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

[Pernilla Luttropp]

I just love that ³When it¹s over, it starts again²!
It says it all.

Pernilla


Den 2012-11-20 20.36, skrev "Chris Corrigan" <chris.corrigan at gmail.com>:

> Harrison:
> 
> One thing I will add to your spirit chart is that there is a radical phase
> shift that happens towards the "end" pf you chart. At a certain point
> structure comes apart, instantly and completely.  When that happens, Spirit
> automatically leaps to take its place at the top of the level axis.  These two
> things are inextricably bound, and when the structure reaches its highest
> level, it breaks, and Spirit is always there to take over.
> 
> I also have no data for this observation, but I think we've seen it happen
> various times over the course of our lives, and of course there is apparently
> a powerful world religion (or two or three maybe) actually based on this whole
> ideaŠ;-)
> 
> When it's not over, it's not overŠor as they say at Kufunda Village in
> Zimbabwe when doing open space "When it's over, it starts again."
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 2012-11-20, at 7:02 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
> 
>> Nice Harold ­ and I think your infinity symbol is actually a mobius strip
>> which is quite appropriate.
>>  
>> One problem with conversations such as I initiated is that it could seem that
>> Structure was somehow bad. Nothing could be further from the truth, I think.
>> But problems arise when the system is understood ONLY in terms of structure ­
>> when actually it is a dance. Spirit manifests as form/structure, which in
>> turn dissolves to release Spirit and so on and onŠ until it stops. For me it
>> is all about honoring Spirit and holding structure lightly. Letting Go, in a
>> word. For us/OS continued vitality is in that dance ­ which is marvelous in
>> any moment and never to be repeated. Every Open Space creates its own unique
>> structure(s) appropriate to the people, place, and theme. There are certainly
>> similarities, but never identity. And to force identity (same old structures
>> in new environment) is to guarantee a less than happy result.
>>  
>> Harrison
>>  
>> Harrison Owen
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>> USA
>>  
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>>  
>> Phone 301-365-2093
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>>  
>> www.openspaceworld.com <www.openspaceworld.com%20>
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>>  
>> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf OfHarold Shinsato
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 8:52 AM
>> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>>  
>> Harrison,
>> 
>> An excellent meditation - thank you. About your Spirit Chart with level
>> against time, there is another graph with Potential on the vertical,
>> Connectedness on the horizontal, and time is reflected as an infinite path
>> that cycles between different levels of structure along what looks like an
>> infinity symbol.
>> 
>> http://peopleandplace.net/media/file/36/adaptive_cycle_2d.jpg
>> 
>> The idea comes from the book " Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in
>> Systems of Humans and Nature" by Lance Gunderson and C. S. Holling, though I
>> first encountered the idea in Michael Quinn Patton's excellent book
>> "Developmental Evaluation".
>> 
>> It might seem like squeezing OS Inc. into a box, but I think it offers Open
>> Space Technology a clear place in the life and death cycle for organizations
>> to both acquire and expel structure. Not that they ultimately have a choice
>> to die. But as the Apostle Paul said "I die daily", were our organizations to
>> practice Open Space Technology they might have an easier time letting go of
>> what isn't working, and see the solutions that are already embodied in the
>> system, and might even have a better chance at longevity (or at least serving
>> Spirit rather than contributing to Soul Pollution.)
>> 
>> As you said in Wave Rider, and as I heard you report at a lunch table at the
>> "What is Leadership in a Self-Organizing World" conference, OST has a deep
>> connection to the grieving process that Elisabeth K übler-Ross described as a
>> part of facing death. Which for me is fascinating given how much joy I always
>> experience - but it is almost always accompanied other deep emotions as well.
>> 
>>     Harold
>> 
>> 
>> On 11/19/12 5:26 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
>>> I¹ve been thinking about us, or should I say OSŠ.
>>>  
>>> 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 doesn¹t
>>> 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 don¹t even come close to our accomplishments. First
>>> of all we have been around for 27 years with thousands of ³members² all over
>>> the world. Each year ³we² 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 don¹t 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 (³Spirit: Transformation and Development
>>> in Organizations² and ³The Power of Spirit²). 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 mind¹s eye. The vertical axis is titled ³level²
>>> and the horizontal axis is ³time.² On the chart, there are two lines, one
>>> called ³Spirit² and the other ³Structure.² 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 can¹t 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 tellŠ 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 ³used to be.² 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. We¹ve 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 ³mature organizations² -- when they finally
>>> got beyond the ³wild days in the garage² (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 ³product² and what
>>> we do. The truth of the matter is that every time we think we have it all
>>> figured out, and have ³finally² arrived at the ³right² way of doing things ­
>>> we are in for some surprises. It turns out that we really didn¹t 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 don¹t 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 ³Thinking of one more thing NOT to do² and pretty soon
>>> (well maybe someday) ­ we¹ll 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
>>> ³right² way to conduct an Open Space, usually accompanied by an expanding
>>> list of critical details with attendant Do¹s and Don¹ts. Fortunately we then
>>> receive a marvelous report (Sandy Gee, being the latest) how just about
>>> everything was ³wrong² ­ but surprisingly ­ it all worked just perfectly.
>>>  
>>> To be sure I have heard some chatter about ³guidelines² (Thomas H. J) ­ but
>>> no proposal that we ³get ourselves organized² ­ 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
>>> ³institutionalization.² 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 Š 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
>>>  
>>  

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