[OSList] a substantial difference

Michael M Pannwitz via OSList oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Mon Aug 15 02:09:17 PDT 2016


Dear Birgitt,

one of the preconditions for selforganisation to show up (and for 
potential engagement and action and myriads of other things) is 
"voluntary participation".

The invitation, coming from the sponsoring organisation, is one way of 
supporting voluntary participation.

It sounds not that komplex but it is tricky, since the sponsor usually 
is quite interested to have everyone invited to actually show up. When I 
suggest to the sponsor to ask folks accepting the invitation to actually 
respond (so that it is clear how many chairs are needed and enough food 
is around and what size space is needed, etc.) the remark often is "Does 
that not make it more difficult for them to come?" It might but it is 
not intended to be a barrier. It is, however, just about the first 
selforganized step that a potential participant is invited to take in 
this particular process.

In some organisations, such as a German public school, civil servant 
teachers might and can object to receiving or having to respond to an 
invitation for an event that takes place during their regular working 
hours. Their position is that they are required by their oath to attend 
activities that fall within their regular working hours whether they 
like it or not. In fact, they might even say that liking or not liking 
to attend is not a choice they have, its their duty.
In one particular instance, the principal offered the choice of 
attending the ost-event or choosing another task in the school while the 
event took place in the school.

I wonder if OST provides conditions for engagement once people show up. 
Is it not the force of selforganisation that tends to show up in OST 
events, especially when the often mentioned prerequisites have been 
given attention to? Does the force of selforganistion "intervene" for 
engagement or passion or chaos or structure or love or participation or 
whatever desireables or undesireables? Is its working fathomable?

Considering the experience of the repeatable and predictable experiment 
of a properly set up OST-event, conducted zillions of times, I suggest 
we just continue repeating it... focusing on the prerequisites (thats 
part of the experimental set-up).

Greetings from sunny Berlin
mmp

On 15.08.2016 02:37, Birgitt Williams via OSList wrote:
> Harold,
> thank you for this considered contribution about engagement including
> the links. I agree that OST does not guarantee engagement. It does
> provide the conditions for engagement once people show up. It is then up
> to people to exercise their personal leadership as to whether they are
> just going to participate...or to engage. I am less clear about this
> business of not forcing people to show up. It gets to the question of
> 'when is an invitation not really an invitation?'.
>
> Warmly,
> Birgitt
>
> On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 3:50 PM Harold Shinsato via OSList
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>>
> wrote:
>
>     Thanks Birgitt, Harrison, Eva for this question!
>
>     Engagement is considered very valuable. There's been an annual
>     gallup poll around U.S. employee engagement levels, and the latest
>     one shows it's only 32%. They're participating as employees, but
>     they're not really showing up.
>     http://www.gallup.com/poll/188144/employee-engagement-stagnant-2015.aspx
>
>     Gallup has estimated the cost of this lack of engagement is "$450
>     billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year".
>     http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/162953/tackle-employees-stagnating-engagement.aspx
>
>     I'm not the origin of this story, and I doubt it really started with
>     the formal use of Open Space in bringing Agile practices into
>     software organizations (thank you Daniel Mezick!), but engagement is
>     really considered critical in getting a successful and lasting shift
>     towards agile processes and an agile mindset.
>
>     Although Open Space doesn't guarantee engagement, it does prevent a
>     critical factor in this lack of engagement. Which is enforced
>     participation. Open Space helps show how space actually is open for
>     people to step forward for what they love as an act of service
>     (thank you Peggy Holman for showing me this way of thinking about
>     Open Space).
>
>     Unless we offer an authentic invitation to engage, one that is
>     welcoming as well as being an invitation we can safely decline, the
>     most we can get is their butts into the room. We won't get their hearts.
>
>     Can we coerce engagement? Full engagement? My sense is no. Maybe we
>     can trick people, but engagement by fraud isn't real engagement.
>
>         Harold
>
>
>     On 8/10/16 10:05 AM, Eva P Svensson via OSList wrote:
>>     Hi Birgitt and al,
>>     great distinction, I so often experience that there are great
>>     engagement in an Open Space Technology meeting and also in the
>>     follow up meeting afterwards but when it comes to action planning
>>     people suddenly start to look down, the voices becomes more silent
>>     etc and it’s difficult to get the energy for actions.
>>     I will here after talk about both participation and engagement and
>>     what that means for the participants and the sponsors.
>>     :o)
>>     Eva
>>
>>     Bästa hälsningar
>>
>>
>>
>>     Eva P Svensson
>>
>>
>>
>>     *EPS Human Invest AB*
>>     */Co owner Genuine Contact Group Inc/*
>>     */Medlem i Beyond Performance Group/*
>>
>>
>>
>>     /"Verksamhetsutveckling genom människor skapar långsiktigt
>>     välmående företag och organisationer"/
>>
>>
>>
>>     Anåsbergsvägen 22, 439 34 ONSALA
>>     Besöksadress; Norra Allégatan 8, Göteborg
>>     Tfn: 0300-615 05, Mobil; 0706- 89 85 50
>>     www.epshumaninvest.se <http://www.epshumaninvest.se/>
>>     Skype: eva.p.svensson
>>     Facebook sida: EPS Human Invest AB
>>     twitter:@EvaPSvensson
>>
>>     */"Jag kan inte lära dig något. Allt jag kan göra är att ställa
>>     frågor till dig, och låta dig själv finna svaren." Sokrates/*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>     10 aug. 2016 kl. 16:38 skrev Birgitt Williams via OSList
>>>     <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>>>     <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>>:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     Harrison...one of the aspects of you that I love is that when you
>>>     participate, you engage.
>>>
>>>     I witness many people participating and appearing engaged. And
>>>     yet upon probing after a participatory meeting, engagement was
>>>     not sufficient to create follow on action. I feel that this
>>>     distinction between having a participatory meeting and having the
>>>     conditions for engagement is important somehow.
>>>
>>>     Blessings,
>>>     Birgitt
>>>
>>>
>>>     On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 5:52 PM Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net
>>>     <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         Love to participate… and engage. So what so I do?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         ho
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         Winter Address
>>>
>>>         7808 River Falls Dr.
>>>
>>>         Potomac, MD 20854
>>>
>>>         301-365-2093
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>         189 Beaucauire Ave
>>>
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>>>
>>>         207 763-3261
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         Websites
>>>
>>>         www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
>>>
>>>         www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         *From:*OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>>>         <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>] *On Behalf
>>>         Of *Birgitt Williams via OSList
>>>         *Sent:* Tuesday, August 9, 2016 8:49 AM
>>>         *To:* OS list
>>>         *Subject:* [OSList] a substantial difference
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         Dear friends and colleagues,
>>>
>>>         One important question is "do you want to participate?".
>>>         Hence participatory methods.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         Another important question is "do you want to engage?".  A
>>>         totally different question with a different energy, both in
>>>         its inquiry and its answer.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         The question that we align ourselves with as facilitators
>>>         makes a substantial difference in our approach. I am
>>>         wondering about the impact on our outcomes.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         Make a great day!
>>>
>>>         Birgitt
>>>
>>>     --
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     Birgitt Williams
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     President & Senior Consultant of Dalar International Consultancy,
>>>     Inc.
>>>
>>>     http://www.dalarinternational.com
>>>     <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
>>>
>>>     Co-founder of the Extraordinary Leadership Network
>>>     http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com
>>>     <http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/>
>>>
>>>     Co-founder of the Genuine Contact™program and author of The
>>>     Genuine Contact Way: Nourishing a Culture of Leadership
>>>     http://www.genuinecontactway.com
>>>     <http://www.genuinecontactway.com/>
>>>
>>>     Co-owner of the Genuine Contact Co-owners Group Ltd.
>>>     http://www.genuinecontact.net <http://www.genuinecontact.net/>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     */Supporting leadership development for leading in a culture
>>>     requiring agility and flexibility in a performance environment of
>>>     constant change./*
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>     --
>     Harold Shinsato
>     harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
>     http://shinsato.com
>     twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
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