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

Eleder_BuM eleder.aurtenetxe at gmail.com
Thu Nov 22 09:54:29 PST 2012


Hi all!

I´ ve liked very much having one of your 2 pages post, Harrison. So nice
brain food for my train trip back home ;-)!

You know? Reading it took me straight to think about love and
relationships. And I´ll let this idea go before reading the succession of
comments to your text: much passion and commitment at the beginning, and a
slow decline with time and increasing structures, unless we succeed to
accept that each one of us are genuine love,...

Maybe the least structure as possible applies also to a healthy love story
or friendship?

...or something,...

love

eleder


2012/11/20 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>

> 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 <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20> ****
>
> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website)****
>
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> ** **
>
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