<div dir="ltr">Hi all!<div><br></div><div>Following is pretty much a transcription from our May 28th skype covering a range of issues: </div><div><br></div><div>nature of self-organization; role of facilitator in OS, spirit and ego in circle, applications in Waldorf schools, communicating these things to others, next generation demands for open space leadership and organizations....</div>
<div><br></div><div style>I will try to summarize next time instead, but the stories and comments are just so good! </div><div style><br></div><div style><p class=""><b>5/28/13 OS skype chat</b></p>
<p class=""><b> </b></p>
<p class=""><b>Participants: </b>Skye
Hirst, Linda Stevenson, Paul Levy, Tricia Chirumbole </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda: You don’t need prescriptions – just bring people
together around a topic and let them go – HO was more forward at the opening
night to WOSonOS than ever before about how much the world needs OS - The world
needs it, things aren’t working. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Skye: Yes, how can we do this? Get the word out there about
OS to more people…tells a story of people gathered in a circle in the kitchen
in her new home during a party and how they did not go anywhere else. I believe
talking about the magic or power of the circle</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul asks: When we say ‘Get the word out there’ – Are we
talking just about OST or other stuff too? What do we mean by that? What are we
getting out there? </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda: Being sensitive to places – allowing a community or
organization to get together and breathe and see what happens; she is against
trying to fix the world, offering space in a non-prescriptive way is her
belief. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Someone said at WOSonOS: Closing circle could have been
shorter. They have ways in the art of hosting to achieve such things. It is not
a bad thing to do, but then it’s not open space; it is imposing a prescription.
If you are passing a stick, you don’t know how long it will take to go around.
You are holding space for the stick to circle. If you don’t want to do a
talking stick, then only ask for a few comments. Our tendency to fix or control,
out of the best intentions, can complicate in a way that is not necessary. I
know some communities in Minnesota that are gathering regarding taking their
health back. A woman in FL who is a physician recently trained in OS [not sure
if she was participating in the MN community meetings on health?] ….great way
of slipping into a community, give them the experience of opening space, around
taking their health back – how juicy those conversations could be – could take
off. Not a model for other communities necessarily. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda doing an OS for a NGO in MN with people from many
sectors, who knows what will come from it? Old interventions are not really
doing it. I think we have an opportunity; not sure what it’s going to look like.
Having conversations like….keeping the intention and holding that space, can be
done more effectively and efficiently and humanity deserves voices to be
invited and heard and when space is open conflict gets transformed and
dialogues happen. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Upon question, Linda replies that she has done OS
facilitation training - 0.5 day to full 4 days in the past with HO. Anyone can
read book and do it. Would recommend having an experienced person with you if
you were doing with many people. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul: does facilitation pollute the circle? </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda: she does not see
it as facilitation; it is invitation, setting the context, pre-work to get a
broad, creative theme. You work with leadership so they understand they are
one, equal persons – starts with the invitation – one thing you are doing is
communicating trust that this will work. You exude trust in the process, have
conversations with client so they develop trust with you, when you open you are
reminding them of what they already know what they know how to do, then hold
space so everyone’s voice is equally heard and not controlled by anyone. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda conveys a book recommendation from Suzanne: <u>Igniting
the Tribe; </u>Millenials are saying they don’t want to work for organizations
that “suck”; millenials are saying they want leadership in the moment, shared,
appropriate teams and structures that are self-organized. HO never been wedded
to OST, put together a way of deliberately inviting that worked. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda mentions Ken Blanchard [forget who he is]– young OD
folks are more responsive, people are backing into this [OST], millenials will
not settle for anything less– won’t even know about “OST”….will be able to
honor both the formal and informal – we will be out of the job as OS
facilitators – they will know when to do it – we need to bring leadership
together young and old – I would like to do that in the twin cities, there is
your leverage to loosen up some of those organizations – unleashing the
potential of humanity, not to promote OS, giving them the joy of experiencing
OS. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Skye: mentions research she read on why whistleblowers
become whistleblowers, in environments where whistleblowing is embraced by the
peers – environmental conditions? Why is it if all this self-organization is so
wonderful, why doesn’t that ever change?,…[think I missed something here]…What
is it about Village Care going into a community that is effective? So what are
we talking about? </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul: Tells a story about a school governor in UK of a Waldorf
kindergarten school system – there was conflict among teachers. Coming back to
the theory of Waldorf, when you have a kindergarten of 3-4 year olds, called
differing things: little munchkins, angels, devils, toddlers, children in this
group – they do a lot of circle work with those children – ring time, play
various games, most kids at that age are not strongly in their ego. There was
an argument among teachers about the interpretation of their role as facilitators
in the room. One said: “Our role is to hold the ego of the group, because these
munchkins don’t have their ego yet.” They do clapping songs, make things
together, free play, when play is outside of control, the holder of the ego
brings it back and reforms the circle. Another said, “No, we are not holding
the ego, because there isn’t one. We are <i>being</i>
the ego of the group. A reply to this, “But it’s not your ego.” What is the
self in self organization? I think role of teacher is to be the ego of the
group and the ego of the circle is a genius, selfless act to enter into the
space, to allow it to express itself in physical reality. Then once that has
started that person steps back; In Waldorf that could happen in any amount of
time. Then they allow the ego to self-organize. The role of the facilitator is
to be the ego – we recapitulate the whole evolution of humanity, at the
beginning, then evolve quickly, think what happens in government the person
confuses the sacred role of being the ego and confuse it with their own ego and
then they can’t let go. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda mentions that in Zen philosophy they speak of 3 poisons:
greed, anger, and self-delusion – entrenched in political party and money…..missed
something </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda: The Self in self organization is the aggregate; You
need to open a space big enough for that to show up – big enough for everyone
to voice what they care about, if an individual ego steps in, interrupts, the
aggregate has a chance to be in that circle. We don’t give an organization and
community and school room. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Self-organization is a terrible term; it’s the aggregate –
everyone who cares about particular theme, so much to contribute to successful
adaptation.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul: Interestingly in the kindergarten in Steiner approach,
when there’s a circle, the circle is pure itself, the metaphorical way, the
self of an angel – enter the self of the circle, what HO seems to suggest, hold
it as short as possible, withdraw as soon as self-org starts to often,
facilitator often holds it too long, ego become confused with the self of the
group – it is a selfless act, but from circle’s point of view it is a selfish
act, because </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul – has been doing YouTube research. 45-60 minutes is
average opening space time; Linda says it should be no more than 10-15 at the
beginning.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul queries, what if leaders were rewarded for holding
space for as little as possible?? (Tricia likes this idea! And thinks it
could/should apply to companies, institutions and governments as whole entities
beyond the “leaders” within them)</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Linda mentions that there was some opening of space in
congress, I think in Clinton era, old cultures are right there still. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Action learning groups – more survive when fully facilitated
than when self-managed; gamers – more got done when self-managed</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">If we did have evidence….look at open source stuff, look
what gets done – bring their best, paid nothing</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Generation Y, demonstrating that self-management delivers on
the bottom line – proof in that part of the economy</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Skye – quote about freedom is the ability to express one/to
be oneself. To me that is what is happening in open space, anything where you
start to allow the individual to be in their personal agency – doesn’t matter
form or body, environment allows that to happen, </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul - 60 year data set that shows if you limit freedom you
increase productivity in a lot of sectors, how do you undo that? </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Skye - Data collection still based on the interpreter, and
the initial forming question not even being thought about and the data is not
what we can depend on. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul – 20k open spaces in Africa, allowing people w/ no
resources, dig wells, safety, education programs, more effective with less resources
than when well-intentioned paternalistic NGOs – no-brainer? </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Start collecting the OS data? Skye: more to it than what
we’re saying – somebody needs to dig in. all kinds of things that contribute to
the making of the self-organization </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul – majority of communications – still linear, email
chains, discussion thread – chains, apart from those developed in OS still not
imagining dialogue could be more effective in a circle. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Skye would like to know what is going on in Sweden from
Pernilla.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Somebody proposed: “Let’s talk about what self-organization
is.” </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Paul mentions he would like to get the rest of the story of
David’s work. Is he headed off to Africa? </p>
<p class=""> </p></div><div>-- <br>Tricia Chirumbole<br>US: +1-571-232-0942<br>Skype: tricia.chirumbole<br><br><div style="padding:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-top:0px;overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;color:black;font-size:10px;text-align:left;line-height:130%">
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