Well that was a wonderful and so very clear description of the
"messy" process called living life as a self-organizing entity.
Thanks Harrison so very much. You invite the client to go into their
own experience and to tell you what that experience has taught them
and you offer a "bridge" from their "known" experience to something
that they thought was "unknown" but isn't. Great, thanks.
On Nov 30, 2011, at 11:03 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
Our recent conversation about telling stories to help a client make
the BIG decision elicited the comment from Raffi to the effect that
stories are nice, but rarely do the job. That is certainly my
experience. But I have had some success in turning the whole
process on its head – well sort of.
When possibility of doing an Open Space is first introduced to a
client who has had no prior experience with the critter, it may
well sound like some totally impossible, never to be done fantasy
from a New Age Kook. Or something like that. The client can hardly
be blamed for such a perception if only because much of his/her
prior experience and training says that has to be the case. In the
face of such a response, it is natural that we seek to buttress our
case with strong arguments (never works) or “good stories” of what
Open Space can do which don’t seem to have any more positive
effect. And in the event, and despite all the odds, that the
client actually makes the decision to go ahead it sometimes seems
that we should congratulate the client on his/her bold, courageous
decision to enter a strange and dangerous land. I am sure you can
see the hyperbole as it passes by, but perhaps some of it sounds
familiar?
But what is the alternative? It begins with a changed mindset.
Instead of thinking of OS as an exotic new experience/method/tool,
I find that OS is pretty much same old, same old – which is to say
it is all Open Space, only sometimes it is more focused,
intentional and powerful. Needless to say I don’t share these
feelings with the client (at least not initially) or for sure they
would be convinced that I was even crazier than the purported
method or approach. But I do start slowly with the client’s own
experience by asking a question, “Can they remember a time when
everything just flowed, nobody looked at a clock, when somehow all
the regular rules seemed to be suspended – and amazing work got
done?” It might just be a small moment, but even in the most
hidebound organizations, something like that usually shows up
somewhere. More often than not it is talked about as “one of those
funny things that happened along the way.” Occasionally such
moments assume a prominent place in the organization’s mythology as
a sterling example of “how things can be.”
The nature of these moments will vary from organization to
organization. In Public Utilities (Power, phone, etc) the story is
usually about a major storm and how service was restored. A Coast
Guard Station on the Maine coast tells of a daring sea rescue. Even
banks have their moments.
Dee Hock (writing in his book, “One From Many”) describes such a
time in a bank, as they prepared to mail out the first credit cards --
“Something is sadly awry. The form-feeder cannot be syn chronized
with the printer. Both machines constantly jam. As mailers flow
erratically from the printer, cutting and folding machinery slices
some in half and crumples others. Technicians are bent over, heads
and hands deep in the machinery. The sup plier soon confesses. The
whole setup is untested. They’ve never used it before, and it’s an
abysmal failure.
Bob and I walk away to a quiet corner near a supply
closet to console one another. There is no possibility of another
block of time on the computer. Without mailers by morning, the
whole thing is off. How can we explain our failure to Maxwell
Carlson, a hundred thousand customers waiting for their promised
cards, and hundreds of merchants waiting for those customers? Our
minds are racing in a hundred directions seeking a way out. Bob is
leaning on the handle of a push broom.
Inspiration is often the child of desperation.
Could he be leaning on the answer? We quickly unscrew the handle,
rush to the stack of mailers and shove it through a roll. With a
heave we lift it—might even be able to hold it for half an hour at
a stretch, maybe more—or prop it up on cabinets. The broom handle
makes a decent axle. With a third person to guide forms into the
com puter and enough three-person crews, it might work. Other crews
could wind mailers on broom handles as they came from the printer.
With enough crews we might get mailers printed. We can worry about
cutting and folding another day.
We call everyone in the area together, printing
company exec utives, bank officers, programmers, operators, janitors
—everyone. There is no need for blame. Will they work the night—no
bosses— no procedures—just grab a piece of the problem and get it
done? Need help, ask—want to help, offer. Yes? Good! Two people
lift a roll of mailers and the printer begins to chatter. Two
others grab a second broom handle and begin to roll up mailers as
they emerge. Ideas pour out from everyone and someone is instantly
on the way to attend to each. “Search the building and steal broom
handles, Get food and drinks sent in.” “We’ll need gloves.” “Round
up relief crews.” “Rig a backup printer.” No one knows all that is
happening and no one has time to care. We must trust. The last roll
comes off the printer at six in the morning. An exhausted, happy
band of brothers and sisters head home to catch a few hours of
sleep before the next ordeal begins. As we labored through the
night, someone had not only claimed owner ship of every aspect of
the night’s work, but future work separat ing and folding mailers
to get the project back on track. Is that how the future happens?
Ingenuity? Passion? Spontaneous order out of chaos? It seems so, as
long as control is kept on a leash.”
Once the moment is found, invite the client to reflect on all that
happened. What was new? What was different? What surprised? I have
never had any difficulty in doing this. People love to tell their
stories and once they get started, it is very hard to get them to
stop. The enthusiasm, pride, and ownership is usually just plain
palpable. And once the pot is really boiling – it is time to ask
another question. “Who did all this?”
A typical response is a quizzical look, followed by something like,
“We did?” To which I respond, “You mean all the same people you
have been telling me about who never talk to each other, can’t work
together, and currently feel miserable?”
You have to be a little careful with this one, but with a little
luck it is quite possible to ground the recognition that “even
these people can perform at high levels.” With that thought in
place, there is room for another question, “Would you like to do it
again, not just as an exception, but as a regular and intentional
part of your common life together?”
I suppose somebody could say NO! – but I have never had that
happen. And the door is definitely open to introduce Open Space not
as some strange, exotic, aberration – but now as a continuation of
an already experienced reality. Same old, Same old – well not quiteJ
There is probably little need to explain to the client the thinking
behind all this – unless of course, they ask, but it is really not
all that difficult. You guessed it – It’s the 5th Principle at
work! We live in a self organizing world, and we and our
organizations are self organizing. When we get with the program and
become fully ourselves, amazing things happen. When we make the
mistake of attempting to organize a self organizing system, massive
amounts of energy and time are wasted – but even then the power of
self organization can break through in what we often consider
strange, anomalous moments. “Wherever it happens is the right
place” – and surely a good place to start when it comes to
introducing people to Open Space Technology.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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