An invitation is "an invitation" if and only if you can refuse it.
This is the core of it's relation with things like boundaries,
constraints, power and control.
ge
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2015-09-02 0:26 GMT+02:00 David Osborne via OSList
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>:
Building on the constraints conversation.Another lens I look at
this same dynamic through is control. When leaders are
establishing constraints they are often doing so to try to control
the situation or outcome. When control is to tight it inhibits the
innovation and emergence that can flow form self-organization.
Similarly no boundaries can leave a system to loose for
self-organization to coalesce around emerging innovation and so
cohesion is less likely.
My thoughts along the way.
Enjoying the conversation.
David
On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 5:58 PM, Harrison via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Here’s a thought... Space/time is infinite, defined by our
minds, and limited by our imagination. So “constraints” are
only what you make them out to be. AND... it is always nice to
have as much “space/time” as possible. A “genuine invitation”
creates a LOT of space/time.
Ho
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*From:*OSList [mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] *On Behalf Of
*Michael Herman via OSList
*Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2015 1:15 PM
*To:* Chris Corrigan; World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] Inviting non-invitation
People who write sonnets accept constraints. monks and
nuns accept constraints. Musicians accept constraints.
Athletes accept constraints. People who live on islands
accept constraints. The idea here is that in accepting
sometimes extremely limiting constraints, you are forced
to go deeper in your work. AS a manager if you also offer
invitations into a constrained space, you may indeed
create the conditions for some amazing things to happen.
“You have $3000 to work with on your prototype, but you
have to work with two other people and get it done in two
days. Do you accept this invitation? OK! Go!”
yes! and there is the chance to notice that there can be a
difference between a manager imposing random constraints
versus clearly articulating and/or translating the constraints
that ARE already existing in the environment. there is also
the possibility for managers to overreact in the transmitting
of environment to system, to editorialize and use outside
forces as excuses for imposing constraints. people can opt in
to constraints that are randomly or otherwise badly
articulated, but i think the ideal to strive for is the very
cleanest transmission of the bigger picture environmental
constraints. the practice of invitation is a kind of search
for truth(s) about what is.
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 12:03 PM, Chris Corrigan via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
My pithy statement about how self-organization works was not
meant to be a tossed off reduction, but rather it has
important consequences for managing.
Enabling constraints can indeed be very rigid. And in
accepting the invitation to step into that container, one can
make a conscious choice to confront the stress and see what
comes of it. Deadlines, limited resources, restrictive
mandates, policies and procedures are all constraints that are
“forced’ upon people at work. As a manager you can always
frame these as an invitation: “your mission, should you choose
to accept it, is…” As a participant you can choose to accept
it. Or not.
People who write sonnets accept constraints. monks and nuns
accept constraints. Musicians accept constraints. Athletes
accept constraints. People who live on islands accept
constraints. The idea here is that in accepting sometimes
extremely limiting constraints, you are forced to go deeper in
your work. AS a manager if you also offer invitations into a
constrained space, you may indeed create the conditions for
some amazing things to happen. “You have $3000 to work with
on your prototype, but you have to work with two other people
and get it done in two days. Do you accept this invitation?
OK! Go!”
The truly magnificent Open Space gatherings I have been a part
of in my life have had a clear set of constraints (sometimes
rigid and narrow, sometimes broad but still defined, as in “we
are talking about anything you want, but if if you want to
stop doing social services and start building Volvos, that
isn’t going to make it into the plan…”) and a clear
invitation. Good invitations are both attractors AND
boundaries. They require intention to accept them; buy-in, if
you will. Peter Block says that a good invitation contains a
barrier…people have to work to accept it. They have to
prioritize it to participate. When those conditions are in
place, “Whoever comes are the right people” loses all of its
sometimes fatalistic tone: we don’t merely accept folks with a
shrug and a “I guess this is the best we could do.” Instead
we see participants as folks who have decided to give
something up in order to be there. And that sharpens our
attention to one another, creates the conditions for mutual
respect and engagement, and gives creative and powerful
conversations a real chance.
By contrast imposing an invitation and constraints on people
rarely works. An invitation that uses a sexy door prize with
a genuine attractor is a bribe: “come to this conversation you
don’t want to have and win an iPad!". And invitation that
forces people to show up because “that’s what I’m paying you
for” is coercion.
When Michael Herman and I did trainings years ago, the
training guide he put together had this Kurt Hahn quote on the
cover: "There are three ways of trying to win the young. There
is persuasion. There is compulsion and there is attraction.
You can preach at them; that is a hook without a worm. You can
say "you must volunteer." That is the devil. And you can tell
them, "you are needed" that hardly ever fails.” This is good
advice.
It’s easy, when your system is already command and control, to
end up doing things like badly. The art of invitation IS the
art of Open Space. It’s a good practice to learn.
Chris
On Sep 1, 2015, at 9:19 AM, Daniel Mezick via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Ron,
So interesting:
You wrote one thing below, and that said, I know you mean
you'd *_stay_* if it actually worked:
"But I promised to give it six months and if the team *had
_not_ decided* that XP was a load of rubbish and were
still doing it after 6 months *I will leave* and find
another job where sanity still rained. "
Freedom
-------
The key is freedom. The key (I think) is that YOUR
commitment was to an "experiment for 6 months", not "a
forced march until further notice" .... at least in
/_your_/ mind. In your mind you were (and are)
*/free/*...to "Law-of-2-Feet it" out of there !
And so this is some small part of the (freedom) key: make
a ....
* "a commitment to experiment" and then to
* "inspect results" and then
* "throw away what is not working" and
* "keep doing what is working and do more of that" and
* "do more experiments."
In other words, to actually implement Agile ideas in an
Agile way.
"Until Further Notice"
-----------------
Last time I checked, typical Agile adoptions are of the
forced-march, "until further notice" variety. Hello?
Let's see: If the "until further notice" style of Agile
adoption actually worked, then (in theory at least) we
could now joyfully point to tens of thousands of
verifiable, happy, healthy, whole, genuine, authentic,
high-engagement Agile adoptions. Right? It would so be
easy to locate ten thousand of them...if it actually
worked in the long run....
Houston...we have a problem?
Committing to Emergence (aka "experimentation and
adaptation")
--------------------------------------------------------
Commit to /an experiment to be inspected/. So simple. Even
joyful!
Ironically, this IS the Agile mindset, but ... /not to be
used when actually implementing Agile in large
organizations/ apparently !
Is self-organization what actually scales? If so, why are
we using any other approach?
The alternative-- a mandated and forced march to process
change-- is standard, and often the source of many sorrows.
I really, really , REALLY like using Open Space in new
Agile adoptions. Because it actually works. And also like
using Open Space in troubled Agile adoptions, of which I
notice, there seems to be no shortage of supply.
The good news is, we are getting the [invitation] meme out
there into the Agile world. We invite everyone to give it
a try !
(If you like this rant, you may also enjoy:
http://www.openspaceagility.com/about)
Daniel
PS Ron, nice suit !
On 9/1/15 11:22 AM, Ron Quartel wrote:
This debate happens in the world of agile also.
Specifically when we talk about Extreme Programming
over Scrum. Should a team be told to do the Extreme
Programming practices or do we invite them to try them
is a debate that rages again and again. (Extreme
programming is a very disciplined way of developing
software while scrum prescribes no disciplines.)
The challenge with Extreme Programming is that the
practices are counter intuitive and many will find
them distasteful. E.g. why do I have to pair program
with a junior developer? That will slow me down and we
will get less work done.
I don't claim to have an answer to force vs. invite
but I can share my story on how I came to love Extreme
Programming (XP).
XP was forced on my dev team. We were given a new dev
manager who said we are going to do XP. If you didn't
like it you can use the law of two feet to leave the
company. (Not those words exactly but I'm sure you get
the drift.) Now I loved the team I was with, the place
I worked and the work we were doing but absolutely
hated XP. But I promised to give it six months and if
the team had not decided that XP was a load of rubbish
and were still doing it after 6 months I will leave
and find another job where sanity still rained. I
hated everything about XP and agile and it took me way
out of my comfort zone as a software developer. But
then somewhere during the six months the sense of it
started to dawn on me and I actually started enjoying
it. By the end of six months I was a fan and am now an
evangelist for XP. I like finding the haters and
assure them it's OK to hate XP. When they get it, they
become the biggest advocates.
So was it wrong to have XP forced on me? I will leave
that up to you to decide. I often wonder if I would
have ever come around to agile and especially XP if it
had not been forced on me.
An analogy I have to learning XP is learning downhill
skiing. There is a point where you have to do the
unintuitive and lean down the slope. Your body is
screaming NO but your ski instructor is telling you
that is how you do it. Turns out he is right but you
have to get through that disbelief and discomfort to
get to the other side. OK that is forcing myself after
he invited me to try it - so maybe there needs to be a
little of both?
Ron Quartel
FAST Agile <http://fast-agile.com/> - An agile
software process incorporating Open Space Technology
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 1:40 PM, Daniel Mezick via
OSList <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
"Is it accurate to say that some self organizing
happens by invitation and some happens by
coercion/force? "
Great question Lucas!
The [invitation] wall-poster you suggest feels
wall-worthy to me, so long as no one is obligated to
examine it... or even look at it.
My turn to ask a question: What might a world "void of
manipulation" and "replete with invitation" actually
look like?
Daniel
On 8/31/15 9:57 AM, Lucas Cioffi via OSList wrote:
Hi All,
Is it accurate to say that some self organizing
happens by invitation and some happens by
coercion/force?
For example, from the perspective of someone who
lives outside of Iraq, the way the Ba'ath Party
took charge of Iraq through a coup seems like an
example of self-organizing by force to us, because
we're outside the system of Iraq. I welcome some
thoughts on this.
Over the past few months (and working with Michael
Herman for VOSonOS) I've seen that the spirit of
invitation shouldn't end with the writing of the
invitation, and instead it should be present
throughout the open space. When someone posts a
topic on the marketplace wall, they are inviting
others to a conversation, not taking over a time
slot (like having a coup and taking over a small
country).
When someone wants to be a "dictator" of their
open space session, yes others can use their two
feet and walk out, but that comes at a cost to the
social fabric of the organization. A better
outcome would be that the would-be dictator holds
a welcoming space from the start. So I'd
recommend that another sign worth posting on the
wall near "Law of Two Feet" would be "Spirit of
Invitation". I think it's wall-worthy, do you?
Lucas Cioffi
Founder, QiqoChat.com <http://qiqochat.com/>
Charlottesville, VA
Mobile: 917-528-1831 <tel:917-528-1831>
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 5:07 AM, Paul Levy via
OSList <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I think the clue lies in the wonderful word "self".
We are the selves that organise.
Beautiful.
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