<div dir="ltr">Hi Harold! I love this:<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">"I love how Open Space Technology helps people get in touch with their own ability to create. To ripple the fabric of space-time."</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<div><br></div><div>Went to a three-day Group Relations conference in Boston a few years ago. It was fascinating… I found it different in some significant ways that T-groups, with which I'd had a not-so-positive experience before. Seems like T-groups are much better known than Tavi. Too bad -- I found the Tavi experience much richer in many ways. Challenging of course, yet also "safer" that T-groups in a strange way…</div>
<div><br></div><div>To take off on a detour here, safety is another word that can have such different connotations! For some people it equates with 'boring' and 'mainstream'… Yet there's another sense of it, that I have a hard time conveying… a friend of mine often says, "have a safe adventure!" For me, there's something about wholeness, non-injury, belonging, connectedness… I think of Harrison's story about the woman in OS who took off all her clothes, and what happened next… for me this is also a metaphor for the self-healing property of the Universe, the way it's always immediately beginning to re-weave the fabric of integrity, after any injury or tear in it… </div>
<div><br></div><div>and still, the existence of self-hearling is clearly no excuse for wanton havoc… we deeply mourn the gashes, the strip-mines, the random death and destruction… it's so much easier to destroy something, than to nourish and support growth… </div>
<div><br></div><div>so i guess then, that is the other sense of "safety"… the avoidance of unnecessary suffering… of course, we can learn from whatever suffering comes our way, yet also value non-injury, health, wholeness… (the online etymological dictionary tells me that "safety" comes from the Sanskrit 'sarvah', which means "uninjured, intact, whole…." </div>
<div><br></div><div>About "supporting growth": here I am clearly an OS heretic; in my experience with plants or children, "self-organization" depends on so much nurturing support! Whether it's fresh air, water, sunshine, good minerals in the soil, all in reasonable doses… hugs, attention, listening, and yes, protection when needed… </div>
<div><br></div><div>So in T-group, "protection" is taboo; we can be witnessing the group turning into a mob, seeking to "break" someone emotionally in order to get them to "express their feelings," and anyone questioning this may be told to "speak about your own self"… (some people I know, call them "insensitivity-training groups"… :-) </div>
<div><br></div><div>whereas in Tavi, the difference I saw, is that the purpose is not 'to get individuals to get anything', but instead to support the development of an experiential understanding, of the 'group unconscious' and how it moves… and so facilitators are much more likely to be inviting participants to question, how any challenging individual may be 'doing the work of the group', than to be tacitly encouraging an effort to 'confront' any particular individual in a misguided effort to get them to 'get in touch with their feelings'…</div>
<div><br></div><div>and, if some individual chooses to 'challenge' someone else, and some other individual chooses to 'defend' that person, neither one is given priority! In both cases, it still comes back to, what is each individual acting out, for the 'group as a whole' (who does not get to hide out in the 'being an innocent bystander' role!) </div>
<div><br></div><div> in other words, how can each of us take more responsibility, for what is happening here? (which for some of us, may be a place where Tavi and OS converge… :-)</div>
<div><br></div><div>***</div><div><br></div><div>So anyway, probably much longer of a response than you were seeking!</div><div>thank you for the opportunity to revisit some of this…</div><div><br></div><div>with all best wishes,</div>
<div><br></div><div>Rosa</div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><i>Rosa Zubizarreta</i><div><i>Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaboration<br><a href="http://www.diapraxis.com/" target="_blank">http://www.diapraxis.com</a></i></div>
<div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Celebrating my new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Creative-Collaboration-Dynamic-Facilitation/dp/1626526117/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394491921&sr=1-1&keywords=from+conflict+to+creative+collaboration" target="_blank">"From Conflict to Creative Collaboration: A user's guide to Dynamic Facilitation"</a>!</i></div>
</div></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Harold Shinsato <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com" target="_blank">harold@shinsato.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div>Hi Rosa,<br>
<br>
Would love to hear more of your experience with Group Relations
some day. I learned a huge amount about myself and how groups
work. I'm not sure how much everyone knows about GR and Tavistock.
I find it interesting that many credit Kurt Lewin as one of the
founders of organizational and social psychology, sociology, and
organizational development. Kurt Lewin was one of founders of the
Tavistock Institute.<br>
<br>
Rosa, I like what you say about the feeling of "authorization".
Even after understanding the Tavistock concepts around authority,
I still get these instant images of a bureaucracy - filing
cabinets, cold legal offices, clerks, and people making decisions
behind closed doors. Ink stamps in passports. And "Your papers
please?" Yuck.<br>
<br>
How different the general feeling and poetic sense of this concept
when you bring in the words "author" and "authorship".<br>
<br>
The word author comes ultimately from the latin, "auctor", meaning
creator. Creator!<br>
<br>
Robert Heinlein wrote a time travel novel towards the end of his
career where all the stories got tied together through a complex
universe. I recall a review of the book mentioning people would be
afraid in this Universe when an author came by. An author could
change the fabric of space-time.<br>
<br>
I love how Open Space Technology helps people get in touch with
their own ability to create. To ripple the fabric of space-time.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Harold<div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 3/31/14 7:35 PM, Rosa Zubizarreta wrote:<br>
</div></div></div><div><div class="h5">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Ok, plunging in here… deep waters!
<div><br>
</div>
<div>One thing I'm noticing, is how words "sound" different,
within different communities… </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>some of the posts above, seem to assume that
"authorization" is about the "standard" world view… </div>
<div>and sometimes, some parts of me resonate with that… it's a
word that initially felt very strange and "foreign" to me,</div>
<div> not at all "organic"…</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>and then, after some Tavi experiences, I've come to hear it
in a much more creative vein… </div>
<div>as in, who is the "author" of this story that I am
experiencing? Who is it, who is really giving power to those,
who I see as "powerful"? </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>and so I've come to experience the whole notion of
"authorship", within that particular community, in a very
creative way… </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>yet still, the word at times has older echoes of
"authoritarian", and "authority", </div>
<div>which don't resonate so well with these other, newer-to-me,
usages… </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So, here is what I am hearing Dan say, and Harold
clarifying further:</div>
<div>Within an Open Space event , we are all equally invited to
play (er, work… same thing, in my book!)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What I am hearing a few others say (I see no contradiction
here): Just by virtue of stepping into an OS event, this does
not alter the internalized external authority structure that
people are bringing in with them (at least not immediately!
;-) </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>my own experience echoes Peggy's and others: three
consecutive days at an Open Space event, certainly affected my
own sense of creative freedom/agency/self-authorit)! </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>thanks for the conversation, all…</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>best wishes,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Rosa</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all">
<div>
<div dir="ltr"><i>Rosa Zubizarreta</i>
<div><i>Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaboration<br>
<a href="http://www.diapraxis.com/" target="_blank">http://www.diapraxis.com</a></i></div>
<div><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><i>Celebrating my new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Creative-Collaboration-Dynamic-Facilitation/dp/1626526117/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394491921&sr=1-1&keywords=from+conflict+to+creative+collaboration" target="_blank">"From Conflict to Creative
Collaboration: A user's guide to Dynamic
Facilitation"</a></i></div>
<div><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:39 PM,
Harold Shinsato <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com" target="_blank">harold@shinsato.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div>Dan, Peggy, Michael, David, Kári, Paul,<br>
<br>
Such a rich topic.<br>
<br>
I don't think Dan is "barking up the wrong tree at
all".<br>
<br>
Perhaps this is just my own experience, sensitivity,
and upbringing - but I deeply resonate with the
changing sense of authorization that happens in a good
Open Space conference, and actually in most circle
based processes, compared to the other more hierarchy
based ones. And the spatial setup is critical here.<br>
<br>
This was almost ridiculously confirmed in my
experience of a Group Relations (GR) conference. We
started in a theater style - the hosts and
administration of our temporary institution - sitting
like the judges and jury of our assembly. They claimed
we the assembly had no rules, but when the group tried
to rearrange the chairs in a circle, the leader
de-authorized the conversation. No one dared again
challenge the chair settings again. Also in my GR
experience, there was another large group process -
where we sat in a double spiral. It was fascinating to
see the dynamic nature of authorization happening as
people moved in and out of greater and lesser levels
of authority (as granted by the assembly). My own
experience of the OSList is we're more in a Spiral
dynamic than in a circle. Just my experience. Since
we're not in visual contact, it's a little harder to
tell who is closer to the center as we speak/write on
the OSList. But it's not that hard to tell.<br>
<br>
A circle is inherently equalizing. Think of the
Knights of the Round Table here. Maybe it doesn't make
everyone equally authorized - but it does give a sense
that we're all in it together, and that everyone
matters, everyone counts. It's certainly harder to
hide in a circle - but where does a circle start?
Where does it end?<br>
<br>
Obviously, OST is a lot more subtle than just the
circle, the bulletin board that everyone is authorized
to write on, the law of two feet, and the five
principles. There's so much more to say. I hope the
group doesn't deauthorize the importance of this
topic.<br>
<br>
A couple more points.<br>
<br>
1) Using GR vocabulary- I join with Paul Levy. I think
Open Space is more about "moral authority". To me that
is about enabling self-authorization. Maybe another
possible term - intrinsic authorization. I love some
of the thinking of the Rights described in the
American Declaration of Independence. "We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights." Authority comes from
the Creator - or you could say - it's already built in
:-)<br>
<br>
2) I love the safety theme around authority, and I
also join with David and Kári on that theme. This is
all about the container. A good facilitator helps
establish and hold a strong container. It's hard for
the container to hold without a blessing from the
kings and queens of the community - the Sponsor. This
container needs rules of play that equalize the
authority to "do work", which in an Open Space is to
host and attend sessions, be a bumble bee or a
butterfly. It doesn't matter how great the title
someone has - once the container is set - it should be
safe and without repercussions for someone to take
hold of the center of the circle and announce their
topic, not announce a topic, attend or not attend
sessions. Those rules are not usually in play for most
meetings. For example, at a Board meeting most people
in an organization aren't even allowed to be there,
let alone speak.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Harold
<div><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 3/31/14 9:00 AM, Peggy Holman wrote:<br>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote type="cite"> Dan,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>You ask great questions! </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My take: like most of life, authorization is
more nuanced than your statement below.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Like you, I believe everyone has 100%
equivalent authorization AND they also carry the
imprinting of habits, context, self-talk, existing
relationships, and more that influence how they
show up. Some will experience themselves as having
100% authorization, some will test that
assumption, others will observe and reserve
judgment, and every other flavor in between. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I have observed that with repeated use, people
seem to experience an increasing sense of
self-authorization. More take responsibility for
what they love not just in Open Space but in life.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I know of no practice that lays the groundwork
better for increasing self-authorization in social
systems.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>from sunny (at last) Seattle,</div>
<div>Peggy</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<span><font color="#888888">
<div>-- <br>
Harold Shinsato<br>
<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com" target="_blank">harold@shinsato.com</a><br>
<a href="http://shinsato.com" target="_blank">http://shinsato.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/hajush" target="_blank">@hajush</a></div>
</font></span></div>
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<div>-- <br>
Harold Shinsato<br>
<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com" target="_blank">harold@shinsato.com</a><br>
<a href="http://shinsato.com" target="_blank">http://shinsato.com</a><br>
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