Leadership in self organising systems
douglas germann
76066.515 at compuserve.com
Thu Nov 6 18:17:28 PST 2008
Michael--
Wonderful, wonderful! That's what I was groping for and hoping to say!
<<But in the more Open Space environment, the tradition is more
<<explicitly a "living/evolving" tradition.
In such an environment, how do we carry that tradition forward?
:- Doug.
On Thu, 2008-11-06 at 12:08 +0900, Michael Wood wrote:
> 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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