Beautiful. Are the containers formed by the vectors of caring, or are
the vectors of caring caused/nurtured/enabled by the container?
I'm with Harrison on this one - the containers - including OST itself -
were really formed by "the vectors of caring", i.e. Spirit. The best we
can do as facilitators is invite people to what's already there.
The "experts" in economics at venerable institutions used to teach, and
unfortunately in too many places continue to teach, that inflation is
caused by rising prices. When in fact the opposite is true. (Look it up
in a dictionary.)
I still find it fun to study the containers, and I hope folks won't be
discouraged from continuing the dialog. But I'm extremely grateful for
this reminder of the correct direction of causality here. It's really
like looking at the world as round, when all the experts "know" it's flat.
Thank you Harrison for helping us wake up to this!
Harold
On 4/8/14 1:48 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
David -- I have known Glenda for some years, and have always found her
to be bright, fun and contributory. She has some wonderful insights
about self organization, and she works very hard. As a good academic,
she certainly does her detail, sometimes a bit more than I feel I want
or need, but good for all of that. However, when it comes to enhancing
our function in a self organizing world (or Open Space), I suspect she
is working a bit too hard. She and her fellows have developed a whole
series of approaches and exercises which enable you to do what I find
pretty much happens all by itself. But that is probably just me. And
for those of you who want to know more about Glenda, I suggest her
latest book --
http://www.amazon.com/Adaptive-Action-Leveraging-Uncertainty-Organization-ebook/dp/B00C3WSKV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396971594&sr=1-1&keywords=glenda+eoyang
And now back to containers and boundaries. The issue (our differences)
may be purely semantic -- but maybe not. As I think back over lots of
Open Spaces, and more particularly what I might call the natural
appearance of Open Space (Tahrir Square, for example, or the coffee
pot) I fully agree that from the outside they all look like
bounded/contained experiences. There seems to be an inside and an
outside, a container of some sort. But the question for me: -- Is that
boundary/container externally imposed, and therefore prior to the
process of self organization as a precondition -- or is the
boundary/container a PRODUCT of the process of self organization? As
I read Glenda, she would opt for the former: Container as
precondition. I find myself coming down on the other side -- The
apparent container is actually a product of the process. In a word,
what starts out unbounded and disassociated (random people and things)
coalesces into a meaningful form, or better, organism/organization --
which is what self organization is all about, I think.
I grant you that in an Open Space the "room" would seem to be a
pre-existing container, but I don't see it as essential. In fact I've
"done" a number of Open Space in the middle of an open field. And when
you look at natural occurrences, I think it becomes quite clear that
pre-existing boundaries/containers don't really have much to do with
what is happening. They may be convenient or inconvenient, but not
determinative. The other things you mention (time slots, bulletin
board, etc.) don't fit for me either. Helpful to be sure, but you can
get along quite well without any of it, or so I've found.
So what is going on? My sense is that self organization with humans
(in Open Space and/or everyday) commences when some sort of a vector
of caring shows up which draws people together. Someone, somewhere,
sometime says, or just thinks, "I care about... Not just a little bit,
but I really care and am prepared to take responsibility for what I
care about. " If this care/concern is shared -- and others care for
the same thing, but maybe in very different ways... the ball starts
rolling.
In Open Space, this caring is made concrete and specific with the
invitation. Of course, when the invite is sent out nobody has a clue
whether anybody will come... but if they care, they will come, and
given a date/place, electronic or physical they will all show up in
one time/space. The vector of caring will draw them in...
If the story I am telling roughly reflects the facts on the ground, I
think there are some interesting and serious implications for the role
of the facilitator and the function of the container. EVERYTHING is
well on the way before there is a facilitator in sight or container at
hand. In a word, the system, from the first moment of its emergence
does it all by itself. We are bystanders, midwives at best. And the
container (whatever that might be) is the product of the process ...
and not the precondition or cause.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 04843
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com <www.openspaceworld.com%20>
www.ho-image.com <www.ho-image.com%20>(Personal Website)
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
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*From:*[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *David
Osborne
*Sent:* Monday, April 07, 2014 12:26 PM
*To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] Open Space and Boundaries
Harrison,
I think this is one of the few times I have a different point of view
that you. I believe OS's have natural containers built in. I also
believe you need a container for open space to be effective. I think
the difference stems from having a different definition or viewpoint
on what a container is and can be. My view has been heavily influenced
by Glenda Eoyang's theory and work in this area. For something new to
emerge from self organization something has to hold our bind the
diverse agents together for them to have exchanges across their
differences.
- The room or space the OS is being held in is a container.
- A concept or idea that people care about brings the people
together.....it binds or contains them creating the space to have the
conversations to emerge.
- The bulletin board is a container.....scheduling a specific
conversation at a specific place and time.
In my experience there are always multiple containers that are
massively intertwined.
My thoughts along the way.
David
On Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 9:33 PM, Michael Wood <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Thanks, Harrison, for your response to my question on 'boundaries',
particularly your paraphrasing of my question - which was spot on.
One thing I've taken from this brief conversation is that although
considering the boundaries can be useful, we also need to accept that
boundaries are never entirely clear, always moving on a spectrum from
clear to uncertain/murky and if we, as a sponsor or facilitator, get
overly bound up with boundaries then we might have moved, once again,
into being too controlling.
Michael Wood
Perth, Western Australia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:01:40 -0400
From: "Harrison Owen" < [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
To: "'World wide Open Space Technology email list'"
< [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space and boundaries
Message-ID: <000301cf4f56$00776480$01662d80$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
It has been common for us to speak of Containers and Boundaries as
somehow essential to Open Space. I can't quite find the place, but I
do remember saying something like that myself, as in, "The role of the
facilitator is to create the container..." It certainly made sense at
the time, but I always felt a little uncomfortable with the image. Too
mechanical, coercive... too something. And Michael has brought the
subject up again. "So...here we have a situation where the
'boundaries' are actually in a state of complex flux and uncertainty.
The financial 'givens' are ambiguous; there is no 'locum'
pastor in place because of legal uncertainties with the existing
pastor...etc." You might call it "messy boundaries" -- and he raises
the question whether one should press ahead with Open Space, or wait
until the "mess" is settled down. On the one hand, Michael "hunches"
that one should press on -- Open Space. But his hesitation comes, I
suspect, from the prior notion that fixed boundaries/containers are
necessary for an effective Open Space. What to do?
Some thoughts (new ones for me): Containers are great for cooking
soup, but are unneeded and maybe even problematical in Open Space. It
is all about holding things together. In Open Space groups of people
come together to deal with their issues. At the very least that would
mean gathering in some common time/space, be that physical or
electronic. It would seem that this co-location could be facilitated
were some suitable "container" provided, presumably by the
sponsor/facilitator. This certainly makes sense, and as a rough way of
speaking, it seems to describe what is going on. But as I think about
it, I think we may be missing a most important point. Coming together
in Open Space happens because people care to come. And they continue
their connection as long as they care to do so. (Law of two feet)
>From the "outside" it might look as if they were held in place by a
container, but that is illusory. The actual dynamics are centripetal,
the force is mutual attraction... people are "there" because they care
to be there and not because they are contained by some external
structure. In a word, we as facilitators really don't do a thing, and
creating a container is the least of what we DON'T do. The people,
from the beginning, do it all.
Of course, there are situations where groups come together under
orders, mandates, whatever. And they are definitely "contained." It is
also true that the tighter that container, the less likely self
organization will take place. If true, providing a container is not
only unnecessary but also destructive. In the name of Opening space,
we effectively close it. Or so I suspect it might be. Just thinking...
Anyhow Michael, should my mental peregrinations lead anywhere useful,
it would seem that your "hunch" was spot on. Forget the
boundaries/container.
Just invite the space to open.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 04843
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com>
www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com> (Personal Website)
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
OSLIST Go to:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of Michael
Wood
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 9:59 PM
To: ' [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>'
Subject: [OSList] Open Space and boundaries
A Case Study....
One of the principles that I have generally worked with in Open Space
is helping the client get clear on the 'boundaries' of the space
that's being opened. For example, helping people who come into the
space to know 'what up for grabs here and what isn't? What decisions
have already been made?'
So picture this (purely hypothetical of course)....a church community
in which the pastor has (in many peoples' opinion) run off the rails
and the main church body is in the process of trying to dismiss him;
the church is in compete disarray and completely conflict ridden, many
people have left; the pastor who holds all the keys, banking
passwords; church telephone connections etc etc, has taken legal
advice and had hunkered down in the church owned house where he
continues to hold the reigns of power (via some of his 'allies' in the
church) despite not formally being the Pastor of the church anymore....
So...here we have a situation where the 'boundaries' are actually in a
state of complex flux and uncertainty. The financial 'givens' are
ambiguous; there is no 'locum' pastor in place because of legal
uncertainties with the existing pastor...etc etc.
So in terms of 'Opening Space', do we wait a bit longer until some of
the legal boundaries are clarified, OR open space right away in the
midst of the mess....my hunch is the latter, but any thoughts from
anyone?
Cheers
Michael
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