From: Tania Ashworth [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 8:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual [Sec=Unclassified]
Scott, At present I am learning how to live within the community where I have facilitated two Workshops with OST as a mechanism for 'organisational transformation' - management have elected to drop the 'change' since the first OST Workshop. (In my former roles I have come into a community, held a Workshop and returned to my office - I still worked with many of the participants but not on a daily basis). It is 1 month since the last Workshop where 70 of the 200 employees were invited to attend the 2 day event, and for 50 of the 70 this was the second OST experience. My observation after both Workshops is a noticeable 'heightened' positive vibe (spirit) in the Division and a 'lightness' - lots of fun references to the memories of butterflies, bumble bees and space invaders! - and more so after the last Workshop because a core group of people were more comfortable with the process and knew they were going to feel good after it and that it was a worthwhile investment of their time. Where I work has the typical 'silos' we know and love and small pockets of collegiate or collaborative discussion take place but it is not the norm however the notion of community - which is typically spoken of in Antarctic terms but less at Head Office - is emerging and becoming more common in the vernacular and in the behaviour of management and staff in general. My challenge is staying in integrity (of observation and support) and 'on board' through the transformation while working within the machine. In the lead up to both Workshops I felt quite exposed. Although I trust the process, if it went tits up then I still had to live with these people! Thankfully they rose the occasion and continue to 'want more of this' so the journey continues to weave OST into the normal workplace practices while still working towards making myself redundant although, as a member of the 'community', it will end up being a nicer place to work and I probably won't want to go! Luckily I also have a Policy and Environment background which is relevant to the Division. My feeling is that the invisible structure of OST works for this community as it is a leveller - the Division comprises a mix of scientists, policy makers, bean counters and logisticians, electricians, engineers and operational people cross cut by gender and age groups from old school to Generation Y. OST enables many of these chasms to be crossed in a legitimate way and they are becoming a 'community' through experience. I have a few sets of paintings of the feet, butterflies, bumblebees and space invaders that I put up at meetings just to remind people of the 'laws'; we also sit around a table; I bake a cake to share; and we start and finish when we are ready - we book a couple of hours and it goes as long as it needs to on the topic set. Setting a meeting space up like this each time is creating a ritual and I try to apply the transaction analysis method to the exchange - more positive interactions than negative - to gauge whether we are continuing to move forward or not. This ritual is permeating other forums around the place and will hopefully over time include me less and less until new and more positive habits are formed.how long this will take is ? none the less, a robust and constructive community is being formed and over time we will bring in more of our external stakeholders into the space and grow the Divisional sense of community more widely. Long story but hopefully an insight into living within the community after an OST event.also, there is a rationale behind the selection of invitees and the purpose of the Workshop - it is not meant to appear exclusive. Cheers, Tania -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harrison Owen Sent: Tuesday, 24 April 2007 5:34 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual [Sec=Unclassified] Scott Love it! Back in my "early days" back when I was writing and thinking a lot about myth, ritual, culture, story etc. I coined a phrase I really liked. "Mythos manifests Spirit." I used the Greek "mythos" as sort of a catch basket for myth and ritual - for the simple reason that myth is spoken ritual, and ritual is acted myth. You can't have one with out the other. So one word for the two of them. And the function - is to manifest Spirit. But this is more than acting and story telling unless it is really good acting and story telling. Not just facts about Spirit - but face-to-face encounter. Sounds a little esoteric - but I think we all have the experience. When a good story teller is really on a roll, you don't just get "facts about" - you get the feeling - Spirit. If you really want to go there, check out the 1st section of my book, Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations. http://openspaceworld.com/Spirit.pdf But I am curious. Why do you call it "pseudo- community"? My experience in Open Space is that the experienced community may be very surprising, unexpected, even mind warping - but very real for all of that. I have even been so bold as to call it "Genuine Community." But does it last? Well yes and no. What definitely does last is the memory that it occurred. And that memory very often becomes the bench mark against which other "community" experiences are judged. It is not uncommon to hear people say after an Open Space and once they have returned to "the real world" - why couldn't we do "that" (OS) all the time? Why not indeed? And what's to say that the experience in Open Space is not the real world? We weren't doing drugs. Nobody was hypnotized. Just a bunch of folks getting together - and it can happen any time you want. Makes it pretty real to me. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Willard Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 1:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual One thing that I would add to the definition of ritual is that ritual is all about spirit. I just finished reading The Healing Wisdom of Africa- great book. I believe it was by P.M. Some' and he states very clearly that ritual is an opportunity for spirit to impact the lives of the observant. To me, that's what happens in OST. One idea sparks the room and the market place, conversations, evening news act as litany that welcomes the spirit of unity and community to emerge. Writing this, I wonder about what happens after folks leave the room. While in the ritual space of OST a pseudo community is formed. Do folks have experience in fostering community once the meeting is closed and folks go back to their homes? I see the meetings that happen all over the world, where folks go back time after time for OS on OS, but what about smaller scale scenario's? Scott Willard Affinity Consulting Group affinity-scottwillard.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Andrew Ballance <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 5:45:56 AM Subject: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Hi again! On the subject of my writing.. When it rains, it pours.. I didn't want to clutter the previous post with too much reflection and interpretation. [If you didn't read the previous post, you need to, or you might not know where this is coming from] There appeared to be a polarity at play here, between order and chaos, or between imposed structure and self-organisation, something that the chaordic thinkers have probably already chanced upon. To paraphrase what some of the participants said, "Why do we need Open Space? Surely we can just decide to be free, and have whatever conversations matter, that's our decision and responsibility, and if anyone needs some help doing that, I'm here to help." This is an important point: Open Space is a structure. To my mind, though, there is an important dimension to it: it is a ritual structure. Rituals allow us to say or do things that don't normally come out in everyday conversation, they set the tone and say it's ok to express yourself now in a particular way. There are two definitions of ritual that I find quite interesting in this context: - any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner - a prescribed code of behavior regulating social conduct, as that exemplified by the raising of one's hat or the shaking of hands in greeting It's clear to me that OS already is the first of these. That's great, because that's the way we get results, or rather that's the way in which we as facilitators regular social conduct for a period of time. But what about that word 'prescribed'? What do you think of that? What happens if it is prescribed? By whom? If it's not by anyone in particular, then that means OS is accepted practice. But as accepted (expected?) practice.. does that limit its effectiveness? Is that no longer a structure that generates energy, but one that feels like an imposition and so acts as a dampener? OK, enough philosophising for one day. Not that I expect we can come to an answer to these questions, I'd be interested to hear what other people think about OS as ritual? Andrew * * ========================================================== [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 _____ Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? 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