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<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><FONT face="Book Antiqua" color=#008080
size=4><STRONG><EM>Harrison - great thoughts on OS and Education -- and definite
interest in empowerment. As many here know it has been a passion of mine
-- and I really believe and have evidence that the time is here for the system
opening up. Michael H, Chris C., Julie and I had great fun playing in OST
in a state-wide conference in Alaska, followed by giving a workshop in using it
for teachers, administrators, etc.</EM></STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4>I've been having the same fun with Professors at the
Siberian Academy for Public Administration (University age), Ministry of Ed. in
Jamaica (public and University of the West Indies) and other
North American groups.</FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4>An Educators magazine just published an article about OS in
the Classroom -- as I was working with Bachelor of Education students -- if
anyone is interested </FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN><SPAN
class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua" color=#008080
size=4><A
href="http://www.nstu.ca/pklot/AvisoSpring05.pdf">http://www.nstu.ca/pklot/AvisoSpring05.pdf</A></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua" color=#008080
size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><FONT face="Book Antiqua" color=#008080
size=4><STRONG><EM>And I was asked to present OST to the Canadian Association of
Principles. And in August -- while still in the glow of OSonOS
<grin> have been asked to give a keynote and take the Atlantic Cdn
Regional Administrators (Principals and Vice-Principals) through a full day of
OST!! And a colleague is pursuing a Ph.D. -- around using collaborative
processes -- explicitly OST -- in education.</EM></STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4>Harrison - I love what you wrote about taking a look at
where we are. In playing at higher consciousness, so often I realized that
in watching groups trying to connect to the system they are in -- to truly
explore what matters -- they were already there. In watching individuals
trying to figure out connecting to their inner being, in a BFO (blinding flash
of the obvious) I recognized the merger was already there. When we learn
to laugh, we are laughing within the cosmic humor, we can be loving within love
itself, creative within Spirit's infinite potential, curious within limitless
intelligence unfolding, growing within infinite evolution...... adorable,
unfinished, wondering, reverent, irreverent --
awed!'</FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4>Thanks, as ever, for stirring the pot,
Harrison!</FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4>Judi </FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#008080 size=4>PS -- EVERYONE -- Halifax is hot and sunny -- the
glistening Halifax Harbour is calling you and waiting for the arrival of OSonOS
participants early August! We have the most amazing church group of women
who are having a great time creating a "Taste of Nova Scotia" menu for the
gathering! So register now! Keep those cards and letters coming in
<grin></FONT></EM></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005></SPAN><SPAN
class=124583420-29062005></SPAN><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=124583420-29062005><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV>
<P><FONT
size=2>__________________________________________________________<BR>Judith
Richardson, MA<BR>Pono Consultants International<BR>Consulting and Executive
Coaching<BR>Optimizing Performance, Potential and Profitability<BR>Winner --
International Coach of the
Year!<BR>www.ponoconsultants.com<BR>www.emergentfeminine.com<BR><BR>Subscribe to
our newsletter at www.emergentfeminine.com<BR><BR>Nova Scotia, Canada<BR>Phone:
(902) 434-6695 Facsimile: (902) 435-1085 E-mail: judir@accesswave.ca<BR><BR>If
you live your life as gracefully as you know how, as playfully as you know how,
as kindly as you know how, as joyfully as you know how, you are bound to
influence, inspire and uplift others by your
example.<BR>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>This
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Harrison
Owen<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 29, 2005 5:24 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> Empowerment,
Self-Organization an d Open Space<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Somehow or anotherI allowed myself to become involved in
an electronic forum on Empowerment. Having followed it for several days I have
become convinced the the organizer already knows what he thinks empowerment
might be and is not terribly interested in alternate visions or versions. But
before I threw in the towel having concluded that it was all pretty much
same old, same old. . . I did post several responses concerning
self-organization and empowerment -- all of which took me to some
interesting new places, I thought. If anybody here finds it interesting that
would go a long way towards redeeming what otherwise would be wasted effort.
And of course, if there is no interest. . . </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Oh Well :-(</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Harrison</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT
face=Arial>****************************************************************</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bob wrote: "<FONT face="Times New Roman">Why not treat
them ((Students in schools)) (within some limits) as equals and
as<BR>responsible adults? It would be school managed jointly by
teachers<BR>and pupils, in the style of Harrison's "Open Space"."<BR></DIV>
<DIV></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>There have actually been a number of situations where
Open Space has been used in schools. (If you are unfamiliar with Open Space
check <A href="">http://www.openspaceworld.com/emergent_order.htm</A> )
And the interesting thing is that it always seemed to produce useful
results. For one thing, so called behavioral problems virtually disappeared.
Learning, even in very specific areas, appeared to be at an all time high --
and perhaps most remarkable, most everybody said that it was fun. Imagine that
Learning (school) was fun! I might take a small issue with Bob -- it was not
that the children were treated as "responsible adults" -- but rather that
everybody was treated as responsible (human) beings. I think it would be a
mistake, however, to attribute these "results" to "Harrison's Open
Space." After a number of years' contemplation of the conundrum that
something so simple could produce such results it has become clear to me that
it really has nothing to do with the power of Open Space Technology -- which
as my friends know was the product of two martinis. The operative
power is that which underlies Open Space, and indeed virtually everything else
in the creative cosmos -- the power of self-organization. This thought
has led me to the outrageous proposition that there is no such thing as a
non-self-organizing system, albeit there are some mildly deluded people who
think they did the organizing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>With such monstrous (although I think defensible) jumps
of logic, I find myself at a place where I think a truly profitable discussion
of Empowerment might begin. In the first place it is not about designing
"Empowerment Systems." Rather is about fully appreciating (or maybe just more
fully appreciating) the nature of the "system" of which we are all a part. I
suspect that much of the pathology we currently experience in organizations of
all sorts and sizes (families, companies, countries) derives from the "fact"
that we spend a great deal of time doing what doesn't need to be done
(organizing/designing/controlling), while neglecting the essential task, which
I might call the Care and Feeding of a Self-Organizing system. And
instead of attempting the creation of new systems, we could take a good hard
look at what we already are. From this might come an ability to "leverage" the
power of self-organization, as opposed to attempting to eliminate it -- as in
Taking Charge (control).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Open Space has become for me a marvelous natural
experiment which to date has been "run" perhaps 60,000 times in 108 countries
that we know about. In short the Beta Tests are in -- and the results have
been remarkably consistent across countries, cultures, and continents. One of
these results has been a virtually universal experience and expression of
personal empowerment -- even (or perhaps most particularly) amongst
populations that one might considered radically disempowered. Could be food
for thought.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>**********************************************************************************</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Dee Hock, whom I know and respect, did a wonderful thing
with Visa International -- and his experience there became the basis of his
book and further work with the chaordic organization. Interestingly, however
when he and others set out to replicate the Chaordic Organization is other
situations, their success rate has been just about zero. The key, I think, is
that they attempted the "creation" of the Chaordic Organization as if it
were just another organization -- they started with Mission, Goals etc. Miles
said, "<FONT face="Times New Roman">Leadership and or some sort of
facilitation is needed if "self" organizing is to work." I think that is
partially right. The fact of the matter is that self-organizing systems (by
definition) work, or don't work, all by themselves. No help needed.
However WE may need some help (leadership and facilitation) to work
effectively with a self organizing system. In the Open Space
Experiment, Leadership is required to set, or better, to intuit the
direction (purpose of the Open Space) -- and a facilitator can be helpful with
the preparations and to get things started. But once under way, the
people (participants) do it all by theselves -- no help needed.
</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman">I think this may be
significant. Understanding the essential preconditions for self organization
is very useful. Perhaps we could also call these conditions "The Essential
Preconditions of Empowerment?" But once started, the level of overt
intervention drops to basically zero. It would seem that the critical
mechanisms are so fundamental to our existence that they do not need to be
explained (we already "know" at a very deep level), nor to they have to be
tampered with (no management committee). But they (the mechanisms) do have to
have sufficient space/time in which to function. We have found that the
ongoing role of the Facilitator in Open Space is all about "Holding Space"
which is much more about Being than Doing. And when things get a little bumpy
(lots of chaos, confusion and conflict) the appropriate response is actually
to open more space. To an outsider this often appears to be counter-intuitive
at best and probably irresponsible, immoral, and wrong. After all, we have all
been trained that our "job" is to fix things up. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Harrison </FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV></FONT><FONT face=Arial>Harrison Owen<BR>7808 River Falls Dr.<BR>Potomac,
MD 20854<BR>USA<BR>301-365-2093<BR>207-763-3261 (summer)<BR>website <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com">www.openspaceworld.com</A></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>* *
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