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

Chris Kloth chris.kloth at got2change.com
Thu Apr 17 07:51:47 PDT 2014


I am not sure this post from last Monday made it to the list, although a 
followup with a correction seems to have made it. I am re-posting in 
case it didn't make it. I have made the corrections to clean it up. My 
apologies if this is a duplication.
--

For those of you who are of the tribe, Happy Passover!

On this Passover I am experiencing a sense of integrating my own 
thoughts on several OSLIST threads 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 not space has been opened. 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/re-framing come to mind. Both seem to involve a story or 
narrative, as well as a matter of choice.

In this context, when I talk about self-organization, boundaries, 
authority and most other things I am sharing a narrative rooted in the 
choices I have made while trying to make sense of what I have noticed. 
When I hear/see anyone ruminating about any of these topics I know the 
narrative is rooted in each person's own choices while making sense of 
their experiences. What I appreciate about the list is that if I am able 
to maintain a spirit of curiosity I may gain new ways of understanding 
my own narrative and yours. What follows is a storyline that has 
influenced how I have struggled with the content of these recent threads.

In 1989 I was part of a group exploring issues of change in what was 
still the Soviet Union. 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 pay us and we pretend to work. We saw all kinds of examples of how 
the formal structures created boundaries, silos and misuse of authority 
that reinforced dysfunction. But under the surface we noticed incredible 
examples of creativity and resilience as people figured out how to get 
good results despite all the barriers. The first OST User's Guide had 
yet to be published, but the right people were showing up and 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. Somewhat paradoxically, in this setting Islam was the 
dominant religion in Uzbekistan and had to be accounted for as much as 
the legal issues. 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 a culture and laws that 
prohibited the exercise of passion and responsibility. The right people 
showed up. We showed up in the spirit of making something happen. Others 
showed up, found us, and helped make it happen.

We were able to get the Haggadahs to the congregation through 
intermediaries we encountered along the way. We know for sure because 
several years later we met a young man who had recently immigrated to 
Columbus from Uzbekistan. We 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. Space can be opened in more or less 
hospitable environments.

Later during the trip we boarded a train from Moscow to Helsinki on 
Passover. 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... re-framing 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. Framing and re-framing.

In some sense the history of 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 told 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 responsibility 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!

-- 
Please note that my new e-mail address is chris.kloth at got2change.com. You may also contact me by using the Contact Page at www.got2change.com.

Shalom,

Chris Kloth
ChangeWorks of the Heartland
chris.kloth at got2change.com
www.got2change.com
phone - 614.239.1336
fax - 614.237.2347

Think Globally, Act Locally

Please think about the environment before printing this e-mail.




More information about the OSList mailing list