[OSList] Open Space and Holacracy

Thu Mar 6 10:04:10 PST 2014

Christine said – “Are we "working too hard" when we try to work differently ?Do you believe that Zappos would have end up anyway with same performance without the hard work of implementing Holacracy ? Anyway, we will never know...”

I have no problem working differently, in fact at the moment I don’t think we are working differently enough. As I see it, the names change, the processes change, but the fundamental presuppositions remain unchanged. Whether the issue is implementing Holarchy or a Dictatorship, the premise is that organization is something we do and we control. Doubtless Holarchy is more humane than a Dictatorship, but I think they both come from the same place, the same fundamental premise – that organization (my organization, your organization) is our creature. We design it, we create it, we control it.

Real difference comes with a change in premises, I think. Speaking just for myself, I find this to be a self organizing world, beginning, middle, and end. Even those organizations we think we organized end of being self organizing the moment we push the start button. So really working differently, and I think much smarter, efficiently, effectively, with greater joy and less effort, would start from that basic point: All the world is self organizing. We don’t create it, we don’t control it, but we can live in it productively. We can learn to enhance our ability for such living, and we can assist others to do the same. And how might that work?

The first step is to watch and appreciate what is happening all by itself before we even think about doing anything. And Open Space can be our guide. As we see all the time in Open Space, organization starts when passion and responsibility intersect around an issue or opportunity. If it is exciting, people will come, and the next thing you know you have a group of “two or more gathered together to do something” – which would be my definition of organization. The process and structure is totally emergent with no help needed. Happens all by itself. And as we have learned, intervention is not only not necessary, it actually mucks up the emergent process. 

It may happen that this nascent organization will die (When it’s over it’s over) or it may continue and grow (Whoever comes is the right people. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.) Given a little time it could become the next Intel, Microsoft, Facebook...!

Obviously the distance between a small nexus of passion and responsibility and a giant corporation is considerable – but even the giants started as “two or more gathered together” and I don’t think the rules change along the way. It is all fractal, and just as an OS for 10 works just like one for 2000 so also in the world at large (larger), I think. 

And what can we do along the journey? First, appreciate what’s happening. Second, keep the space open. Third, offer our passion and responsibility wherever we care to – which can provide new energy for growth, new inspiration, new ideas. That is just for “openers” and for more I refer you to Part II of “Wave Rider,” “The Wave Rider’s Guide to the Future.” I don’t pretend that is the whole story, but it could be a useful place to start – and you can write the rest. J

And then to your comment: “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 ?” Christine, you are 100% CORRECT! Which creates a major problem for all 7 ½ billion of us on Planet Earth which resides in a tiny corner of a second rate solar system, lost in a relatively minor galaxy...one of billions and billions. It also seems that something like 96% of everything is unknown and unknowable (Dark Energy and Dark matter) – and the remaining 4% (what we can theoretically see) is more than a little foggy when it comes to our capacity for understanding. The fact that all of it, so far as we can understand, J is self organizing is icing on the cake called “Uneasy”.

But we may have found a way out...just fabricate a version of reality we can understand and control. That should do it. 

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 

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of christine koehler
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 3:48 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space and Holacracy

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> 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] 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> 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] 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

On Mar 4, 2014, at 10:22 AM, Dan Mezick <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> 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

-----Original Message-----
From: 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> 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] 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

gsm: +354 8645189 <tel:%2B354%208645189> 

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Kári Gunnarsson
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-- 

 Christine Koehler, créatrice d'espace de Dialogue et de Coopération <http://uploads.wisestamp.com/59a7171fcb010f7c1cffbbe7e93ad57d/1320761435.png> 
 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 <tel:09%C2%A0%2072%C2%A0%2032%2036%C2%A0%2065>   72  32 36  65

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 Christine Koehler, créatrice d'espace de Dialogue et de Coopération <http://uploads.wisestamp.com/59a7171fcb010f7c1cffbbe7e93ad57d/1320761435.png> 
 Executive Coach, Médiateur
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