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

Tue Nov 27 06:53:29 PST 2012

John – Nice. Paradox is cool, even if quite uncomfortable to those who
prefer this or that. Unfortunately, given the limitations of language, I
think we are stuck with paradox (dialectic) when talking about (making sense
of) the deeper elements of our life. 

ho

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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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of John Watkins
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 10:13 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?

I have been watching and pondering this conversation for some time now, with
curiosity and some skepticism.  Paraphrasing Clifford Geertz, "...believing,
with [Clifford Geertz], that man is an animal suspended in webs of
significance he himself has spun, I take..." this conversation to be about,
not a dichotomy between structure, on the one hand, and freedom, spirit, and
open space, on the other, but a web of meaning making that enfolds one into
the other.  It is a chicken and egg phenomenon.  And the answer is, neither
came first.

Consider:  awhile ago, Meg Wheatley described the emergent process of the
interaction of identity, information, and relationship as the central
process of organizing, negating the need for structure, as it was conceived
by the old structuralists, such as Mintzberg.  I take the intersection of
those three as the place where meaning is made.  But I am with Geertz: there
can be no meaning making outside of the existing structures, patterns, and
processes of culture; hence, even in open space, we already have culture
providing a holding structure, a priori any opening of space(s).  Giving Meg
her due, it is in the dynamic interweaving of identity (construed within
culture, hence structure), information (passed through organizational
structural lines of communication), and relationship (allowed or thwarted by
organizational structures) where we make meaning.  Yet meaning making leads
to patterns, processes, and structures (open space being one kind) that then
feed back in webs of signification to surround and encode what is possible
in the interaction of identity, information, and relationship.  It is all
interwoven, a dynamic and overdetermined yet indeterminate causal web.
There is no dichotomy.

I am a student of traditional tantric philosophy as enacted in modern yoga
practice (this is not American neo-tantra!).  This is a non-dual view of
life, spirit, and the universe.  That is, we do not define freedom, or
spirit, or transcendence, as the escaping from the bindings of physical
reality, of embodiment, but as living fully into what it means to choose our
particular binding and celebrate that choice as divine, as spirit, as
freedom.  Freedom, in a non-dual sense, is about fully inhabiting the
structures we live in (e.g., our body), and choosing how best to manifest
those, choosing what to bind ourselves too (yoga = to yoke, to bind).
Spirit is about fully acknowledging the structures we exist in and help
recreate, and seeing spirit as enacted in and as those structures.
Transcendence is recognizing that there is infinite abundance in the
diversity of ways we might choose to bind ourselves, worthy of the most
rigorous inquiry and curiosity.  Paradoxical?  Maybe.  But isn't what we
think of as open space also paradoxical?  In paradox I see the most powerful
signifiers of what is real.

So, I do not think we can really commit ourselves to a dichotomous view that
sets structure against freedom, spirit, and open space.  But we can
celebrate the ways that each enfolds the other to reveal more about the true
nature of what it means to be human and live in a human and emergent
community!  I choose to bind myself to that possibility.

John

On Nov 26, 2012, at 4:20 PM, Suzanne Daigle wrote:

I am savoring all of this, reading and re-reading, reflecting on it all.
The elusive quality of spirit and structure so eloquently described by many
here and then this description of life and organizations...of beginnings,
middles and ends and the magic of "one less thing to do"  and it makes me
wonder to my own journey of heightened consciousness these past few years --
stuff that I was oblivious to in the rush of living life. It makes me wonder
about the journey of so many others, a journey that feels blissful and
painful in the way of birth and death. It is a journey that adds a whole new
dimension to life, that makes me feel so very grateful that Open Space came
into my life as a trigger awakening me a bit more every day.  And with this
feeling of gratitude and being more present, moment by moment (also elusive
and magical), I then reflect with much love and gratitude wondering about
all those in our current organizations, in our families, in our communities
who are on the cusp of being awakened to this experience of life as it is,
moment by moment.  

This pulls me into "invitation" --  an invitation to the "spirit of Open
Space" with a purposeful "non doing" which opens up wide open spaces by the
mere act of  " just being". 

I am discovering that the invitation is in the "being", this sweet spot that
radiates calm, peace, quiet joy, buckets of gratitude and lots of love
knowing that life with others  in a self-organized way is pretty darn
amazing. In that sense, it feels like there's a lot of action and invitation
in the "one more thing NOT to do!"   And the funniest thing of all is that
the traditional and esteemed leadership qualities of being highly analytical
and strategic, able to describe, justify, perfect, deliver and and prove
don't seem as important anymore.  High performance happens naturally when we
do less, leaving room for us and others to do what we, individually and
collectively, are truly passionate about and want to take responsibility
for. 

Suzanne, living my own new beginning thankful for the sustained 27 years of
Open Space and the billions of years before that which led me to this path
and this community not that long ago

On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 3:05 PM, Lourdes Adriana Diaz-Berrio Doring
<adriana at diazberrio.com> wrote:

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 <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
<www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> %20>

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

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
OSLIST Go
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000 <tel:%2B%2B49%20-%2030-772%208000> 

Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 389 resident Open Space
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Adriana Díaz-Berrio Ph.D. CRHA
(514) 739 2268 <tel:%28514%29%20739%202268> 
www.diazberrio.com <http://www.diazberrio.com/> 

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-- 
Suzanne Daigle
NuFocus Strategic Group
7159 Victoria Circle
University Park, FL 34201
FL 941-359-8877;  
CT 203-722-2009
www.nufocusgroup.com <http://www.nufocusgroup.com/> 
s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
twitter @suzannedaigle

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