This stream has taken some interesting twists and turns. The possibility for human invention is seemingly without end, and the temptation/compulsion/necessity to add and modify is not only ongoing, but probably essential. This is how we learn and grow. This is the nature of our restless spirit. Having said all of that -- it does seem to me that occasionally you reach a point where something works with such simple elegance that further modification and elaboration appears as almost a waste of time. As they say up here in the Great State of Maine -- Don't fix it if it ain't broke. I find a certain profound folk wisdom in this approach, although obviously it might lead to stagnation and worse. In the case of Open Space we may have reached such a point and time, but I don't think stagnation is the likely outcome. I have heard any number of people say -- OS is so simple it can't work, as if simplicity were a fatal flaw. And of course, OS is simple and does work (at least at the three levels I spoke of previously (formally, substantatively, and over time -- maybe). When people call OS "simple" they are referring to (I think) the procedure itself, and the role of the facilitator -- and in truth, there is not much there. However, when viewed more closely, any Open Space, even a small and short one, is a monster of complex interaction with levels upon levels. The remarkable thing is that it apparently happens all by itself -- which is what self organization is all about. It seems to me that we might more profitably turn our attention and energy to the fascinating (I think) issue and opportunity of leveraging (building upon) the simple elegance of our common experience in Open Space. This is not about adding to the procedure -- but precisely the opposite. If anything we should be thinking about one more thing not to do with the goal of finding a simpler elegance that verges on the stark. As we progressively remove our selves and accretions from the process, the process itself should stand out with greater clarity and power. In my experience it becomes increasingly possible to view the elemental process of self organization as it is and not as we might think we are creating it. The rewards are great, I believe. First we can appreciate, and maybe understand, one of the deep forces of our life together. And then (perhaps more importantly from the point of view of the ongoing human adventure) learn to cooperate with, and essentially use, that force to our common advantage. Rather like gravity, which we do not create and cannot eliminate, we could learn to rely upon the power of self-organization to lift our human enterprise to new heights, even as the force of gravity allows us to fly in heavier than air machines.
And what about all those other great experiments -- Dialogue, Appreciative Inquiry, Community Building, and I suppose "Circle practices" (although I am not quite sure what they are)? Speaking just for my self -- I must say that each of these have been profound teachers. From the practitioners of Dialogue I have learned what intense and productive communication can be like. From Appreciative Inquiry I have learned the incredible power of a positive, appreciate approach to my fellow human beings. And from Scott Peck and Co. I have learned much about the nature and function of effective human community. Each of these has opened my eyes, sharpened my attention, and raised my expectations in terms of what and how we can function at optimal levels both individually and collectively. But my deepest learning occurs when with open sharpened, eyes I see exactly the same things happening in Open Space -- all by themselves, and all without the overt intervention of some prescribed, facilitated process. I find my emerging conclusion to be basically mind-blowing -- although some may take it to mean that I have blown (lost) my mind. It seems to me that genuine dialogue, deep appreciation of difference, and the manifestation of real community are all the natural concomitants of any fully functional self-organizing system. If this is true, the real focus should be on enabling/allowing the self-organizing system (which we all are) to do what it alone can do -- rather than trying to "fix" apparent and real problems encountered along the way with special interventions and added processes, as fascinating as those processes and interventions might be. As I said, Don't fix it if it ain't broke -- just make sure that "it" (good old self organizing system) has plenty of time and space in which to breath. Harrison ----- Original Message ----- From: "Artur Silva" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 1:00 PM Subject: Re: the dark side of circle practices > --- chris macrae <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The process starts erring to absolute democracy of > > everyone must have > > equal time contributions to speak at each phase > (...) In other > > word's the circle's communal harmony ... can > co-create such > > deep love of nice > > behaviours to each other that it misses the biggest > > spiral out above our > > communal thinking's common denominator > > That's interesting, Chris. > > I have been, at times, in situations like that one - > circles (or squares) where everyone must "be in > place", must "speak in his turn" and must have a "nice > behavior". > > They call this democratic, but in fact it is a > dictatorship. In a democracy I can stay silent if I > want. When everyone is obliged to speak that is not > democratic. This can be a "rules' dictatorship" > (created by the rules previously defined,) a "leader's > dictatorship" (the leader(s) imposes that everyone > must speak), or even a more interesting type - a > "majority's dictatorship" (where the rule is created > at the moment by the majority). > > Apart from claiming to be democratic, this type of > groups/sessions also claim that they are following > "good principles". The two I have heard more often are > "appreciation" (like in "appreciative inquiry") and > "dialog". > > Democracy (and Open Space) are made of dialogs AND of > discussions. If one suppresses discussion and impose > dialog (as in "everyone must be nice to each other and > hear the other with appreciation") then there is no > democracy and no open space, I think. > > Apart from the fact that there are some people that I > don't want to hear with appreciation (say, Bush, to > give only one example) the point is even more strange. > "Playing the appreciative game" (an expression I have > created just know) is only one form of "playing games" > - and that is the essence of Argyris and Schon's Model > 1. > > If, in a meeting or organization, one imposes dialog > and appreciation, then a close session or organization > will come to place. > > Artur > > PS: I never heard to call this "circle" and even less > Open Space. But I would not be too surprised if some > would call that. I have already referred to a > respectable group of practitioners of "Communities of > Practice", USA based, that not long ago claimed that > they had used "Open Space" (OST) in a meeting because: > > - they assembled in a circle > - they gave participants the opportunity to ADD issues > to a large group of issues pre-prepared by the > organizers > - they divided the large group in small groups to > discuss those issues (by choice of the organizers, if > I recall well - but I recall well that there was no > reference to "the law" - people were not expected to > leave their group! That would not be considered > "appreciative" to the other group members, I > suspect...) > > But don't worry about what some people do "in your > name", Harrison. You can always remember what some > have done (and are doing) in His name. And at least > about you I know that you exists - something I am not > prepared to say about the Other... > > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected]: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
