"Report from the Field" sounds pretty official and maybe even ominous, but I certainly don't intend it that way. However, having just returned from a 3 week journey through the open spaces of Europe (at least some of them) I have to say the field is in full flower despite the season. Blossoms everywhere and it just sort of took my breath away.
The journey began in Bologna, Italy where some 65 good folks responded to the invitation of Gerardo de Luzenberger along with his colleagues Nicoletta, Frank, and the "Mayor" of Bologna, to come together for a combination Introduction to Open Space and The Practice of Peace. Most were from Italy but with a sprinkling from elsewhere: Holland, Germany and Serbia. We met in a grand room (I mean GRAND) on the top floor of a 15th century structure. Could have been a palace of sorts, right on the main square of the city. In a word, we had space with a history. I had been to Italy the preceding year (Florence) when about 35 brave souls took the initial plunge into Open Space. Seems like the introduction was positive, witness double the number of participants this time - and most impressively - the level of activity over the course of the intervening year. I remember particularly two wonderful young women from Sardinia who regaled me with tales of the 8 Open Spaces they had conducted in the last several months. Their enthusiasm was almost overwhelming and seizing the moment, I said, "What you need here is the Open Space Institute of Italy." "How do we do that?" they responded. "Simple" I said. "It just happened - and you are the President and Vice President. You will only have to figure out who is which. And just remember you don't have a shred of authority to do anything, but only the power of invitation." It seemed like they might need a Secretary, so I informed my host Gerardo that he had the job. Fortunately everybody took my imperious manner in the spirit in which it was offered - all in fun. But I think they took me seriously and I can't wait to find out what happens next. Next stop: Berlin - the home of BOSCOP (Berlin Open Space Cooperative), Michael Pannwitz and friends. The program was The Practice of Peace, and the participants came from more countries than I can remember, probably most of them lying to the East. Over the years, Michael and his colleague, Jo Toepfer, have spent a lot of time in that part of the world. Most recently they did a training program in the Ukraine and a number of their new colleagues from that country joined us. And innovation was the name of the game. On the first day I opened space pretty much by the book (in English) - the next day, the language was Russian. And on the final day, not a word was spoken. Michael P. is always one to push boundaries and the space was opened in silence. Mind blowing and wonderful! I am not sure how it would have worked had the participants been totally new to Open Space - but I guess that is the next experiment. Talk about thinking of one more thing not to do!! Our "Program Manager" was a delightful young woman by the name of Anna - who had first experienced Open Space some 5 years ago while still in High School. It seems that Michael had come to her school and from that point on, she was part of the team. She did a wonderful job, and I think one of my lasting memories of Berlin will be the number and energy of people well below the age of 40 - which from my advanced condition seems very young indeed. As I said, the flowers are blooming. One other thing that really caught my attention was the elegant way in which all the logistics were handled. Combining a German sense for detail and a very open way of being, Michael and his friends at BOSCOP have created a model of how to set up shop. I guess the whole thing would be a little bit of over-kill for small groups, but anything over 50 participants and I can only say that BOSCOP ROCKS. Seriously, Michael and friends have created a number of aids in the logistics department which I know they would be willing to share. So if you need some help or suggestions, you know where to go. And last, but certainly not least - a Birthday party to end all birthday parties. Seems like my 70th has been celebrated for most of this year, but Berlin surely put the cap on the festivities. Needless to say we had Martinis for all and dancing for those who cared - two of my favorite things! And birthday cards from all over the world. Thanks to all of you from wherever!! You made my day!!! Last stop: Helsinki. Finland is one of the few places in the world that I had never visited and always wanted to see. It is not so much about the land, although it is beautiful, at least as much as I could see of it in the brief hours of sunlight. It is the people. Finns have a habit of wandering around the world, and I have met a number in my travels. They always seemed to be bright and welcoming with a marvelous, droll (some might say "sick") sense of humor which I find wonderful. So when Pepe Nummi asked if I might like to visit his country my response was immediate and positive. But then we got to the question of what, exactly, I might do. Some sort of "Introduction to Open Space" seemed appropriate, and I suggested my current love affair with The Practice of Peace. There was a slight pause in the email communication. The Introduction to OS was fine, but there was a problem with Peace. It seemed that most of Pepe's contacts were corporate sorts, and while there was no objection to Peace it was a little unclear whether requests for attendance (read financial support) at a program on Peace would pass corporate muster. And did I have an alternative? Seizing the moment, I said, Sure! How about something like, "Opening Space for High Performance?" Knowing that all corporate types and others concerned with the bottom line are anxious to achieve optimal performance, I thought that might really sell. And more to the point, it had been my experience (and I am sure yours as well) that in Open Space people regularly do the impossible, and if that meant creating a new product in record time - that is what they did. High Performance! It seems that ever since Peters and Waterman wrote "In Search of Excellence" - true High Performance had become the Holy Grail - often glimpsed but never quite grasped. We have trained for it, designed for it, schemed for it - but somehow it always seems to be just out of reach. And then in Open Space ordinary people do the extraordinary. Regularly! But how could that work, and more importantly, how could we make that work for us? Truth to tell a fascination with High Performing Systems had been an affliction of mine since the early 70's when an old friend and colleague, Peter Vaill wrote a paper entitled, "Towards a Behavioral Description of High Performing Systems." It was a short paper, but it captured a lot of attention, not the least of which was the attention of Peters and Waterman, and it became part of the inspiration of their book. Some time last year I was taking a sentimental journey through my "collected works of Peter Vaill" (joke, for no such thing exits, but it should) - when I happened upon the paper one more time and became re-entranced with those "Behavioral Characteristics." But there was a difference, because it suddenly struck me that what Peter was describing was precisely what I had been witnessing over the past 20 years every time space is truly opened and people performed at their optimum levels. Making a supra-logical jump it occurred to me that when pursuing excellence (High Performance) all you have to do is open space! But was Open Space Technology the magic? No! One more time it is all about self-organizing systems. In simple terms, a high performing system is just a self-organizing system doing what it does -- in style. Nothing new, nothing added, just breath taking and totally out of (external) control. So there was my program, I thought. And here is the sneaky part. I felt I already had the logic of presentation and the necessary "overheads" (power points) - just sitting there in the old Practice of Peace Program. All I had to do was add some material on the behavioral characteristics of High Performance (a la Peter Vaill) and change "Peace" to "High Performing System" and I was home free! After all, a High Performing System is a Peaceful System, or so I thought. I confess to certain feelings of guilt and was reminded of the old joke about the man coming into a clothing store to buy a suit. Seemed he wanted a green suit, but the salesman knew they had nothing in that color. So the salesman consulted with the store manager who said - "That's simple. Man wants a green suit - Turn on the Green light." I told Pepe that story after we had finished the program, but he didn't seem to mind, perhaps because like a true Finn he appreciated "sick humor." But truthfully, I don't think the humor was sick, and actually I feel another book coming on - unless of course some of you want to write it before I get there. My time in Finland concluded in the appropriate fashion with Sauna and Massage, including that wonderful part where you are standing outside in the snow dressed in your all-together. Real treat, but I found the snow a bit chilly on the feet. But all of that was more than compensated for by the warmth of Pepe and his friends. Thank you!!! Harrison NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!! [email protected] Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> * * ========================================================== [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
