[OSList] OS skypes notes 5/28/13

Wed Jun 5 05:46:44 PDT 2013

Hi all!

Following is pretty much a transcription from our May 28th skype  covering
a range of issues:

nature of self-organization; role of facilitator in OS, spirit and ego in
circle, applications in Waldorf schools, communicating these things to
others, next generation demands for open space leadership and
organizations....

I will try to summarize next time instead, but the stories and comments are
just so good!

*5/28/13 OS skype chat*

* *

*Participants: *Skye Hirst, Linda Stevenson, Paul Levy, Tricia Chirumbole

Linda: You don’t need prescriptions – just bring people together around a
topic and let them go – HO was more forward at the opening night to WOSonOS
than ever before about how much the world needs OS - The world needs it,
things aren’t working.

Skye: Yes, how can we do this? Get the word out there about OS to more
people…tells a story of people gathered in a circle in the kitchen in her
new home during a party and how they did not go anywhere else. I believe
talking about the magic or power of the circle

Paul asks: When we say ‘Get the word out there’ – Are we talking just about
OST or other stuff too? What do we mean by that? What are we getting out
there?

Linda: Being sensitive to places – allowing a community or organization to
get together and breathe and see what happens; she is against trying to fix
the world, offering space in a non-prescriptive way is her belief.

Someone said at WOSonOS: Closing circle could have been shorter. They have
ways in the art of hosting to achieve such things. It is not a bad thing to
do, but then it’s not open space; it is imposing a prescription. If you are
passing a stick, you don’t know how long it will take to go around. You are
holding space for the stick to circle. If you don’t want to do a talking
stick, then only ask for a few comments. Our tendency to fix or control,
out of the best intentions, can complicate in a way that is not necessary.
I know some communities in Minnesota that are gathering regarding taking
their health back. A woman in FL who is a physician recently trained in OS
[not sure if she was participating in the MN community meetings on health?]
….great way of slipping into a community, give them the experience of
opening space, around taking their health back – how juicy those
conversations could be – could take off. Not a model for other communities
necessarily.

Linda doing an OS for a NGO in MN with people from many sectors, who knows
what will come from it? Old interventions are not really doing it. I think
we have an opportunity; not sure what it’s going to look like. Having
conversations like….keeping the intention and holding that space, can be
done more effectively and efficiently and humanity deserves voices to be
invited and heard and when space is open conflict gets transformed and
dialogues happen.

Upon question, Linda replies that she has done OS facilitation training -
0.5 day to full 4 days in the past with HO. Anyone can read book and do it.
Would recommend having an experienced person with you if you were doing
with many people.

Paul: does facilitation pollute the circle?

Linda:  she does not see it as facilitation; it is invitation, setting the
context, pre-work to get a broad, creative theme. You work with leadership
so they understand they are one, equal persons – starts with the invitation
– one thing you are doing is communicating trust that this will work. You
exude trust in the process, have conversations with client so they develop
trust with you, when you open you are reminding them of what they already
know what they know how to do, then hold space so everyone’s voice is
equally heard and not controlled by anyone.

Linda conveys a book recommendation from Suzanne: *Igniting the Tribe;
*Millenials
are saying they don’t want to work for organizations that “suck”;
millenials are saying they want leadership in the moment, shared,
appropriate teams and structures that are self-organized. HO never been
wedded to OST, put together a way of deliberately inviting that worked.

Linda mentions Ken Blanchard [forget who he is]– young OD folks are more
responsive, people are backing into this [OST], millenials will not settle
for anything less– won’t even know about “OST”….will be able to honor both
the formal and informal – we will be out of the job as OS facilitators –
they will know when to do it – we need to bring leadership together young
and old – I would like to do that in the twin cities, there is your
leverage to loosen up some of those organizations – unleashing the
potential of humanity, not to promote OS, giving them the joy of
experiencing OS.

Skye: mentions research she read on why whistleblowers become
whistleblowers, in environments where whistleblowing is embraced by the
peers – environmental conditions? Why is it if all this self-organization
is so wonderful, why doesn’t that ever change?,…[think I missed something
here]…What is it about Village Care going into a community that is
effective? So what are we talking about?

Paul: Tells a story about a school governor in UK of a Waldorf kindergarten
school system – there was conflict among teachers. Coming back to the
theory of Waldorf, when you have a kindergarten of 3-4 year olds, called
differing things: little munchkins, angels, devils, toddlers, children in
this group – they do a lot of circle work with those children – ring time,
play various games, most kids at that age are not strongly in their ego.
There was an argument among teachers about the interpretation of their role
as facilitators in the room. One said: “Our role is to hold the ego of the
group, because these munchkins don’t have their ego yet.” They do clapping
songs, make things together, free play, when play is outside of control,
the holder of the ego brings it back and reforms the circle. Another said,
“No, we are not holding the ego, because there isn’t one. We are
*being*the ego of the group. A reply to this, “But it’s not your ego.”
What is the
self in self organization? I think role of teacher is to be the ego of the
group and the ego of the circle is a genius, selfless act to enter into the
space, to allow it to express itself in physical reality. Then once that
has started that person steps back; In Waldorf that could happen in any
amount of time. Then they allow the ego to self-organize. The role of the
facilitator is to be the ego – we recapitulate the whole evolution of
humanity, at the beginning, then evolve quickly, think what happens in
government the person confuses the sacred role of being the ego and confuse
it with their own ego and then they can’t let go.

Linda mentions that in Zen philosophy they speak of 3 poisons: greed,
anger, and self-delusion – entrenched in political party and money…..missed
something

Linda: The Self in self organization is the aggregate; You need to open a
space big enough for that to show up – big enough for everyone to voice
what they care about, if an individual ego steps in, interrupts, the
aggregate has a chance to be in that circle. We don’t give an organization
and community and school room.

Self-organization is a terrible term; it’s the aggregate – everyone who
cares about particular theme, so much to contribute to successful
adaptation.

Paul: Interestingly in the kindergarten in Steiner approach, when there’s a
circle, the circle is pure itself, the metaphorical way, the self of an
angel – enter the self of the circle, what HO seems to suggest, hold it as
short as possible, withdraw as soon as self-org starts to often,
facilitator often holds it too long, ego become confused with the self of
the group – it is a selfless act, but from circle’s point of view it is a
selfish act, because

Paul – has been doing YouTube research. 45-60 minutes is average opening
space time; Linda says it should be no more than 10-15 at the beginning.

Paul queries, what if leaders were rewarded for holding space for as little
as possible?? (Tricia likes this idea! And thinks it could/should apply to
companies, institutions and governments as whole entities beyond the
“leaders” within them)

Linda mentions that there was some opening of space in congress, I think in
Clinton era, old cultures are right there still.

Action learning groups – more survive when fully facilitated than when
self-managed; gamers – more got done when self-managed

If we did have evidence….look at open source stuff, look what gets done –
bring their best, paid nothing

Generation Y, demonstrating that self-management delivers on the bottom
line – proof in that part of the economy

Skye – quote about freedom is the ability to express one/to be oneself. To
me that is what is happening in open space, anything where you start to
allow the individual to be in their personal agency – doesn’t matter form
or body, environment allows that to happen,

Paul - 60 year data set that shows if you limit freedom you increase
productivity in a lot of sectors, how do you undo that?

Skye - Data collection still based on the interpreter, and the initial
forming question not even being thought about and the data is not what we
can depend on.

Paul – 20k open spaces in Africa, allowing people w/ no resources, dig
wells, safety, education programs, more effective with less resources than
when well-intentioned paternalistic NGOs – no-brainer?

Start collecting the OS data? Skye: more to it than what we’re saying –
somebody needs to dig in. all kinds of things that contribute to the making
of the self-organization

Paul – majority of communications – still linear, email chains, discussion
thread – chains, apart from those developed in OS still not imagining
dialogue could be more effective in a circle.

Skye would like to know what is going on in Sweden from Pernilla.

Somebody proposed: “Let’s talk about what self-organization is.”

Paul mentions he would like to get the rest of the story of David’s work.
Is he headed off to Africa?

-- 
Tricia Chirumbole
US: +1-571-232-0942
Skype: tricia.chirumbole
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