Dear Harrison<div><br></div><div>I enjoyed reading your post :)</div><div><br></div><div>Be well,</div><div><br></div><div>Arno<br clear="all"><div> <div><font color="#000099"><b> <img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17559693/allkiri5.jpg" width="90" height="96"></b></font></div>
</div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2012/12/19 Harrison Owen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net" target="_blank">hhowen@verizon.net</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Good one, Kari! ("Is Open Space not working when there are many internal<br>
conflicts?")<br>
<br>
For me the place to begin is with a clear understanding of "working," and I<br>
find that there are at least three questions (meanings) here. You have to<br>
make sure you which one you are asking and answering. Specifically, do you<br>
mean, Does Open Space work in formal terms? -- i.e. people sat in a circle,<br>
opened a market place, etc -- The answer in my experience is, Yes at the<br>
100% level. If you mean Does Open Space work as a productive activity? --<br>
were critical issues/opportunities raised, clarified, and usefully dealt<br>
with? Again the answer in my experience is Yes and pretty close to the 100%<br>
level. However, if you mean "works" as in "solves all problems forever and<br>
ever..." it gets a little more complicated, and depends greatly on the<br>
situation and context.<br>
<br>
There are multiple examples of Open Spaces involving large groups of very<br>
angry and/or confused people resolving major complex issues by the end of<br>
the closing circle. I wrote up one of the earliest in the opening chapter of<br>
the User's Guide. In that situation 240 people consisting of Federal, State<br>
and Local officials along with a equal number of Native Americans had the<br>
task of writing guidelines for the expenditure of $1.5 billion for Highways<br>
on Tribal lands. This group had been fighting for 2 years, and absolutely<br>
nothing had been accomplished. When the meeting began the group had only 2<br>
months additional time before the whole $1.5b would disappear back into the<br>
US Treasury. In the course of the gathering the discussion was indeed hot<br>
and heavy, putting it mildly. However, by the closing circle, the task had<br>
been accomplished, the guidelines had been created. To be sure, those<br>
guidelines had to be put in formal, legal language -- But by any reasonable<br>
standard it can be said that Open Space worked in and through intense<br>
conflict.<br>
<br>
In a different situation and context the question becomes more nuanced and<br>
complicated -- but the answer, simply put, is the same. Open Space works.<br>
For example, I am currently working with a relatively large organization<br>
(2000+ employees) which was described to me by several of the senior folks<br>
as "dysfunctional." When I asked what that meant they said something to the<br>
effect that the anger, low morale, missed communication, games playing, etc.<br>
was so severe that nobody really even knew what the problems were, and for<br>
sure the productive output of the organization was seriously compromised.<br>
They wanted to do an Open Space for their Washington people and did I think<br>
it would work?<br>
<br>
I had no problem saying, Yes. At least it always had worked so long as the<br>
participants fell somewhere within the genetic pool of Homo sapiens.<br>
HOWEVER, that is only the beginning of the story. The truth, it is really<br>
quite easy to enable any group of people, who share some common concern,<br>
albeit in highly diverse and conflicted ways -- to reach a point of intense,<br>
meaningful, and productive interaction and solutions. But that is just a<br>
start, albeit a good one -- and never to be confused with eternal salvation.<br>
What next?<br>
<br>
The simple fact of the matter is that if a group of people, having<br>
experienced deep, meaningful and productive joint activity (in the Open<br>
Space) are simply thrown back into the situation which caused all the<br>
dysfunction in the first place -- they are twice damned. They have seen the<br>
lights of Paris, and are definitely back on the farm. Now they know, as<br>
perhaps they never did before, just how really miserable they are, and worse<br>
yet -- they know it could be better. In an odd way, this is real progress,<br>
but very painful and not conducive to a long term, positive outcome.<br>
<br>
Right here we run head on into all the "nasty details" so well described by<br>
my friend Lisa H. ("...without looking at the whole ecology of<br>
<div class="im">communication, history, context, resources, differences, internal and<br>
external reasons for issues that feel like conflict, communication styles,<br>
what happens before and after the event, how the event fits into the ongoing<br>
</div>work of the community or organization, and so on....").<br>
<br>
But when it comes to finding the way forward, I have to take a different<br>
path than friend Lisa seems to be suggesting. If I understand her correctly,<br>
the critical next steps involve careful analysis of all the "nasty details"<br>
(I think we call it Systems Thinking) combined with strategic interventions<br>
(re-organizations, etc) to achieve the fix.<br>
<br>
This is a great idea and Grand Theory -- but frankly it gives me a massive<br>
headache. I simply can't think all that and I seriously doubt that anybody<br>
else can either. It is simply too massive, too complex, too interconnected,<br>
too fast moving. Mind boggling -- and I really don't think I am stupid, just<br>
finite human. And when it comes to designing useful solutions, the stakes<br>
have just simply gone off the charts. I don't think we can do that! But more<br>
to the point, my experience tell me, we do not have to.<br>
<br>
If we have learned nothing else in the 27 year Natural Experiment Called<br>
Open Space it is that Self Organization is powerful and effective. Left to<br>
its own devises, the organization (any group of people gathered together to<br>
do something) will in short order manifest orderly patterns that enable<br>
their efforts. Those patterns (structures) may be minimal, but they work.<br>
And if we provide some minimal initial focus (sit in a circle, create<br>
bulletin board...), what happens naturally appears to happen with even<br>
greater dispatch. All we have to do is stay out of the way. This is not a<br>
process we do, as in run, create, even facilitate. It is what we are, and it<br>
happens all by itself.<br>
<br>
Perhaps it is an unjustifiable leap -- but I absolutely believe that the<br>
only difference between the Organization of a group of people in Open Space<br>
and Organization of any other sort is a matter of size and duration. It is<br>
all self organizing. And in all cases it remains true: Organizing a self<br>
organizing system is not only an oxymoron, but stupid, a waste of time, and<br>
ineffective. Truth is the organization (organism) can and will do a much<br>
better job -- and virtually every effort on our part slows things down and<br>
effectively thrown a "spanner" in the works. Putting it in the baldest of<br>
terms, our efforts to organize the system and create the "fix" actually<br>
create most of the pain and dysfunction we seek to resolve. Self inflicted<br>
wounds.<br>
<br>
So when we follow the path that Lisa suggests, which of course is also the<br>
path that most all of contemporary management theory and practice supports,<br>
we are essentially adding fuel to the fire and creating new levels of<br>
potential dysfunction. Our "fixes" may seem to work for the moment, but in<br>
all too short a time we hear the magic words - Re-Organize! Re-Organize! The<br>
good news is that it does keep all managers, consultants, and I'm sorry to<br>
say, facilitators employed. But it is an odd situation: Seems we create the<br>
very problems we are then paid to resolve.<br>
<br>
Total heresy I know, but on the off chance that some grain of truth may<br>
reside therein -- what is the alternative? My experience says that the<br>
alternative is a simple one, and one we already know: Open Space.<br>
<br>
This might mean "doing an Open Space"--but more usually it would mean<br>
applying the lessons learned from our Natural Experiment in our everyday<br>
world of life and work. The lessons have been multiple, but we might start<br>
with the simple ones. For example, when starting a project INVITE<br>
participation -- DON'T Order it. And guess what, the right people will turn<br>
up. And when they do show up, get rid of the tables and work in a circle.<br>
And forget about the Program Plan; elicit the passions and responsibilities<br>
of those who cared to come. Well you get the idea.<br>
<br>
All of this is really the heart and soul of the 5th Principle "Wherever it<br>
happens is the right place." And we will learn, I think, that it can and<br>
does happen anywhere and everywhere.<br>
<br>
Goodness me, I have gone on. And indeed there is a lot more to go. If you<br>
are interested in my best shots to date, check out my last two books, "The<br>
Practice of Peace," and "Wave Rider." But better yet just start with your<br>
own experience and let it grow. It could really get exciting.<br>
<br>
So Kari -- Does Open Space work in conflicted spaces? You bet! And<br>
everywhere else as well.<br>
<br>
Harrison<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Dr.<br>
Potomac, MD 20854<br>
USA<br>
<br>
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)<br>
Camden, Maine 04843<br>
<br>
Phone <a href="tel:301-365-2093" value="+13013652093">301-365-2093</a><br>
(summer) <a href="tel:207-763-3261" value="+12077633261">207-763-3261</a><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com" target="_blank">www.openspaceworld.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.ho-image.com" target="_blank">www.ho-image.com</a> (Personal Website)<br>
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<div class="im HOEnZb"><br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a><br>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>] On Behalf Of Kári Gunnarsson<br>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 8:17 PM<br>
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list<br>
</div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">Subject: [OSList] Is it true that Open Space does not really work when there<br>
are many internal conflict?<br>
<br>
Is Open Space not working when there are many internal conflicts?<br>
<br>
This is stated in one of the reports from the Wosonos2012 "The limits of<br>
Open Space"<br>
<br>
I believed that the passion fueling the conflict was the stuff that fuels<br>
the Open Space activities and without this fuel nothing real will happen for<br>
nobody will care sufficiently to have an opinion or take up a conflict.<br>
<br>
I am not able image the case where the many internal conflicts will inhibit<br>
the Open Space if the preconditions are fulfilled, perhaps someone could<br>
enlighten me about such a case.<br>
<br>
Is there a different approach that is better for such condition, will<br>
nothing work or will Open Space work?<br>
<br>
with love from Iceland and with a hope for an answer Kári.<br>
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