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

Tue Nov 20 12:05:58 PST 2012

Michael Pannwitz: I received the cards you send me thank you! I Haven't use
them I need to learn more how to use them.
Adriana ( In Montreal)

2012/11/20 Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com>

> Dear Harrison,
> two things popped into my mind reading your thoughts:
> ---OST as a structure has been developing all the time I have been
> associated with it (1996 till now at a stage where I do connect to the idea
> of "an old soldier fading away")... in a small practical way I can see that
> in the development of "Task Cards -  Setting up an Open Space event" which
> has seen five revised editions in 2005,2006,2008,2009 and 2010... we
> produced 150 sets in each of those years, tossing out some, adding others,
> changing some... that appears to be part of OST living in an "adaptive
> complex system" which I perceive the worldwide os-system to be.
> ---The impact of working with OST in a socalled "mature" organisation over
> time: manifestations of spirit arising and in its wake transforming the
> "mature" structures mostly in the direction of a "no-structures" structure.
> Here the real life example is the national agency youth administering
> European youth projects in Germany that has worked with ost constantly
> internally and within its broader system for 12 years (some 35 ost events
> of the 16 hours os over three days variety)... the "CEO" of that org has
> written it up, one day it will be translated into English... (anyone
> interested in the German version on this LIST, let me know).
>
> My reading on this is that OST is alive and kicking, adapting itself as we
> proceed
> and the other thing which I call
> selforganisation
> could care less about any of the structures we might come up with the
> moment they become unproductive, no fun, without learning or high play or
> whatever else selforganisation has up its sleeves.
>
> Have a great day
> mmp
>
>
> On 20.11.2012 01:26, Harrison Owen wrote:
>
>> 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 27^th 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.openspaceworld.com%20>
>>
>> www.ho-image.com <www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website)
>>
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> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
>
>
>
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-- 

Adriana Díaz-Berrio Ph.D. CRHA
(514) 739 2268
www.diazberrio.com
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