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At 09:29 PM 2/28/2003 +0100, Michael Pannwitz wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Transformation happens fairly
independent of the will of the people<br>
or the will of an organisation.<br>
I have not experienced people or organisations "will"
transformation<br>
as little as I have seen people or organisations doing grief work.<br>
What I have seen is people and organisations navigate in<br>
transformation and that grief works.<br>
So my way of putting it would be<br>
"I believe I can attempt to hold time and space for people to<br>
navigate transformation"</blockquote><br>
My feelings precisely. Ever since we invented the notion of Organization
Transformation, back in the early '80s -- there has been an ongoing
debate. Some of my colleagues felt that Transformation was something you
"did" to an organization -- as in "We will transform
our organization." Lots of folks made much effort to achieve all
that, but frankly I have never been convinced. <br><br>
For me Transformation (of whatever sort) is something that happens.
Indeed it has been happening for at least 13.7 billion years -- in short
for a long time before we ever put in an appearance. And truthfully, it
has done quite well without our help. But there are some rough points,
for sure. It seems that Transformation inevitably requires the ending of
one form as a new forms appear. The word "ending" has a nice
neutral tone to it -- but we experience it as death or dying. Not a nice
thing. But we do have a way of dealing with all that pain and
destruction, and it is called Griefwork. And we didn't invent that
either. And so from where I sit, the fundamental engines of
transformation (self-organization and Griefwork) operate, have operated,
and continue to operate with, or without, our permission. But we can
certainly help along the way. And here Michael's words,
<font color="#FF0000">"I believe I can attempt to hold time and
space for people to navigate transformation" </font>hit the nail
exactly on the head, as far as I am concerned. <br><br>
All of this has more than an academic ring to it for me at the moment.
One more time our world is transforming. It is a given (and I really
think it is a "given") that people will die, along with ways of
life, businesses, and probably countries. Some of it is pathetically
funny, particularly the rank arrogance of my President, who seems to
think he is in charge. We may all end up on a charred piece of solar
driftwood, otherwise knows as planet Earth. That would definitely be an
ending -- and also a transformation. At such a time, it may be useful to
remember that the demise of planet Earth has been in the cards since the
moment of its creation. And if we don't do it do it to ourselves, it will
happen anyhow, perhaps the unintended consequence of a close encounter of
the cataclysmic sort should a wandering asteroid bump into us. But no
matter the outcome, Michael's words constitute useful counsel.
<font color="#FF0000">"I believe I can attempt to hold time and
space for people to navigate transformation"<br><br>
</font>I think this is what we all can do. It is certainly my mission of
the moment.<br><br>
Harrison<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Harrison Owen</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<div align="center">7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<br>
Open Space Training
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</a>
<br>
Open Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
Personal website <a href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a><br><br>
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