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<title>RE: non-convergence</title>
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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Thanks Daniel…I’ll give you a
call…I get into town Sunday afternoon<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'>---<br>
CHRIS CORRIGAN<br>
</span></font><st1:place><st1:City><font size=2 color=navy><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'>Bowen Island</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'>,
</span></font><st1:State><font size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'>BC</span></font></st1:State><font size=2
color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'>, </span></font><st1:country-region><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'>Canada</span></font></st1:country-region></st1:place><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;mso-no-proof:yes'><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>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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>daniel lebel<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, March 18, 2004
11:54 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 and
Chris's trip to New Zealand</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Papyrus><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:navy'>Well hello Chris,</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Papyrus><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:navy'>I live 250 km from Nelson, going towards
the wild westcoast in Westport 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</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Papyrus><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:navy'>and my number is 037895553</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Papyrus><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:navy'>All the very best wishes for your visit.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Papyrus><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:navy'>Daniel LeBel</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="American Uncial"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"American Uncial";color:navy'>InterSpace</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid navy 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;
margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>----- Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div style='font-color:black'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:#E4E4E4'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <a
href="mailto:chris@chriscorrigan.com" title="chris@chriscorrigan.com">Chris
Corrigan</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>To:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <a
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"
title="OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Friday, March 19,
2004 7:58 AM<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Re:
non-convergence and Chris's trip to New Zealand<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Mike:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I’ll be in New Zealand 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 size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Send me a number and I can call
you…that goes for anyone else on the South Island who wants to get
together while I’m there.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><br>
Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;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:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>G'day
Chris</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Are you
still coming to New Zealand? Let me know if you are?</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Mike
Copeland</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></font>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>-----Original
Message-----</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>From: Chris Corrigan [<a
href="mailto:chris@CHRISCORRIGAN.COM">mailto:chris@CHRISCORRIGAN.COM</a>] </span></font><br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Sent: Saturday, 13 March 2004 9:41
p.m.</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>To: OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</span></font>
<br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Subject: Organizations as complex
relational processes, narratives and emergent action (and a story!)</span></font>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Okay, a
dose of theory here.</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>(<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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>My
reading of the paper follows the development of these key ideas:</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
1. Organizations are not "things" but rather relational processes.</span></font>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
2. Human beings use story to represent and understand the patterns of
experience.</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
7. Narratives that resonate with an individual's experience create meaningful
and sustained emergent action.</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
"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 size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
>From time to time (the) tribe</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>(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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>(.) 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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
-- David Bohm, On Dialogue (quoted in Jaworski, 1998: 109)</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>
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 size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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 size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>3320999533
for comment.</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>---</span></font>
<br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>CHRIS CORRIGAN</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Bowen Island, BC, Canada</span></font>
<br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>(604) 947-9236</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Consultation
- Facilitation</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Open Space Technology</span></font>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>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:10.0pt'>Homepage: <a
href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com" target="_blank">http://www.chriscorrigan.com</a></span></font>
<br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>chris@chriscorrigan.com</span></font>
<br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>(604) 947-9236</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
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