[OSList] What's authority got to do with Open Space ?

Mon Nov 30 03:15:18 PST 2015

Hi Koos,

Thanks for your comment on personal passion. There's this very 
interesting paper on the various authority types (informal, formal, 
personal) which is pretty good, I am including it here if you want to 
check it out.

I hear you when you say "I can initiate that process of authorizing 
myself by taking responsibility for my passion." This is exactly what we 
hope will happen inside company-sponsored OST events.

Within the context of Open Space held in an organization that wants to 
explore an enterprise-wide change, we can expect the following to be 
true, if the event is to work well:

1. Formally Authorized Leader. A person formally and highly authorized 
by the organization sends an invite with a theme. This "formally 
authorizes" the time and space for the gathering.

2. Proceedings and Intent to Act- with Inclusion. That same person 
welcomes everyone on event-day, and at the opening, encourages the 
generation of proceedings, and signals that those proceedings will be 
inspected and acted upon, not just by the formally authorized leaders 
(the so-called "higher ups") but also with the new and emerging leaders 
who have identified themselves during the event ("be prepared to be 
surprised.") In other words, the people present are being invited to 
have their say, document it, and expect that these issues are going be 
input into a formally authorized and inclusive process of deciding, 
acting, and improving things.

Now, absent these two facts, how "important" is the OST event? How much 
"action" can ensue?

1. Formally Authorized Leader. No formally authorized leader issuing the 
invite? Or someone /without enough authorization to matter?/ The signal 
is clear: this theme (and this event) is /not important/ to the people 
who make the decisions.

2. Proceedings and Intent to Act- with Inclusion. Since no one in the 
room has enough formal authority to implement plans suggested in the 
proceedings, we can reasonably expect nothing whatsoever to ensue in 
formal terms after the meeting. This, because people who /could/ do 
something about it (those formally authorized by the organization) "do 
not care."

So- the highly authorized Sponsor (or Host) is essential. Otherwise, in 
authority terms, the OST event and what happens there just doesn't 
matter from an organizational point of view. It cannot have much of an 
impact.

Much ado about nothing?

Here's that paper I mentioned earlier:
https://www.it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/projektDV/ht09/BART_Green_Molenkamp.pdf

I notice that most people prefer to avoid discussing authority. Since 
our families are the first place where we encounter this concept and 
develop our relationship with it, perhaps it is true that discussing 
authority can be very triggering. Thanks for sticking your neck out and 
I certainly hope to hear back from you and others on this thread.

Daniel

On 11/30/15 12:57 AM, Koos de Heer wrote:
>
> Hi Daniel,
>
>
> Thank you for an interesting line of thought. What I am thinking is 
> that there is also the aspect of a person standing up and speaking for 
> a passion that they have (be it in the form of raising a topic or just 
> speaking in a break out session) and in that way claiming authority. 
> In your essay, authority seems to always come from someone else. And 
> of course authority only is there when others believe it to be there. 
> But the initiative to bestow authority on me does not always come from 
> others. I can also initiate that process of authorizing myself by 
> taking responsibility for my passion.
>
> Koos
>
> *Van:*OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *Namens 
> *Daniel Mezick via OSList
> *V**erzonden:*maandag 30 november 2015 0:13
> *Aan:* oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> *Onderwerp:* [OSList] What's authority got to do with Open Space ?
>
> What's authority got to do with Open Space ? Apparently nothing at 
> all, at least on the surface...
>
> Wait. Once we peek under the surface, what do we actually find?
>
> This completely heretical essay attempts to answer at least part of 
> that question.
>
> The context is the use of Open Space in a large business enterprise, 
> convened with intent to explore the potential for making a very big, 
> very complex enterprise-wide change.
>
> {Please note, the word "authority" might trigger feelings of: 
> /soul-sucking bureaucracy/, unfair and /_illegitimate leadership 
> hierarchy_/, and the like. Some "triggered" readers may want to 
> opt-out of continuing at this time...)
>
> Authority Distribution in Open Space:
> http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/
> Open Space is a most interesting format for "gathering,", also known 
> as "meeting."
>
> What exactly is going on in Open Space?
>
>
>
> -- 
> Daniel Mezick
> Culture Strategist. Author. Keynoter.
> (203) 915 7248. Bio. <http://www.DanielMezick.com/> Blog. 
> <http://www.NewTechUSA.net/blog/> Twitter. 
> <https://twitter.com/DanielMezick>
> Book: The Culture Game. <http://theculturegame.com/>
> Book: The OpenSpace Agility Handbook. 
> <http://www.amazon.com/OpenSpace-Agility-Handbook-Daniel-Mezick/dp/0984875336> 
>
>

-- 
Daniel Mezick
Culture Strategist. Author. Keynoter.
(203) 915 7248. Bio. <http://www.DanielMezick.com/> Blog. 
<http://www.NewTechUSA.net/blog/> Twitter. 
<https://twitter.com/DanielMezick>
Book: The Culture Game. <http://theculturegame.com/>
Book: The OpenSpace Agility Handbook. 
<http://www.amazon.com/OpenSpace-Agility-Handbook-Daniel-Mezick/dp/0984875336> 

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