Open Space being badly defined

ingrid ebeling ebus ie at institut-ebus.de
Mon Jun 15 15:38:29 PDT 2009


Harrison, Holger,

we don`t know the life circle of OST, I still enjoy celbrating it. I  
have the feeling it will become more and more an instrument of  
leadership.

We don´t know whether OST is already the essential of self organizing  
work or whether it will be integrated in normal work even in a more  
pure version. Be prepared to be surprized.

Ingrid

EBUS Institut für Entwicklungsberatung und Supervision
EBUS UG (haftungsbeschränkt) & Co. KG
Ingrid Ebeling • Am Alten Gehäge 6 • D - 30 657 Hannover
Tel.: +49-511-336 03 30 • Fax: +49-511-336 03 47
e-mail: ie at institut-ebus.dehttp://www.institut-ebus.de



Am 15.06.2009 um 21:44 schrieb Harrison Owen:

> Holger -- After Open Space? ("Regularly, I have been asking the  
> provocative
> question: "OST - so, what's next?" Not that I want OST to  
> disappear. But we
> can't possibly assume that it will be around for the next 1300  
> years.") One
> way of thinking about how to answer that question might be to  
> consider how
> we (or at least I) got to Open Space in the first place and see if  
> there are
> any clues. What were the design principles? First answer might be,  
> Drink Two
> Martinis -- but I am not sure how far that would take us. But when  
> it comes
> to serious design principles, there has been exactly one in all the  
> 25 years
> that I have been fussing with OST. That principle is: "Think of one  
> more
> thing NOT to do." At the first Open Space, we did some small amount of
> "community building" and "warm up activities," all of which were quite
> pleasant, but as near as I could see, they didn't add much. So the  
> next
> time, we didn't do them -- and everything seemed to work better. I  
> could go
> through a pretty lengthy list of things we peeled off here and  
> there -- but
> the bottom line is that Open Space as I would "do" it today  
> happened by way
> of elimination. Less and less turned out to be more and more.  
> Following this
> line of thought and general trend it could be that the "What next?"  
> After
> Open Space is nothing at all. Actually I rather like that. If we  
> really get
> it right we won't need extraneous processes to become fully what we  
> are --
> self-organizing critters. Or something.
>
> Harrison
>
>
> Harrison Owen
> 189 Beaucaire Ave
> Camden, ME 04843
> 207-763-3261 (Summer)
> 301-365-2093 (Winter)
> Website www.openspaceworld.com
> Personal Website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of  
> Holger
> Nauheimer (Change Facilitation)
> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:44 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Open Space being badly defined
>
> Chris,
>
> you said:
>
> "In the world of self-organizing systems and evolutionary processes  
> what
> matters is variety and diversity.  Things only get better when  
> millions of
> experiments are underway.  From those experiments come the  
> mutations and
> modifications that help create the next level.  It's how Open Space  
> emerged,
> and it's how it will disappear in good time too."
>
> I draw my hat in admiration - this was the most intelligent thing I  
> heared
> somebody saying about whether or not Open Space Technology must be  
> used in
> its original format (which we all love, and usually fight for) or not.
> Regularly, I have been asking the provocative question: "OST - so,  
> what's
> next?" Not that I want OST to disappear. But we can't possibly  
> assume that
> it will be around for the next 1300 years. Maybe it will: Robert  
> Jungk's
> Zukunftswerkstatt still seems to be around, and that tells  
> something about
> stickyness of methodologies :) .
>
> It reminds me of the question, "After John Cage, can there be any  
> other new
> music?" John Cage produced the famous piece 4'33" in the early  
> nineties -
> four and a half minute of pure silence:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E. But of course, there is  
> new
> music, even if it will be difficult to beat the radicalism of John  
> Cage.
>
> OST might probably remain the purest "technology of participation",  
> as John
> Cage's 4'33". I wouldn't know how to simplify self-organized  
> meetings. But
> as much as we love OST, people need to experiment in order to find  
> out which
> borders to cross or to stretch. We (the OST aficionados) are in a  
> way the
> keepers of The Holy Grail of OST and we need to be. But then, we  
> mustn't be
> to change resistant. Sometimes, OST does not solve the issues of a  
> client,
> even if more participation and collaboration is at stake.
>
> I repeat myself: if more and more groups who have different rituals  
> and
> cultures find a way to host meetings with a self-organization  
> component, I
> think we (and all the other Sandras, Marvins, Juanitas, Davids,  
> etc.) can
> proudly say, "we were part of a global paradigm shift in  
> collaboration."
>
> Some people will like OST better, and some not. I don't care. I  
> love it as I
> love John Cage.
>
> Holger
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.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 OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.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 OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.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 OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist



More information about the OSList mailing list