[OSList] Open Space and Authority

Harold Shinsato harold at shinsato.com
Tue Apr 1 13:48:28 PDT 2014


Hi Rosa,

Would love to hear more of your experience with Group Relations some 
day. I learned a huge amount about myself and how groups work. I'm not 
sure how much everyone knows about GR and Tavistock. I find it 
interesting that many credit Kurt Lewin as one of the founders of 
organizational and social psychology, sociology, and organizational 
development. Kurt Lewin was one of founders of the Tavistock Institute.

Rosa, I like what you say about the feeling of "authorization". Even 
after understanding the Tavistock concepts around authority, I still get 
these instant images of a bureaucracy - filing cabinets, cold legal 
offices, clerks, and people making decisions behind closed doors. Ink 
stamps in passports. And "Your papers please?" Yuck.

How different the general feeling and poetic sense of this concept when 
you bring in the words "author" and "authorship".

The word author comes ultimately from the latin, "auctor", meaning 
creator. Creator!

Robert Heinlein wrote a time travel novel towards the end of his career 
where all the stories got tied together through a complex universe. I 
recall a review of the book mentioning people would be afraid in this 
Universe when an author came by. An author could change the fabric of 
space-time.

I love how Open Space Technology helps people get in touch with their 
own ability to create. To ripple the fabric of space-time.

     Thanks,
     Harold




On 3/31/14 7:35 PM, Rosa Zubizarreta wrote:
> Ok, plunging in here... deep waters!
>
> One thing I'm noticing, is how words "sound" different, within 
> different communities...
>
> some of the posts above, seem to assume that "authorization" is about 
> the "standard" world view...
> and sometimes, some parts of me resonate with that... it's a word that 
> initially felt very strange and "foreign" to me,
>  not at all "organic"...
>
> and then, after some Tavi experiences, I've come to hear it in a much 
> more creative vein...
> as in, who is the "author" of this story that I am experiencing?  Who 
> is it, who is really giving power to those, who I see as "powerful"?
>
> and so I've come to experience the whole notion of "authorship", 
> within that particular community, in a very creative way...
>
> yet still, the word at times has older echoes of "authoritarian", and 
> "authority",
> which don't resonate so well with these other, newer-to-me, usages...
>
> So, here is what I am hearing Dan say, and Harold clarifying further:
> Within an Open Space event , we are all equally invited to play (er, 
> work... same thing, in my book!)
>
> What I am hearing a few others say (I see no contradiction here): Just 
> by virtue of stepping into an OS event, this does not alter the 
> internalized external authority structure that people are bringing in 
> with them (at least not immediately! ;-)
>
> my own experience echoes Peggy's and others: three consecutive days at 
> an Open Space event, certainly affected my own sense of creative 
> freedom/agency/self-authorit)!
>
> thanks for the conversation, all...
>
> best wishes,
>
> Rosa
>
>
> /Rosa Zubizarreta/
> /Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaboration
> http://www.diapraxis.com <http://www.diapraxis.com/>/
> /
> /
> /Celebrating my new book, "From Conflict to Creative Collaboration: A 
> user's guide to Dynamic Facilitation" 
> <http://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Creative-Collaboration-Dynamic-Facilitation/dp/1626526117/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394491921&sr=1-1&keywords=from+conflict+to+creative+collaboration>/
> /
> /
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:39 PM, Harold Shinsato <harold at shinsato.com 
> <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>> wrote:
>
>     Dan, Peggy, Michael, David, Kári, Paul,
>
>     Such a rich topic.
>
>     I don't think Dan is "barking up the wrong tree at all".
>
>     Perhaps this is just my own experience, sensitivity, and
>     upbringing - but I deeply resonate with the changing sense of
>     authorization that happens in a good Open Space conference, and
>     actually in most circle based processes, compared to the other
>     more hierarchy based ones. And the spatial setup is critical here.
>
>     This was almost ridiculously confirmed in my experience of a Group
>     Relations (GR) conference. We started in a theater style - the
>     hosts and administration of our temporary institution - sitting
>     like the judges and jury of our assembly. They claimed we the
>     assembly had no rules, but when the group tried to rearrange the
>     chairs in a circle, the leader de-authorized the conversation. No
>     one dared again challenge the chair settings again. Also in my GR
>     experience, there was another large group process - where we sat
>     in a double spiral. It was fascinating to see the dynamic nature
>     of authorization happening as people moved in and out of greater
>     and lesser levels of authority (as granted by the assembly). My
>     own experience of the OSList is we're more in a Spiral dynamic
>     than in a circle. Just my experience. Since we're not in visual
>     contact, it's a little harder to tell who is closer to the center
>     as we speak/write on the OSList. But it's not that hard to tell.
>
>     A circle is inherently equalizing. Think of the Knights of the
>     Round Table here. Maybe it doesn't make everyone equally
>     authorized - but it does give a sense that we're all in it
>     together, and that everyone matters, everyone counts. It's
>     certainly harder to hide in a circle - but where does a circle
>     start? Where does it end?
>
>     Obviously, OST is a lot more subtle than just the circle, the
>     bulletin board that everyone is authorized to write on, the law of
>     two feet, and the five principles. There's so much more to say. I
>     hope the group doesn't deauthorize the importance of this topic.
>
>     A couple more points.
>
>     1) Using GR vocabulary- I join with Paul Levy. I think Open Space
>     is more about "moral authority". To me that is about enabling
>     self-authorization. Maybe another possible term - intrinsic
>     authorization. I love some of the thinking of the Rights described
>     in the American Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths
>     to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they
>     are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."
>     Authority comes from the Creator - or you could say - it's already
>     built in :-)
>
>     2) I love the safety theme around authority, and I also join with
>     David and Kári on that theme. This is all about the container. A
>     good facilitator helps establish and hold a strong container. It's
>     hard for the container to hold without a blessing from the kings
>     and queens of the community - the Sponsor. This container needs
>     rules of play that equalize the authority to "do work", which in
>     an Open Space is to host and attend sessions, be a bumble bee or a
>     butterfly. It doesn't matter how great the title someone has -
>     once the container is set - it should be safe and without
>     repercussions for someone to take hold of the center of the circle
>     and announce their topic, not announce a topic, attend or not
>     attend sessions. Those rules are not usually in play for most
>     meetings. For example, at a Board meeting most people in an
>     organization aren't even allowed to be there, let alone speak.
>
>         Cheers,
>         Harold
>
>
>
>
>     On 3/31/14 9:00 AM, Peggy Holman wrote:
>>     Dan,
>>
>>     You ask great questions!
>>
>>     My take: like most of life, authorization is more nuanced than
>>     your statement below.
>>
>>     Like you, I believe everyone has 100% equivalent authorization
>>     AND they also carry the imprinting of habits, context, self-talk,
>>     existing relationships, and more that influence how they show up.
>>     Some will experience themselves as having 100% authorization,
>>     some will test that assumption, others will observe and reserve
>>     judgment, and every other flavor in between.
>>
>>     I have observed that with repeated use, people seem to experience
>>     an increasing sense of self-authorization. More take
>>     responsibility for what they love not just in Open Space but in life.
>>
>>     I know of no practice that lays the groundwork better for
>>     increasing self-authorization in social systems.
>>
>>     from sunny (at last) Seattle,
>>     Peggy
>>
>>
>
>
>     -- 
>     Harold Shinsato
>     harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
>     http://shinsato.com
>     twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>
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-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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