[OSList] Passover, Self organization, boundaries, authority and where new things happen... a bit long
Chris Kloth
chris.kloth at got2change.com
Mon Apr 14 07:58:32 PDT 2014
For those of you who are of the tribe, Happy Passover!
On this Passover I am experiencing an opportunity for integrating my
own thoughts on several threads OSLIST from the last several weeks...
linking a 2000+ year old story to my own story of incorporating Open
Space into my work for 20-ish years. [HO - what a long strange trip
it's been :-)]
My experience is that good things and bad things happen everywhere,
whether or nor space has been opened or not. Self-organization is
always occurring everywhere, sometimes to a good end, a bad end or
simply adapting to what is - for better or worse. Sometimes we notice
and sometimes we don't. Once we do notice we may or may not fully
understand what we are noticing. The terms perception/selective
perception and framing/reframing come to mind. Both seem to involve a
story or narrative, as well as a matter of choice.
In 1989 I was part of a group in what was still the Soviet Union
exploring issues of change. I experienced perception and framing
challenges so many times some days that my head was spinning.
One narrative that apparently still has legs is this: They pretend
tend to work. We saw all kinds of examples of how the formal
structures created boundaries, silos and authority that reinforced
dysfunction. But under the surface we noticed incredible examples of
creativity and resilience as people figures out how to get good
results despite all the barriers. The first OST User's Guide had yet
to be published, but passion and responsibility were busting out all
over despite boundaries and without formal authority.
While we were officially on an organized learning mission with the
group we were part of, my wife and I also decided to smuggle 50
Russian/Hebrew Haggadahs (prayer books) to a congregation in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan. At the time religion and religious material were still
illegal in the Soviet Union. Paradoxically, in this setting Islam was
the dominant religion in Uzbekistan. We knew no one in Uzbekistan so
our only strategy was to show up, pay attention and figure it out...
passion, responsibility and self-organization in action despite laws
prohibiting the exercise of passion and responsibility. The right
people showed up.
We were able to get the Haggadahs to the congregation through
intermediaries we engaged along the way. We know for sure because
several years later we met a young man who had recently immigrated to
Columbus from Uzbekistan and discovered he had been a child in the
congregation when the books arrived only a few days before Passover.
Good, new stuff can happen anywhere.
We boarded a train from Moscow to Helsinki on Passover that year.
Several of us on the trip who are Jewish decided we wanted to do
something for Passover. Several people in Moscow took some risks to
help us put together a plate. Passion, responsibility,
self-organization and the right people... reframing the narrative
about what is possible.
Every year Jews read the Torah from start to finish. It is the same
story every year. It is also a new story every year. In the context of
our own lives each year we have the opportunity to find new meaning
in the story and how it drives passion, responsibility,
self-organization and new possibilities.
In some sense the history of the Jews is a history of passion,
responsibility and self-organization. There are parts of the story
that make me very uncomfortable. Bad stuff happens sometimes, quite
often when people (Jews and non-Jews) are more focused on authority,
boundaries and a rigid view of the secular or religious meaning of the
stories by the story tellers... Christians, Jews, Muslims and others.
This year we will be adding a second Story of Oppression to our Seder.
It is a story of good and bad stuff happening for and to Jews in
Uganda during the time of Idi Ammin and a particular Passover. Yes,
more passion, responsibility, self-organization and the right people
showing up.
What I love most about OST, and why I have been using it as a part of
my work in communities and organizations for so many years is how
organic (literally a reflection of natural systems from atoms to
stars) the principles are. For me opening space is an opportunity to
invite people to notice new things with the help of the right people -
whoever that might be, to create a new story rooted in passion and
responsibilities and make it easier for good, new things to happen.
Yes, I do understand that there are practical considerations we
typically call authority, boundaries, sponsorship, etc. related to
opening space in an organization setting, especially in communities or
organizations where OST is new. I also realize that I am spoiled. Here
in Columbus, Ohio, USA it is harder for me to find people who have not
experienced OST than those to have.
I think the invitation for all of us is to resist limiting our sense
of what is possible when we encounter these terms in a client system
or in our own internal dialogues. When in doubt, reframe!
--
Shalom,
Chris Kloth
ChangeWorks of the Heartland
254 South Merkle Road
Bexley, OH 43209-1801
ph 614-239-1336
fax 614-237-2347
www.got2change.com
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