Questions about selforganization SWEDISH WORKSHOP NOV 28TH

Sun Nov 23 13:46:58 PST 2008

Hi Thomas,

This isn't quite organized in categories, but thought I'd share some  
ideas from a keynote talk I did in June for Seattle University's  
Organization Systems Renewal Program.  It was on the changing nature  
of change.

I spoke about three common strategies for addressing change: acting  
from habit (and suppressing disturbance), acting from certainty (and  
managing disturbance) and acting from inquiry (and embracing  
disturbance).  While there is an appropriate time for each of these  
strategies, when the actions taken don't work, the disturbance tends  
to get louder and nastier.  Ultimately, acknowledging that you don't  
know what to do makes room for facing the uncertainty that is a  
natural part of self-organization.  It is where there tends to be a  
willingness (or desperation) for consciously working with self- 
organization.  If you'd like a short article elaborating on the three  
strategies, it's here:
http://www.opencirclecompany.com/papers.htm

Below are some additional thoughts on the implications of what changes  
when leaders, change practitioners, and groups begin to work with the  
knowledge that everything is self-organizing.

have a wonderful event!

appreciatively,
Peggy

The Evolution of Change:
Some Implications for Leaders and Change Practitioners

(in no particular order)
Current Framing
Current Framing +
Both/and
Transcend and include
Either/or
Differentiate and integrate
Newtonian
New sciences
Strive for Stability
Move with the dynamic
Build/Construct
Support/Invite Emergence
Difference as problem
Diversity as resource
Predictable
Mysterious
Logistical
Hospitable
Mainstream
Margins
Process design
Container creation
Rows and squares
Circles
Hierarchy
Network
Outcomes
Intentions
Charismatic leader
Shared leadership
Work solo
Work in community
Incremental part by part
Whole system via macrocosms/microcosms
Top-down or bottom-up
Multi-directional
Classical
Jazz/improvisation

What you do
Restrain disturbance
Welcome disturbance
Facilitate
Host
Declare/Advocate
Inquire
Follow the plan
Follow the energy
Harvest
Midwife
Plan the work/work the plan
First next step -- now, now, now…
Take initiative
Be receptive
Conform to belong
Unique to belong
Focus on the form of things
Focus on the unfolding of things
Do your homework
Do your inner work

What it creates
Predictability
Experimentation
Rationality
Whole person presence
Alignment through agreement/compromise
Coherence through intention and co-sensing
Sameness
Differentiated wholeness

Useful Mental Models
1.     Behavior shifts when people have a lived experience of a  
system. Rather than serve just the good of individuals or the  
collective, when people view themselves as part of a larger body and  
that larger body as supporting what they love, they act so that the  
good of individuals and the good of the collective are mutually served.

2.     Conversation is fractal.  By sharing their stories, people  
discover what is most personal is also universal.  As they reflect  
together, even very diverse and conflicted people experience each  
other’s humanity, discover shared meaning and intentions, envision  
possibilities that creatively integrate differences into a larger  
whole -- all of which cultivate a sense of community.

Design to create a lived experience of the system
1.     Create hospitable space.  Context -- assumptions, history,  
culture, environment, constraints, resources, relationships -- shapes  
what happens next.  Hospitable space emerges when we create stable  
“containers” that take context into account, that provide life- 
enhancing physical environments, that open up inner/psychic space, and  
that enable the flow of vital energy through dynamic processes.

2.     Invite in the whole person.  People are more than their  
rational minds.  They are head, heart, body, spirit…

3.     Invite the diversity of the system to be present and express  
itself.  Bring the whole system into the room with all its passions  
and messy interconnectedness -- and welcome whatever it has to tell  
itself. Banish the unspoken cultural norm that belonging requires  
conforming by enabling unique expressions of what has heart and  
meaning to be fully heard.  Such work fosters coherence into a  
“differentiated wholeness” that includes and transcends complexity and  
diversity, in which differences shape new connections and a new sense  
of the whole that integrates tensions previously experienced as  
disturbances.

Prepare to lead
1.     Do your own work.  It takes clarity and courage to remain  
equinanimous in the midst of messiness.  The more capacity you have to  
stay centered in your sense of purpose and grounded in the questions  
that matter, the more you create the space for people to hear, see,  
and love themselves, each other, and the whole they are creating.

2.     Be receptive.  Move from the edge of what's known and  
predictable.  Focus through clear intentions, staying open to outcomes  
that emerge out of the mystery of attractive, compelling inquiries as  
people are inspired by the spirit of invitation to take initiative --  
taking responsibility for what they love as an act of service.

3.     Ask, rather than tell.   Ask compelling questions you are  
curious about, that you can’t answer on your own, and that open up  
space for new possibilities to emerge. Keep your certainties  
creatively flexible and open with humility.  Engage your fear  
creatively using curiosity to access the deeper sense in the  
situation.  Keep your initiatives fresh and creative through  
receptivity to the conditions, people, and ideas around you.

4.     Name emerging patterns.  In addition to harvesting the fruits  
of the work, sense the seeds of emerging  patterns that are ready to  
be called into being and invite them into form.  Plan the first next  
step.

5.     Do it again.  It is easy to get discouraged, wondering if the  
effort is making a difference.  Iteration maximizes and sustains the  
ongoing benefits of what emerges.  As outcomes become inputs into  
subsequent stages, systems learn and evolve and seemingly random  
connections among people and ideas begin to form coherent patterns  
that carry the system's shared intentions into reality.

______________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
425-746-6274
www.opencirclecompany.com

For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook

"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get  
burnt, is to become
the fire".
   -- Drew Dellinger

On Nov 18, 2008, at 4:20 AM, Thomas Herrmann wrote:

- Forwarded message from my collegue Agneta Falk (and me;-)) -
Hi listmembers,
We are having a day in Sweden at the end of November on  
Selforganization and Open Space. Unfortunately, Harrison is unable to  
make it here, so we will carry it out among ourselves in the Swedish  
Open Space Institute, hopefully with the help of Larry Peterson on DVD  
and you wave-riding folks on the list. As inspiration, we plan to  
enlarge and post the answers to the questions below in the conference  
room under four headings:
1. Selforganization and leadership
2. Selforganization and high performance
3. Selforganization and the importance of conversation and storytelling.
4. Prerequisites for self organization: natural systems (Stuart  
Kaufmann) - human systems
We would appreciate it very much if you would help us to elaborate on  
one or more of these concepts and are looking forward to receive  
answers from all over the world!!
If you have time to answer within a week we would be very grateful  
(answers received before Nov. 26 will of course also be posted). MANY  
THANKS in advance!
Agneta Falk & Thomas Hermann for the Swedish Open Space Institute

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