Dear Chris,
regarding the fourth paragraph of your note, "In practical terms..", my
experience makes me pick the term "field" where you speak of "group" for
"drop a powerful invitation into the centre of a (group) field".
This often generates higher levels of diversity in the group forming in
response to the invitation. It also seems to have an effect if you
"describe" the "field" in the invitation.
I am not sure about the adjective "powerful" in connection with
"invitation"... this having to do with my experience of apparently
powerful invitations having little resonance and, on the other hand,
pretty powerless invitations a lot when they "drop" into a "field" where
stuff is burning.
As far as chaos and order are concerned (this is not only a theoretical
aspect), order arises out of chaos, especially if there is nothing but
chaos. The emergence of order does not require a pre-existing
"containers" ((in German, the word container has entered the language
and is often used for temporary structures which turn out not to be
temporary at all for refugees, students in educational systems, homeless
folks and (with even fewer windows or none) for architects and
construction managers on large building projects))... it will create the
structures/boundaries/etc. it needs for "order" which will suffice till
chaos takes over again.
My understanding of my work as facilitator, as I have often mentioned on
this list, is to pay attention to getting out of the way of the
selforganisation-force so that it can have its day less hampered by
boundaries, rules, containers, control, space invaders... it also seems
to thrive on daylight, fresh air, fresh fruit and such.
And, I feel, is at the core of what I feel OST is all about.
Have a great day
mmp
On 10.04.2014 04:40, chris.corri...@gmail.com wrote:
I’m a little late to this and see that other threads have spun out
but I have a thought or two.
Containers - social containers - are absolutely essential to any
level of order. Without something to contain the chaos you simply
have chaos. Order arises when there is coherence. The coherence
inside a container is different from the coherence or the chaos
outside a container. The place where this transition happens is the
boundary. The boundary may be permeable to various degrees but it is
certainly real.
As to how the boundary is created, I think my experience says that it
is socially constructed. It can be influenced by many actions -
including intention, invitation, the nature of the shared culture
within the container, and the action that is undertaken. Open Space
facilitators become helpful when we can work with this container.
How do you do that? In my experience, the most powerful and
generative containers are those that gather around a centre, rather
that those that are contained by a boundary.
In practical terms what this looks like is simple: drop a powerful
invitation into the centre of a group (passion and urgency) and a
group will coalesce around that and “fall in together.” Your other
option is to create a fence and gather people up and put them inside
it. This is much more work and rarely effective. You have a
container, but you also have a prison.
When life gathers around a powerful centre you are invoking a pattern
that is replicated at many scales all through the natural world from
galaxies to atoms. The Milky Way is not a THING by virtue of someone
maintaining a fence around it; it is a thing by virtue of proximity
to it’s centre. Same with an atom. Same with social containers
formed around invitation.
the Open Space facilitator’s job I think is to pay deep attention to
the the centre of the work and to support a co-holding of thet centre
with the calling team for whom the work is really important. When you
start making rules about who is in and who is out, you are really
getting lost in container making. When you create just the right
invitation, you feed the hunger for togetherness, work and creativity
that is essential for Open Space - and any other generative, complex
and self-organizing process - to thrive.
Chris
On Apr 3, 2014, at 9:01 AM, Harrison Owen <hho...@verizon.net>
wrote:
It has been common for us to speak of Containers and Boundaries as
somehow essential to Open Space. I can't quite find the place, but
I do remember saying something like that myself, as in, "The role
of the facilitator is to create the container..." It certainly made
sense at the time, but I always felt a little uncomfortable with
the image. Too mechanical, coercive... too something. And Michael
has brought the subject up again. "So...here we have a situation
where the 'boundaries' are actually in a state of complex flux and
uncertainty. The financial 'givens' are ambiguous; there is no
'locum' pastor in place because of legal uncertainties with the
existing pastor...etc." You might call it "messy boundaries" -- and
he raises the question whether one should press ahead with Open
Space, or wait until the "mess" is settled down. On the one hand,
Michael "hunches" that one should press on -- Open Space. But his
hesitation comes, I suspect, from the prior notion that fixed
boundaries/containers are necessary for an effective Open Space.
What to do?
Some thoughts (new ones for me): Containers are great for cooking
soup, but are unneeded and maybe even problematical in Open Space.
It is all about holding things together. In Open Space groups of
people come together to deal with their issues. At the very least
that would mean gathering in some common time/space, be that
physical or electronic. It would seem that this co-location could
be facilitated were some suitable "container" provided, presumably
by the sponsor/facilitator. This certainly makes sense, and as a
rough way of speaking, it seems to describe what is going on. But
as I think about it, I think we may be missing a most important
point. Coming together in Open Space happens because people care to
come. And they continue their connection as long as they care to do
so. (Law of two feet)
From the "outside" it might look as if they were held in place by
a container, but that is illusory. The actual dynamics are
centripetal, the force is mutual attraction... people are "there"
because they care to be there and not because they are contained by
some external structure. In a word, we as facilitators really don't
do a thing, and creating a container is the least of what we DON'T
do. The people, from the beginning, do it all.
Of course, there are situations where groups come together under
orders, mandates, whatever. And they are definitely "contained." It
is also true that the tighter that container, the less likely self
organization will take place. If true, providing a container is not
only unnecessary but also destructive. In the name of Opening
space, we effectively close it. Or so I suspect it might be. Just
thinking...
Anyhow Michael, should my mental peregrinations lead anywhere
useful, it would seem that your "hunch" was spot on. Forget the
boundaries/container. Just invite the space to open.
Harrison
Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) Camden, Maine 04843
Phone 301-365-2093 (summer) 207-763-3261
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-----Original Message-----
From: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
Michael Wood Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 9:59 PM To:
'oslist@lists.openspacetech.org' Subject: [OSList] Open Space and
boundaries
A Case Study.... One of the principles that I have generally worked
with in Open Space is helping the client get clear on the
'boundaries' of the space that's being opened. For example, helping
people who come into the space to know 'what up for grabs here and
what isn't? What decisions have already been made?'
So picture this (purely hypothetical of course)....a church
community in which the pastor has (in many peoples' opinion) run
off the rails and the main church body is in the process of trying
to dismiss him; the church is in compete disarray and completely
conflict ridden, many people have left; the pastor who holds all
the keys, banking passwords; church telephone connections etc etc,
has taken legal advice and had hunkered down in the church owned
house where he continues to hold the reigns of power (via some of
his 'allies' in the church) despite not formally being the Pastor
of the church anymore....
So...here we have a situation where the 'boundaries' are actually
in a state of complex flux and uncertainty. The financial 'givens'
are ambiguous; there is no 'locum' pastor in place because of legal
uncertainties with the existing pastor...etc etc.
So in terms of 'Opening Space', do we wait a bit longer until some
of the legal boundaries are clarified, OR open space right away in
the midst of the mess....my hunch is the latter, but any thoughts
from anyone?
Cheers Michael _______________________________________________
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