[OSList] Open Space and boundaries

Wed Apr 2 01:25:17 PDT 2014

Dear Hege,
your note brought smiles to my old face!

I dont trust the principles of Open Space, however, they have always 
seemed useful in real life and in my introduction at the beginning of an 
OST event....

Even though I dont trust selforganisation either, I have seen pretty 
amazing things happening when it fully unfolds.
So I concentrate on helping the sponsor to see whether the prerequisites 
for an OST event (expanding the space for selforganisation) are in 
place, from his vantage point.

What are "real boundaries"? Can you imagine the selforganisation-forces 
being impressed by any kind of boundary?

In this - purely hypothetical - case, a whole bunch of things (of which 
you describe a number) are hypothetically possible.
Looking back at the 171 events I have been involved in, none of them 
seemed to have been needed for the decision by the sponsor to embark on 
an os event or not.

Have a great day in Brattvåg,
greetings from Berlin
mmp

On 02.04.2014 10:00, Hege Steinsland wrote:
> 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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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
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