[OSList] Beyond an OST meeting...the inspired organization

[Birgitt Williams]

As much as I love OST meetings, what I love even more is when the outcomes
make a significant difference in an organization. For some, the excitement
comes in sustaining the new paradigm after using an OST meeting or series
of meetings to shift from one paradigm to another. For others, the
excitement comes when new growth and regeneration occurs from the new
paradigm as a launching pad for what emerges.

In about 1992 I first learned from Harrison the stages of an organization
going from reactive-->responsive-->proactive-->interactive-->inspired. I
examined this like holding a treasure in my hand, looking at it from every
angle. And then I said, it seems to me that all organizations at their core
are inspired....they simply need to get their patterns unlearned to get
back to their natural state of inspired organizations. If it is true that
the natural state of the organization is the state of being inspired, then
what do we need to do to unlearn patterns that keep us in what I think of
as a life depleting state...and hold ourselves and our organizations in the
life nurturing state of being an inspired organization.

>From 1992 through 1995, I worked from this belief with what I at the time
called the Conscious Open Space Organization. My hypothesis was that all
organizations are Open Space Organizations. The difference that comes from
1.working frequently with OST in the same organization and 2. use processes
and reflection methods to develop awareness/focus on the organization to
develop its consciousness about itself as an Open Space Organization, an
inspired organization.

In 1992 the moment of my breakthrough to this way of thinking and working
also came from Harrison. When I watched him use the Medicine Wheel as a
reflection tool at the end of an OST meeting, and with my own prior studies
with the Medicine Wheel Tool as a foundation for myself, I grasped how
important the reflection component was. Via this reflection, the
participants could reflect on outcomes of how fantastic leadership was
during the meeting, how they all aligned with the vision, how they
experienced community, and how they self managed within minimal structure.
They were reflecting about themselves, during the meeting, as operating as
an inspired organization...at least for the length of the meeting. I sat
there completely mesmerized. People were discovering what was already there
in the organization, not something that they had to strive for or reach for
beyond what they already knew how to do.

Today, I come across people who are passionate about OST as a meeting
format, and about opening space...and very occasionally I come across and
have the joy of conversing with someone who, like me, is interested in the
long term outcomes in an organization. I love those conversations. Since
1995 out on my own as a consultant, I have experimented with the Conscious
Open Space Organization...eventually I changed the name of this model to
the Genuine Contact Organization. The need for that change is another story
for another day. For now, I wanted to let you know that I am hosting six
people for a week long learning journey with me about the Genuine Contact
Organization. Information is at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/genuine-contact-organization-advanced-leadership-development-november-2018-tickets-42690069146
.
I believe that there are three spaces left. If you would like to have a
conversation about whether this is right for you, please contact me at
birgitt at dalarinternational.com and I will be happy to chat with you.

[image: AW803 The Threads.jpg]

in genuine contact,
Birgitt
-- 







Birgitt Williams


Closing the Gap Between Potential and Results


Services http://www.dalarinternational.com/services/


Leadership & Organizational Development Training, http://
www.dalarinternational.com/services/training/


Author, President & Senior Consultant of Dalar International Consultancy,
Inc.

Co-founder: Genuine Contact program

Co-founder of the Extraordinary Leadership Network
http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com

Co-owner of the Genuine Contact Co-owners Group Ltd.
http://www.genuinecontact.net



*Supporting leadership development for leading in a culture requiring
agility and flexibility in a performance environment of constant change.*



PO Box 19373, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27619

phone: 1-919-522-7750
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