As I have been updating my website and moving things around I have finally gotten to re-organizing the Open Space Resources page. The page now contains resources on the nuts and bolts of of Open Space and deeper learning organized by practice area. There are also links to articles, books, stories and internet resources to support practice and learning about Open Space.
I’ll continue to update the page (having it in a wiki makes that a LOT easier) and I’ll be adding a lot more stories of my own. I’m also looking at giving that page it’s own RSS feed soe folks can track changes. Feel free to stop by and use what you can.
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I am proud and lucky to count Toke Moeller as a friend, colleague and teacher. The other day, as I was checking his site for some information for some upcoming Art of Hosting trainings we are doing, I stumbled over his page of principles and assumptions for his work. They are worth reprinting here
Some of our assumptions
- Organisations have more to do with living organic systems than machines
- Learning is a core competence in the network society
- Learning, change and transformation involve a degree of chaos
- The world is too complex to be led by individuals
- Sustainable solutions emerge through conversation and collaborative endeavour
- Conversation and dialogue opens the collective intelligence, wisdom and action
- Diversity is a gift – not a problem!
- New insights and understanding are at the heart of reflective living and wise acting
Some of our design principles
- What is meaningful must always be at the center
- The combination of good theory, methods and bold practice creates learning
- Engaging many of our intelligences brings about learning of a higher quality
- Going from participation to contribution enhances learning
- Plan for emergence
- Conscious choice is a precondition for learning
- Clear context and purpose brings clarity and focus
- “Less is more!”
Toke is a remarkable host. Seeing these principles in practice is a treat.
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I’m reissuing this invitation to join Michael Herman and I here on Bowen Island, British Columbia for an Open Space Practice Retreat from April 18-20, 2006.
This is an intensive retreat for leaders, managers, facilitators, consultants, community activists, and anyone else who wants to open more space for renewal, visioning, learning and productivity — in business, government, educational and community organizations. This is an opportunity for deep learning about leadership and change, in the context of the practices that support facilitating Open Space.
Folks who will find this useful include leaders, managers and facilitators working with very complex issues, requiring the cooperation of diverse stakeholders, where conflict is quite possible (if not already present), and where there is an urgent need for right action. Anyone looking for a way to get beyond business as usual, for better, faster and cheaper results on our most important issues and opportunities will find benefit here. The depth of this program has much to offer the most seasoned leaders and facilitators, including experienced users of [tag]Open Space Technology[/tag].
This three day residential retreat will look indepth at the the work Michael and I have been doing on the Four Practices of [tag]Open Space[/tag].
We’d love you to consider joining us. Visit the retreat page for more information, and feel free to pass it on.
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Here’s a great story from MashUp Camp on how an Open Space Technology unconference worked. The article concludes with this quote:
‘The amazing thing about these camps, using open space methodology, is they shouldn’t work,’ said Ross Mayfield, CEO of Socialtext, which makes social software for collaboration. ‘Like a wiki, it turns out that some very simple and open rules have shockingly positive results–because people, on the whole, are good. Open events like these have become almost commonplace in the Valley. In fact, I’d say they are a key driver for the current wave of innovation. One part wiki, one part space and two parts people, add water, and voila!’
Tags: openspacetech, openspace, facilitation, unconference
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Submitted for your consideration, as they used to say on The Twilight Zone…
I am a newcomer to the notion of “morphogenetic fields” – basically fields that contain information whereby social or biological structures take shape (see more at Wikipedia)- but whether they exist or not I’m keenly aware of something like that happening in working with groups.
Yesterday I was working with a small group and we saw something happen that surprised me. The field within which we are working is philanthropy and we are designing a program that will help Aboriginal non-profits develop capacity. This work is supported by foundations and other funding and has a great deal of goodwill associated with it. Our work has taken us into designing a program that is based on sharing, free exchange of materials and learning and funding. Our language is full of the language of gifting, sharing and capacity building.
The participants in our design consultation groups were given an honorarium for being in attendance, and yesterday several of those participants donated their honorarium to one organization that provides meals to homeless folks. The gesture was out of the blue, and had no connection to what we were talking about when the first person volunteered their money. That made me curious about where the volition for doing so had sprung from.
I think that as a facilitator, a lot had to do with how we were shaping space, or shaping the field. The conversations throughout the day were about this very thing, and then to have the behaviour manifest so clearly and so out of the blue made me wonder about the power of shaping space, awakening moments, and working with morphogenetic fields. Several folks have been commenting here recently about this idea of shaping space and awakening moments. Here is a concrete example of how doing so creates emergent phenomena like the sudden donation of $500 to a mobile soup kitchen.
Categories: facilitation, gift, morphogenetic+fields,