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Hi Koos,<br>
<br>
Thanks for your comment on personal passion. There's this very
interesting paper on the various authority types (informal, formal,
personal) which is pretty good, I am including it here if you want
to check it out. <br>
<br>
I hear you when you say "I can initiate that process of authorizing
myself by taking responsibility for my passion." This is exactly
what we hope will happen inside company-sponsored OST events.<br>
<br>
Within the context of Open Space held in an organization that wants
to explore an enterprise-wide change, we can expect the following to
be true, if the event is to work well:<br>
<br>
1. Formally Authorized Leader. A person formally and highly
authorized by the organization sends an invite with a theme. This
"formally authorizes" the time and space for the gathering.<br>
<br>
2. Proceedings and Intent to Act- with Inclusion. That same person
welcomes everyone on event-day, and at the opening, encourages the
generation of proceedings, and signals that those proceedings will
be inspected and acted upon, not just by the formally authorized
leaders (the so-called "higher ups") but also with the new and
emerging leaders who have identified themselves during the event
("be prepared to be surprised.") In other words, the people present
are being invited to have their say, document it, and expect that
these issues are going be input into a formally authorized and
inclusive process of deciding, acting, and improving things.<br>
<br>
<br>
Now, absent these two facts, how "important" is the OST event? How
much "action" can ensue?<br>
<br>
1. Formally Authorized Leader. No formally authorized leader issuing
the invite? Or someone <i>without enough authorization to matter?</i>
The signal is clear: this theme (and this event) is <i>not
important</i> to the people who make the decisions.<br>
<br>
2. Proceedings and Intent to Act- with Inclusion. Since no one in
the room has enough formal authority to implement plans suggested in
the proceedings, we can reasonably expect nothing whatsoever to
ensue in formal terms after the meeting. This, because people who <i>could</i>
do something about it (those formally authorized by the
organization) "do not care."<br>
<br>
So- the highly authorized Sponsor (or Host) is essential. Otherwise,
in authority terms, the OST event and what happens there just
doesn't matter from an organizational point of view. It cannot have
much of an impact. <br>
<br>
Much ado about nothing?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Here's that paper I mentioned earlier:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/projektDV/ht09/BART_Green_Molenkamp.pdf">https://www.it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/projektDV/ht09/BART_Green_Molenkamp.pdf</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I notice that most people prefer to avoid discussing authority.
Since our families are the first place where we encounter this
concept and develop our relationship with it, perhaps it is true
that discussing authority can be very triggering. Thanks for
sticking your neck out and I certainly hope to hear back from you
and others on this thread.<br>
<br>
Daniel <br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/30/15 12:57 AM, Koos de Heer
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:003b01d12b34$07be2290$173a67b0$@auryn.nl"
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Hi Daniel,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US"><br>
Thank you for an interesting line of thought. What I am
thinking is that there is also the aspect of a person
standing up and speaking for a passion that they have (be it
in the form of raising a topic or just speaking in a break
out session) and in that way claiming authority. In your
essay, authority seems to always come from someone else. And
of course authority only is there when others believe it to
be there. But the initiative to bestow authority on me does
not always come from others. I can also initiate that
process of authorizing myself by taking responsibility for
my passion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Koos<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1
1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext"
lang="EN-US">Van:</span></b><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext"
lang="EN-US"> OSList
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org">mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>] <b>Namens
</b>Daniel Mezick via OSList<br>
<b>V</b></span><b><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext">erzonden:</span></b><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext">
maandag 30 november 2015 0:13<br>
<b>Aan:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a><br>
<b>Onderwerp:</b> [OSList] What's authority got to do
with Open Space ?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">What's
authority got to do with Open Space ? Apparently nothing at
all, at least on the surface... <br>
<br>
Wait. Once we peek under the surface, what do we actually
find?<br>
<br>
This completely heretical essay attempts to answer at least
part of that question. <br>
<br>
The context is the use of Open Space in a large business
enterprise, convened with intent to explore the potential for
making a very big, very complex enterprise-wide change. <br>
<br>
{Please note, the word "authority" might trigger feelings of:
<i>soul-sucking bureaucracy</i>, unfair and <i><u>illegitimate
leadership hierarchy</u></i>, and the like. Some
"triggered" readers may want to opt-out of continuing at this
time...)<br>
<br>
Authority Distribution in Open Space:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/">http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/</a><br>
Open Space is a most interesting format for "gathering,", also
known as "meeting." <br>
<br>
What exactly is going on in Open Space?<br>
<br>
<img id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:part2.00010803.08090200@newtechusa.net"
height="145" border="0" width="144"><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">-- <br>
Daniel Mezick<br>
Culture Strategist. Author. Keynoter.<br>
(203) 915 7248. <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.DanielMezick.com/">Bio.</a> <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.NewTechUSA.net/blog/">Blog.</a> <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/DanielMezick">Twitter.</a> <br>
Book: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://theculturegame.com/">The Culture Game.</a> <br>
Book: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.amazon.com/OpenSpace-Agility-Handbook-Daniel-Mezick/dp/0984875336">The
OpenSpace Agility Handbook.</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Daniel Mezick<br>
Culture Strategist. Author. Keynoter.<br>
(203) 915 7248.
<a href="http://www.DanielMezick.com/"> Bio.</a>
<a href="http://www.NewTechUSA.net/blog/">Blog.</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/DanielMezick">Twitter.</a>
<br>
Book: <a href="http://theculturegame.com/">The Culture Game.</a>
<br>
Book: <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/OpenSpace-Agility-Handbook-Daniel-Mezick/dp/0984875336">The
OpenSpace Agility Handbook.</a>
<br>
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