Ok, so here is where Tavi Group Relations conference work intersects with OST work:
1/ In Gr work, they teach that every person present (even when silent) influences the social system with their presence 2/ ln OST, the butterfly (even when silent) does exactly the same thing Sent from my iPhone On Apr 4, 2014, at 5:42 PM, Rosa Zubizarreta <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Harold! I love this: > > "I love how Open Space Technology helps people get in touch with their own > ability to create. To ripple the fabric of space-time." > > 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… > > 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… > > 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… > > 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…." > > 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… > > 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"… :-) > > 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'… > > 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!) > > 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… :-) > > *** > > So anyway, probably much longer of a response than you were seeking! > thank you for the opportunity to revisit some of this… > > with all best wishes, > > Rosa > > > Rosa Zubizarreta > Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaboration > http://www.diapraxis.com > > Celebrating my new book, "From Conflict to Creative Collaboration: A user's > guide to Dynamic Facilitation"! > > > On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Harold Shinsato <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hi Rosa, >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> How different the general feeling and poetic sense of this concept when you >> bring in the words "author" and "authorship". >> >> The word author comes ultimately from the latin, "auctor", meaning creator. >> Creator! >> >> 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. >> >> I love how Open Space Technology helps people get in touch with their own >> ability to create. To ripple the fabric of space-time. >> >> Thanks, >> Harold >> >> >> >> >> >> On 3/31/14 7:35 PM, Rosa Zubizarreta wrote: >>> 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 >>> >>> Celebrating my new book, "From Conflict to Creative Collaboration: A user's >>> guide to Dynamic Facilitation" >>> >>> >>> >>> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:39 PM, Harold Shinsato >>> <[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] >>>> http://shinsato.com >>>> twitter: @hajush >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> OSList mailing list >>>> To post send emails to [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: >>>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> OSList mailing list >>> To post send emails to [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: >>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org >> >> >> -- >> Harold Shinsato >> [email protected] >> http://shinsato.com >> twitter: @hajush >> >> _______________________________________________ >> OSList mailing list >> To post send emails to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: >> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
_______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
