[OSList] Open Space and boundaries

[Hege Steinsland]

Hi Michael.
Wow! This is an intense case, but not only hypothetically for sure...
Some spontaneous thoughts from me.

I agree with the aspects Eiwor brings in. 
And I ask my self, will you be abel to trust the principles in Open Space in this situation?

I also think that the real issue in this situation is the lack of clear boundaries. What do we do in a situation with no clear boundaries to work and live and believe within?

A prework with the medicine wheel might help to do some clarifications. 
Purpose: IS the purpose clear and understood? ( the purpose with this process/ the purpose with out church. Choose a focus)
Leadership: What kind of leadership do we have/ need to carry out this purpose? Who are this leadership?
Vision: What are out wishes for the future. What results do we want to se in a short and longer term. What kind of behavior and action do we need to see more of to work out way towards these goals.
Community: Who else care about this church?
Management: What can be our nest step? How do we do this?

I also think its important to be honest about the pain and the  experience of chaos in a situation like this.

If this is the frame, and theme is something like:
  We are in a situation of pain and Chaos, and our boundaries is not clear.
What are the issues and opportunities for our church in this situation?

Then maybe a leadership can emerge form an Open Space meeting, and one can start to heal relations. But I think you must have a group with some mandate to anchor the process.

All the best from
Hege :-)

2. apr. 2014 kl. 08:33 skrev Eiwor Backelund <eiwor at gatewayc.com>:

> Hi Michael, what an interesting situation. I don´t really have any
> suggestions but more some thoughts about what might happen. Open Space
> creates a different structure than the usual in an organization. It allows
> what needs to be discussed to surface and in this case there seems to be
> much pain and uncertainty so if you chose to open space in this situation
> you have to be aware of all this pain that might emerge in the open air. If
> the meeting is long enough and the space is really open to discuss all this,
> it might solve some of the misunderstandings and miscommunications that has
> occurred in the church. I think in this case the givens or boundaries are
> really important so everyone knows what is going to happen after the
> meeting, what will the results be used for. Also important that they are
> wide enough to handle the amount of grief and conflict that might arise. I
> think working with the grief cycle in the planning meeting and in the
> debrief meeting is a good way to raise awareness of where they all are in
> the cycle so they can help each other work it through. 
> Eiwor
> 
> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] För Michael Wood
> Skickat: den 2 april 2014 03:59
> Till: 'oslist at lists.openspacetech.org'
> Ämne: [OSList] Open Space and boundaries
> 
> A Case Study....
> One of the principles that I have generally worked with in Open Space is
> helping the client get clear on the 'boundaries' of the space that's being
> opened. For example, helping people who come into the space to know 'what up
> for grabs here and what isn't? What decisions have already been made?'
> 
> So picture this (purely hypothetical of course)....a church community in
> which the pastor has (in many peoples' opinion) run off the rails and the
> main church body is in the process of trying to dismiss him; the church is
> in compete disarray and completely conflict ridden, many people have left;
> the pastor who holds all the keys, banking passwords; church telephone
> connections etc etc, has taken legal advice and had hunkered down in the
> church owned house where he continues to hold the reigns of power (via some
> of his 'allies' in the church) despite not formally being the Pastor of the
> church anymore....
> 
> So...here we have a situation where the 'boundaries' are actually in a state
> of complex flux and uncertainty. The financial 'givens' are ambiguous; there
> is no 'locum' pastor in place because of legal uncertainties with the
> existing pastor...etc etc.
> 
> So in terms of 'Opening Space', do we wait a bit longer until some of the
> legal boundaries are clarified, OR open space right away in the midst of the
> mess....my hunch is the latter, but any thoughts from anyone?
> 
> Cheers
> Michael
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