oops - I just noticed some typos to the treatise :-(
The most important one to clarify is this: The story in the Soviet
Union is - They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.
--
Shalom,
Chris Kloth
ChangeWorks of the Heartland
254 South Merkle Road
Bexley, OH 43209-1801
ph 614-239-1336
fax 614-237-2347
www.got2change.com
Quoting Chris Kloth <[email protected]>:
For those of you who are of the tribe, Happy Passover!
On this Passover I am experiencing an opportunity for integrating my
own thoughts on several threads OSLIST from the last several
weeks... linking a 2000+ year old story to my own story of
incorporating Open Space into my work for 20-ish years. [HO - what a
long strange trip it's been :-)]
My experience is that good things and bad things happen everywhere,
whether or nor space has been opened or not. Self-organization is
always occurring everywhere, sometimes to a good end, a bad end or
simply adapting to what is - for better or worse. Sometimes we
notice and sometimes we don't. Once we do notice we may or may not
fully understand what we are noticing. The terms
perception/selective perception and framing/reframing come to mind.
Both seem to involve a story or narrative, as well as a matter of
choice.
In 1989 I was part of a group in what was still the Soviet Union
exploring issues of change. I experienced perception and framing
challenges so many times some days that my head was spinning.
One narrative that apparently still has legs is this: They pretend
tend to work. We saw all kinds of examples of how the formal
structures created boundaries, silos and authority that reinforced
dysfunction. But under the surface we noticed incredible examples of
creativity and resilience as people figures out how to get good
results despite all the barriers. The first OST User's Guide had yet
to be published, but passion and responsibility were busting out all
over despite boundaries and without formal authority.
While we were officially on an organized learning mission with the
group we were part of, my wife and I also decided to smuggle 50
Russian/Hebrew Haggadahs (prayer books) to a congregation in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At the time religion and religious material
were still illegal in the Soviet Union. Paradoxically, in this
setting Islam was the dominant religion in Uzbekistan. We knew no
one in Uzbekistan so our only strategy was to show up, pay attention
and figure it out... passion, responsibility and self-organization
in action despite laws prohibiting the exercise of passion and
responsibility. The right people showed up.
We were able to get the Haggadahs to the congregation through
intermediaries we engaged along the way. We know for sure because
several years later we met a young man who had recently immigrated
to Columbus from Uzbekistan and discovered he had been a child in
the congregation when the books arrived only a few days before
Passover. Good, new stuff can happen anywhere.
We boarded a train from Moscow to Helsinki on Passover that year.
Several of us on the trip who are Jewish decided we wanted to do
something for Passover. Several people in Moscow took some risks to
help us put together a plate. Passion, responsibility,
self-organization and the right people... reframing the narrative
about what is possible.
Every year Jews read the Torah from start to finish. It is the same
story every year. It is also a new story every year. In the context
of our own lives each year we have the opportunity to find new
meaning in the story and how it drives passion, responsibility,
self-organization and new possibilities.
In some sense the history of the Jews is a history of passion,
responsibility and self-organization. There are parts of the story
that make me very uncomfortable. Bad stuff happens sometimes, quite
often when people (Jews and non-Jews) are more focused on authority,
boundaries and a rigid view of the secular or religious meaning of
the stories by the story tellers... Christians, Jews, Muslims and
others.
This year we will be adding a second Story of Oppression to our
Seder. It is a story of good and bad stuff happening for and to Jews
in Uganda during the time of Idi Ammin and a particular Passover.
Yes, more passion, responsibility, self-organization and the right
people showing up.
What I love most about OST, and why I have been using it as a part
of my work in communities and organizations for so many years is how
organic (literally a reflection of natural systems from atoms to
stars) the principles are. For me opening space is an opportunity to
invite people to notice new things with the help of the right people
- whoever that might be, to create a new story rooted in passion and
responsibilities and make it easier for good, new things to happen.
Yes, I do understand that there are practical considerations we
typically call authority, boundaries, sponsorship, etc. related to
opening space in an organization setting, especially in communities
or organizations where OST is new. I also realize that I am spoiled.
Here in Columbus, Ohio, USA it is harder for me to find people who
have not experienced OST than those to have.
I think the invitation for all of us is to resist limiting our sense
of what is possible when we encounter these terms in a client system
or in our own internal dialogues. When in doubt, reframe!
--
Shalom,
Chris Kloth
ChangeWorks of the Heartland
254 South Merkle Road
Bexley, OH 43209-1801
ph 614-239-1336
fax 614-237-2347
www.got2change.com
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