[OSList] oops - typos: Passover, Self organization, boundaries, authority and where new things happen... a bit long

[Chris Kloth]

oops - I just noticed some typos to the treatise :-(

The most important one to clarify is this: The story in the Soviet  
Union is - They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.


-- 
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


Quoting Chris Kloth <chris.kloth at got2change.com>:

> 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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