow and not just our ego.

Larry

P.S.  I'm feeling much better with a successful surgery, although there will
be at least one more health intervention to come. Thanks for asking.


Larry Peterson & Associates in Transformation
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
mailto:larry at spiritedorg.com   416.653.4829   http//:www.spiritedorg.com



-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael
Wood
Sent: November-05-08 10:09 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Leadership in self organising systems

The way I was using the word "Mission" was equivalent to "Purpose", that
is, I was definining mission as "the purpose/reason for which the
organisation exists".

The question I floated was, "HOW the formal leadership (say, the
potential Sponsors of Open Space) go about the process of articulating
direction [by which I meant mission/purpose]? How does this direction
get arrived at in the first place, who decides and on what basis?".

I guess I am starting to understand Harrison's proposition that the
direction gets arrived at via someone caring (who could be any person,
not just one of the "formal" leaders of an organisation) and then seeing
how many others share that care (thereby forming a nexas of caring). We
seem to be seeing a large scale of nexus of caring forming up in recent
months in the USA. Barack Obama "posts a vision" and lots of people show
up and increasingly "buy into" that vision....and a huge internet/mobile
phone facilitated system self organises over a few months to network the
campaign. Often that caring has not arrived out of a vacuum, but has
emerged out of existing stories - we stand on the shoulders of our
ancestors.

My own context is the church where I (as clergy) wrestle, within myself
and with others, with some very inherrited "command and control" ways of
doing leadership. I am thinking that the role for formal leadership
(i.e. clergy and lay leaders in my context) would be to a) talk about
what we really care about deeply (because we are still part of the whole
system) and b) provide a safe, nutrient rich environment for others to
float what they care about (taking an Open Space approach). One of the
"boundaries" (thankyou Larry) which exists for the clergy is that we are
still are charged, in a formal sense, with passing on certain stories
and conducting certain rituals which carry a tradition. But in the more
Open Space environment, the tradition is more explicitly a
"living/evolving" tradition. Rather than the formal leadership saying,
"this is the way we do it and it's not up for any conversation", the
leadership approach becomes far more conversational - hence the
mission/purpose of the organisation, while retaining some kind of
central core of narrative, becomes more open to a contextually specific
outworking which is far more open to the wisdom of the whole
system/environment.

I am reading Parker Palmer's book (he is an American Educationalist,
with a Quaker background), "A Hidden Wholeness" where he says, "Truth is
an eternal conversation about things that matter, conducted with passion
and discipline"(page 127). Sounds rather like Open Space doesn't it. In
one of this lectures, Pope Benedict also pointed out that the word
"University" comes from "Universitas", meaning, "Conversations of
humanity". This theme of conversation just keeps emerging.

Leadership as a facilitation of conversation, conducted with passion and
discipline??? How does that sound?


Michael Wood 




-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
douglas germann
Sent: Thursday, 6 November 2008 11:04 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Wave Rider: Who is the self organizing?

Larry--

Really glad to "see" you back on the list! Did the surgery go well for
you?

It seems to me that both the members and the leaders of a group are part
of the system, and I am beginning to grasp what Harrison says about them
being a very small part of the system. But small jets (I am told) can
direct large streams of water and other fluids, so I suspect that might
also be true of human systems, such as communities. So I see the leaders
(that is all of the members, ideally, or at least many of them in open
space) as part of the self-organizing system.

At least at this hour of the night!

Michael--

It seems to me that the leaders are a larger group than just those with
titles, yes? So do they not have the responsibility for setting their
own boundaries? Even in the midst of your friend's democratic swamp and
my friend's "Group grope?" Is not the grope and the swamp just part of
the stew we all go through everyday, every project, every meeting? And
is it possible that that is a good thing, part of the softening up of
the meat and vegetables so we have a savory meal?

Jack--

I like your notion that mission keeps us from working on what our
purpose is.

Beyond your question for me is a more sticky one--what is the purpose of
a community or possibly even a country? Sure a country might have a
constitution of some sort, but I seem to recall that Great Britain got
along for many centuries without one, until some upstarts forced one on
the Crown. But a community, say a neighborhood in a city or a town,
might be just a collection of whoever happens to live there, without any
written charter. What then? Who decides what it's purpose is? Does it
have a purpose at all? Does it make a difference that no one knows what
its purpose is?

Can a case be made that the purpose might just be emergent? For
instance, in the community someone thinks something needs to be done for
the environment, so they organize a recycling drive. That drive has a
purpose--recycling wherever, whenever, etc. But the community lives on
without (written) purpose. Yes?

			:- Doug.



On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 10:35 -0400, Larry Peterson wrote:
> Doug:
> 
> I can't reply for Harrison, but I have some thoughts on the importance

> of "leaders" in self-organizing processes.  I think it is about 
> articulating the direction and the "boundaries" within which
self-organization happens.
> 
> I've recently been reading "Reinventing the Sacred" by Stuart Kauffman

> -- it is a tough scientific read so I'll read it again.  He does make 
> a strong scientific case for "self-organization" from molecules up -- 
> including biological and human systems (like economies). He provides 
> some "proof" that systems are not reducible to quantum/physics 
> phenomena.  He states that cells (for example) self-organize the next 
> level of boundaries within which self-organizing processes happen and 
> without the boundaries it wouldn't happen.  Boundaries are clearly 
> semi-permeable with their environment, but real enough to give some
definition to the reality.
> 
> "Leaders", maybe, in human systems are those people who articulate 
> both the frame and the direction well enough to help create the 
> conditions for more effective self-organization in that direction.  
> Formal leadership can also help by committing resources in a certain 
> direction. Certainly the role of formal leaders in organizations where

> I have opened the space have been key to both event success and longer
term engagement of others.
> 
> The other book I've read is "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Friedman.  He 
> clearly believes that to more intentionally address the climate change

> crisis upon us, a new regulation frame has to be created by formal 
> leadership -- governments. (He has some understanding that this 
> creates the conditions for
> innovation.)  Otherwise, it will continue to be too easy and cheap to 
> use fossil fuels that we will not make the switch and the next 20 
> years are critical to reduce the carbon and the number of climate 
> change calamities that will befall us (and keep us alive as a 
> species).  Certainly the crises won't be eliminated.
> 
> Now that my surgery is over and healing is on my agenda, I'm hoping to

> read and think and contribute more.
> 
> Larry
> 
> 
> Larry Peterson & Associates in Transformation Toronto, Ontario, Canada
> mailto:larry at spiritedorg.com   416.653.4829
http//:www.spiritedorg.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of 
> douglas germann
> Sent: October-28-08 10:29 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Wave Rider: Who is the self organizing?
> 
> Harrison--
> 
> If we self organize our work, why do you make such a point that we did

> not do it ourselves? (eg, Wave Rider, p 133)
> 
> I suspect the answer has to do with debunking the notion that someone 
> did it for us: The Leader. However, in point of fact, the people 
> organized it, organically and largely unconsciously. That's what I am 
> seeing. In other words, you seem to be saying, in the realm of humans 
> working together, it was not done by just a few of us, but by all of
us.
> Yes? 
> 
> But if just a few of "The Leaders" did it for us, is it not because we

> abdicated our role in the process to them? So even that is self 
> organizing?
> 
> When we are speaking of human enterprise, who is the self who
organized?
> 
> 			:- Doug.
> 
> *
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>From  Thu Nov  6 14:02:05 2008
Message-Id: <THU.6.NOV.2008.140205.0800.>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 14:02:05 -0800
Reply-To: anngalley at yahoo.ca
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Ann Galley <anngalley at yahoo.ca>
Subject: Re: Marilyn Ferguson
In-Reply-To: <FA2C9493-F007-4D3D-9A23-E897FBC7B8D9 at comcast.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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--0-618399158-1226008925=:71754
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=A0
=A0
Hi Ralph,
=A0
Sorry to hear of Marilyn Ferguson's death, as she was only 70.=A0 I too rea=
d Aquarian Conspericy sitting under a tree in 1980.=A0 A few years=A0 befor=
e I discovered Harrison and Open Space --- and now we have Obama!,=A0=A0 wo=
w.=A0 Opening space in its evolution.
=A0
thank you for bringing it to our attention
Cheers,
Ann=20

--- On Wed, 11/5/08, Ralph Copleman <rcopleman at comcast.net> wrote:

From: Ralph Copleman <rcopleman at comcast.net>
Subject: Marilyn Ferguson
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Received: Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 9:32 AM


Good morning from an America where I, at least, feel like I can breathe wit=
h relief...


Also this morning comes news of the death of Marilyn Ferguson, author of Th=
e Aquarian Conspiracy. =A0She was 70 and apparently died of a heart attack.


In 1983, I attended the first Organization Transformation Symposium in New =
Hampshire (USA), organized by Harrison and a batch of deliciously crazy co-=
conspirators (people who breathe together) known as The Washington Group. =
=A0The hope, vision, and sense of possibility expressed in Ferguson's book =
combined as organizing vision and principles for many of us gathered there.=
 =A0We talked about it a lot. =A0We longed to be people who could help brin=
g this "new age" about. =A0We sought to live up to its ideals. =A0One man e=
ven wore a small pendant on a chain around his neck that represented in sil=
ver the symbol for connection, unity, diversity in oneness that graced the =
book's cover. =A0We were in love with the idea of possibility Ferguson desc=
ribed as much as with the possibility itself. =A0Those were heady, dreamy d=
ays. =A0I know some of you were there, too. =A0The conference was a turning=
 point in my life.


On some universal plane, I believe Marilyn Fergsuon's thinking and writing =
somehow pre-saged open space and the realm of possibilities open space alwa=
ys allows. =A0And thanks to Harrison and his brilliant martini-fueled conco=
ctions, we have all become part of one grand conspiracy =96 which is what s=
elf-organization and wave riding may be all about. =A0No?


Good-bye, Marilyn, and thank you. =A0Hellooo-ooo open space....




Ralph Copleman* * =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU -=
----------------------------- To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your option=
s, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boi=
sestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSL=
IST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist =0A=0A=0A      _____________=
_____________________________________________________=0AYahoo! Canada Toolb=
ar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Dow=
nload it now at=0Ahttp://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.

*
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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
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<table cellspacing=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"0" border=3D"0" ><tr><td valign=3D"=
top" style=3D"font: inherit;"><DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hi Ralph,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sorry to hear of Marilyn Ferguson's death, as she was only 70.  I=
 too read Aquarian Conspericy sitting under a tree in 1980.  A few yea=
rs  before I discovered Harrison and Open Space --- and now we have Ob=
ama!,   wow.  Opening space in its evolution.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>thank you for bringing it to our attention</DIV>
<DIV>Cheers,</DIV>
<DIV>Ann <BR><BR>--- On <B>Wed, 11/5/08, Ralph Copleman <I><rcopleman at co=
mcast.net></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(=
16,16,255) 2px solid">From: Ralph Copleman <rcopleman at comcast.net><BR=
>Subject: Marilyn Ferguson<BR>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>Receive=
d: Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 9:32 AM<BR><BR>
<DIV id=3Dyiv1248813393>Good morning from an America where I, at least, fee=
l like I can breathe with relief...
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Also this morning comes news of the death of Marilyn Ferguson, author =
of <I>The Aquarian Conspiracy</I>.  She was 70 and apparently died of =
a heart attack.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>In 1983, I attended the first Organization Transformation Symposium in=
 New Hampshire (USA), organized by Harrison and a batch of deliciously craz=
y co-conspirators (people who breathe together) known as The Washington Gro=
up.  The hope, vision, and sense of possibility expressed in Ferguson'=
s book combined as organizing vision and principles for many of us gathered=
 there.  We talked about it a lot.  We longed to be people who co=
uld help bring this "new age" about.  We sought to live up to its idea=
ls.  One man even wore a small pendant on a chain around his neck that=
 represented in silver the symbol for connection, unity, diversity in onene=
ss that graced the book's cover.  We were in love with the<I> idea</I>=
 of possibility Ferguson described as much as with the possibility itself. =
 Those were heady, dreamy days.  I know some of you were there, t=
oo.  The conference was a turning point in my life.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>On some universal plane, I believe Marilyn Fergsuon's thinking and wri=
ting somehow pre-saged open space and the realm of possibilities open space=
 always allows.  And thanks to Harrison and his brilliant martini-fuel=
ed concoctions, we have all become part of one grand conspiracy =96 which i=
s what self-organization and wave riding may be all about.  No?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Good-bye, Marilyn, and thank you.  Hellooo-ooo open space....</DI=
V>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ralph Copleman</DIV>* * =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOIS=
ESTATE.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 OpenSpaceEmailL=
ists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist </DIV></BLOCKQUO=
TE></td></tr></table><br>=0A      <p class=3D"MsoNormal"> </p>=0A=0A  <tbod=
y><tr>=0A=0A    <td style=3D"padding: 0.75pt;">=0A=0A    <div class=3D"MsoN=
ormal" style=3D"text-align: center;" align=3D"center"><font face=3D"Times N=
ew Roman" size=3D"3"><span style=3D"font-size: 12pt;">=0A=0A    <hr align=
=3D"center" size=3D"1" width=3D"100%">=0A=0A    </span></font></div>=0A=0A =
=0A=0A      <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3=
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s.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/ca/iotg_search.jpg" align=3D"absbottom" border=
=3D"0" height=3D"25" hspace=3D"4" width=3D"25"><a href=3D"http://ca.toolbar=
.yahoo.com/" target=3D"_new"><b><span style=3D"font-weight: bold;" lang=3D"=
NO-BOK">Yahoo! =0A        Canada Toolbar :</span></b><span lang=3D"NO-BOK">=
 Search from anywhere on =0A        the web and bookmark your favourite sit=
es. Download it now! </span></a> =0A        </span></font><span lang=3D"NO-=
BOK"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
*
*
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