[OSList] The Gentle Art of Doing Nothing -- a continuing saga

Tue Aug 9 18:52:03 PDT 2011

Fascinating story....I like 'shaggy dogs'

Early this morning I read this little piece by John O'Donohue (To Bless the Space Between Us) which touched my heart and gave a fresh new meaning of invisibility to me...

"Fixated on the visible, we forget that the decisive presence in our lives - soul, mind, thought, love meaning, time and life itself - are all invisible. 
No surgeon has ever opened a brain to discover crevices full of thoughts. And yet our thought determines who we think we are, who we think others are, and how we consider the world to be. We are not the masters of our own reality; granted we do choose the lenses through which we see the world, yet the shape and colour of these lenses are offered to us from the primal benevolence of the unseen world. Everything that is here has had its origins there. The invisible is the parent of the visible."

In other words, long live the leprechauns!

Cheers
Brendan
(from a crispy winter's morning in the South West of Australia)

On 08/08/2011, at 5:33 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:

> This may be something of a “shaggy dog” story, but it does have a point, I hope. Maybe even several points – ending with some reflections on the role of the facilitator. So bear with me (Grrrr!), if you will – and we WILL get there. I promise.
>  
> Birgitt’s call to awareness of the flow of Spirit or energy is surely to the point. If nothing else such awareness will remind us how deeply connected we are with each other and the total cosmos. As our physicist friends will tell us, it is all energy, albeit a little clumpy at points, and we are but a little clumpy moment of the flow. The more esoteric amongst us might substitute Consciousness/Spirit for Energy, but I suspect that you come out at pretty much the same place. Different story, but similar conclusion. We are all in “this” together, united in ways that we can scarcely think or know – though goodness knows we have spent a lot of time trying. And the journey of exploration continues, as well it might, for it may well be the most important journey we will ever take. Something about finding our home in the universe. Who am I, where am I, where am I going??? I would guess that we have made some progress, though truth to tell, I am infinitely more wonder-struck by the immensity of the horizons and the vastness of the unknown, and the presently and probably unknowable. Awesome, and not a little bit humbling. But the Quest is real and exciting – or so I have found.
>  
> And then there is Open Space Technology. That funny thing that popped into our conscious experience courtesy of two martinis. Not planned, designed, or expected. It appeared as what seemed to be a good idea at the time. And the ridiculous part is that it “worked” when virtually all (current) theory and practice indicated that it couldn’t, wouldn’t and shouldn’t. Even worse it has continued to work (by virtually any definition of “work”) through 100’s of thousands of iterations, in 136 countries, over 25 years. Something definitely was going on – but what?
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> When faced with the unknown, particularly something that seems to make no sense at all, we humans are driven to sensemaking. Our normal approach is to tell a story in which we attempt to pull all the available facts, as we see them, into a coherent narrative – that makes sense. A different form of storytelling, perhaps more formal, is to create a theory which is literally – “a way of seeing things” (from the Greek “theorein” to see). But theory building and storytelling are one and the same, albeit there are different rules and terms. Many people when faced with a theory (or story) almost inevitably ask – Is it true? Is it right? But unfortunately, I don’t think those questions really apply. All theories (stories) are false to some extent – we don’t see all the facts, we don’t understand the facts we’ve got, and after all there are lots of ways to see things (multiple theories/stories). But we can ask, Does it work? And “work” in some fairly precise ways. Is it fully descriptive (takes into account all known facts)? Is it powerfully predictive (not only accounts for the present state, but points the way to the future)? Is it elegant (covers all bases with a minimum of words – Occam’s Razor)? Given these criteria it becomes fairly easy to spot “bad” theories. They make sense only by leaving out/down playing salient facts. Their predictive power is minimal. And they do all of the above with a maximum of verbiage/jargon.
>  
> Now back to our funny Open Space Technology. What’s the story? What’s the theory? I suspect that for many (most?) people, particularly those coming from an academic environment (B-Schools, OD programs, etc) Open Space is seen as part of a much larger complex of “Large Group Interventions” and shares a common linage and theory base. In a word, OST was developed as an intervention out of the insights and practices of Behavioral and Management Science. As such it is an articulated  process, initiated and managed by facilitators (managers) intended to produce pre-determined outcomes. This was certainly the position of Billye Alban and Barbara Bunker in their book on the subject produced some years back. I may have missed something, but I have seen little, if anything that appears to be going in a different direction. Truthfully it seems that the academic community has pretty much given up on Open Space, perhaps hoping that it would just go away. But it hasn’t – and the theory offered is, I am sorry to say, just bad theory. It does not account for, or accord with, the facts of the case (and after all the experiment has been run more than a few times). And the predictive power of the proffered theory is off by a country mile. Indeed, according to the theory, Open Space simply couldn’t happen. As for elegance, the words at best are confused and convoluted. In short, it just doesn’t work. Bad theory.
>  
> So what are the alternatives? Doubtless there are many, but I fancy two. The first I would call, “Open Space as a Journey of Spirit.” The second: “Open Space – Self-Organization made manifest.”
>  
> “Open Space as a Journey of Spirit” is a story (theory) I have been trying to tell for the better part of 50 years. In the beginning I didn’t know anything about Open Space Technology (no martinis) but the thought was there. We are on a journey, the evolution of our consciousness in the open space of our lives. I won’t bore you with the details, but if interested you can check them out in my first book, “Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations.” – on my website. Or the updated version, “The Power of Spirit: How Organizations Transform” – from Barrett-Koehler (Amazon.com).
>  
> The second story, “Open Space – Self-Organizations made manifest,” is actually a sequel to the first. If I put it all together, it would go something like… Self-Organization is what Spirit does. Details to be found in “The Practice of Peace,” and Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self-Organizing world.” These were written for very different audiences – and when the audience changes, the story must as well. May sound a little dishonest or sleight of hand – but every good storytellers knows what I am talking about.
>  
> So there’s the story in bits and pieces – but what about the good old Facilitator? The point I said I would get to…??
>  
> When facilitating Open Space, I have found that two things are necessary: Total Presence. Absolute Invisibility. Yes it is paradoxical and polar. But I find that when you get into the deep places in life, everything is paradoxical and always best expressed as polar statements. Total Presence means you are really there – not just in physical form or emotional intent – but in every sense of the word, Presence. It doesn’t come without effort. For myself, some serious meditation is in order (See my chapter on “Personal Preparation for Open Space” in the User’s Guide.) It ain’t for everybody, but that is my way.
>  
> And then we get to Invisibility. This may work in other places in our life as well ( I think it does) – but as a “facilitator” of Open Space, I find it essential.  I am not “there” to shape, form, enhance, create the experience. That will all take care of itself (that’s why we call it self-organization!). I am there to INVITE people to join (that take 15 minutes tops) then I become the “microphone stand.” I am the point of grounding, the negative pole in the energy flow, the symbol and sign of the question, The Quest. No answers – just Questing. And the energy/ Spirit will flow if it has a ground. Ordinarily that takes place quite naturally, thank God! But in the event things get a little clogged, I am there as a drain. Not exactly a glorious occupation, but essential for all of that. And best done with  a minimum of advertisement – Invisibly.
>  
> And there is also a secret. It is a joyous occupation! And No, I am not a masochist, blushing violet, or afraid (ashamed) of my power. I got a lot. I know it – and I also know that power held is power destroyed. It feels great to give it away. Even better to know that you never really had it in the first place. J
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> Harrison
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> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
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