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

doug ost at footprintsinthewind.com
Thu Nov 22 16:56:46 PST 2012


Mikk--

Wonderfully lovely poem!

			:- Doug.

On 11/22/2012 11:57 AM, Mikk Sarv wrote:
> I think opening space is also creation of structure.
> The structure is like a body, where Spirit can live.
> When the body gets old, it dies and Spirit leaves the body.
> But Spirit needs the body or structure.
>
> Long moments of silence at the beginning are like pain of birth.
> After OS event everybody often feels like newborn.
> People, who like Structure, might feel Spirit as something evil, what
> destroys everything.
> People who like Spirit may feel the Structure as evil.
> But they both are just sides of the same dance.
> Opening Space is giving birth. It offers for Spirit a new body/structure
> to go on with dance.
>
> With greetings,
>
> Mikk Sarv
>
>
> On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:45 PM, JL Walker wrote:
>
>> Dear Arno,
>> Anticipating the response of HO, I can take the risk to say that the
>> structures of management are always part of the map and the structure
>> of the principles and the law of OS is always part of the territory.
>> Make sense for you this?
>> Hugs,
>> Juan Luis
>> *De:*oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org]*En
>> nombre de*Arno Baltin
>> *Enviado el:*jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2012 4:51
>> *Para:*World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> *Asunto:*Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> Dear Harrisson!
>> Could you please elaborate on the difference between creating a
>> structure and opening space. When facilitating OS meeting I also
>> create a structure by setting the space and introducing the rules and
>> law (isn't it?). And at the end of OS I leave the space opened as
>> inviting to take the structure (of mind - some attitudes based on the
>> OS experience, ther rules and law) with.
>> Be well,
>> *      Arno *
>> Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn
>> Eesti Vabariik
>>
>>
>>
>> 2012/11/21 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>>
>> Juan Luis – Always nice to hear from you! And my answer to your
>> question is something like this: Only create structure when you have
>> to, and then create as little as you possibly can. Structure is useful
>> in organizations, but it certainly can get in the way. So don’t overdo
>> it. Ask yourself, “What is the minimal amount of structure necessary
>> to get the job done.” It is always easy to add if you need it, but
>> once some structure is created (committee, procedure, etc) it seems to
>> stay around forever, even when nobody can remember what it was for…
>> Harrison
>> Harrison Owen
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>> USA
>> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>> Camden, Maine 20854
>> Phone301-365-2093 <tel:301-365-2093>
>> (summer) 207-763-3261 <tel:207-763-3261>
>> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20>
>> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20>(Personal Website)
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
>> OSLIST Go
>> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> *From:*oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>]*On Behalf Of*JL Walker
>> *Sent:*Wednesday, November 21, 2012 1:53 PM
>> *To:*'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
>> *Subject:*Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> Many thanks Harrison. Just now I could give me time to read everything
>> about your email slowly.
>> Makes me much sense for the moment that we are living here in Chile
>> with our CDIC project (Centro de Desarrollo de la Inteligencia
>> Colectiva), when we started to give us account that would be necessary
>> some structure.
>> The question is how we can move forward without that decays the Spirit
>> and what could be the structure that would allow that purpose?
>> Hugs,
>> Juan Luis
>> *De:*oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org]*En
>> nombre de*Harrison Owen
>> *Enviado el:*lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2012 21:27
>> *Para:*'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
>> *Asunto:*[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 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
>> Phone301-365-2093 <tel:301-365-2093>
>> (summer) 207-763-3261 <tel:207-763-3261>
>> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20>
>> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20>(Personal Website)
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
>> OSLIST Go
>> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
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