Open Space being badly defined

Tue Jun 16 05:43:39 PDT 2009

Harold:  I would agree that we are on an evolutionary journey and that
different folks, cultures and organizations are at different places.

We may not need a "facilitator" to open space although at this point
enabling the creation of a "container" requires some skill I believe.  We
certainly do need a "sponsor" -- someone who poses the question within which
self-organization happens.  To me, this is what "Wave Rider" is about.
There may be a few who are at the point of the "nothingness" in their
evolutionary journey -- not many have reached enlightenment I believe.  With
the OST practice (and others) more may be taking steps in that direction.
Some of us have glimpses and others may be there all the time, but I
certainly have some ways to go.

Larry  

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

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harold
Shinsato
Sent: June-16-09 3:20 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Open Space being badly defined

When Harrison wrote about Open Space disappearing, it reminded me of a 
three stage process of learning a technique that was taken from Aikido 
that Agile Software Developers have borrowed.

http://vikashazrati.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/so-your-agile-adoption-failed-e
ver-heard-of-shu-ha-ri/

Shu is the stage of learning. The student follows the technique 
mechanically.

Ha is the stage of detachment. The student learns the theory behind the 
technique.

Ri is the stage of transcendence. The student is now free to be original.

It sounds like Harrison is speaking about "Ri", where we can just be 
self-organizing without the training wheels. If the world were the 
student, we're barely in the Shu phase!

    Harold

Harrison Owen wrote:
> 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
>
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