A bow to you dear OS fellows as I prepare to open space for the first time :)
On Monday, January 5, 2015 4:34 PM, Tova Averbuch
<[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you so much Chris. This is so beautiful and Crystal clearTova נשלח
מה-iPhone שלי
ב-Jan 4, 2015, בשעה 23:21, Chris Corrigan via OSList
<[email protected]> כתב/ה:
All good things from people named John!
My friend Toke Moeller often shares the insight that “purpose is the invisible
leader” and I share that too. Purpose can be stated and unstated, and like
everything in the realm of complexity, is always changing.
In order for emergence to happen, it happens within boundaries, and that
includes the emergence that later comes to redefine boundaries. My point
earlier was that stated purposes can help a great deal AND you need to leave
space for the possibility that any way you state it or understand, there is
always a high chance that your purpose itself may not serve, or may be at odds
with a different, hidden and often more powerful purpose.
This gets summed by my other friend Tim Merry who says “Culture eats strategy
for breakfast.” This means that no matter how clever you are or how articulate
you are about purpose, goals and intentions, if you are opening space, culture
will show up, and it is sometimes the more powerful purpose.
This is why holding space is often terrifying.
Chris
On Jan 4, 2015, at 12:40 PM, John Watkins <[email protected]> wrote:
John,
My experience is that open spaces (and open systems) are "purpose-seeking"
systems, and getting clarity through emergence about purpose is probably one of
the most important aspects of people opening space together. Purpose is
dynamic and powerfully grounding in a sense of essence or the being-ness of the
emergent group; it's like a strange attractor for the emergence of meaning and
aligned action. Goals, on the other hand, are inert and static; they tend to
shut down rather than open up space. If you set goals before you gather
together and make meaning, often all they do is reinforce the "limitations that
we mistake for our goals," to cite one of my teachers. We end up with what we
started with, not something with new potential and power. Goals can be
helpful, though I prefer to think about intentions and aspirations and what I
want to accomplish instead. So, I would go for purpose first, and use goals
only as a crutch (this is a good purpose for them, BTW), or even,
retrospectively, once purpose and meaning and intention and aligned actions are
envisioned and something has been accomplished.
John Watkins
On Jan 4, 2015, at 2:37 AM, John Baxter via OSList wrote:
I feel Chris like we have seemingly conflicting suggestions, but might be
talking about different things.
Reading about games recently (McGonigal's Reality is Broken) got me thinking
about goals. And specifically, how goals are different from purpose.
Don't know whether this will help but here goes. I am only just thinking this
through so it is not well tested.
Goals are an element of a good game. They are almost part of the rules of the
game, like an agreement - something that we buy in to as part of participation.
The most productive spaces I have been part of have had a clear goal for that
space (that is understood and agreed to by all).
I haven't used the word 'goal' to describe this before and maybe it is not the
best one, but it feels right to me to use a different word than 'purpose' which
always seem in reality to be impossible to pin down. I am always aware that
there is a broad web of different intents and purposes and ideas that no
individual will ever compute (even just those within themselves, let alone
others!), that will always be fuzzy.
Personally, having a solid 'goal' for a space is a fundamental part of holding
that space, any space. It need not be written down, but I need to feel it, and
ideally it is as transparent as possible in the invitation and for participants
(part of the social contract of participation).
Cheers
John BaxterCocreation Consultant & CoCreate Adelaide
Facilitatorjsbaxter.com.au | CoCreateADL.com0405 447 829 | @jsbaxter_
Thank you to everyone who came, helped or spread the good word about City
Grill!Summary and links: cocreateadl.com/localgov/grill-summary/
On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 6:46 AM, Chris Corrigan via OSList
<[email protected]> wrote:
Sometimes though, fuzzy purpose is really really useful. I’ve had situations
where a group is really sure of what it is doing, and what it exists for and
yet nothing is working.
This happens a lot with mainline churches these days, many of whom are certain
that they can recreate the “success” they had in the 1960s. They are certainly
clear on their purpose, but the harder they try, the worse they make it for
themselves.
And so we have run OST meetings where the purpose was unclear and fuzzy and
people simply proposed topics that interested them. And it turns out that that
is a good way to discover the new directions you are trying to get into. Of
course all groups need a boundary, and in the case that immediately comes to
mind, the question was “What else can we be?”
People felt that was too fuzzy to get any kind of strategic work done, but what
happened was that it invited people into a now three year journey of wayfinding
together. Which, it turns out, is a good purpose for a church.
I think it’s not my job to “help people discover what they should be doing”
even in Open Space. I can, however, help hold space so that people can explore
the fuzziness and confusion that they find themselves in AND I can model
behaviour of not needing to know, of avoiding premature convergence of ideas
and purpose, so that the innovation and wisdom and leadership at the margins
can come forward.
In the parlance of software developers, not knowing what to do is a feature of
living in this world, not a bug.
Cheers,
Chris
On Jan 3, 2015, at 2:00 AM, Anne-Béatrice Duparc via OSList
<[email protected]> wrote:
I love how you put it in words John. I will discuss it today with the caller.
Indeed there is much that seems already prepared and "shoulds". I hope I can
help them let go of it.
Thanks for the reminder,
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:56:24 +1030
From: John Baxter via OSList <[email protected]>
To: Gail West <[email protected]>, World wide Open Space Technology
email list <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [OSList] First open space, advices needed :)
Message-ID:
<CAJpg6=RAR3tnEUhzgFsTZ6HSZTKsUh=eb06qfopbmhenwsb...@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
If you can help the group to become clear about what the most important
focus/challenge/question is for them *now*, then they will be able to let
go of all those preconceived discussion topics in order to address their
priority.
If the purpose is fuzzy then all people have to go on is their baggage and
prepared ideas. This makes it hard for people to embrace the space, and
they are likely to walk away disappointed (though they may still get a lot
done).
Overall, it will be useful to help people find what they really want to *do*,
vs what they think they should *talk about*. I don't really know how to
describe this better, nor how you should do it. But it might help.
Cheers
*John Baxter*
*Cocreation Consultant & ?Co?Create Adelaide Facilitator*
jsbaxter.com.au <http://www.jsbaxter.com.au/> | CoCreateADL.com
0405 447 829
? | ?
@jsbaxter_ <http://twitter.com/jsbaxter_>
Anne-Béatrice Duparc
(0)76/378.69.98
Comité de BIEN-Suisse Initiative fédérale pour un revenu de base
Génération RBI www.rbi-oui.ch
Association Solid'Art
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