[OSList] Asking for your wisdom - Leora Tushinski

Fri Mar 5 16:53:37 PST 2021

Hi Leora,

I’ll add my two cents to the wisdom already shared. You asked:

...how to "hold" the tension between the "freedom" in the OS method,   and “purposefulness” needed in most of the processes .

How can we expect to get to "bottom lines" (get the work done) when we depend only on the people who come, and what they decide…?

  And more, how can we avoid   the "loose" rules   lead to "anarchy", especially in complex environment? 

Your questions are often asked by managers who are considering bringing Open Space to their organizations. They’re great questions.

Such questions have an implicit assumption that managers define purpose and rules and everyone else follows, doing what they’re told. In my life experience, that assumption is rarely the case. It may be employees have a different purpose than their manager but we are all purpose-driven. Sometimes we’re conscious of our purpose, sometimes not. 

Another assumption in your questions is that Open Space, because it invites people to experience freedom, doesn’t have purpose. In fact, just the opposite is true. I find Open Space makes purpose exceedingly clear. That is one of its strengths. It is part of what makes OST so radical. It puts purpose out in the form of a question, an organizing theme and invites people into freely exploring purpose, often from perspectives managers never imagined. People are freed to get work done because the “loose” rules liberate them to more effectively navigate complex environments. I often find managers shocked by the passion and creativity of people. They are far more capable and committed than many managers assume.

The essence of Open Space, with a nod to Anne Stadler, who first framed it this way, is to take responsibility for what you love. Because the purpose is stated clearly, people who choose to accept the invitation to attend know why they’re there. So they propose what they need to in order to accomplish the purpose.

Now there are several assumptions in what I’m saying. First, that people are there by choice. Invitation, not mandatory attendance, ensures you have people who want to be there. Making an Open Space mandatory runs counter to the spirit of “whoever comes is the right people”. Participation comes via an invitation, not a mandate. A second assumption is that the sponsor(s) are authentic in their calling question — they have stated a real purpose for coming together. If not, they put the process at risk as that would be an act of betrayal.

You see, Open Space enables a different form of organization. It is not based in hierarchy, which is terribly cumbersome in complex situations. OST forges self-organized networks, communities, relationships as people discover the others who care about the things they care about. In fact, part of the power of Open Space is that it re-knits the fabric of community as the needs of individuals and the needs of the whole are both served. People find they can look to each other for partnership and support in accomplishing purposes they care about.

One other item I want to unpack: “if we depend only on the people who come”…I have come to believe that, in addition to developing a thoughtful, purposeful, meaningful calling question, one of the most important aspects of preparing for an Open Space is attending to who is invited. It is the job of the organizers to do the work to ensure they have invited people from the whole system. I interpret the principle about "whoever comes are the right people" not as a "leave it to chance" perspective but rather as a "be at peace” perspective that those who show up will figure it out.

As a facilitator, I consider an important part of my job is to work with the sponsor/organizing team to understand who makes up the system so that the sponsor/organizing team invites them. Harrison describes the people to be invited as the "people who care". Since it isn’t always obvious, I take a cue from Marv Weisbord and Sandra Janoff and use a rubric from Future Search in how I think about who cares. I work with the organizers to identify the people who “ARE IN”: with Authority, Resources, Expertise, Information, and Need. And then I bring a diversity lens to it to help the sponsor/organizing team to determine, which, if any, of these demographic dimensions are important: age, race, gender, geography, socio-economics, political perspective, and religion. Doing the work of inviting people from the whole system lays the groundwork so that you can depend on the people who come. 

Open Space gives us practice in experiencing what networked-based organizing feels like. Newtonian science was mirrored in the organizational form that emerged during its day: hierarchy. As we come to understand the science of complexity, we’re beginning to recognize something that was always there: our most effective form for human organizing today is in networks. Open Space just helps us do it consciously.

Enjoy your work with Tova!

Peggy

________________________________
Peggy Holman
Co-founder
Journalism That Matters
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Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity <http://www.engagingemergence.com/>

> On Mar 5, 2021, at 12:28 AM, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Leora and welcome to OS-list!
> Much wisdom has already been shared.
> I usually invite my clients to some good pre-work to have clarity on purpose, goals and to create clarity on the conditions/givens including clarifying support for the continuous process after the event. Then they have the task to create an irresistible invitation and spread it as widely as possible, to all who may be interested… then trust the principle: Whoever comes…
> It’s wise to involve different stakeholders in the pre-work too, so they are engaged and ambassadors to spreading the word.
> Good luck
> Thomas Herrmann, sending greetings from Sweden – please extend my warmest greetings to Tova too!
>  
> Från: OSList <oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>> För leora tushinski via OSList
> Skickat: den 3 mars 2021 11:13
> Till: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Kopia: leora tushinski <tushinleora at gmail.com <mailto:tushinleora at gmail.com>>
> Ämne: [OSList] Asking for your wisdom - Leora Tushinski
>  
> Hello everyone,
>  
> 
> This is my first time in the OSList and I am writing to ask for the wisdom I am sure is held in this group.
> 
> My name is Leora and I'm a student of "Dialogic interventions in Large group" , held by Tova Averbuch and Rotem Ofer.
> 
> As a manager I have a challenge (and maybe a fear): wondering how to "hold" the tension between the "freedom" in the OS method,   and “purposefulness” needed in most of the processes .
> 
> How can we expect to get to "bottom lines" (get the work done) when we depend only on the people who come, and what they decide…?
> 
>   And more, how can we avoid   the "loose" rules   lead to "anarchy", especially in complex environment? 
> 
> I will appreciate your time, attention and wisdom
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Leora
> 
> Israel
> 
>  
> 
> 050-6207543 (972)
>  
> בברכה,
> ליאורה 
>  
> 050-6207543
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