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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'>Responding to Chris Corrigan’s insighting.<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'>Dear 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'>As a person who – perhaps as much as
any other Open Space character – lives within a dominantly hierarchic
system, I have very little personal interest in the matter of hierarchies, except
to note that they “are there” in some fashion.<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'>What I am excited about in your letter is
the last paragraph – talking about seeing “the larger implications
for organizing human endeavours” , the “incredibly inspired
thinking”, the “broad implications for the way things are organized”,
and the “crux of the next level of investigations into what all these
methodologies mean”.<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'>For me personally, this is why I have kept
going to the OSonOS gatherings, hoping that – as I said recently to
Michael Pannwitz Jnr, - there might be the emergence of some impacting and
effective discussion and prospective exploration relating to these very aspects
of our work.<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'>For more years than I can remember, these
are the real goals and dreams of why I open space, every time. And, with so
many other wonderful people in this network, I know an immense amount of change
and growth and development and success has been achieved.<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'>To share the insighting, to help it happen
more widely yet, to encourage “newbies” to start to think in these
terms, to work up themes which stimulate such results, and to learn from so
many other more experienced people than I how to help these things happen better
– that, for me, is what an OSonOS is primarily about. That this goal is
perhaps seldom achieved (IMHO at least) only means it is more important yet to
continue trying to help it happen, whatever of the immense personal expense and
inconvenience and long- distance travel and so on.<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'>All praise to you – again –
Chris, for getting this very aspect into words – for me at least. The <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Camden</st1:place></st1:City> gathering could be
very special, perhaps. That’s my prayer.<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'>Ta!<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 and blessings, BRIAN<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 class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Fr Brian S. Bainbridge<br>
0412 111 525</span></font><font color=navy><span style='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'>Skype: briansbain</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
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> Sunday, 15 July 2007 9:30 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: hierarchy...was
report from the field</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Within the Art of Hosting
community of practice, we have been looking at a fifth organizational paradigm,
which is something like a combination of hierarchy, circle, network and
bureaucracy. Some of us have been looking at what these four paradigms
have to offer, for examples, hierarchy offers order and clarity, circle offers
an equal reflective space, network offers an immediate ability to connect with
whatever is needed, and bureaucracy helps channel resources where they are needed,
"irrigating" initiatives or parts of an organization. <br>
<br>
Certainly, each of these has a dark side, but if the benefits are illuminated
and then transcended, you get a fifth organizational paradigm in which all four
can be somehow present and somehow something new is born. I think we are
increasingly seeing Open Space meetings as the embodiments of this fifth form,
which has gone by many other names among those of us here on the list:
InterActive Organization, Conscious Open Space Organization, Inviting
Organization, Radiant Networking and so on. There is something in the
pattern of Open Space that, if it has not yet achieved transcendence of these
four forms, at least leads the eye to what might emerge.
Self-organization is clearly the key, or at least the gas in the engine. <br>
<br>
I find it interesting that many of us who are devoted to these models of
dialogic practice can. <br>
<br>
Great thread.<br>
<br>
Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmailquote><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>On 7/15/07, <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><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Raffi -- You will notice that I very carefully did not use the word<br>
"hierarchy," but a quite different word -- "elitism." I am
not sure that is<br>
the right word either, but that is the problem with words. Indeed, hierarchy <br>
itself (as you point out) is not a bad thing. Quite natural in fact and very<br>
useful. Heirarchy is a problem, however, when it is frozen and stuck. At<br>
that point it becomes an "old" hierarchy reflective of a different
time <br>
and/or situation, holding power and authority very much in the fashion of<br>
the Divine Right of Kings. That is what I would call elitism. The real<br>
problem is that it is non-functional because it limits the capacity of a <br>
system to adapt to a changing environment. This of course can go on for a<br>
long time, and indeed some environments stick around for a bit. But at the<br>
moment a stable environment seems to be more the exception than the rule. So <br>
Heirarchy, Yes. Elitism, No.<br>
<br>
In terms of our community of folks -- to be sure there is hierarchy, in fact<br>
there are multiple hierarchies constantly changing with time and tide, and<br>
many existing simultaneously in a wonderful dance of conflict and <br>
collaboration. I think that is fantastic, useful, and something to be<br>
honored. However, if we ever got to the point where there was one,<br>
unchanging hierarchy that would be the last moment you would be seeing me<br>
anywhere on the premises -- even if, and most especially if, I was the King<br>
of the heap!<br>
<br>
I think Kaliya is absolutely correct in pointing out the utility of a<br>
"repetitional meritocratic hierarchy" (WOW! -- the words sort of roll
off <br>
the tongue!!). And if I understand the words at all, I think that is pretty<br>
much what "we" are. I would also agree that experience, training,
maturity<br>
are critical -- in Open Space, as everywhere else. But I would take some <br>
issue with the notion that, "Open Space Technology is fundamentally<br>
different then these two community practices -- OST is not trying to build<br>
an operating system or have 100,000 all collaborate on the same thing - it <br>
doesn't 'need' the kind of hierarchy that technical communities do."<br>
<br>
>From where I sit, the adventure we have embarked on is actually larger and<br>
more complex than the "simple business" of creating an operating
system. Our <br>
task (or at least the one I choose for myself) is not so much about<br>
designing a system but rather the appreciation of the infinite complexity<br>
and elegance of the self-organizing Human System. And this is not just <br>
"music appreciation," performance is the name of the game. How do we<br>
effectively live in this system, and maybe even more importantly, what can<br>
we do to enable the system to live?<br>
<br>
I think of Open Space as a wonderful natural experiment in which thousands <br>
of people are participating. The power of the experiment emerges when we<br>
freely and openly share our experiences and understandings. And everybody<br>
has a vital part to play. Those of us who have been around for a bit may <br>
have a broader and possibly deeper view, but there is an almost inevitable<br>
tendency to take some things for granted and get stuck in our ways. The<br>
antidote for all of that is the arrival of fresh eyes with apparently
"dumb <br>
questions." There are no dumb questions that are also real questions. Real<br>
questions have no answers, they only open more space and take you deeper.<br>
And when you have lots of space (up, down, sideways, wherever)-- then the <br>
fun begins.<br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on">Harrison</st1:place><br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: OSLIST [mailto:<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a>]
On Behalf Of Raffi<br>
Aftandelian<br>
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 2:08 PM <br>
To: <a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br>
Subject: hierarchy...was report from the field<br>
<br>
Greetings friends and colleagues--<br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on">Harrison</st1:place> you wrote:<br>
<br>
"The other day I got a note which said in part, "I was surprised to <br>
find out that there was a hierarchy in the OST community and everyone having<br>
a specific place to hold, voices are not equal and politics prevails in<br>
certain circuits Just the same old same old... I'm not sure this is
what <br>
you envisioned with OST." I have no idea what the specific circumstances<br>
were, and less interest in finding out. But presuming that we have the<br>
creeping tentacles of elitism sneaking in - a good dose of the Law of Two <br>
Feet and a clear recognition of the Universal License of Open Space<br>
(everybody has one by birth) should do the trick. Or something."<br>
<br>
I would love to hear more from the person who wrote about hierarchy in the <br>
OST community. What is meant by "hierarchy" here?<br>
<br>
Isn't there hierarchy everywhere? Is it a bad thing? The question is what<br>
kind of hierarchy do we have in the OST community? Is it a hierarchy that <br>
feeds us, strengthens us? And how do we choose to engage with it as a<br>
community? Do we create the spaces to talk about the power differentials<br>
within our practitioner community in a way that, well, builds more capacity <br>
within us?<br>
<br>
Quakers, for example, acknowledge that voices are not equal within the life<br>
of a Monthly Meeting. They have the concept of "weightiness" or a
"weighty<br>
Friend." In other words, these are the elders within the Quaker
world. <br>
<br>
And doesn't the OST world have its elders and sages?<br>
<br>
I, too, have heard (and thought) that the OST community is the "same<br>
old...," - heck, some of that "same oldness" shows up on the
list from time <br>
to time- *and* I do not know of a more generous, welcoming, inspiring<br>
facilitation community. We either choose to engage with the OST community as<br>
it is, or...well exercise the law of two feet.<br>
<br>
<br>
Raffi<br>
<br>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<br clear=all>
<br>
-- <br>
CHRIS CORRIGAN<br>
Facilitation - Training<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>
<br>
Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.<br>
<a href="http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com">http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com</a>
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