[OSList] Open Space and Holacracy
Michael M Pannwitz
mmpannwitz at gmail.com
Thu Mar 6 03:12:19 PST 2014
Dear Christine,
you are on the safe side by focusing on expanding time and space for the
forces of selforganisation to unfold and OST is pretty helpful in that
effort.
If you do that, a number of more or less puzzling things will regularly
happen, such as high performance or laughter or heated debate or
peaceful dialog between people that were at each others throats not long
ago, etc.
You "intended" none of that, that is you exerted no control, all you did
is step back and make make more space for selforganisation to do its thing.
In other words, Open Space does not create conditions for high
performance but for the unfolding of selforganisation. And that in turn
does various more or less amazing things that nobody ever imagined to
happen.
In my own practice, I noticed that much of what I think people are
afraid of or are anxious about, are things that I am afraid of or
anxious about. Now this is a question for me as facilitator processing
this stuff in a way that it does not divert me from focusing on holding
time and space. This is not healthy environment for selforganisation to
unfold.
Yes, it might be true, that people prefer to understand how things work.
Indeed, I prefer when I understand things. Looking at the "rules" for a
peacemaker, another word for facilitator, goes like this "Never delude
yourself in thinking you can understand complex stuff" (or something
like that). Again, that too diverts your attention (or in more classical
terms, what I am paid for).
What you report about the management seminar made me shout and lough,
of course, you did supply the explenation for this nonsense: not enough
time, no feedback, diffentiation of the entire group into 5 subgroups, etc.
All conditions under which selforganisation is cramped...
Have a great day
mmp
On 05.03.2014 21:47, christine koehler wrote:
> Harrison,
> Maybe I am beginning to get it. Maybe not.
> You say self-organization is already there, no matter what we do or dont
> do. ok.
> Maybe the question is not about self-organisation but about high
> performance : Hsieh, Gore, Semler's visions only say something about how
> they see high performance flow from/in/thru the system. Might be an
> attempt to control it, by naming it Holacracy, or even self
> organization ? However, from what they say, their way of controling it
> might end up with higher levels of performance than "command and
> control"systems. Using Open Space creates conditions for high
> performance. But then, should we just stop doing deciding and trying
> things because no matter what we do the system will self-organize ?
> Are we "working too hard" when we try to work differently ?Do you
> believe that Zappos would have end up anyway with same performance
> withoug the hard work of implementing Holacracy ? Anyway, we will never
> know...
>
> My feeling is also that people tend to prefer when they understand how
> things work (otherwise they get anxious), and in this regard
> self-organization may make things uneasy. Who can tell how it works ?
> If you take decision making for instance, and if I take Wosonos as an
> example, sometimes the decision making process for the location on the
> next one is so obvious to everybody who go through it that everything
> seems easy and clear. But sometimes , and for reasons that are quite
> unclear to me, it seems that the some people are not happy and the
> decision maling process is questioned. Of course this is true with any
> decision making process, maybe it's just that some processes are easier
> to describe. Our brain needs to be able to simplify complex processes in
> order to be comfortable with it.
>
> Right now I am experiencing something interesting : for a management
> seminar, a few groups emerged from what I could call a very simplistic
> "law of 2 feet" decision making process. ie there was offered
> opportunity for 5 groups to emerge, and so it went. (why 5 ? well, that
> was completely arbitrary. probably because timing was short and that
> there were only very short time to get feedbacks fro the groupn as
> feedback was required) . After the seminar where people are asked to
> work further on those topics. Management decided not to let leaders of
> those groups use the law of 2 feets but members could. (I agree this is
> a strange rule). What is happening is that they are questioning the
> decision making process : how do we know those topics are the most
> important ones ? is this group the best to work on such particular topic
> ? How can I feel legitimate in being the leader of this group as it is
> not my dayjob ? etc.. Would you say that they are working too hard ?
> That the system will take care of itself and anyway self-organize, no
> matter what we do ?
>
>
> Christine
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 11:27 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net
> <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>> wrote:
>
> Christine ... “I find very interesting this tension between personal
> vision (think about Gore for instance or Semler and Semco) and
> self-organization. looks very complex and human to me ;)____
>
> but still wondering how self-organization fits within this kind of
> frame.” ____
>
> __ __
>
> It is really easy. Self Organization is already there, but the poor
> folks at Zappo think they did it! Surprise – what they really did
> was complicate something that could have happened very easily by
> itself. Ah! But we humans have to feel we are in control. Even when
> we say we aren’t and don’t care to be. The Trojan Horse rides again.
> Zappo’d as it were.____
>
> __ __
>
> ho____
>
> __ __
>
>
>
> ____
>
> __ __
>
> __ __
>
> Harrison Owen____
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.____
>
> Potomac, MD 20854____
>
> USA____
>
> __ __
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)____
>
> Camden, Maine 04843____
>
> __ __
>
> Phone 301-365-2093____
>
> (summer) 207-763-3261____
>
> __ __
>
> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20> ____
>
> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website)____
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> OSLIST Go
> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org____
>
> __ __
>
> *From:*oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>] *On Behalf Of
> *christine koehler
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 04, 2014 2:35 PM
>
>
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Open Space and Holacracy____
>
> __ __
>
> This reminds me of a very short conversation I had with a
> participant of the Practice of Peace seminar last January. He had
> left Zappos not so long ago. We exchanged a few words about the
> ambiguity of Tony Hsieh mandating Zappos to become holacratic,
> because it was his own personal vision.____
>
> I find very interesting this tension between personal vision (think
> about Gore for instance or Semler and Semco) and self-organization. ____
>
> looks very complex and human to me ;)____
>
> but stlll wondering how self-organization fits within this kind of
> frame.
>
> ____
>
> Christine ____
>
> __ __
>
> __ __
>
> __ __
>
> On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 8:03 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net
> <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>> wrote:____
>
> Christine, Zappo Holarchs “rolled out” according to the following...
> Sounds like sort of a mandate to me. ho____
>
> ____
>
> http://qz.com/161210/zappos-is-going-holacratic-no-job-titles-no-managers-no-hierarchy
> ____
>
> ____
>
> Harrison Owen____
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.____
>
> Potomac, MD 20854____
>
> USA____
>
> ____
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)____
>
> Camden, Maine 04843____
>
> ____
>
> Phone 301-365-2093____
>
> (summer) 207-763-3261____
>
> ____
>
> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20> ____
>
> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website)____
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> OSLIST Go
> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org____
>
> ____
>
> *From:*oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>] *On Behalf Of
> *Christine Whitney Sanchez
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 04, 2014 12:46 PM____
>
>
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Open Space and Holacracy____
>
> ____
>
> Great post, Daniel. Our company worked with Tony Hseigh’s Downtown
> Las Vegas Project last year and found the whole thing to be very
> self-organizing. ____
>
> ____
>
> I’m surprised that Zappos is imposing any kind of mandate - where
> did you discover this?____
>
> ____
>
> Namasté,
>
> Christine
>
> Christine Whitney Sanchez, Partner
> Innovation Partners International
> Phoenix, AZ, USA +1.480.759.0262 <tel:%2B1.480.759.0262>
> www.innovationpartners.com <http://www.innovationpartners.com>____
>
> ____
>
> ____
>
> On Mar 4, 2014, at 10:22 AM, Dan Mezick <dan at newtechusa.net
> <mailto:dan at newtechusa.net>> wrote:____
>
> __ __
>
> An invitation arouses curiousity, but a mandate dries up ____
>
> the bones... Ancient Proverb____
>
> ____
>
> The Mandate of Holacracy at Zappos:____
>
> ____
>
> http://newtechusa.net/agile/the-mandate-of-holacracy-at-zappos/
>
> Sent from my iPhone____
>
>
> On Mar 4, 2014, at 11:36 AM, "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at verizon.net
> <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>> wrote:____
>
> Wikipedia (as usual) has everything you wanted to know... go to --
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holacracy
>
> I can certainly imagine Open Space playing a role in
> Holacracies, and in
> fact the "governance" in a Open Space could certainly be
> described as
> "Holacratic" -- which is to say "ruling power" is totally
> distributed
> amongst the participants. But there is a real difference.
> Holacracy in Open
> Space is totally an emergent phenomenon. Nobody designed it, nobody
> implements it -- it just shows up all by itself. Holacracy in
> places like
> Zappos is a designed phenomenon. Doubtless it works pretty well,
> but it does
> seem to me that they may be working a little too hard, creating
> something
> that can and does happen all by itself. I think.
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
> Potomac, MD 20854
> USA
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
> Camden, Maine 04843
>
> Phone 301-365-2093
> (summer) 207-763-3261
>
> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/> (Personal Website)
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
> archives of OSLIST
> Go
> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
> <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
> Kári Gunnarsson
> Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 11:20 AM
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space and Holacracy
>
> I heard that Holacracy is somehow based upon the principles of
> Open Space
> and uses Open space for its implementation.
>
> On 4 March 2014 08:53, Rob van der Eyden
> <robvandereyden at veranderarchitect.nl
> <mailto:robvandereyden at veranderarchitect.nl>> wrote:____
>
> Hello Kári,____
>
> ____
>
> Interesting question. How do you see the link between Open
> space and ____
>
> Holacracy?____
>
> ____
>
> Kind regards, Rob van der Eyden____
>
> ____
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----____
>
> Van: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>____
>
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] Namens Kári
> Gunnarsson____
>
> Verzonden: maandag 3 maart 2014 21:52____
>
> Aan: Open Space Forum____
>
> Onderwerp: [OSList] Open Space and Holacracy____
>
> ____
>
> There have been much talk about the relationship of the
> organizational ____
>
> chart and how Open Space operates. Recent compareson to me
> has been to ____
>
> link the new self-organizing authority and decision-making
> system ____
>
> called Holacracy____
>
> see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holacracy____
>
> ____
>
> I wonder if there are stories on the use of Open space to
> transform ____
>
> more traditional system to one of Open Space based
> Holacracy? I would ____
>
> be happy to learn some of your experiences in this regard.____
>
> ____
>
> --____
>
> Kári Gunnarsson____
>
> kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is <mailto:kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is>____
>
> gsm: +354 8645189 <tel:%2B354%208645189>____
>
> ____
>
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> --
> Kári Gunnarsson
> kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is <mailto:kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is>
> gsm: +354 8645189 <tel:%2B354%208645189>
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> -- ____
>
> Christine Koehler, créatrice d'espace de Dialogue et de Coopération
> Executive Coach, Médiateur
> www.christine-koehler.fr <http://www.christine-koehler.fr/>
> Tel : 06 13 28 71 38 <tel:06%2013%2028%2071%2038>
> Fax : 09 72 32 36 65
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> --
>
> Christine Koehler, créatrice d'espace de Dialogue et de Coopération
> Executive Coach, Médiateur
> www.christine-koehler.fr <http://www.christine-koehler.fr/>
> Tel : 06 13 28 71 38
> Fax : 09 72 32 36 65
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Michael M Pannwitz
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