Re: [OSList] Planning and Open Space ????

[via OSList]

Henry Mintzberg, who coined the term Strategic Planning back in the 80s, I
think, ultimately rejected that concept in his later book The Rise and Fall
of Strategic Planning. Mintzberg feels that the two words should never be
seen together. In essence 'planning' is what you try to envisage happening
(Birgitt's Preferred Future); the 'strategic' bit comes in when the
carefully laid plans hit the real world (the best battle plans only last
until the first shot is fired...).

 

So in terms of the OS view of the world, planning and strategy - and, as HO
says, the 'doing bit' - are all interwoven and inseparable, with the final
result being what actually happened.

 

Lively train of thought here...

David

 

 

Dr David Smith
BSc(Hons) PhD FRSA
Director, imaginACTION pty ltd
 
50 Sweyn Street
Balwyn North
Victoria   3104
AUSTRALIA
 
t +613 9857 8688
m 0411 444 048
da...@imaginaction.net.au
www.imaginaction.net.au  

 
iA

imaginACTION
Winner 2016 Victorian Community History Award 

for Historical Interpretation.

Duldig Studio Documentaries Volume 1

 

Overall  Winner,  
Australian Achiever Awards
Victorian TV, Film, Audio and Video

 

 

 

From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
Harrison Owen via OSList
Sent: Friday, 17 February 2017 3:26 AM
To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
Subject: [OSList] Planning and Open Space 

 

 

Occasionally somebody ponders the possibility of Open Space and Planning -
as in, could you do Planning, Strategic and otherwise, in Open Space? My
immediate response has always been, Yes. As a matter of fact I have done
just that on a number of occasions.

 

There is no question that when we "opened space for our future"  (which
always seemed to be the essence of the theme), a marvelous time was had by
all. Something that looked very much like a "plan" emerged with attendant
work groups -  all committed and in place, and of course the time taken for
the exercise was minuscule compared to standard practice. End of story. Or
is it?

 

Planning, at least in common usage, has some association with controlling,
or even creating, the future. Indeed, many would argue that control of the
future is the whole point of planning. Open Space, on the other hand, is all
about self organization - which implies that control as we usually
understand it is impossible. So Planning in Open Space would seem to be an
oxymoron. You simply can't get there from here. 

 

Upon reflection it does seem that Planning and Open Space go together rather
like oil and water. It is also true that on those occasions where I was
privileged to be with a group Planning in Open Space - it was marvelous.
Good stuff seriously happened, and best of all people really had fun - even
if there were times when it seemed like we were all hanging on by our finger
nails because things were moving so fast!

 

Of course the "proof of the pudding" in this business is not, "Did you make
a plan?" but most importantly - Did it work? And it is precisely here that
things really get confusing. The plans not only "worked" as (self) reported
by the participants - But they worked faster and better than ever. Almost to
the point that it seemed the distinction between "planning" and "doing" had
dissolved. Wow!

 

I can see another heresy just coming into view. Everybody "knows" that
Planning comes first. Neat, orderly, rational, deliberate - considered over
and over again. THEN... Action. But what would it mean if it happened all at
once? ... That there really was no meaningful distinction between planning
and doing? Not as an ideal, but as an experienced reality?

 

Some might say that this is a clear indication of mental aberration - Mad in
a word. On the other hand... were the experience real (as in repeatable,
non-drug induced, whatever) we might just have to take another look at what
we mean by "Planning."

 

 

Harrison

 

Winter Address

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

301-365-2093

 

Summer Address

189 Beaucauire Ave

Camden, ME 04843

207 763-3261

 

Websites

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com

 

___
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To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org
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Re: [OSList] Planning and Open Space ????

[Rosa Zubizarreta via OSList]

What a juicy conversation!  Harrison, loved your post!!!  Birgitt, loved
your thoughts in response!!!

Dreaming, dreaming
Dragon dreaming...

another wonderful way to play...
lots of wonderful ways to play...

what an awesome thread!!!

all best wishes,

Rosa

*Rosa Zubizarreta*


*meet me at my DiaPraxis website  and on my Listening
Arts blog *

* *

On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 12:38 PM, Birgitt Williams via OSList <
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> HarrisonLOL! I haven't received an email in my inbox that pushed so
> many buttons in one email in a long time. I won't address all of them in
> this mail. Thank you for the smiles this morning. You are I must be long
> overdue to have lunch together. I remember the seven times that you were in
> Ontario with your Open Space Technology training and in my sponsor role I
> participated actively. I believe that one component of our work together
> that the participants loved was your sweeping comments followed by my
> perspective, often differing considerably from yours. I think we had a lot
> of fun with those differing perspectives at the time. And by 1993 at what
> was then called OSONOS I remember posting something that I did annually for
> a whilethe topic 'Harrisy', a play on your name of course with the
> implication of 'what do we actually do that is different from what Harrison
> does/says he does'.
>
> On the subject of planning and Open Space Technology, for more than two
> decades every group I have assisted with their planning have had one or
> multiple OST meetings as a VITAL part of the process. I cannot imagine
> planning without including OST.
>
> I started calling 'planning' a 'Preferred Future', similar to making
> intentions. It is not about control. It is about dreamingtogether. It
> is about how we are all novices at co-creating our futuresomething we
> are figuring out on planet earththat we have some significant impact on
> 'reality' as it unfolds.And just in case it is true that everything is
> spirit, that everything is conscious energy, we can affect that energy from
> an ocean of possibilities to a smaller sea of likely probabilities. To what
> extent can we do that? Don't know. Making intentions, creating vision
> boards, co-creating a picture of a desired future, giving ourselves
> permission to do so in whatever ways feels right and excitingall are
> parts of us playing in this earth plane as adolescent creator gods and
> goddessesplaying, learning. So, some of us might do what you did in
> earlier days as captured by Billie Alban and Barbara Bunker in Large Group
> Interventionswe tack something on after the OST to help people
> formulate their co-created dreaming and help them put some traction with it
> beyond the enthusiastic traction created within the OST.
>
> Blessings,
> Birgitt
>
> On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 11:26 AM Harrison Owen via OSList <
> oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
>> Occasionally somebody ponders the possibility of Open Space and Planning
>> – as in, could you do Planning, Strategic and otherwise, in Open Space? My
>> immediate response has always been, Yes. As a matter of fact I have done
>> just that on a number of occasions.
>>
>>
>>
>> There is no question that when we “opened space for our future”  (which
>> always seemed to be the essence of the theme), a marvelous time was had by
>> all. Something that looked very much like a “plan” emerged with attendant
>> work groups –  all committed and in place, and of course the time taken for
>> the exercise was minuscule compared to standard practice. End of story. Or
>> is it?
>>
>>
>>
>> Planning, at least in common usage, has some association with
>> controlling, or even *creating*, the future. Indeed, many would argue
>> that control of the future is the whole point of planning. Open Space, on
>> the other hand, is all about self organization – which implies that control
>> as we usually understand it is impossible. So Planning in Open Space would
>> seem to be an oxymoron. You simply can’t get there from here.
>>
>>
>>
>> Upon reflection it does seem that Planning and Open Space go together
>> rather like oil and water. It is also true that on those occasions where I
>> was privileged to be with a group Planning in Open Space – it was
>> marvelous. Good stuff seriously happened, and best of all people really had
>> fun – even if there were times when it seemed like we were all hanging on
>> by our finger nails because things were moving so fast!
>>
>>
>>
>> Of course the “proof of the pudding” in this business is not, “Did you
>> make a plan?” but most importantly – Did it work? And it is precisely here
>> that things really get confusing. The plans not only “worked” as (self)
>> reported by the participants – But they worked faster and better than ever.
>> Almost to the point that it seemed the distinction between “planning” and
>> 

Re: [OSList] OSList Digest, Vol 70, Issue 7

[Birgitt Williams via OSList]

erate - considered over
and over again. THEN... Action. But what would it mean if it happened all at
once? ... That there really was no meaningful distinction between planning
and doing? Not as an ideal, but as an experienced reality?



Some might say that this is a clear indication of mental aberration - Mad in
a word. On the other hand... were the experience real (as in repeatable,
non-drug induced, whatever) we might just have to take another look at what
we mean by "Planning."





Harrison



Winter Address

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

301-365-2093 <(301)%20365-2093>



Summer Address

189 Beaucauire Ave

Camden, ME 04843

207 763-3261 <(207)%20763-3261>



Websites

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com



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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:38:44 +
From: Birgitt Williams via OSList <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
   <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>
Subject: Re: [OSList] Planning and Open Space 
Message-ID:
   

Re: [OSList] OSList Digest, Vol 70, Issue 7

[anne stadler via OSList]

Planning and OS
Lovely to see you two rocking on your front porch sharing stories!  Like the 
old days... (only then it was more like butting heads at times!). 

My 2 cents: you can open space to do anything.  Just have to focus on the 
question you need to ask (that has heart and meaning for you), AND realize 
(actually live) the four principles.

Love love dear old pals!  Anne
Your Self
Occupy
100%


A world that works for ALL is a world of love made visible

Address: 18464--47th Place NE
  Lake Forest Park, WA
  98155, USA
Phone: 206-459-0227
Skype: anne.m.stadler
  
www.InClaritas.com
Www.CallofCompassion.org
www.SourcingtheWay.com


> On Feb 16, 2017, at 1:10 PM, via OSList <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> Send OSList mailing list submissions to
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> than "Re: Contents of OSList digest..."
> 
> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. Planning and Open Space  (Harrison Owen via OSList)
>   2. Re: Planning and Open Space  (Birgitt Williams via OSList)
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 11:26:12 -0500
> From: Harrison Owen via OSList <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>
> To: "'World wide Open Space Technology email list'"
><oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: [OSList] Planning and Open Space 
> Message-ID: <001e01d28871$63654970$2a2fdc50$@net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Occasionally somebody ponders the possibility of Open Space and Planning -
> as in, could you do Planning, Strategic and otherwise, in Open Space? My
> immediate response has always been, Yes. As a matter of fact I have done
> just that on a number of occasions.
> 
> 
> 
> There is no question that when we "opened space for our future"  (which
> always seemed to be the essence of the theme), a marvelous time was had by
> all. Something that looked very much like a "plan" emerged with attendant
> work groups -  all committed and in place, and of course the time taken for
> the exercise was minuscule compared to standard practice. End of story. Or
> is it?
> 
> 
> 
> Planning, at least in common usage, has some association with controlling,
> or even creating, the future. Indeed, many would argue that control of the
> future is the whole point of planning. Open Space, on the other hand, is all
> about self organization - which implies that control as we usually
> understand it is impossible. So Planning in Open Space would seem to be an
> oxymoron. You simply can't get there from here. 
> 
> 
> 
> Upon reflection it does seem that Planning and Open Space go together rather
> like oil and water. It is also true that on those occasions where I was
> privileged to be with a group Planning in Open Space - it was marvelous.
> Good stuff seriously happened, and best of all people really had fun - even
> if there were times when it seemed like we were all hanging on by our finger
> nails because things were moving so fast!
> 
> 
> 
> Of course the "proof of the pudding" in this business is not, "Did you make
> a plan?" but most importantly - Did it work? And it is precisely here that
> things really get confusing. The plans not only "worked" as (self) reported
> by the participants - But they worked faster and better than ever. Almost to
> the point that it seemed the distinction between "planning" and "doing" had
> dissolved. Wow!
> 
> 
> 
> I can see another heresy just coming into view. Everybody "knows" that
> Planning comes first. Neat, orderly, rational, deliberate - considered over
> and over again. THEN... Action. But what would it mean if it happened all at
> once? ... That there really was no meaningful distinction between planning
> and doing? Not as an ideal, but as an experienced reality?
> 
> 
> 
> Some might say that this is a clear indication of mental aberration - Mad in
> a word. On the other hand... were the experience real (as in repeatable,
> non-drug induced, whatever) we might just have to take another look at what
> we mean by "Planning."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Harrison
> 
> 
> 
> Winter A

Re: [OSList] Planning and Open Space ????

[Birgitt Williams via OSList]

HarrisonLOL! I haven't received an email in my inbox that pushed so
many buttons in one email in a long time. I won't address all of them in
this mail. Thank you for the smiles this morning. You are I must be long
overdue to have lunch together. I remember the seven times that you were in
Ontario with your Open Space Technology training and in my sponsor role I
participated actively. I believe that one component of our work together
that the participants loved was your sweeping comments followed by my
perspective, often differing considerably from yours. I think we had a lot
of fun with those differing perspectives at the time. And by 1993 at what
was then called OSONOS I remember posting something that I did annually for
a whilethe topic 'Harrisy', a play on your name of course with the
implication of 'what do we actually do that is different from what Harrison
does/says he does'.

On the subject of planning and Open Space Technology, for more than two
decades every group I have assisted with their planning have had one or
multiple OST meetings as a VITAL part of the process. I cannot imagine
planning without including OST.

I started calling 'planning' a 'Preferred Future', similar to making
intentions. It is not about control. It is about dreamingtogether. It
is about how we are all novices at co-creating our futuresomething we
are figuring out on planet earththat we have some significant impact on
'reality' as it unfolds.And just in case it is true that everything is
spirit, that everything is conscious energy, we can affect that energy from
an ocean of possibilities to a smaller sea of likely probabilities. To what
extent can we do that? Don't know. Making intentions, creating vision
boards, co-creating a picture of a desired future, giving ourselves
permission to do so in whatever ways feels right and excitingall are
parts of us playing in this earth plane as adolescent creator gods and
goddessesplaying, learning. So, some of us might do what you did in
earlier days as captured by Billie Alban and Barbara Bunker in Large Group
Interventionswe tack something on after the OST to help people
formulate their co-created dreaming and help them put some traction with it
beyond the enthusiastic traction created within the OST.

Blessings,
Birgitt

On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 11:26 AM Harrison Owen via OSList <
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Occasionally somebody ponders the possibility of Open Space and Planning –
> as in, could you do Planning, Strategic and otherwise, in Open Space? My
> immediate response has always been, Yes. As a matter of fact I have done
> just that on a number of occasions.
>
>
>
> There is no question that when we “opened space for our future”  (which
> always seemed to be the essence of the theme), a marvelous time was had by
> all. Something that looked very much like a “plan” emerged with attendant
> work groups –  all committed and in place, and of course the time taken for
> the exercise was minuscule compared to standard practice. End of story. Or
> is it?
>
>
>
> Planning, at least in common usage, has some association with controlling,
> or even *creating*, the future. Indeed, many would argue that control of
> the future is the whole point of planning. Open Space, on the other hand,
> is all about self organization – which implies that control as we usually
> understand it is impossible. So Planning in Open Space would seem to be an
> oxymoron. You simply can’t get there from here.
>
>
>
> Upon reflection it does seem that Planning and Open Space go together
> rather like oil and water. It is also true that on those occasions where I
> was privileged to be with a group Planning in Open Space – it was
> marvelous. Good stuff seriously happened, and best of all people really had
> fun – even if there were times when it seemed like we were all hanging on
> by our finger nails because things were moving so fast!
>
>
>
> Of course the “proof of the pudding” in this business is not, “Did you
> make a plan?” but most importantly – Did it work? And it is precisely here
> that things really get confusing. The plans not only “worked” as (self)
> reported by the participants – But they worked faster and better than ever.
> Almost to the point that it seemed the distinction between “planning” and
> “doing” had dissolved. Wow!
>
>
>
> I can see another heresy just coming into view. Everybody “knows” that
> Planning comes first. Neat, orderly, rational, deliberate – considered over
> and over again. THEN... Action. But what would it mean if it happened all
> at once? ... That there really was no meaningful distinction between
> planning and doing? Not as an ideal, but as an experienced reality?
>
>
>
> Some might say that this is a clear indication of mental aberration – Mad
> in a word. On the other hand... were the experience real (as in repeatable,
> non-drug induced, whatever) we might just have to take another look at what
> we mean by 

[OSList] Planning and Open Space ????

[Harrison Owen via OSList]

Occasionally somebody ponders the possibility of Open Space and Planning -
as in, could you do Planning, Strategic and otherwise, in Open Space? My
immediate response has always been, Yes. As a matter of fact I have done
just that on a number of occasions.

 

There is no question that when we "opened space for our future"  (which
always seemed to be the essence of the theme), a marvelous time was had by
all. Something that looked very much like a "plan" emerged with attendant
work groups -  all committed and in place, and of course the time taken for
the exercise was minuscule compared to standard practice. End of story. Or
is it?

 

Planning, at least in common usage, has some association with controlling,
or even creating, the future. Indeed, many would argue that control of the
future is the whole point of planning. Open Space, on the other hand, is all
about self organization - which implies that control as we usually
understand it is impossible. So Planning in Open Space would seem to be an
oxymoron. You simply can't get there from here. 

 

Upon reflection it does seem that Planning and Open Space go together rather
like oil and water. It is also true that on those occasions where I was
privileged to be with a group Planning in Open Space - it was marvelous.
Good stuff seriously happened, and best of all people really had fun - even
if there were times when it seemed like we were all hanging on by our finger
nails because things were moving so fast!

 

Of course the "proof of the pudding" in this business is not, "Did you make
a plan?" but most importantly - Did it work? And it is precisely here that
things really get confusing. The plans not only "worked" as (self) reported
by the participants - But they worked faster and better than ever. Almost to
the point that it seemed the distinction between "planning" and "doing" had
dissolved. Wow!

 

I can see another heresy just coming into view. Everybody "knows" that
Planning comes first. Neat, orderly, rational, deliberate - considered over
and over again. THEN... Action. But what would it mean if it happened all at
once? ... That there really was no meaningful distinction between planning
and doing? Not as an ideal, but as an experienced reality?

 

Some might say that this is a clear indication of mental aberration - Mad in
a word. On the other hand... were the experience real (as in repeatable,
non-drug induced, whatever) we might just have to take another look at what
we mean by "Planning."

 

 

Harrison

 

Winter Address

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

301-365-2093

 

Summer Address

189 Beaucauire Ave

Camden, ME 04843

207 763-3261

 

Websites

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com

 

___
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
Past archives can be viewed here: 
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