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<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2>Well hello Chris,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2>I live 250 km from Nelson, going
towards the wild westcoast in Westport </FONT><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080
size=2>and you can ring anytime or come to visit or I might come up to Nelson if
you are not too busy and so on</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2>and my number is
037895553</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2>All the very best wishes for your
visit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2>Daniel LeBel</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="American Uncial" color=#000080 size=2>InterSpace</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=chris@chriscorrigan.com href="mailto:chris@chriscorrigan.com">Chris
Corrigan</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 19, 2004 7:58
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: non-convergence and Chris's
trip to New Zealand</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Papyrus color=#000080 size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mike:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I’ll be in
</SPAN></FONT><st1:country-region><st1:place><FONT face=Arial color=navy
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">New
Zealand</SPAN></FONT></st1:place></st1:country-region><FONT face=Arial
color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> starting Sunday…I
leave tomorrow.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’ll be in Nelson
the whole time.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Send me a number and
I can call you…that goes for anyone else on the </SPAN></FONT><st1:place><FONT
face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">South
Island</SPAN></FONT></st1:place><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> who wants to get
together while I’m there.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Cheers,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR>Chris<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; mso-no-proof: yes">---<BR>CHRIS
CORRIGAN<BR>Bowen Island, BC, Canada<BR>(604) 947-9236<BR><BR>Consultation -
Facilitation<BR>Open Space Technology<BR><BR>Weblog: <A
href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot">http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot</A><BR>Homepage:
<A
href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com">http://www.chriscorrigan.com</A><BR>chris@chriscorrigan.com<BR>(604)
947-9236<BR><BR><BR><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><![endif]></SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: blue 1.5pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">-----Original
Message-----<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] <B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On
Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Mike Copeland<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, March 17, 2004 6:48
PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B>
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re:
non-convergence</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">G'day
Chris</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Really
enjoyed the story about the folks in British Columbia, especially the bit
about non convergence. I have to admit to having my fair share of struggles
with this part of an open space event. Convergence was a real struggle at our
office's last OS workshop. Remember I said half the room championed
freedom shock. Havn't been able to put my finger on it, but its always felt
like stuffing an exploding suitcase.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I
followed your Bolg and read Michael Herman's words on this too. I love
it!</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We are in
the process of re visiting our office's Open space event by having, yes,
another whole open space workshop. I will deffinately be recommending we use
Non-convergance as it makes the whole thing pretty seamless. Those who want to
can pick up where we left off, and those champions of freedom shock can
champion that again if they wish.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Are you
still coming to New Zealand? Let me know if you are?</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Mike
Copeland</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> </SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From: Chris Corrigan [<A
href="mailto:chris@CHRISCORRIGAN.COM">mailto:chris@CHRISCORRIGAN.COM</A>]
</SPAN></FONT><BR><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Sent: Saturday,
13 March 2004 9:41 p.m.</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">To: OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</SPAN></FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Subject: Organizations as
complex relational processes, narratives and emergent action (and a
story!)</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Okay, a
dose of theory here.</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I came
across a paper by Frank Smits from Sydney, Australia, courtesy of the Plexus
Institute called How stories affect human action in
organisations,</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">(<A
href="http://website.lineone.net/%7efrank.smits/Essays/Stories.htm"
target=_blank>http://website.lineone.net/%7efrank.smits/Essays/Stories.htm</A>)
last week. I've had a chance to read it and it posits a number of
interesting points.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">My
reading of the paper follows the development of these key ideas:</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 1. Organizations are not "things" but
rather relational processes.</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 2. Human beings use story to represent
and understand the patterns of experience.</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 3. Stories only represent partial
versions of reality and so narrative interpretation is subject to power
dynamics.</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 4. Powerful storyteller can make people
"captives" in the story; this is the process of mythmaking.</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 5. "Organisations, in fact the
'organising via relating, exist in order to 'do something'. Hence somehow, the
individuals in the organisation need to 'act'...if our identity is clear and
we are actively interconnected in interdependent processes that when
information comes available, action can emerge. The information sharing
happens in interactive processes between individuals (either inside or outside
the 'organisation')."</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 6. "In the language of Gover (1996) 'our
identities are being constitutes and reconstituted with their physical,
cultural and historical contexts'. The roots of narratives and identity, he
claims, 'merge, inextricably embedded and nurtured in the soil of human
action'."</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 7. Narratives that resonate with an
individual's experience create meaningful and sustained emergent
action.</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 8. If people in organisations don't pay
attention to the Individual Intention, the likelihood of the vortices of the
narratives in those organisation resonating with the vortex of the Individual
Intention is purely one of chance. It is due to individuals themselves to
actively spend the time to understand other people's Individual
Intention.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> 9. By consciously working on
understanding Individual Intention and consciously work on fuzzifying the
narrative the complex responsive process of interaction between the people
will move to the attractor at the critical point. This can only happen in
self-organised process of interactions where meaning can start to
flow.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">All of
this is interesting stuff, especially the deep connection between narrative
and action. Organizations as relational processes, as arenas for the practice
of storytelling and mythmaking (with it's attendant careful attention to
compassion) and all of this as a propellant to emergent action. It's a lucid
thread.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">For my
money the last point is the most interesting and an example of it cropped up
for me in an Open Space meeting I facilitated last
weekend.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I was
working as part of a team developing a transportation demand management plan
for a city in British Columbia, basically coming up with a strategy to get
people out of their cars. As part of the process we convened a 1.5 day Open
Space meeting with the intention that the participants would begin to work on
citizen-based initiatives to get the message out.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">These
people didn't know each other, and so Day One was taken up with a lot of
conversation about the "typical" issues. The day was essentially about getting
to know each other, testing out ideas and theories, exploring the stories and
myths about the issue and basically sussing out the power relationships, the
allies and the opponents. There was very little new content, but the day was a
rich field of developing and dissolving structure, process and relationships,
coalescing around stories. Because we were in Open Space and the agenda was
driven by deep personal passion and responsibility, the process of
group-forming was accelerated. By the end of the day there was one story that
emerged to invite action. Someone mentioned that in the very neighbourhood in
which we were meeting, the world's first curbside blue box program had been
initiated. Whether or not this was an observable fact, it became the story
upon which we hung the potential for citizen action in Day
Two.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Day Two
was a two-hour action planning session, and I opened with that story and my
interpretation of the fact that we simply don't know when and how small
initiatives will blossom. And so the invitation for action planning was to
start something small that could change
everything.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Within
two hours there were three major initiatives sketched out. One involved
closing a street down for a one-day festival promoting biking, walking and
bussing. One was a project to have coporations sponsor evening busses into
town from the suburbs on weekend nights to encourage teenagers to stay out of
their cars. The third idea was the formation of a website and the coordination
of letter writing and lobbying campaigns to align actions on specific issues.
All of these ideas had champions, follow-up meeting dates and committees or
teams of people committed to working.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I found
the way this Open Space event evolved to be right in line with a few of the
paragraphs from Smits' paper:</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
"By consciously working on understanding Individual Intention and consciously
work on fuzzifying the narrative...the complex responsive process of
interaction between the people will move to the attractor at the critical
point. This can only happen in self-organised process of interactions where
meaning can start to flow. That is the domain of dialogue; it is the art of
'thinking together'... Or, in the words of Bohm:</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
From time to time (the) tribe</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">(gathered) in a circle. They just talked and talked
and talked, apparently to no purpose. They made no decisions. There was no
leader.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">(.) The
meeting went on until finally it seemed to stop for no reason at all and the
group dispersed. Yet, after that, everybody seemed to know what to do (.).
Then they could get together in smaller groups and do something or decide
things.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
-- David Bohm, On Dialogue (quoted in Jaworski, 1998: 109)</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
In this quote Bohm describes how dialogue as a way of people interacting
manages to let meaning emerge because of people understanding each other's
Individual Intentions. Effective action could emerge. Note that the course of
action was not decided by someone outside the process or decided via a
compromise! It was emergent because the process allowed the Group Intention to
move to the Edge of Incoherence."</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This is
exactly what happened, with people saying in the closing circle that they were
very surprised at how quickly the action plans came together. This echoes my
experience of using an Open Space action planning process we call
"non-convergence," so-called because it eschews voting, preserves the
diversity and complexity of the Day One conversations and keeps the space open
for subtle pattern and meaning-making by those motivated enough to initiate
action.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Smits'
paper gives me a nice theoretical frame to understand that process. I
thought it might spark some discussion here as it suggests a move from seeing
organizations as complex adaptive systems to complex relational
processes. In Wilberian terms, that seems like a very big shift from the
right hand side to the left hand side.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">At any
rate, I've also posted this to my weblog at <A
href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/2004_03_01_archive.html#10791665"
target=_blank>http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/2004_03_01_archive.html#10791665</A></SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">3320999533 for comment.</SPAN></FONT> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">---</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">CHRIS CORRIGAN</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Bowen Island, BC, Canada</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">(604) 947-9236</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Consultation - Facilitation</SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Open Space Technology</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Weblog:
<A href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot"
target=_blank>http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot</A></SPAN></FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Homepage: <A
href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com"
target=_blank>http://www.chriscorrigan.com</A></SPAN></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">chris@chriscorrigan.com</SPAN></FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">(604) 947-9236</SPAN></FONT>
<o:p></o:p></P>
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