Harrison,
An excellent meditation - thank you. About your Spirit Chart with level
against time, there is another graph with Potential on the vertical,
Connectedness on the horizontal, and time is reflected as an infinite
path that cycles between different levels of structure along what looks
like an infinity symbol.
http://peopleandplace.net/media/file/36/adaptive_cycle_2d.jpg
The idea comes from the book " Panarchy: Understanding Transformations
in Systems of Humans and Nature" by Lance Gunderson and C. S. Holling,
though I first encountered the idea in Michael Quinn Patton's excellent
book "Developmental Evaluation".
It might seem like squeezing OS Inc. into a box, but I think it offers
Open Space Technology a clear place in the life and death cycle for
organizations to both acquire and expel structure. Not that they
ultimately have a choice to die. But as the Apostle Paul said "I die
daily", were our organizations to practice Open Space Technology they
might have an easier time letting go of what isn't working, and see the
solutions that are already embodied in the system, and might even have a
better chance at longevity (or at least serving Spirit rather than
contributing to Soul Pollution.)
As you said in Wave Rider, and as I heard you report at a lunch table at
the "What is Leadership in a Self-Organizing World" conference, OST has
a deep connection to the grieving process that Elisabeth K übler-Ross
described as a part of facing death. Which for me is fascinating given
how much joy I always experience - but it is almost always accompanied
other deep emotions as well.
Harold
On 11/19/12 5:26 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
I've been thinking about us, or should I say OS....
It seems to be a truth of life that everything (us included) has a
beginning, middle and an end. The separation between beginning and end
can be quite various (longer or shorter), but one thing is for
certain. For every beginning, there is an end. Along the way it is
inevitable that people ask, how are they doing, and what next?
What is true for life in general seems to be true for organizations of
all sorts, including ours, by which I mean the Good Old OS Community.
Perhaps you never thought of the OS Community as an organization, and
certainly if you understand organization to be what might be called
The Standard Model (The Leader, Board of Directors, and all the Rest)
the OS Community doesn't qualify. On the other hand, were you to look
at what OS Inc. has done, that assessment changes, I think. As a
matter of fact there are loads of Standard Model organizations that
don't even come close to our accomplishments. First of all we have
been around for 27 years with thousands of "members" all over the
world. Each year "we" produce global gatherings in multiple places,
along with training programs and consultations. And when it comes to
the end product, Opening Space, the numbers get a little mind
boggling. Not bad at all -- just don't look too closely at how it all
gets done. J So how are we doing? Well past the Beginning for sure,
but what now, and where next?
Quite a while ago, I found myself thinking and writing a lot about the
natural life cycle of organizations ("Spirit: Transformation and
Development in Organizations" and "The Power of Spirit"). Beginnings,
middles and ends were pretty central to this -- but there was more.
All about what seemed to be happening along the way, and what, if
anything, we might do about that.
To represent my understanding of the natural history of organizations,
I came up with a simple graph which, for lack of a better term, became
known as The Spirit Chart. Unfortunately we cannot do graphics here on
OSLIST, but the graph is simplicity itself, and so I am sure that you
can quickly draw it, or imagine it in your mind's eye. The vertical
axis is titled "level" and the horizontal axis is "time." On the
chart, there are two lines, one called "Spirit" and the other
"Structure." At Time 1 (the beginning) Spirit is high and Structure is
low. Over time (moving from left to right) the lines cross in the
middle, and at the end -- Spirit is low, and Structure is high. And
there you have it: Beginning, Middle, and End.
As you might suspect, I did not gather masses of data in order to
construct my chart. Indeed I really can't imagine precisely what that
data might be or how to gather it. All that said, common sense and
experience supports the story that the graph seeks to tell... All
organizations start out with High Spirit(s) -- and virtually no
Structure. At the moment of creation it is all potential, a wonderful
idea, a gigantic WOW! The good news is that something is moving and
shaking. Excitement and optimism rule the day. But there is a price.
Orderly procedures simply do not exist, massive amounts of energy is
burned for minimal results, the Wheel is constantly re-invented.
But then things change. Rules and Structures are created to focus and
direct all that wonderful Spirit. Initially there is resistance from
some Free Spirited Folks, but the net result is positive and
beneficial. Work gets done, schedules are kept, product goes out the
door. And best of all there is plenty of Free Spirit around to
creatively explore new opportunities, new ways of doing business.
But over time, the lines cross. The Spirit Line and the Structure Line
intersect and then separate, with Structure rising and Spirit falling,
being constrained in smaller and smaller spaces by the overburden of
Structure. For a while nobody notices, for the organization is doing
the business in productive and orderly ways, and who could complain
about that? But there comes a time when the organization is defined
and imprisoned by its structure and rules. Spirit is in evidence
mostly by its absence -- except in the stories and memories of how it
"used to be." When you are out of Spirit, you are out of business. At
least that is the story.
But there could be a different ending. Were it somehow possible to
release the Spirit from its prison, renewal might happen. But for that
to occur, the prison walls must break. Or to put it in slightly
different terms, the confining structure must shatter so that the
Spirit may reform in new ways. This, I think, is an accurate, albeit
metaphorical picture of Transformation: Spirit breaking loose to take
on new form (trans-form).
So where are we? Clearly we have had our initial WOW! And although it
is certainly true that each time some new person joins our happy
Tribe, having just experienced the opening of space for some group of
people -- that WOW is heard once more. It is also true that for a
large (and increasing) number of our band the experience is no longer
a strange one. We've been there before, and while it is always a
delight, it really becomes quite predictable. I would never say
boring, but predictable for sure. Sit in a circle, create a bulletin
board, open a market place, and the folks will go to work. Every time.
The curious thing is that 27 years into our adventure, our
organization is still as lively and spirit filled as it is -- a status
that just about everybody recognizes in all of our common gatherings,
as for example the recent WOSONOS in London. In my own experience of
organizational life, this record is pretty remarkable. In every other
organization I have known, or been a part of, by the time it reached
its 27^th year, an awful lot of the original Spirit, enthusiasm, to
say nothing of agility and flexibility had disappeared. People talk
about "mature organizations" -- when they finally got beyond the "wild
days in the garage" (computer start-ups, for example) and settled down
into a more orderly mode of being. Think of Amazon, Apple, Microsoft,
et al. Somehow we seem to have escaped some of that, and how could
that be?
I think part of the answer comes from the nature of our "product" and
what we do. The truth of the matter is that every time we think we
have it all figured out, and have "finally" arrived at the "right" way
of doing things -- we are in for some surprises. It turns out that we
really didn't know what we were talking about. Somehow, Open Space
was/is so much more than we ever thought, and what we do/did, so much
less. What starts out looking like just another approach to better
meetings or group technique subtly morphs into the story of the cosmos
(self organization). And we really don't DO anything at all. We simply
offer an invitation, and then get out of the way.
To be sure, there has been a developmental process in our approach as
we have gone along, but it apparently moves in the diametrically
opposite direction from similar processes found with other approaches.
Put it all under the heading of "Thinking of one more thing NOT to do"
and pretty soon (well maybe someday) -- we'll end up with nothing. No
approach at all!
Of course, there have been a few signs of approaching Middle Age. You
might call it hardening of the organizational arteries --
conversations about the "right" way to conduct an Open Space, usually
accompanied by an expanding list of critical details with attendant
Do's and Don'ts. Fortunately we then receive a marvelous report (Sandy
Gee, being the latest) how just about everything was "wrong" -- but
surprisingly -- it all worked just perfectly.
To be sure I have heard some chatter about "guidelines" (Thomas H. J)
-- but no proposal that we "get ourselves organized" -- and certainly
nothing as forbidding as a governmental structure with appropriate
Boards and Bylaws! So we seem to be dodging the bullet, at least for
the moment. And it may be that we have some distance to go before the
end. I doubt, however, that our longevity will ever have anything to
do with what might be called The Standard Organizational Approach,
usually characterized as "institutionalization." Indeed I more than
suspect that once again we will find success by going in the opposite
direction. Rather than building durable structures that might last for
the ages (none do ... so far) -- it will be a story of the constant
shattering of structures and procedures to release the Spirit in new
and vital directions. Transformation, I believe it is called.
But there will come an end, of that I have no doubt. But I hope that
the end of OS Inc might occur with hardly a ripple or note. Not unlike
old soldiers who never seem to die -- they just fade away. OS Inc will
become quite invisible when it is clear to all that everything is Open
Space. Blending into the woodwork, as it were. Nothing new, Nothing
special. Just what is.
Harrison
--
Harold Shinsato
har...@shinsato.com <mailto:har...@shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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