Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in organizations and networks after the initial intervention

[Harrison Owen via OSList]

Definitely must be the Old Curmudgeon in me … And Birgitt and I have gone 
around this one several times J 

 

AND… I’ve always been a little suspicious of the necessity/possibility of 
developing an “Open Space Organization. My reasoning is simple (simple 
minded?). 

 

By my reckoning – All organizations are (already) Open Space organizations… 
they are just doing it very badly. Premise is that self organization has been 
the operative force with ALL systems for roughly 13.7 billion years. That would 
include stars, galaxies, centipedes, ant colonies AND Human Systems – even that 
funny thing called “our organization.” I know that everybody (most people) say 
we organized it – but truth of the matter, as I would see it: We may have put 
some thoughts down on paper, which we called a Business Plan, Organization 
Chart or whatever… but the moment that glorious plan hit Time/Space (Reality) 
“it” did what everything else in Time/Space does – Self Organizes. The 
alternative, of course is that it ceases to exist. Terminates, in a word. 
Crazy, I’m sure – but you can “prove it” to yourself, I think with a simple 
question: Have you ever seen a any plan/org chart that ever lasted longer than 
the time it took for the ink to dry, digital bits to vaporize in the 
cyber-sphere? And should it have survived (most don’t) who did it? I know a lot 
of folks who would like to claim credit (they get paid the Big Bucks)… but I 
think they are fudging a bit. And to play an old song: Open Space is not a 
method, technique, procedure – it is simply a remembrance of who and what we 
really are. 

 

ho

 

From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of agusj 
via OSList
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 10:25 AM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Cc: agusj
Subject: Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in 
organizations and networks after the initial intervention

 

Thanks a lot Peggy! I didn´t know this wordelful story about Open Space 
Organizations. It's very inspiring! I am very greatful of being part of this 
community!!

 

Agustin

 

Kari, thank you for bringing this theme up again,

Thank you so much for this beautiful reminder Peggy,

and thank you Birgitt !!!

for leading the way for Open Space Organizations and sharing you deep knowledge 
so generously

With gratitude to all of you

Tova

 

  _  

From: Peggy Holman via OSList 
To: Open Listserv  
Cc: Peggy Holman 
Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2018 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in 
organizations and networks after the initial intervention

 

Kari,

 

Check out Birgitt William’s stories in the OSlist archives about the social 
service organization she ran as an Open Space Organization. Among her posts, my 
favorite is one where she listed her lessons about Open Space Organizations:

 

https://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org/msg03764.html

My story of the Open Space Organization Part 2 of 4

18 Jan 2001

 

I’ve put an excerpt from it below called Ingredients of the Open Space 
Organization.

 

Another favorite insight from Birgitt is captured in this message 
 , 
called Open Space client opportunity from July 20, 2000:

IN EACH AND EVERY EXAMPLE INCLUDING THE ONE AT WESLEY, ABOUT THREE
TO
FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST OPEN SPACE EVENT AND ONCE SOME OF THE NEW WAYS
OF OPERATING ARE IN PLACE, THERE IS A REVOLT BY STAFF THAT IS VERY LARGE
AND AWFUL FOR THE LEADERSHIP. Even though staff want the change at the
start, they rebel and get very angry at the leadership. In all cases it is
about this time that leadership ends up in tears, wondering if they have
made a BIG mistake, doubting themselves as competent leaders.
COACHING/MENTORING/HAND HOLDING from the consultant is critical at this
time just as the midwife holding the hand of the woman in labour when
things start to get really bad just before birth. It is exactly the time
not to try to fight what is happening, and the most important thing the
coach can do is to reassure and to tell stories of how "normal" this stage
is. When everyone gets through this stage, staff start talking about how
angry they were but how they now get it. And leaders talk about their anger
at Open Space but when asked if they would do it over again, always say
that they WOULD. In every case they said that although the transition had
been very painful, that the stuff was out in the open that had always been
under the surface and had always gotten in the way (ie: Dead Moose stuff)

 

 

*

 

 

Ingredients of the Open Space Organization
 
Below, I present a list of what we learned to pay attention to as an Open
Space Organization. We refined this during those three years, actively and
intentionally learning together to capture what worked.
 
1. The grief cycle at work promoting understanding and tolerance
 
All staff 

Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in organizations and networks after the initial intervention

[john watkins via OSList]

Peggy and Birgitt,

Wow! I am really excited to see this in-depth analysis of the process of 
developing an open space organization. I’ve always felt that this was possible, 
but not seen specific examples, though most of the steps are familiar from work 
I have done with organizations, thanks to reading Peggy’s writing, the open 
space folks, the future search work, the art of hosting people, Meg Wheatley 
and the Berkana Institute’s work, and ideas about emergence from Peggy and the 
complexity theory people.

How rich!

With gratitude,

John W.

> On Aug 8, 2018, at 3:32 PM, Peggy Holman via OSList 
>  wrote:
> 
> Kari,
> 
> Check out Birgitt William’s stories in the OSlist archives about the social 
> service organization she ran as an Open Space Organization. Among her posts, 
> my favorite is one where she listed her lessons about Open Space 
> Organizations:
> 
> https://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org/msg03764.html 
> 
> My story of the Open Space Organization Part 2 of 4
> 18 Jan 2001
> 
> I’ve put an excerpt from it below called Ingredients of the Open Space 
> Organization.
> 
> Another favorite insight from Birgitt is captured in this message 
> , 
> called Open Space client opportunity from July 20, 2000:
> IN EACH AND EVERY EXAMPLE INCLUDING THE ONE AT WESLEY, ABOUT THREE
> TO
> FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST OPEN SPACE EVENT AND ONCE SOME OF THE NEW WAYS
> OF OPERATING ARE IN PLACE, THERE IS A REVOLT BY STAFF THAT IS VERY LARGE
> AND AWFUL FOR THE LEADERSHIP. Even though staff want the change at the
> start, they rebel and get very angry at the leadership. In all cases it is
> about this time that leadership ends up in tears, wondering if they have
> made a BIG mistake, doubting themselves as competent leaders.
> COACHING/MENTORING/HAND HOLDING from the consultant is critical at this
> time just as the midwife holding the hand of the woman in labour when
> things start to get really bad just before birth. It is exactly the time
> not to try to fight what is happening, and the most important thing the
> coach can do is to reassure and to tell stories of how "normal" this stage
> is. When everyone gets through this stage, staff start talking about how
> angry they were but how they now get it. And leaders talk about their anger
> at Open Space but when asked if they would do it over again, always say
> that they WOULD. In every case they said that although the transition had
> been very painful, that the stuff was out in the open that had always been
> under the surface and had always gotten in the way (ie: Dead Moose stuff)
> 
> 
> *
> 
> 
> Ingredients of the Open Space Organization
> 
> Below, I present a list of what we learned to pay attention to as an Open
> Space Organization. We refined this during those three years, actively and
> intentionally learning together to capture what worked.
> 
> 1. The grief cycle at work promoting understanding and tolerance
> 
> All staff were introduced to an understanding of the cycle of griefwork and
> challenged to view situations within Wesley Urban Ministries from a
> perspective that rather than dealing with "resistance to change", we could
> be dealing with a person working through the grief cycle. This promoted
> understanding and tolerance, and brought a shift towards deferring judgement
> about others.
> 
> 2. Storytelling promoting awareness, collectiveness, empathy, truth
> 
> Time was taken at regular intervals, every three months or so, for staff to
> tell stories. These were stories of the organization, of their immediate
> work in the organization or the larger context. Story telling time was seen
> as valuable, with all stories-sads, glads, and mads-being valued. Sometimes
> pictures and other artifacts accompanied the story telling. Through the
> story telling, we wove a story of a corporate culture that fostered social
> justice and valued all people as precious.
> 
> 3. The story of the organization including purpose, values and vision
> 
> We worked to achieve great clarity about our purpose, values and vision
> throughout the organization that was understood by all who were involved
> with the organization. The purpose, values, and vision were taken into
> account during every Policy and Operating decision that was made. All
> decisions and actions were upheld to ensure congruity with the purpose,
> values and vision.
> 
> 
> 4. The deep essence, working with what is not seen including Spirit
> 
> We realized that much of what we spent our energy on as an organization
> especially energy in dealing with conflicts involved attention to behaviors
> and actions. As a staff we started talking about a theory that was known as
> the "iceberg theory", attesting that most of what was really going on in the
> organization was below the level of the visible (behaviors and 

Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in organizations and networks after the initial intervention

[Diane Gibeault via OSList]

On Aug 10, 2018, at 10:25, agusj via OSList  
wrote:

Thanks a lot Peggy! I didn´t know this wordelful story about Open Space 
Organizations. It's very inspiring! I am very greatful of being part of this 
community!!

Agustin

Kari, thank you for bringing this theme up again,
Thank you so much for this beautiful reminder Peggy,
and thank you Birgitt !!!
for leading the way for Open Space Organizations and sharing you deep knowledge 
so generously
With gratitude to all of you
Tova


From: Peggy Holman via OSList 
To: Open Listserv  
Cc: Peggy Holman 
Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2018 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in 
organizations and networks after the initial intervention

Kari,

Check out Birgitt William’s stories in the OSlist archives about the social 
service organization she ran as an Open Space Organization. Among her posts, my 
favorite is one where she listed her lessons about Open Space Organizations:

https://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org/msg03764.html
My story of the Open Space Organization Part 2 of 4
18 Jan 2001

I’ve put an excerpt from it below called Ingredients of the Open Space 
Organization.

Another favorite insight from Birgitt is captured in this message, called Open 
Space client opportunity from July 20, 2000:
IN EACH AND EVERY EXAMPLE INCLUDING THE ONE AT WESLEY, ABOUT THREE
TO
FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST OPEN SPACE EVENT AND ONCE SOME OF THE NEW WAYS
OF OPERATING ARE IN PLACE, THERE IS A REVOLT BY STAFF THAT IS VERY LARGE
AND AWFUL FOR THE LEADERSHIP. Even though staff want the change at the
start, they rebel and get very angry at the leadership. In all cases it is
about this time that leadership ends up in tears, wondering if they have
made a BIG mistake, doubting themselves as competent leaders.
COACHING/MENTORING/HAND HOLDING from the consultant is critical at this
time just as the midwife holding the hand of the woman in labour when
things start to get really bad just before birth. It is exactly the time
not to try to fight what is happening, and the most important thing the
coach can do is to reassure and to tell stories of how "normal" this stage
is. When everyone gets through this stage, staff start talking about how
angry they were but how they now get it. And leaders talk about their anger
at Open Space but when asked if they would do it over again, always say
that they WOULD. In every case they said that although the transition had
been very painful, that the stuff was out in the open that had always been
under the surface and had always gotten in the way (ie: Dead Moose stuff)


*


Ingredients of the Open Space Organization

Below, I present a list of what we learned to pay attention to as an Open
Space Organization. We refined this during those three years, actively and
intentionally learning together to capture what worked.

1. The grief cycle at work promoting understanding and tolerance

All staff were introduced to an understanding of the cycle of griefwork and
challenged to view situations within Wesley Urban Ministries from a
perspective that rather than dealing with "resistance to change", we could
be dealing with a person working through the grief cycle. This promoted
understanding and tolerance, and brought a shift towards deferring judgement
about others.

2. Storytelling promoting awareness, collectiveness, empathy, truth

Time was taken at regular intervals, every three months or so, for staff to
tell stories. These were stories of the organization, of their immediate
work in the organization or the larger context. Story telling time was seen
as valuable, with all stories-sads, glads, and mads-being valued. Sometimes
pictures and other artifacts accompanied the story telling. Through the
story telling, we wove a story of a corporate culture that fostered social
justice and valued all people as precious.

3. The story of the organization including purpose, values and vision

We worked to achieve great clarity about our purpose, values and vision
throughout the organization that was understood by all who were involved
with the organization. The purpose, values, and vision were taken into
account during every Policy and Operating decision that was made. All
decisions and actions were upheld to ensure congruity with the purpose,
values and vision.


4. The deep essence, working with what is not seen including Spirit

We realized that much of what we spent our energy on as an organization
especially energy in dealing with conflicts involved attention to behaviors
and actions. As a staff we started talking about a theory that was known as
the "iceberg theory", attesting that most of what was really going on in the
organization was below the level of the visible (behaviors and actions) and
at the levels of emotion, meaning, perception and interpretation. We started
putting more energy to discussing the unseen. Some of this was done by our
discussions about purpose, values and vision. 

Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in organizations and networks after the initial intervention

[agusj via OSList]

Thanks a lot Peggy! I didn´t know this wordelful story about Open Space 
Organizations. It's very inspiring! I am very greatful of being part of this 
community!!
Agustin
Kari, thank you for bringing this theme up again,Thank you so much for this 
beautiful reminder Peggy,and thank you Birgitt !!!for leading the way for Open 
Space Organizations and sharing you deep knowledge so generouslyWith gratitude 
to all of youTova

  From: Peggy Holman via OSList 
 To: Open Listserv  
Cc: Peggy Holman 
 Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2018 5:32 PM
 Subject: Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in 
organizations and networks after the initial intervention
   
Kari,
Check out Birgitt William’s stories in the OSlist archives about the social 
service organization she ran as an Open Space Organization. Among her posts, my 
favorite is one where she listed her lessons about Open Space Organizations:
https://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org/msg03764.htmlMy 
story of the Open Space Organization Part 2 of 418 Jan 2001
I’ve put an excerpt from it below called Ingredients of the Open Space 
Organization.
Another favorite insight from Birgitt is captured in this message, called Open 
Space client opportunity from July 20, 2000:IN EACH AND EVERY EXAMPLE INCLUDING 
THE ONE AT WESLEY, ABOUT THREE
TO
FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST OPEN SPACE EVENT AND ONCE SOME OF THE NEW WAYS
OF OPERATING ARE IN PLACE, THERE IS A REVOLT BY STAFF THAT IS VERY LARGE
AND AWFUL FOR THE LEADERSHIP. Even though staff want the change at the
start, they rebel and get very angry at the leadership. In all cases it is
about this time that leadership ends up in tears, wondering if they have
made a BIG mistake, doubting themselves as competent leaders.
COACHING/MENTORING/HAND HOLDING from the consultant is critical at this
time just as the midwife holding the hand of the woman in labour when
things start to get really bad just before birth. It is exactly the time
not to try to fight what is happening, and the most important thing the
coach can do is to reassure and to tell stories of how "normal" this stage
is. When everyone gets through this stage, staff start talking about how
angry they were but how they now get it. And leaders talk about their anger
at Open Space but when asked if they would do it over again, always say
that they WOULD. In every case they said that although the transition had
been very painful, that the stuff was out in the open that had always been
under the surface and had always gotten in the way (ie: Dead Moose stuff)

*

Ingredients of the Open Space Organization

Below, I present a list of what we learned to pay attention to as an Open
Space Organization. We refined this during those three years, actively and
intentionally learning together to capture what worked.

1. The grief cycle at work promoting understanding and tolerance

All staff were introduced to an understanding of the cycle of griefwork and
challenged to view situations within Wesley Urban Ministries from a
perspective that rather than dealing with "resistance to change", we could
be dealing with a person working through the grief cycle. This promoted
understanding and tolerance, and brought a shift towards deferring judgement
about others.

2. Storytelling promoting awareness, collectiveness, empathy, truth

Time was taken at regular intervals, every three months or so, for staff to
tell stories. These were stories of the organization, of their immediate
work in the organization or the larger context. Story telling time was seen
as valuable, with all stories-sads, glads, and mads-being valued. Sometimes
pictures and other artifacts accompanied the story telling. Through the
story telling, we wove a story of a corporate culture that fostered social
justice and valued all people as precious.

3. The story of the organization including purpose, values and vision

We worked to achieve great clarity about our purpose, values and vision
throughout the organization that was understood by all who were involved
with the organization. The purpose, values, and vision were taken into
account during every Policy and Operating decision that was made. All
decisions and actions were upheld to ensure congruity with the purpose,
values and vision.


4. The deep essence, working with what is not seen including Spirit

We realized that much of what we spent our energy on as an organization
especially energy in dealing with conflicts involved attention to behaviors
and actions. As a staff we started talking about a theory that was known as
the "iceberg theory", attesting that most of what was really going on in the
organization was below the level of the visible (behaviors and actions) and
at the levels of emotion, meaning, perception and interpretation. We started
putting more energy to discussing the unseen. Some of this was done by our
discussions about purpose, values and vision. Equally as valuable to
shifting our attention to what we 

Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in organizations and networks after the initial intervention

[Royle, Karl via OSList]

Living it large Harrison. ☺

From: OSList  on behalf of Harrison 
Owen via OSList 
Reply-To: World wide Open Space Technology email list 

Date: Thursday, 9 August 2018 at 21:42
To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' 

Cc: Harrison Owen 
Subject: Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in 
organizations and networks after the initial intervention

Reflections? It took me a while to recognize that Open Space is not a method 
that we might “do” or “impose” – rather it is a memory of what we already 
possess. OS simply allows us to recall that we are all self-organizing 
creatures – no matter how much we might like to think we are “in charge.” The 
really ridiculous thing is that clients pay us (occasionally quite well) for 
giving them something they already possess. But at 82, my ethics are getting a 
little foggy. I did have a client one time who figured it out. He said, 
“Harrison, you have the greatest con game going. You charge a significant fee 
for something the people already have (but may not know it) – and then you go 
and take a nap while they do exactly what they already know how to do…” Keep 
those checks coming Baby! Of course, I am here in Maine where the weather is 
warmish but wonderful… and what would you say about that?

Harrison

From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Jan 
Hoglund via OSList
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2018 2:21 AM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Cc: Jan Hoglund
Subject: Re: [OSList] Is there experience in developing Open Space further in 
organizations and networks after the initial intervention


Many thanks to Harrison Owen and Peggy Holman for sharing this — and to Birgitt 
Williams, of course!



And now, twenty years and more later, what are your reflections?



/Jan Höglund, Sweden


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