[OSList] Introducing Open Space (Long)

Wed Nov 30 09:45:46 PST 2011

Well that was a wonderful and so very clear description of the  
"messy"  process called living life as a self-organizing entity.   
Thanks Harrison so very much.  You invite the client to go into their  
own experience and to tell you what that experience has taught them  
and you offer a "bridge"  from their "known"  experience to something  
that they thought was "unknown" but isn't.   Great, thanks.
On Nov 30, 2011, at 11:03 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:

> Our recent conversation about telling stories to help a client make  
> the BIG decision elicited the comment from Raffi to the effect that  
> stories are nice, but rarely do the job. That is certainly my  
> experience. But I have had some success in turning the whole  
> process on its head – well sort of.
>
>
>
> When possibility of doing an Open Space is first introduced to a  
> client who has had no prior experience with the critter, it may  
> well sound like some totally impossible, never to be done fantasy  
> from a New Age Kook. Or something like that. The client can hardly  
> be blamed for such a perception if only because much of his/her  
> prior experience and training says that has to be the case. In the  
> face of such a response, it is natural that we seek to buttress our  
> case with strong arguments (never works) or “good stories” of what  
> Open Space can do which don’t seem to have any more positive  
> effect.  And in the event, and despite all the odds, that the  
> client actually makes the decision to go ahead it sometimes seems  
> that we should congratulate the client on his/her bold, courageous  
> decision to enter a strange and dangerous land. I am sure you can  
> see the hyperbole as it passes by, but perhaps some of it sounds  
> familiar?
>
>
>
> But what is the alternative? It begins with  a changed mindset.  
> Instead of thinking of OS as an exotic new experience/method/tool,  
> I find that OS is pretty much same old, same old – which is to say  
> it is all Open Space, only sometimes it is more focused,  
> intentional and powerful. Needless to say I don’t share these  
> feelings with the client (at least not initially) or for sure they  
> would be convinced that I was even crazier than the purported  
> method or approach. But I do start slowly with the client’s own  
> experience by asking a question,  “Can they remember a time when  
> everything just flowed, nobody looked at a clock, when somehow all  
> the regular rules seemed to be suspended – and amazing work got  
> done?” It might just be a small moment, but even in the most  
> hidebound organizations, something like that usually shows up  
> somewhere. More often than not it is talked about as “one of those  
> funny things that happened along the way.” Occasionally such  
> moments assume a prominent place in the organization’s mythology as  
> a sterling example of “how things can be.”
>
>
>
> The nature of these moments will vary from organization to  
> organization. In Public Utilities (Power, phone, etc) the story is  
> usually about a major storm and how service was restored. A Coast  
> Guard Station on the Maine coast tells of a daring sea rescue. Even  
> banks have their moments.
>
>
>
> Dee Hock (writing in his book, “One From Many”) describes such a  
> time in a bank, as they prepared to mail out the first credit cards --
>
>
>
> “Something is sadly awry. The form-feeder cannot be syn chronized  
> with the printer. Both machines constantly jam. As mailers flow  
> erratically from the printer, cutting and folding machinery slices  
> some in half and crumples others. Technicians are bent over, heads  
> and hands deep in the machinery. The sup plier soon confesses. The  
> whole setup is untested. They’ve never used it before, and it’s an  
> abysmal failure.
>
>                 Bob and I walk away to a quiet corner near a supply  
> closet to console one another. There is no possibility of another  
> block of time on the computer. Without mailers by morning, the  
> whole thing is off. How can we explain our failure to Maxwell  
> Carlson, a hundred thousand customers waiting for their promised  
> cards, and hundreds of merchants waiting for those customers? Our  
> minds are racing in a hundred directions seeking a way out. Bob is  
> leaning on the handle of a push broom.
>
>                 Inspiration is often the child of desperation.  
> Could he be leaning on the answer? We quickly unscrew the handle,  
> rush to the stack of mailers and shove it through a roll. With a  
> heave we lift it—might even be able to hold it for half an hour at  
> a stretch, maybe more—or prop it up on cabinets. The broom handle  
> makes a decent axle. With a third person to guide forms into the  
> com puter and enough three-person crews, it might work. Other crews  
> could wind mailers on broom handles as they came from the printer.  
> With enough crews we might get mailers printed. We can worry about  
> cutting and folding another day.
>
>                 We call everyone in the area together, printing  
> company exec utives, bank officers, programmers, operators, janitors 
> —everyone. There is no need for blame. Will they work the night—no  
> bosses— no procedures—just grab a piece of the problem and get it  
> done? Need help, ask—want to help, offer. Yes? Good! Two people  
> lift a roll of mailers and the printer begins to chatter. Two  
> others grab a second broom handle and begin to roll up mailers as  
> they emerge. Ideas pour out from everyone and someone is instantly  
> on the way to attend to each. “Search the building and steal broom  
> handles, Get food and drinks sent in.” “We’ll need gloves.” “Round  
> up relief crews.” “Rig a backup printer.” No one knows all that is  
> happening and no one has time to care. We must trust. The last roll  
> comes off the printer at six in the morning. An exhausted, happy  
> band of brothers and sisters head home to catch a few hours of  
> sleep before the next ordeal begins. As we labored through the  
> night, someone had not only claimed owner ship of every aspect of  
> the night’s work, but future work separat ing and folding mailers  
> to get the project back on track. Is that how the future happens?  
> Ingenuity? Passion? Spontaneous order out of chaos? It seems so, as  
> long as control is kept on a leash.”
>
>
>
> Once the moment is found, invite the client to reflect on all that  
> happened. What was new? What was different? What surprised? I have  
> never had any difficulty in doing this. People love to tell their  
> stories and once they get started, it is very hard to get them to  
> stop. The enthusiasm, pride, and ownership is usually just plain  
> palpable. And once the pot is really boiling – it is time to ask  
> another question. “Who did all this?”
>
>
>
> A typical response is a quizzical look, followed by something like,  
> “We did?” To which I respond, “You mean all the same people you  
> have been telling me about who never talk to each other, can’t work  
> together, and currently feel miserable?”
>
>
>
> You have to be a little careful with this one, but with a little  
> luck it is quite possible to ground the recognition that “even  
> these people can perform at high levels.” With that thought in  
> place, there is room for another question, “Would you like to do it  
> again, not just as an exception, but as a regular and intentional  
> part of your common life together?”
>
>
>
> I suppose somebody could say NO! – but I have never had that  
> happen. And the door is definitely open to introduce Open Space not  
> as some strange, exotic, aberration – but now as a continuation of  
> an already experienced reality. Same old, Same old – well not quiteJ
>
>
>
> There is probably little need to explain to the client the thinking  
> behind all this – unless of course, they ask, but it is really not  
> all that difficult. You guessed it – It’s the 5th Principle at  
> work! We live in a self organizing world, and we and our  
> organizations are self organizing. When we get with the program and  
> become fully ourselves, amazing things happen. When we make the  
> mistake of attempting to organize a self organizing system, massive  
> amounts of energy and time are wasted – but even then the power of  
> self organization can break through in what we often consider  
> strange, anomalous moments. “Wherever it happens is the right  
> place” – and surely a good place to start when it comes to  
> introducing people to Open Space Technology.
>
>
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Harrison Owen
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>
> Potomac, MD 20854
>
> USA
>
>
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>
> Camden, Maine 20854
>
>
>
> Phone 301-365-2093
>
> (summer)  207-763-3261
>
>
>
> www.openspaceworld.com
>
> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
>
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