Hi Chris.
Hmmmmmmm . . . Interesting optimization of your efforts ! I concur that ³community² is the natural fit for OST. And . . . In my twelve year experiment and experience using OST in large corporate and Government contexts, OST worked profoundly well on an ongoing basis --- but required that I and my OS-oriented colleagues be embedded and influential within the power structures of the organizations. As an OST convener, I usually had to carry actual or delegated-proxy P&L responsibility. I do ponder the experience of effectiveness and generativity in being a trusted convener in the ³embedded² sense within communities, corporations, and Governments. I have played with a strategy of establishing relationships that allow me to at least temporarily serve in an embedded leadership capacity even if mostly virtual. More work, more messy -- more like ³community². Of course, that does make me more like a Stakeholder of the organizations and less like a consultant. In the past, some of my OST colleagues have challenged this role as being inappropriate. But I like it it works for me ! Thanks for the thought stimulation . . . Mark R. Jones Chief Executive Officer The Sunyata Group The Integral Wellness Group ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PO Box 58788 Renton, Washington USA 98058-1788 Phone: 425-413-6000 e-Mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On 4/3/06 10:50 PM, "Chris Corrigan" <[email protected]> wrote: > I have been finding lately that in the world of business, government and big > organizations, people are much less likely to let go of control than in > community settings. Corporations exist to stabilize and protect things: > assets, property, ideas, money, reputations...they are all about control. > Communities are messy, evolutionary, out of control and chaordic. I find > that Open Space works beautifully in community settings, and works great in > organizations where you are all about building a community, or where the > leaders understand that the real way anything happens in the organization is > if you view the whole enterprise as a big messy community, in which the agency > of all contributes to the bigger good. In general, you will find very few > people in corporations willing to take this risk, but in communities, for the > most part, this is how people operate. > > I've given up on the holy grail of using OST in Fortune 500 settings to help > groups of IT managers find innovative work processes, for example. It's > certainly possible there, and applicable and probably improves the world in > some small way. But I've seen OST animate community action on poverty, > sustainability, rights, suicide, drug addiction, homelessness, food security, > economic development and child welfare. I've seen people who have nearly > nothing find a true sense of power and purpose in the process. So I've taken > to using it in places where it makes a huge difference in the lives of people > and communities, and I hold this arena in high regard, because the people who > take risks here do so with everything on the line, and in some cases, > everything means their life. > > Dee Hock's quote is about living and life. People live and die in communities > every day. If they are willing to bring that richness of experience to work > in the corporations and organizations that exist all over the place, Open > Space will follow them in there and do all kinds of great things. But it will > not make magic for folks who don't want to truly experience the naked terror > of "Is anything possible?" > > Cheers, > > Chris > > On 4/3/06, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: >> Thomas -- I hear what you are saying, and I can certainly understand why >> certain executives would want to hold onto some "givens" (which I read as >> "controls"). And these are the same people who want certainties and >> guarantees. The only problem is there are no certainties, no guarantees in >> this life. There never have been, and there never will be. Yes, of course, >> there is one -- Life will end. But in the interim between beginning and >> ending -- everything is at risk, everything is uncertain. And that, of >> course is both the joy and terror of living. Dee Hock of Chaordic >> Organization fame has a nice phrase (amongst many) in his book. Dee was also >> the CEO of one of the world's largest corporations: Visa International. Goes >> like -- >> >> "Life is not about control. It's not about getting. It's not about having. >> It's not about knowing. It's not even about being. Life is eternal, >> perpetual becoming, or it is nothing. Becoming is not a thing to be known, >> commanded, or controlled. It is a magnificent, mysterious odyssey to be >> experienced." >> >> Harrison >> >> 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 <http://www.openspaceworld.org> >> Personal website www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com> >> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the >> archivesVisit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html >> <http://www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas >> Herrmann >> Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 5:35 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Is anything possible? >> >> Dear friends in Open Space >> I am wondering where you find those leaders in organizations and >> corporations who are willing to support whatever will emerge from an >> OS-meeting? Unfortunately my experience is that this level of trust is very >> hard to find. I´ve also experienced leaders closing the space down, which >> could have been avoided if they had had some givens to hold on to. >> >> I always do my best to give the sponsor the possibility to make an informed >> decision about if they think OST is the meeting format they´d like to use. >> Using the concept of givens, I think makes it possible for the sponsor to >> open authentic space within the reality of that organization. Well, as >> he/she who is accountable perceives that reality anyway. >> >> Then of course it is important work to minimize the givens! And next time >> there may be fewer... >> >> But this question is not easy, if we´d have had an OS-meeting 15 years ago >> in Gothenburg about making the town internationally known, building an East >> Indiaman at a cost of 500 000 000 SEK would probably have been far exceeding >> any thinkable givens....now it is on its journey to China! >> >> So the question may be - is anything possible? And are the persons in charge >> willing to take responsibility for whatever happens - without any givens? I >> agree there is a difference when working focusing primarily within an >> organization where someone is in charge - or thinks he/she is in charge. >> >> I have a given tomorrow morning, have to get up early so: >> Warmest regards and good night >> Thomas Herrmann Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81 >> Open Space Consulting Fax +46 (0)300-713 89 >> Pensévägen 4 >> 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden >> Email: [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> www.openspaceconsulting.com <http://www.openspaceconsulting.com> >> >> * >> * >> ========================================================== >> [email protected] <mailto:[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 >> <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
