Ok, plunging in here... deep waters!
One thing I'm noticing, is how words "sound" different, within
different communities...
some of the posts above, seem to assume that "authorization" is about
the "standard" world view...
and sometimes, some parts of me resonate with that... it's a word that
initially felt very strange and "foreign" to me,
not at all "organic"...
and then, after some Tavi experiences, I've come to hear it in a much
more creative vein...
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"?
and so I've come to experience the whole notion of "authorship",
within that particular community, in a very creative way...
yet still, the word at times has older echoes of "authoritarian", and
"authority",
which don't resonate so well with these other, newer-to-me, usages...
So, here is what I am hearing Dan say, and Harold clarifying further:
Within an Open Space event , we are all equally invited to play (er,
work... same thing, in my book!)
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! ;-)
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)!
thanks for the conversation, all...
best wishes,
Rosa
/Rosa Zubizarreta/
/Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaboration
http://www.diapraxis.com <http://www.diapraxis.com/>/
/
/
/Celebrating my new book, "From Conflict to Creative Collaboration: A
user's guide to Dynamic Facilitation"
<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>/
/
/
On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:39 PM, Harold Shinsato <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Dan, Peggy, Michael, David, Kári, Paul,
Such a rich topic.
I don't think Dan is "barking up the wrong tree at all".
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.
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.
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?
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.
A couple more points.
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 :-)
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.
Cheers,
Harold
On 3/31/14 9:00 AM, Peggy Holman wrote:
Dan,
You ask great questions!
My take: like most of life, authorization is more nuanced than
your statement below.
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.
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.
I know of no practice that lays the groundwork better for
increasing self-authorization in social systems.
from sunny (at last) Seattle,
Peggy
--
Harold Shinsato
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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