Dear Harrison Thanks for sharing from your European fieldtrip. Sounds like quite a trip! I had hoped to be able to take part in another round of celebrations but decided to settle with the great party (-ies) in Halifax. Did spend time with my family instead, which was very nice! Good to hear you had a great time in Finland, I met Pepe last year at our Scandinavian OSonOS, he sure is a great guy. Hope to meet you for ScandOSonOS in Denmark coming year, Pepe! And in Moscow of course.
I?m thrilled there seems to be another book coming on - you?re an amazing maaaan - how could possibly someone else but you write it? Warmest regards Thomas > -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > Fran: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]For Harrison Owen > Skickat: den 14 december 2005 18:15 > Till: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > Amne: Report From the Field (Longer than I thought it would be) > > > "Report from the Field" sounds pretty official and maybe even > ominous, but I > certainly don't intend it that way. However, having just returned from a 3 > week journey through the open spaces of Europe (at least some of them) I > have to say the field is in full flower despite the season. Blossoms > everywhere and it just sort of took my breath away. > > The journey began in Bologna, Italy where some 65 good folks responded to > the invitation of Gerardo de Luzenberger along with his colleagues > Nicoletta, Frank, and the "Mayor" of Bologna, to come together for a > combination Introduction to Open Space and The Practice of Peace. > Most were > from Italy but with a sprinkling from elsewhere: Holland, Germany and > Serbia. We met in a grand room (I mean GRAND) on the top floor of a 15th > century structure. Could have been a palace of sorts, right on the main > square of the city. In a word, we had space with a history. I had been to > Italy the preceding year (Florence) when about 35 brave souls took the > initial plunge into Open Space. Seems like the introduction was positive, > witness double the number of participants this time - and most > impressively > - the level of activity over the course of the intervening year. > I remember > particularly two wonderful young women from Sardinia who regaled me with > tales of the 8 Open Spaces they had conducted in the last several months. > Their enthusiasm was almost overwhelming and seizing the moment, I said, > "What you need here is the Open Space Institute of Italy." "How do we do > that?" they responded. "Simple" I said. "It just happened - and > you are the > President and Vice President. You will only have to figure out > who is which. > And just remember you don't have a shred of authority to do anything, but > only the power of invitation." It seemed like they might need a Secretary, > so I informed my host Gerardo that he had the job. Fortunately everybody > took my imperious manner in the spirit in which it was offered - > all in fun. > But I think they took me seriously and I can't wait to find out > what happens > next. > > Next stop: Berlin - the home of BOSCOP (Berlin Open Space Cooperative), > Michael Pannwitz and friends. The program was The Practice of > Peace, and the > participants came from more countries than I can remember, > probably most of > them lying to the East. Over the years, Michael and his colleague, Jo > Toepfer, have spent a lot of time in that part of the world. Most recently > they did a training program in the Ukraine and a number of their new > colleagues from that country joined us. And innovation was the name of the > game. On the first day I opened space pretty much by the book (in > English) - > the next day, the language was Russian. And on the final day, not > a word was > spoken. Michael P. is always one to push boundaries and the space > was opened > in silence. Mind blowing and wonderful! I am not sure how it would have > worked had the participants been totally new to Open Space - but I guess > that is the next experiment. Talk about thinking of one more thing not to > do!! Our "Program Manager" was a delightful young woman by the > name of Anna > - who had first experienced Open Space some 5 years ago while > still in High > School. It seems that Michael had come to her school and from > that point on, > she was part of the team. She did a wonderful job, and I think one of my > lasting memories of Berlin will be the number and energy of people well > below the age of 40 - which from my advanced condition seems very young > indeed. As I said, the flowers are blooming. One other thing that really > caught my attention was the elegant way in which all the logistics were > handled. Combining a German sense for detail and a very open way of being, > Michael and his friends at BOSCOP have created a model of how to set up > shop. I guess the whole thing would be a little bit of over-kill for small > groups, but anything over 50 participants and I can only say that BOSCOP > ROCKS. Seriously, Michael and friends have created a number of aids in the > logistics department which I know they would be willing to share. > So if you > need some help or suggestions, you know where to go. And last, > but certainly > not least - a Birthday party to end all birthday parties. Seems > like my 70th > has been celebrated for most of this year, but Berlin surely put > the cap on > the festivities. Needless to say we had Martinis for all and dancing for > those who cared - two of my favorite things! And birthday cards from all > over the world. Thanks to all of you from wherever!! You made my day!!! > > Last stop: Helsinki. Finland is one of the few places in the world that I > had never visited and always wanted to see. It is not so much about the > land, although it is beautiful, at least as much as I could see > of it in the > brief hours of sunlight. It is the people. Finns have a habit of wandering > around the world, and I have met a number in my travels. They > always seemed > to be bright and welcoming with a marvelous, droll (some might say "sick") > sense of humor which I find wonderful. So when Pepe Nummi asked if I might > like to visit his country my response was immediate and positive. But then > we got to the question of what, exactly, I might do. Some sort of > "Introduction to Open Space" seemed appropriate, and I suggested > my current > love affair with The Practice of Peace. There was a slight pause in the > email communication. The Introduction to OS was fine, but there was a > problem with Peace. It seemed that most of Pepe's contacts were corporate > sorts, and while there was no objection to Peace it was a little unclear > whether requests for attendance (read financial support) at a program on > Peace would pass corporate muster. And did I have an alternative? Seizing > the moment, I said, Sure! How about something like, "Opening > Space for High > Performance?" Knowing that all corporate types and others > concerned with the > bottom line are anxious to achieve optimal performance, I thought > that might > really sell. And more to the point, it had been my experience > (and I am sure > yours as well) that in Open Space people regularly do the > impossible, and if > that meant creating a new product in record time - that is what they did. > High Performance! It seems that ever since Peters and Waterman wrote "In > Search of Excellence" - true High Performance had become the Holy Grail - > often glimpsed but never quite grasped. We have trained for it, > designed for > it, schemed for it - but somehow it always seems to be just out of reach. > And then in Open Space ordinary people do the extraordinary. > Regularly! But > how could that work, and more importantly, how could we make that work for > us? > > Truth to tell a fascination with High Performing Systems had been an > affliction of mine since the early 70's when an old friend and colleague, > Peter Vaill wrote a paper entitled, "Towards a Behavioral Description of > High Performing Systems." It was a short paper, but it captured a lot of > attention, not the least of which was the attention of Peters and > Waterman, > and it became part of the inspiration of their book. Some time last year I > was taking a sentimental journey through my "collected works of > Peter Vaill" > (joke, for no such thing exits, but it should) - when I happened upon the > paper one more time and became re-entranced with those "Behavioral > Characteristics." But there was a difference, because it suddenly > struck me > that what Peter was describing was precisely what I had been > witnessing over > the past 20 years every time space is truly opened and people performed at > their optimum levels. Making a supra-logical jump it occurred to me that > when pursuing excellence (High Performance) all you have to do is open > space! But was Open Space Technology the magic? No! One more time > it is all > about self-organizing systems. In simple terms, a high performing > system is > just a self-organizing system doing what it does -- in style. Nothing new, > nothing added, just breath taking and totally out of (external) control. > > So there was my program, I thought. And here is the sneaky part. I felt I > already had the logic of presentation and the necessary "overheads" (power > points) - just sitting there in the old Practice of Peace > Program. All I had > to do was add some material on the behavioral characteristics of High > Performance (a la Peter Vaill) and change "Peace" to "High Performing > System" and I was home free! After all, a High Performing System is a > Peaceful System, or so I thought. > > I confess to certain feelings of guilt and was reminded of the old joke > about the man coming into a clothing store to buy a suit. Seemed > he wanted a > green suit, but the salesman knew they had nothing in that color. So the > salesman consulted with the store manager who said - "That's simple. Man > wants a green suit - Turn on the Green light." I told Pepe that > story after > we had finished the program, but he didn't seem to mind, perhaps because > like a true Finn he appreciated "sick humor." But truthfully, I > don't think > the humor was sick, and actually I feel another book coming on - unless of > course some of you want to write it before I get there. > > My time in Finland concluded in the appropriate fashion with Sauna and > Massage, including that wonderful part where you are standing > outside in the > snow dressed in your all-together. Real treat, but I found the snow a bit > chilly on the feet. But all of that was more than compensated for by the > warmth of Pepe and his friends. Thank you!!! > > Harrison > > > > NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!! > hho...@verizon.net > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Drive > Potomac, Maryland 20854 > Phone 301-365-2093 > Skype hhowen > Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist