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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>My predominant work has been in
corporations of late. Definitely, with all of the constraints and the layers of
bureaucracy in corporations, it is harder to work with OST or any other
participatory approach that is about change. However, I have found that those
in corporations are truly <span class=GramE>hungering/longing</span> for this
work. The yearning isn’t simply about a meeting....it is for a whole
different way of working. In my perspective, every organization IS an Open
Space Organization. <span class=GramE>Doesn’t matter if it is a police
department, a corporation, a community.</span> It <span class=GramE>doesn’
t</span> need to be developed or created. What we offer is a method for
assisting the organization become conscious of itself as an Open Space
Organization in terms of how work really gets done anyway. And thus the
Conscious Open Space Organization (COSO) reveals itself. Yes, harder to achieve
in the corporate world. <span class=GramE>But well worth the effort.</span> And
there is also lots of work to be done in communities too and that is very
rewarding too.<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'>Blessings,<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'>Birgitt<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 style='margin-left:.5in'><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>Chris Corrigan<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, April 04, 2006 1:50
AM<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: Is anything possible?</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I have been finding lately that in the world of
business, government and big organizations, people are much less likely to let
go of control than in community settings. Corporations exist to stabilize
and protect things: assets, property, ideas, money, reputations...they are all
about control. Communities are messy, evolutionary, out of control and
chaordic. I find that Open Space works beautifully in community
settings, and works great in organizations where you are all about building a
community, or where the leaders understand that the real way anything happens
in the organization is if you view the whole enterprise as a big messy
community, in which the agency of all contributes to the bigger good. In
general, you will find very few people in corporations willing to take this
risk, but in communities, for the most part, this is how people operate. <br>
<br>
I've given up on the holy grail of using OST in Fortune 500 settings to help
groups of IT managers find innovative work processes, for example. It's
certainly possible there, and applicable and probably improves the world in
some small way. But I've seen OST animate community action on poverty,
sustainability, rights, suicide, drug addiction, homelessness, food security,
economic development and child welfare. I've seen people who have nearly
nothing find a true sense of power and purpose in the process. So I've
taken to using it in places where it makes a huge difference in the lives of
people and communities, and I hold this arena in high regard, because the
people who take risks here do so with everything on the line, and in some
cases, everything means their life. <br>
<br>
Dee Hock's quote is about living and life. People live and die in
communities every day. If they are willing to bring that richness of
experience to work in the corporations and organizations that exist all over
the place, Open Space will follow them in there and do all kinds of great
things. But it will not make magic for folks who don't want to truly
experience the naked terror of "Is anything possible?" <br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span class=gmailquote><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>On 4/3/06, <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>Harrison Owen</span></b> <<a
href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net">hhowen@verizon.net</a>> wrote:</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thomas -- I hear what you are saying, and I can
certainly understand why<br>
certain executives would want to hold onto some "givens" (which I
read as<br>
"controls"). And these are the same people who want certainties and <br>
guarantees. The only problem is there are no certainties, no guarantees in<br>
this life. There never have been, and there never will be. Yes, of course,<br>
there is one -- Life will end. But in the interim between beginning and <br>
ending -- everything is at risk, everything is uncertain. And that, of<br>
course is both the joy and terror of living. Dee Hock of Chaordic<br>
Organization fame has a nice phrase (amongst many) in his book. Dee was also <br>
the CEO of one of the world's largest corporations: Visa International. Goes<br>
like --<br>
<br>
"Life is not about control. It's not about getting. It's not about having.<br>
It's not about knowing. It's not even about being. Life is eternal, <br>
perpetual becoming, or it is nothing. Becoming is not a thing to be known,<br>
commanded, or controlled. It is a magnificent, mysterious odyssey to be<br>
experienced."<br>
<br>
Harrison<br>
<br>
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive <br>
Potomac, Maryland 20854<br>
Phone 301-365-2093<br>
Skype hhowen<br>
Open Space Training <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com">www.openspaceworld.com</a><br>
Open Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org">www.openspaceworld.org
</a><br>
Personal website <a href="http://www.ho-image.com">www.ho-image.com</a><br>
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the<br>
archivesVisit: <a href="http://www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html">www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: OSLIST [mailto:<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a>]
On Behalf Of Thomas<br>
Herrmann<br>
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 5:35 PM<br>
To: <a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br>
Subject: Is anything possible?<br>
<br>
Dear friends in Open Space<br>
I am wondering where you find those leaders in organizations and <br>
corporations who are willing to support whatever will emerge from an<br>
OS-meeting? Unfortunately my experience is that this level of trust is very<br>
hard to find. I´ve also experienced leaders closing the space down, which <br>
could have been avoided if they had had some givens to hold on to.<br>
<br>
I always do my best to give the sponsor the possibility to make an informed<br>
decision about if they think OST is the meeting format they´d like to use. <br>
Using the concept of givens, I think makes it possible for the sponsor to<br>
open authentic space within the reality of that organization. Well, as<br>
he/she who is accountable perceives that reality anyway.<br>
<br>
Then of course it is important work to minimize the givens! And next time <br>
there may be fewer...<br>
<br>
But this question is not easy, if we´d have had an OS-meeting 15 years ago<br>
in Gothenburg about making the town internationally known, building an East<br>
Indiaman at a cost of 500 000 000 SEK would probably have been far exceeding <br>
any thinkable givens....now it is on its journey to China!<br>
<br>
So the question may be - is anything possible? And are the persons in charge<br>
willing to take responsibility for whatever happens - without any givens? I <br>
agree there is a difference when working focusing primarily within an<br>
organization where someone is in charge - or thinks he/she is in charge.<br>
<br>
I have a given tomorrow morning, have to get up early so:<br>
Warmest regards and good night <br>
Thomas Herrmann Phone +46
(0)709-98 97 81<br>
Open Space Consulting Fax +46 (0)300-713 89<br>
Pensévägen 4<br>
434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com">thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
</a><br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceconsulting.com">www.openspaceconsulting.com</a><br>
<br>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<br clear=all>
<br>
-- <br>
CHRIS CORRIGAN <br>
Consultation - Facilitation<br>
Open Space Technology<br>
<br>
Weblog: <a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot">http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot</a><br>
Site: <a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com">http://www.chriscorrigan.com </a><br>
Open Space Resources: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/r94tj">http://tinyurl.com/r94tj</a>
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