Hi John,

It is still all self-organization--which is the point. We are all in the ever-emergent flow of all that is. End of story. Whether you are engaged in nurturing the flowers, smelling the flowers, or paving them over, you are part of a self-organizing system. Self-organization isn't a panacea for all that ails us, it IS the way things work. Good, bad, ugly. Period. The degree to which you understand this and can consciously capitalize on it--determines your personal experience of freedom (responsibility). The deeper your understanding of self- organization, the more choices you have at your disposal for how you want to respond to influences in your environment--coercion being one of them.

This is where having a bit of Aikido under your belt (sorry) can help. Coercion is simply a vector of intention that is attempting to either pull or push me off my center. If i am dedicated to non- violence and peace, i want to get out of the way of that vector at the same time as protecting the other person from their own bad intention. So, if i check in with my own center and discover that this vector is a pull, i don't resist the pull, i enter firmly (keeping my own center). The person doing the pulling is now off balance; i have taken their center. They have to now respond with a new intention. If the vector is a push, again i don't resist it, i turn. I see what they want me to see and in the process, take their center while keeping mine. Again, they now must respond to me with a new intention. This takes very little effort on my part, but a lot of effort on theirs. Which of us will tire first?

So how does that look in interpersonal interactions? Here is a very basic example: I am standing around smelling the roses. Mmmm. Someone comes up and says, "Don't you have something more productive to do?" I can say, "Thank you. I hear you value hard work and effectiveness." I have taken an aggressive, angry, blaming vector and stepped to the side of it, avoiding the blow. I have offered my own vector of generative and appreciative reflection and kept connection to the other. The conversations we can have from here are endless. I have avoided solidifying into conflict. I am still flowing, still have my full repertoire of possibilities. And i have opened space for the other person to have many more possibilities also.

All we can do, John, is take responsibility for what we care about and open space with a smile inviting others to do likewise.
Does that help at all?
Cheers,
Wendy

On 20-May-09, at 11:26 AM, John Rapp wrote:

Harrison,

How do you view coercion?  "Force is not the way at all," enjoins Lao
Tzu.  But my own experience is that those of us who smell & allow the
flowers to bloom are subject to others who prefer to push the river.
They may/often fail, eventually.  They affect a lot, now.

Best,
John

Sent from my iPhone

On May 20, 2009, at 5:19 AM, Harrison Owen <hho...@verizon.net> wrote:

Christy -- I hate to seem like piling on -- but from where I sit self
organization is well beyond the seeding stage. It is in full bloom
and has
been for 13.7 billion years. It is just that some people won't stop
to smell
the flowers. Their loss.

Harrison

Harrison Owen
189 Beaucaire Ave
Camden, ME 04843
207-763-3261 (Summer)
301-365-2093 (Winter)
Website www.openspaceworld.com
Personal Website www.ho-image.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of
Michael M
Pannwitz
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 4:43 AM
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Subject: Seeds of self-organisation

Dear Christine,
I intrigued myself with your images:
unleashing self-organisation, stuffing the genie back into the bottle,
seeds taking root...
Even though I assume to understand what you mean, it struck me that I
want to be more clear on the following:
- there is no way to "leash" self organisation
- its never been in a bottle
- its already deeply rooted, regardless of how much control or
ignoring
is employed.
I know that an OST event can be shut down hard and quick when control
takes hold but, of course, self-organisation will not be shut down.
To me, these "subtleties" are important, because I humble myself with
them and liberate myself from wanting to figure out the system or
being
attached to outcome...helping me to focus ("simply")on attempting to
hold time and space.
Greetings from Berlin where the first radishes of the year found their
way from our garden to the kitchen table today...
mmp

Christine Whitney Sanchez wrote:
John & Rory,
......

John, what is also of interest to me is when the sponsors seem to be
ready to unleash self-organization and once the genie is out of the
bottle, want to try to stuff it back in. In those cases, I watch for where the self-organization seeds have taken root, even if the formal
system seems to be ignoring them.

Thanks for the great discussion.

Warm wishes from toasty Phoenix,

Christine


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Christine Whitney Sanchez
Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
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Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
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On May 14, 2009, at 8:26 AM, Rory O'Connor wrote:

Hi John & Christine,

I'm probably more practised in Spiral Dynamics that OST - which is
not
saying a whole lot. What I thought Spiral Dynamics could bring to OST was insight into how we might engage with people at all stages of the
process - from forming the theme i.e. someone living in CO/Red Life
conditions is not going to want to sit around and reach consensus
on a
theme. Likewise, DP/Blue and ER/Orange are probably going to have
different questions that need to be answered in order to feel
comfortable with the process. I do find that people living in FS/
Green
are probably most open to Open Space because of the emphasis on
valuing
other human beings. GT/Yellow might use it if/when it is
appropriate to
the Life Conditions of the people they are working with. They may opt
for something else if THAT is what is required.

It's not to say that OST would not work, it's just that how it's
introduced may need to be tweaked. And again, my caveat on all this
is
that I have only facilitated a handful of OST events

I'd love to explore more about how both OST and Spiral Dynamics might
inform each other, and look forward to your response.

Regards,

Rory


On 14 May 2009, at 15:52, Christine Whitney Sanchez wrote:

Hi John,

I suspect many of us on the list have "dabbled in Spiral Dynamics".
I've seen OST as a second tier methodology that works all the way
down
the spiral.  How about you?

Warm wishes on this beautiful Phoenix morning,

Christine
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Christine Whitney Sanchez
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480.759.0262
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Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
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On May 13, 2009, at 12:33 PM, John Rapp wrote:

Michael/Peggy & fellow OSTers -- I've used OS/WR principles for many
years in my work, which is mainly in & around law firms.  I did 2
major open spaces, both for 100 so people, in Jakarta (1999) and
Taipei (2002). Both were very successful on the day, and sources of
sadness after, as the "powers" chose to ignore 99% of what came up.

I want to try again, as one of my personal missions is improve the
world by changing the practice of law/yers.  I'd love to help, and
hear others' experiences with law.  And anyone who has dabbled in
Spiral Dynamics in this context would pique interest too.

Best
John

On May 9, 2009, at 10:55 PM, Peggy Holman
<pe...@opencirclecompany.com> wrote:

Michael,

I did an OS with a law firm a few years ago.  It included all of
the
support staff and none of the attorneys.  It was a productive,
successful meeting for them.  The main thing I'd say is that we
were
a strange cultural mix.  They never really felt that comfortable
with
me, but they sure liked the experience.  As an example of the
cultural challenge, I often suggest a few minutes of silence when a group gets together at the end of the day or on the second morning.
This is one of the few groups that made it clear that this didn't
work for them.  It just made them uncomfortable.  So, after
trying it
once, we simply got on to talking about the day.

Peggy

______________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
425-746-6274
www.opencirclecompany.com

For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook

"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not
get
burnt, is to become
the fire".
-- Drew Dellinger





On Apr 30, 2009, at 7:10 PM, Michael Wood wrote:

I am talking with a bunch of lawyers in a couple of weeks about
"sustainability" in the legal profession. i.e. sustainability of
the
lawyers themselves since they often seem to work under such
punishing conditions - depression on the increase etc.

Any stories out there about use of Open Space in law firms?

Michael Wood
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--
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
mmpa...@boscop.org
www.boscop.org


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The moment of change is the only poem. -- Adrienne Rich

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