[OSList] FW: Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?

Sun Nov 25 14:40:31 PST 2012

Greetings all

I forwarded Harrison's original posting to a friend, Lani Morris, because I felt there were synergies between her work with Marjolein Lips-Wiersma and Harrison's thoughts as posted.

Below is her response to my request.

Regards

Anne

From: lanimorris at xtra.co.nz
To: anne_a_hiha at hotmail.com
Subject: RE: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 22:36:33 +1300

Hi Anne,

Thank you so much for sending me this.  I have written a short 
piece that links with the article.  Not sure if this is what you meant, but 
let me know.

Glad things are going well.

Have fun.

Love

Lani

Reading Harrison Owen’s account of the
stages of development of OS as an organisation and how it successfully managed
to escape the prison of too much structure I want send congratulations and
thanks.  Thanks for the method,
which I use.  Thanks for the
generosity of the OS community.  Congratulations
on keeping the spirit of the work fresh and vital.

The work I am involved in, the Map of
Meaning www.holisticdevelopment.org.nz
is beginning its journey and I hope that it too succeeds in keeping its spirit
alive and vibrant over the years.

The Map of Meaning draws together into one
map the dimensions that together make up meaningful work and a meaningful life.
It provides a simple yet profound framework which supports people in creating
their own map of meaning.  The Map
of Meaning can be used in self reflection, one to one, or in groups, or in
rethinking the very structure of organisations so that they keep the human
spirit alive and well nourished.

If you want to know more, as well as the
website, you can listen to Dr Marjolein Lips-Wiersma on TEDx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUSZaquJBWE

Or you might want to buy the book from http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/

064 
(0)6 843 8740
064 
(0)21 516 042

www.holisticdevelopment.org.nz

From: Anne A Hiha 
[mailto:anne_a_hiha at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, 21 November 2012 
8:39 a.m.
To: Lani Morris
Subject: FW: [OSList] Beginnings, 
Middles and Ends... Where are we?

Kia ora Lani

Harrison Owen the original 'recorder' of the 
Open Space Technology process opened a wonderful conversation recently, on 
OSList, that I thought you may find interesting. And in light of that 
conversation, I wondered if you might like to write a blurb about your 
co-written book that I can forward to the OSList, as the alignments seem 
obvious.

Arohanui

Anne

From: hhowen at verizon.net
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Date: Mon, 19 
Nov 2012 19:26:57 -0500
Subject: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... 
Where are we?

I’ve been thinking about us, or should I say OS….

It seems to be a truth of life that everything (us 
included) has a beginning, middle and an end. The separation between beginning 
and end can be quite various (longer or shorter), but one thing is for certain. 
For every beginning, there is an end. Along the way it is inevitable that people 
ask, how are they doing, and what next?

What is true for life in general seems to be true for 
organizations of all sorts, including ours, by which I mean the Good Old OS 
Community. Perhaps you never thought of the OS Community as an organization, and 
certainly if you understand organization to be what might be called The Standard 
Model (The Leader, Board of Directors, and all the Rest) the OS Community 
doesn’t qualify. On the other hand, were you to look at what OS Inc. has done, 
that assessment changes, I think. As a matter of fact there are loads of 
Standard Model organizations that don’t even come close to our accomplishments. 
First of all we have been around for 27 years with thousands of “members” all 
over the world. Each year “we” produce global gatherings in multiple places, 
along with training programs and consultations. And when it comes to the end 
product, Opening Space, the numbers get a little mind boggling. Not bad at all – 
just don’t look too closely at how it all gets done. J So how are we doing? Well 
past the Beginning for sure, but what now, and where next? 

Quite a while ago, I found myself thinking and writing a 
lot about the natural life cycle of organizations (“Spirit: Transformation and 
Development in Organizations” and “The Power of Spirit”). Beginnings, middles 
and ends were pretty central to this – but there was more. All about what seemed 
to be happening along the way, and what, if anything, we might do about that. 

To represent my understanding of the natural history of 
organizations, I came up with a simple graph which, for lack of a better term, 
became known as The Spirit Chart. Unfortunately we cannot do graphics here on 
OSLIST, but the graph is simplicity itself, and so I am sure that you can 
quickly draw it, or imagine it in your mind’s eye. The vertical axis is titled 
“level” and the horizontal axis is “time.” On the chart, there are two lines, 
one called “Spirit” and the other “Structure.” At Time 1 (the beginning) Spirit 
is high and Structure is low. Over time (moving from left to right) the lines 
cross in the middle, and at the end -- Spirit is low, and Structure is high. And 
there you have it: Beginning, Middle, and End.

As you might suspect, I did not gather masses of data in 
order to construct my chart. Indeed I really can’t imagine precisely what that 
data might be or how to gather it. All that said, common sense and experience 
supports the story that the graph seeks to tell… All organizations start out 
with High Spirit(s) – and virtually no Structure. At the moment of creation it 
is all potential, a wonderful idea, a gigantic WOW! The good news is that 
something is moving and shaking. Excitement and optimism rule the day. But there 
is a price. Orderly procedures simply do not exist, massive amounts of energy is 
burned for minimal results, the Wheel is constantly re-invented. 

But then things change. Rules and Structures are created 
to focus and direct all that wonderful Spirit. Initially there is resistance 
from some Free Spirited Folks, but the net result is positive and 
beneficial.  Work gets done, schedules are kept, product goes out the door. 
And best of all there is plenty of Free Spirit around to creatively explore new 
opportunities, new ways of doing business.

But over time, the lines cross. The Spirit Line and the 
Structure Line intersect and then separate, with Structure rising and Spirit 
falling, being constrained in smaller and smaller spaces by the overburden of 
Structure. For a while nobody notices, for the organization is doing the 
business in productive and orderly ways, and who could complain about that? But 
there comes a time when the organization is defined and imprisoned by its 
structure and rules. Spirit is in evidence mostly by its absence – except in the 
stories and memories of how it “used to be.” When you are out of Spirit, you are 
out of business. At least that is the story.

But there could be a different ending. Were it somehow 
possible to release the Spirit from its prison,  renewal might happen. But 
for that to occur, the prison walls must break. Or to put it in slightly 
different terms, the confining structure must shatter so that the Spirit may 
reform in new ways. This, I think, is an accurate, albeit metaphorical picture 
of Transformation: Spirit breaking loose to take on new form (trans-form).

So where are we? Clearly we have had our initial WOW! And 
although it is certainly true that each time some new person joins our happy 
Tribe, having just experienced the opening of space for some group of people – 
that WOW is heard once more. It is also true that for a large (and increasing) 
number of our band the experience is no longer a strange one. We’ve been there 
before, and while it is always a delight, it really becomes quite predictable. I 
would never say boring, but predictable for sure. Sit in a circle, create a 
bulletin board, open a market place, and the folks will go to work. Every 
time.

The curious thing is that 27 years into our adventure, our 
organization is still as lively and spirit filled as it is – a status that just 
about everybody recognizes in all of our common gatherings, as for example the 
recent WOSONOS in London. In my own experience of organizational life, this 
record is pretty remarkable. In every other organization I have known, or been a 
part of, by the time it reached its 27th year, an awful lot of the 
original Spirit, enthusiasm, to say nothing of agility and flexibility had 
disappeared.  People talk about “mature organizations” -- when they finally 
got beyond the “wild days in the garage” (computer start-ups, for example) and 
settled down into a more orderly mode of being. Think of Amazon, Apple, 
Microsoft, et al. Somehow we seem to have escaped some of that, and how could 
that be?

I think part of the answer comes from the nature of our 
“product” and what we do. The truth of the matter is that every time we think we 
have it all figured out, and have “finally” arrived at the “right” way of doing 
things – we are in for some surprises. It turns out that we really didn’t know 
what we were talking about. Somehow, Open Space was/is so much more than we ever 
thought, and what we do/did, so much less. What starts out looking like just 
another approach to better meetings or group technique subtly morphs into the 
story of the cosmos (self organization). And we really don’t DO anything at all. 
We simply offer an invitation, and then get out of the way. 

To be sure, there has been a developmental process in our 
approach as we have gone along, but it apparently moves in the diametrically 
opposite direction from similar processes found with other approaches. Put it 
all under the heading of “Thinking of one more thing NOT to do” and pretty soon 
(well maybe someday) – we’ll end up with nothing. No approach at all!

Of course, there have been a few signs of approaching 
Middle Age. You might call it hardening of the organizational arteries – 
conversations about the “right” way to conduct an Open Space, usually 
accompanied by an expanding list of critical details with attendant Do’s and 
Don’ts. Fortunately we then receive a marvelous report (Sandy Gee, being the 
latest) how just about everything was “wrong” – but surprisingly – it all worked 
just perfectly. 

To be sure I have heard some chatter about “guidelines” 
(Thomas H. J) – but no proposal that we “get ourselves organized” – and 
certainly nothing as forbidding as a governmental structure with appropriate 
Boards and Bylaws! So we seem to be dodging the bullet, at least for the moment. 
And it may be that we have some distance to go before the end. I doubt, however, 
that our longevity will ever have anything to do with what might be called The 
Standard Organizational Approach, usually characterized as 
“institutionalization.” Indeed I more  than suspect that once again we will 
find success by going in the opposite direction. Rather than building durable 
structures that might last for the ages (none do … so far) – it will be a story 
of the constant shattering of structures and procedures to release the Spirit in 
new and vital directions. Transformation, I believe it is called. 

But there will come an end, of that I have no doubt. But I 
hope that the end of OS Inc might occur with hardly a ripple or note. Not unlike 
old soldiers who never seem to die – they just fade away. OS Inc will become 
quite invisible when it is clear to all that everything is Open Space. Blending 
into the woodwork, as it were. Nothing new, Nothing special. Just what is. 

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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