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My Story of the first intentional conscious Open Space Organization— written from my perspective as CEO of a multi-service social service organization by Birgitt Williams
I wish to share a story with you. A story of the Open Space Organization as I have journeyed with it, which for almost a decade is a story that entwines with the story of my personal growth and evolution. It is also a story that runs at every step of the way from my intuition in a conscious relationship with my experience, knowledge and intention. It is a travel log, containing information to provide you with a map. When I took this journey, I did not have a map. I arrived at a number of destinations that I did not know I was heading for until I arrived. In every case, the destination was also a "wayshowing" spot, leading me further along the story. In other words, the story continues to unfold. I am ready now to share the story to this point in time.
The story contains invitations to you to join me in the study and experience of the Open Space Organization, an interconnected learning organization, hoping that this sparks your interest. Although I have been involved with the Open Space Organization since 1992, any work we do with Open Space Organizations is still very much in a pioneering time.
This present story is in four parts.
In part one, I share with you a letter that I wrote to Harrison Owen, creator of Open Space Technology (see www.openspacetechnology.com for information about Open Space Technology) in 1993. I have left the letter in its original form and apologize for the grammatical errors and the run-on sentences.
During our training with Harrison Owen about Open Space Technology (OST) in 1992, we learned that OST was used for better meetings and required at least one full day to have a meeting that really worked. In my letter, I tell Harrison of the use I had been making of OST in leading an organization on an ongoing basis and suggest that the bigger importance of OST was way beyond just using it as a means of having a better meeting. At the time, I was CEO of a multi-service inner city social service.
Part two highlights the story of this social service from 1992 through 1995, three years during which we sustained the first intentional Open Space Organization. I share with you the learning we had until that point in time about the critical ingredients of the Open Space Organization. These are highlights. The full story would take a book.
Part three outlines the evolution of what I have called the Genuine Contact Program. For me, the critical ingredient within the Open Space Organization, the critical building block, is opening space for Genuine Contact to be made--with the self, with another, with the collective, and with Spirit that is present in all of the Genuine Contact. This was my "aha" in 1999, when together with my husband Ward, I explored and explored what Open Space was when we peeled back to the barest 2 essences. From the "aha", the full set of workshops of Genuine Contact emerged, so that I could share with anyone who wanted to become involved with the Open Space Organization in the way that I have experienced and interpret it. It was important to me to share the full recipe of what I had found worked, not only during my time as CEO, but also in other organizations who have taken this journey with me over the last four years when I worked with them in my current work as a consultant.
Part four outlines what for Ward and I is the next step in this journey of why we have organizations--to do with soul development and Spirit. It includes an invitation to join us in an organization that we are initiating called the International Alliance for Mentoring (IAM). The organization is an Open Space Organization, as we understand an Open Space Organization--an interconnected learning organization.
If you are interested in the Open Space Organization, we hope you enjoy the story and feel inspired by it. We would be delighted if you decide to take the training programs we offer using the Genuine Contact program. And in turn, if you as a trained facilitator of the Genuine Contact program took this program into organizations that are interested in developing as interconnected learning organizations.
Birgitt (Bolton) Williams January 9th, 2001
Part One of My Story of the Open Space Organization
April 6th, 1993
Mr. Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland U.S.A. 20854
Dear Harrison,
I have been doing considerable thinking about “Open Space Technology” and its application on an ongoing basis, in the workplace, as a means of keeping Spirit alive. It is my belief and experience that “Open Space Technology” does all that you say it does at an “Open Space Event”.
I have used it in my own place of work and in other organizations (all non-profit) with which I am involved and the results are the same. But I have a growing awareness, and using my own organization as an on-going experiment, that “Open Space Technology” has applications as a means of keeping/enabling Spirit to be alive. 3
The use, of course, is a bit different because of some organizational reality which I refer to as “the givens” – the things which have to be in place. Just as you would say there are occasions when an “Open Space Event” should never be done, similarly, with the on-going work of an organization one can’t use “Open Space Technology” in any meeting that deals with “the givens”, but that leaves lots of room/scope for when “Open Space” can be used. And as I have experienced it – it works well – when we can use “Open Space Technology” within our regular business i.e., staff meetings, there are always comments about that being the best part of our meeting, and there is always a new burst of energy/life/ - Spirit that starts to escalate. Within the time- frame of a meeting, time for Open Space is reduced, but the results are the same and consistent.
To have energy/life/Spirit, alive and well in an organization that is chronically underfunded, has minimal staff in relation to the workload, has terrible hours and low wages, and is the bottom end of the social safety net in our community, and at a time of serious recession/depression, is an amazing phenomenon.
Every individual who works within our organization has energy/life/Spirit/capacity for leadership (as they do in other organizations). But with us, there is an ongoing expression of the above percolating everywhere. Incidentally, this makes my own job as senior staff almost unnecessary, while at the same time challenging me at my own outer limits as I’ve never been challenged before.
I suspect that the long-term changes/effects from “Open Space Events” are limited – far more limited than they need to be. I suspect this is so because on a longer-term basi the normal behaviour for blocking change (because of an individual’s fears or desires), the dynamism/operating style/analytical ability of the senior staff persons, support for the senior staff person in maintaining the energy necessary to be the enabler or holder of time/space for the organization.
All of these would not be as critical in an “Open Space Event as they are in the on- going work of an organization. Now, I’m not saying that the lasting change hasn’t happened because people do come away knowing that a different way is possible. I’m even sure that the follow-up to the natural organization that takes place at an “Open Space Event” can continue for many months. But, what then? So – that’s what I’m posing here – I think that “what then” can be a continuation of what began in the “Open Space Event” – but in my opinion it just doesn’t happen – it takes work and on- going support.
At my place of work, chaos is embraced, change is an everyday part of life to be celebrated, we are always positioning ourselves to be ready for new opportunities when they arise, thus, when they arise, we are able to mobilize quickly to take advantage of them, in anticipating the new with eagerness we are collectively ready for the adjustments that need to be made to incorporate the change – we are an alive being. 4
Everyone is interested in learning more and more and the net effect of expending so much energy in learning is that more and better work is getting done, we are talking/communicating more, and the most unlikely pairings of people are talking about something of common interest to them. When critical issues of one sort or another arise, the person or unit (we are organized by service units), gives notice of the issue to others and an invitation is extended that whoever can and wants to join the discussion should come – this has been an incredible way to prolem solve and to build ownership by everyone to all segments of the organization (we used to be very rigid and only know about/care about what was happening in our own area of work).
I should state that although the best use of the first and major OST event should be at the point of chaos in the life of an organization (in keeping with the griefwork cycle), it is my believe that we do not need to keep doing the death and birth thing, but can instead maintain the organization in chaos. Maybe chaos is maintained because the death and birth things is now happening so fast in so many different places that it all runs in together giving us the fertile field of chaos at all times. OSY provides the jump-off point for this to happen. I don’t believe or any longer experience that order and chaos alternate for life to progress.
Rather than looking at this as some kind of cycle (something we can neatly diagram or chart), we need to look at it more like a hologram where formal hierarchical structure coexists and co-supports with the informal interactive structure. In this context, life progresses because order (expressed in the “givens” of an organization) and chaos (all that can be interactive and creative within our ever changing internal and external environment) are present simultaneously.
So….here is what I believe the key ingredients are to sustaining the new and ever renewing after an OST event.
1. Storytelling – intentionally, we have built in time on an on-going basis for storytelling. Telling of client stories, stories of our work in relation to our Vision Statement, historical stories, present stories, future stories – this enables expressions of individuality, imagination, the promotion of myth. 2. Permission – OST provided the jump off point and during the event risk-taking can be and was high. But then in getting “back to work” risk-taking felt scary for some as expressed by people starting to apologize for their ideas. What worked is what I call being truthful about boundaries, giving information about chaos, OST, interactive learning organization, and giving permission that what did not come out as a “given” was completely open to whatever. When this was realized, fear decreased, creativity and risk-taking increased, Spirit was enabled, and wonderful stuff happened/is happening. I’m setting the boundaries as determined by “the givens”. It should be clear that I refer to things like the laws of the land, the terms of the contracts we are involved in as an organization, Board Policy. 5
Although our organizational chart and our operational procedures are set down, I do not consider them a “given” – if the group agrees – and anyone can initiate the discussion about any of this with a view to letting go of the old and making it better. 3. The “chief” – I agree that the leadership happens everywhere, but it is essential that we do not minimize the very critical role that the chief leader plays. In looking at the key ingredients of the tribal village (circle, marketplace, community board…) most villages have a “well” around which most of the good ideas are brainstormed even if they have previously been discussed in small common-interest groups and a chief by whose very presence they have a reassurance that despite the chaos, they have an anchoring point, a central point to concentrate on, to believe they are drawing energy from (I would like to discuss this point with you).
Needless to say, control style leadership doesn’t play this role. Stories of most tribal Chiefs, medicine men, etc., usually reflect that they pay a high personal price in fulfilling their role – if they are any good at all. It takes a lot more personal energy to enable things than to control/-conduct things. This is true of my personal experience- being “present” and being “true” over the long haul is very difficult. For me to achieve and sustain this I must be very intentional about building in for me what nurtures my Spirit. My life experiences and learning and my faith commitment have taught me How to do this. I believe that for an Organization to sustain Spirit, supporting the “chief” to sustain his/her Spirit is the most essential ingredient.
4. Spirit – needed to articulate what is meant. Became part of the organization’s life to talk about Spirit with some common understanding of what it means. This has been interesting for us. When we first talked about Spirit, because we are a church based organization, people thought we were going “churchy” on them which really offended some. We needed to work through this, and, it in fact is many of those who thought they wanted nothing to do with Spirit (as in Holy Spirit by their definition) who embrace Spirit the most. It was also interesting for me that my friends in Quebec don’t have a direct translation for Spirit of an organization so we came up with a list of words which, when translated, mean vitality, pursuit of an ideal, dynamism (human energy), the creation of opportunity to express fears/desires, inspiration—to be inspired. Each has its own nuance thus each setting a different framework for theory. 6
5. Chaos – again we needed to articulate it before we could celebrate it and use it. Needed to recognize the difference between chaos and disorganization. Needed to explore whether there was a difference between individual chaos and organizational chaos. In individual chaos, a person seeks meaning for their life. It was agreed that in the organization, it was the meaning as identified that keeps driving the organization through productive use of the chaos and that this meaning is fostered by critical people in the organization (keepers of the vision).
6. Language – we found that different people in the organization, because of the type of job or level in the hierarchy, made many assumptions/mis-communications because we didn’t take the time to teach each other our “language”. Most notable were differences in the language of senior staff because it kept referring to the global picture, supervisory staff who dealt with goals, objectives and meeting them, and front-line staff who talked about what faced them minute-by-minute. We all still are passionate about different things based on our role but we’ve tried to teach each other our language.
We recognized that decisions need to happen at faster speeds if we are to be responsive, adaptable – so we need to understand each other.
7. Framing/Setting the Context - when using “Open Space” in an on-going business context, recognize that the time/space context is forever shifting for the whole organization to say nothing of the component parts. All of this must be as intentional as that which you do when you are setting the context for an OST event. I know this is essential. I know I’m doing it with intent, because it is this which drains me – but I can’t yet state how its done.
8. Different Personalities – it is my assumption that all personalities can participate in an OST event and have input and be affected by it. However, within an organization, when working with the same people, differing personalities can greatly affect the life/Spirit of the organization.
Even though people might be excited after an OST event, some will enable the organization to move forward while others will attempt to stop it from doing so (even in the guise of being helpful – the good intention stuff). This is effected greatly by how different personality types handle fears and desires i.e., desire for power. It is my belief and experience that an understanding of personality types, through any of the current studies like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram (which I 7
prefer), is essential. It is essential for the leader to understand the different types especially his/her own because it can greatly affect how he/she operates in an enabling role instead of seeing someone else as a blocker (enemy). It is also useful for all persons in an organization to have some understanding and celebrating of different personality types. This diffuses “blocking” and helps people maximize their own potential.
9. Appropriate Structure – it is true that form follows function, but I have found that in organizations where people focus on concensus decision making, shared power, putting all their energies into “process” – the organizations eventually are filled with conflict and dysfunction. It is not politically correct to say this, but I rather suspect it is because these organizations are not built on truth – some members are hungry for power and control, but won’t say so, others have their “secret agenda” in their breast pocket, but won’t clearly put it on the table. In an organization, most power is with the senior staff person, even in that this person has power to hire and fire – so the senior staff person must claim their power (women have a hard time doing this) and use it wisely and well. For me, this translated into acknowledging that we do and must have a hierarchical structure for some purposes – formal responsibility, accountability, authority, formal communication, which, at the same time, having/growing appropriate structure for the actual work of the organization to take place. Both support the other, enable the other, and both are essential and interface with each other.
10.Assumptions – whenever tension seems high, or we are “spinning our wheels” it has become essential to check our assumptions using a variety of techniques that are quick. It is amazing what turns up and then amazing how we can use this to set the context for an “Open Space Event”.
Conclusion: Different organizations have different skill levels and/or desires to move forward from an OST event to real and sustained new life as an organization. It was useful for me to have people to talk to who understood all of this stuff when I became confused. Sometimes my energy sags, my confidence shrivels, etc., etc. Iwhat seemed to get me beyond this was being able to (with others) label what was happening and to nurture my own Spirit. I am sure the same would be true for others leading organizations on whatever scale, that want them to move forward.
A role that you might consider might be to do many more events as you did at Five Oaks so that a network of people who are interested/learning/experimenting can be further developed and sustained. Those who are interested could make a further commitment to supporting those organizations who have gone through an OST event to going through on-going change. This would likely take the form of contractual work with focus on support of the leader of the organization by being available in the context of organizational change, and assist the leader in developing a strategy. It is 8 my assumption that the strategy would include some of the elements listed in 1-10 above.
So…these were my thoughts. Its how I work and my attempt to look at what is working for my organization. If any of this interests you, I would enjoy the discussion.
Sincerely,
Birgitt Bolton Executive Director Wesley Urban Ministries cc: Larry Peterson
BB/kc
Part Two of My Story of the Open Space Organization
The Wesley Urban Ministries Story by Birgitt Williams
A story of the first intentional Open Space Organization sustaining itself as an Open Space Organization from 1992 through 1995
Highlights of Successes in Organizational Effectiveness 9
Some of the successes achieved as an Open Space Organization in creating Organizational Effectiveness through an interconnected learning organization: Successful positive shift in corporate culture Successful shift from problem focus to solution focus throughout the organization Successful change in value systems regarding service delivery resulting in improved service delivery sustained through a three year period Successfully united three diverse, geographically different, physical locations with three separate staff and volunteer groups into one organization inclusive of a strategic alliance of support for one another and maximum use made of resources Successful shift in service delivery to twice as many customers without an increase in staff or financial resources The organization received more positive public relations/media attention than any other service agency in the community during this time The organization received a number of awards from the community during this period including the Award for Organizational Excellence from the Mayor’s Race Relations Committee, the Pinnacle Award for Public Relations, and the Woman of the Year Award for the CEO
My Mandate as CEO and My Introduction to the Importance of Mentoring
I became the CEO of Wesley Urban Ministries, a non-profit corporation, in 1986. At the time, it was a multi-service social service with seed funding from the United Church of Canada, additional funding from federal, provincial, and local governments, and significant funding that had to be found from charitable sources annually. At the time of my departure from Wesley Urban Ministries in 1995 it continued to be a multi- service social service but had added a Community Health Center Corporation and a Community Housing Corporation to it’s portfolio. In 1986, the annual operating budget was $80,000. In 1995, the annual operating budgets were $8,000,000. During my time there, it was managed as a serious business. It had to be, in order to grow as it did and to be successful in making a difference in the lives of individuals within the inner city of Hamilton, Ontario in the way that it did.
Jack Moore, Chairman of the Board, a man who at that time was in his mid-70’s, hired me. He told me that during the interview process, I was the only person that was vibrant with creativity, life, and ideas for the organization and for these reasons he had stood firm on taking the risk with me as the CEO. For the Board, the risk was that I was the first non-clergy CEO that they had engaged, as well as the fact that I was their first woman CEO, to say nothing of the fact that I was only 31 years old. During my interview process, (please remember that this was a time that was long ago and we had not made the progress towards women as leaders that we have achieved today) I had had to justify how I could hold down a full-time job and be a mother to my four children. At the time, we had a live-in nanny and that seemed to satisfy the Board to believe that I could give my best to both the organization and my family. 10
Without saying much more about that, I hope that you can get the picture of what those times were like for a young, female, CEO. Throughout my time at Wesley Urban Ministries, Jack was a good friend to me; he coached and mentored me. He was one of my many special mentors who assisted me in developing a real appreciation for the importance of mentoring. One of the most important lessons of my early days as CEO included setting a fixed time frame at which I would leave the organization. We talked about the importance of knowing that I was building for the organization rather than building for myself. He said the best way to do that was to know when I was going to be leaving the organization, to always have my letter of resignation in my pocket. The time frame was a total of ten years and no more, with a review of this and my willingness to leave at five years. Jack mentored me to be the best CEO I could be. He was relieved to hear that I wanted to be a CEO for no more than ten years, and that I was focused on a clear career path to become a business consultant that worked with whole systems. He was pleased that I had a personal professional goal beyond this organization.
He mentored me to be the best person I could be and to be clear on my values and principles because he believed that my values and principles as the CEO would affect the whole organization. And throughout my time, he and other members of the personnel committee mentored me regarding goals for my life and career following my time as CEO. Jack Moore, chairperson of the Board, and later chairpersons Charlie Scott and Joyce Boyd were all mentors and role models for servant leadership and for principled leadership, long before these terms came into more frequent use in the business world.
Jack was wise about Board governance. He had served on many boards in his time and he said that whatever else I did with my leadership and my management, I was to be sure that the Board stayed with policy and didn’t interfere with operations and that the staff through me were responsible for operations. He said that if I remembered to keep those two separate, I had my best chance at successful leadership for the organization. Jack was also very up front with me about the givens (limits) and the mandate for my job. He wanted people to be treated fairly. He also wanted them to perform. The organization didn’t have the kind of resources to carry situations that were not being productive. For him, productive meant to be highly productive on behalf of our customers, to fulfill our mission for being an organization.
I speak about the mentoring that Jack and others did with me because it was one of the differences that made a difference. I was among the fortunate few leaders that was hired for my creativity and inspiration who was given the freedom to actually use my creativity and inspiration. (I have seen far too many leaders hired for exactly these qualities and then constrained to such an extent that they cannot use them.)
A significant aspect of the mentoring was Jack’s clarity about the “givens”, the mandate and limits placed upon me, the clarity of what was expected of me, and the clarity of my relationship with the Board of Directors, the staff, the volunteers, and our benefactors. With this clarity, I was handed the gift of clarity for where I could 11 exercise my authority, my creativity, and my inspiration. I was clear about my accountability and responsibility.
My mandate was as follows: the organization of Wesley Urban Ministries as a corporate entity, had been birthed only the year before. Prior to that, there were three totally separate community centers with three totally separate mandates, totally separate staff teams, and totally separate benefactor groups. He said that historically, none of the three centers got along with each other and were in great competition with each other for community resources. A significant part of my mandate was to bring the three existing centers into one organization in more than name only. He left it up to me to determine what that meant and how I would get there.
The second element of the mandate was to develop and grow the organization so that it could reach more people in need. Another part of my mandate was that I was to take an organization that was focused in a charity model of ‘we are the benevolent people giving to you the poor’ and transform the organization to a social justice model. This required a values and behavior shift not only amongst the staff, who were operating and benefiting from a charity model, but a values and behavior shift of the donor base within the churches that supported us. About 30,000 people were involved with the organization and it was this entire group that was to be enabled to work differently with the poor. Churches historically have worked from a charity rather than a social justice model, at least within North America. They seem to have shifted to a stronger social justice model in their work in third world nations (although that might not be the experience of the third world nations).
I understood that the task of organizational transformation of this magnitude was a mammoth undertaking. I simultaneously was expected to increase productivity and resources. I naively asked about the finances of the organization and what finances there were to support me in this work. Without batting an eye, and in fact looking me right in the eye, Jack told me that the organization at that time was $35, 000 in debt and that we had a loan limit at the bank of $50, 000 and enough money for one more payroll. I asked him what the plans were for income beyond that. He said that aside from the annual donor appeal, which was months away, there were no plans. Again, I think you can see the challenge with a mandate to bring an organization together and to help it to grow and evolve without ready resources to help it do so. I couldn’t have chosen a better training ground as a CEO.
Jack had a twinkle in his eye. He was experienced enough with over fifty years of working with organizations to know what the challenge was; he did not have an answer himself for how this organizational transformation could take place; and was highly pleased with himself when he saw that I had understood what was before me and that I was getting more and more committed to working out how it could be done, rather than feeling sunk by the magnitude of it. 12
Jack was very wise in how he handled this. He told me what my mandate was and what I was achieve, but made it very clear that he and the Board of Directors would leave me to figure out how to operationalize things so that I could achieve the mandate. He knew that I needed the freedom to develop appropriate structure and processes to get the job done. He said that he knew that there were many barriers in my way. He also said that we had many friends in the community and that there were many resources to be tapped into if we could find our way. I was excited by the opportunities. Through my innocence or naiveté, even the financial situation didn’t deter me.
My first actions were to meet all of the staff, Board, and Standing Committee members and have separate interviews with them, immediately followed by meeting with representatives of various agencies and organizations in the community. I knew that much of our future success would depend on relationships and so I set about building them.
Pursuing Knowledge about Organizational Transformation
In my travels in those early weeks, I came across material that spoke of organizational transformation work that was being done at the automobile giant, Chrysler and a 1986 book called “Organizational Transformation: Approaches, Strategies, Theories” that was written by Amir Levy and Merry Uri (published by Praeger in New York). At the time, “organizational transformation” was considered leading edge and ground breaking work with new words like ‘paradigm shift’ and ‘second order change.’ I knew nothing about either the theory or practice, but my intuition told me that this was the path that I needed to explore in order to achieve my mandate at Wesley Urban Ministries.
So I spoke with Jack about my interest in organizational transformation as it was being explored within the profession of Organizational Development and my wish to learn as much as I could about how organizational transformation could be led. He and the Board supported my participation in both a national network that was looking at organizational transformation and a regional network that met monthly to explore and work together to achieve change at a community level. Through both groups, the Urban Core Support Network (Larry Peterson, another Open Space Technology consultant was our Executive Director) and the Regional Food and Shelter Network, we learned through reading literature, attending courses, networking, and mostly through trial and error and sharing our achievements and set-backs. Specifically at the local level, we cooperated and we competed. Sometimes our common desire to achieve community change for what we perceived as a better community drove us to work more collaboratively. Sometimes, our egos, our differing philosophies and theologies, and our need for additional monies from the community, drove us to forget collaboration and to compete. And then we would cycle back to cooperate again. 13
Highlights of Some of My Life Learnings That Affected My Leadership
My life, my educational background and my work experience prior to my work at Wesley Urban Ministries affected my ability to work with change, transformation and chaos. I brought with me life experience that affected me deeply at the level of what I was passionate about and would spend endless energy on. All of this informed my worldview. I think it is critical to be consciously aware of one’s worldview. I bring my worldview to everything that I do, how I perceive and interpret everything, so it is important to me to know what it is. This is not the place for my life story, but there are significant happenings and opportunities that I had, that affected the leadership I brought to Wesley Urban Ministries.
I will tell of the life learnings here, those that I believe affected my leadership, as briefly as I can. I was born female.
By the time I was nine years old, I was conscious of myself as a spiritual being in relationship with God and all of creation. I remember the moment when I was nine when I committed my life to working to know and serve God. I made this commitment from my whole being, with all of the commitment and conviction that a nine year old can make. I knew that people are precious and usually not treated so. I knew that creation was precious, and usually not treated so. I knew that our view of God was too limited in relation to my experience of God. And I knew that I would do my part to change what I could in relation to how God is viewed, how people and creation are treated.
During my adolescence, I had the opportunity to do volunteer work with the elderly and with inner city children, those who were very marginalized by society. I deepened my understanding of the human being, and the preciousness of every human and I learned a great deal about the devastating results of prejudice. When I was sixteen, I was selected to attend a leadership development camp to learn leadership skills, with expectation that I use the skills at my high school. This was a summer camp run by the government of the Province of Ontario to develop young leaders.
In university, I majored in psychology and biology, learning as much about human development as I could. My post graduate work was in clinical behavioral sciences, specializing in individual, couples, family and then organizational behavior. I was exposed to the importance of “state of the organism” and that no theory, model, formula or current knowledge was “The Answer”. Everything seemed to depend on “the state of the organism” regarding how the organism would respond. Also, during those university years, I did part time work in the federal prison system, working with spouses and families of people who had committed serious crimes and received life sentences. I learned more about family patterns that were very destructive, and I learned about the apparent unwillingness of humans to change their lifestyles for something that would likely be healthier, locked as they were into harmful patterns and behaviors. From my outsider perspective, it seemed such a simple thing to change. Throughout those years, I witnessed no apparent change in lifestyles or 14 behaviors of any of the people I worked with, even those who feared for their very lives. I was left wondering whether the people I worked with were unwilling to change or whether I was an inept worker at bringing about change.
My first serious job after university was in the Child Welfare system. At the age of 21, what I witnessed and experienced in this job is beyond description of what human beings can do to other human beings. At the time I worked as an emergency intake and protection worker. I went into homes and situations that are unspeakable. And yet my biggest learning was that no matter how bad the family abuses were, they did not feel as bad to me as the abuses that the judicial and government systems carried out towards the families. I discerned that systems were significant in keeping people locked into abusive cycles generation after generation, even for those who were trying desperately to change for the better. It was the kind of job where a worker “sank or swam”. I looked at it all and at that time, when I was 21, made a commitment to work with systems, to become an organizational consultant. I made a commitment to understand systems, and as a consultant to work with them with the hope of changing systems for the better.
I knew that it would take hard work to achieve this goal, much more learning and life experience, and I determined that before I could become an organizational consultant, I must have experience in management and as a senior staff person of an organization. I believed that this was necessary so that I knew at least one or two systems thoroughly from a management perspective, a case of needing to wear the “leader’s moccasins”. I did not want to provide consultation for leaders until I had “walked in their shoes”. I stayed in Child Welfare work for ten years, working my way to a management position. As well as courses in child protection and the law, I had the opportunity to take management training, training in conflict resolution, training in communications, and training in mediation.
And then one Friday night, about ten o’clock I received a phone call from an acquaintance. She had that day become aware of a CEO job with a non-profit organization and thought I should think about applying. I did. And then I left my work in Child Welfare to take the senior leadership position at Wesley Urban Ministries. I brought with me my experience and learning up to that time. I also brought with me the desire to really know what it was to be a senior leader and to really know how a senior leader worked with systems. And I brought with me a passion to do my part to improve the world.
Continued Learning Opportunities to Enhance My Leadership Skills and Knowledge
Throughout the years, the Board supported a number of personal development learning journeys for me as I needed to build more skills and more experience with the next stages of evolution in this breaking field of organizational transformation work. In the early years, I had the opportunity to learn more and more about organizational transformation, the importance of grief work in the transformative 15 cycle, the importance of story and how to tell stories and use them to bring about change, and the importance of mythology and archetypes. I also had the opportunity to learn to use tools like the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory and the Enneogram to assist people to become more aware of themselves and how different personalities could best work together.I had the opportunity to learn whole brain Process Facilitation to facilitate the learning process of any group I was in a leader/teacher role with. I also had the opportunity to be a consultant and mentor to other non-profit organizations through the United Way Leadership Development program. Jody Orr, another Open Space Technology facilitator was the CEO of our United Way at that time. We taught, we mentored, and we ourselves learned more and more about leadership and organizations.
All of this provided valuable information, knowledge, and wisdom for my own work as a leader of an organization. And yet, even using all of it, I was unable to lead the organization through the successful transformation that I had been hired to achieve.
The First Five Years: To My Dismay, No Success With My Mandate
I quickly learned that the amount of change work that was needed at Wesley Urban Ministries to bring an organization into one cohesive unit and to bring about a values shift from a charity model to a social justice model was bigger and more complex than I had imagined. I learned that this change could not be done by any of the means that I had learned in my previous management experience and training. The work I had previously had experience with tended to have linear approaches in which one thing was done, followed by another and another with goals and measurable objectives clearly set.
I couldn’t see following those paths and getting to where we needed to be quickly. While my greater mandate was for organizational transformation, I was also responsible to provide a well run business in which we increased and improved our services and our revenues and resources. I also saw the pitfalls in attempting to increase our revenues and resources while simultaneously challenging our donor base to view us and their partnership differently. There was a great deal of satisfaction amongst our benefactors within a charity model worldview. The desire to shift to a social justice model did not stem from them. And yet, my intuition and instinct urged me on, full of confidence that we would find a way.
Heading into this, I had no idea how interwoven the different components of my mandate were and how much one action would affect another action. I also had no comprehension of the concept of an open system in the truest sense of the word. In those days, most of us were still dealing with systems as though they were closed systems. For me, one of the biggest factors was that many of our benefactors, while it was important for us to increase our funds, reacted to us by withholding their funds when we shifted towards working from a social justice model and away from a charity model. 16
Likewise I didn’t understand that the staff in the three separate buildings were so entrenched in their own separate cultures that they had no incentive to merge together into one organization. In fact, they felt that if they were left alone as three separate entities, the organization wouldn’t need its administration, such as its CEO, and that money could be spent directly for client services. I had not anticipated that my very function in the organization was perceived with great hostility. The last significant factor that I did not understand well enough at the time at the time that I was working towards my mandate, was the reaction of the customers themselves.
Prior to 1992, from the time of being hired in 1986, I had led a number of initiatives to attempt to achieve my mandate. The first of these was to do as much networking on a personal basis with frontline staff, management staff, volunteers, donors, and clients and then to create opportunities and conditions for them to network with each other.
I led the creation of a number of good management practices within the organization, including having a problem solving worksheet with a method for proposing solutions so that the organization could be shifted to being solution focused rather than problem focused. Whenever a problem was presented to the rest of us, including to management, by anyone in the organization, it was to be accompanied by an analysis of how the problem had been thought through, and what solutions the staff person was proposing.
We conducted a needs analysis on the training and development needs of both the staff and volunteers of the organization. We put together a strategic plan that identified mandatory training and development, optional training and development, training and development that would be offered internally to the organization and training and development that we would spend our training dollars on to external opportunities. We ensured that training, development, and ongoing learning were a top priority in our work.
We reorganized the staff into work teams with a team leader that we thought of as middle management staff. Besides myself, I created positions for three other senior managers. One was responsible for financial management, one for resource development (inclusive of fund raising), and one for service delivery. We developed best practices regarding flow for communication and clarity of job function and reporting mechanisms. We attended to clarity regarding responsibility, accountability, and authority. We established an annual board, staff, and volunteer retreat so that we could do planning for the following year for the organization as a collective.
We established a mechanism for monthly staff meetings that involved all of the staff from all of the organization and any volunteers that wanted to attend. I was insistent that every manager meet with his/her staff on an individual basis at least once every 17 two weeks and to meet with their staff at least once every two weeks as a group. For me, our success was heavily reliant on good relationships and frequent face to face communication.
There were many other things going on in our efforts to create an organization of excellence. We put a lot of emphasis into our fundraising and other resource development so that we would have the resources necessary to follow through on meeting the needs that we were identifying. I attended to Board development as much as I attended to staff development, seeing the role of the CEO as one who offered leadership to both.
Despite the fact that the Board had mandated me to bring the organization and those associated with the organization to work from a social justice model rather than a charity model, there were many Board members who were very committed to a charity model. As a result, work with Board development included work to work towards our own collective vision as a social justice organization. I brought in external consultants to give the Board a hand in their development, including moving towards a policy governance model of governing the organization.
I know that I was an excellent leader and manager and followed all of the current best practices for management. I was given a lot of feedback and regular evaluations to confirm this. I had implemented a structure and mechanisms for the best possible staff communication and support. Further, through our annual goal setting, we became an organization that was clear on its goals and objectives and worked hard to move forward strategically to achieving them.
However, by 1992 I still had not achieved my mandate. I still could see no visible signs that we had shifted from a charity model organization to a social justice model organization. I was no closer to bringing the three organizations within our larger organization into one organizational whole, despite efforts such as the monthly staff meetings that involved everybody mingling with one another. On a daily basis the different centers wanted nothing to do with each other. In the words of that time, I was not effective at bringing about the organizational transformation that I was after or that the Board of Directors had mandated me to do. In today’s words, I was not successful in bringing about the change effort that was desired by the Board.
Those of you who know organizations know that there were probably many more things going on here than I am noting. I’ll note just one more of those for the purpose of this story. The Board itself was very divided. There were Board members that were brought on that were very loyal to one of the geographic centers that we worked out of, and the service that they provided, but not loyal to the other centers. Even at the Board level they competed hard for resources for their special interest. It was the same Board members who stated that they wanted a unified organization who in fact were part of the barrier to creating a unified organization. 18
One of our centers dealt primarily with the homeless. There were Board members, staff members, volunteers, and benefactors who really aligned themselves with the homeless and wanted nothing to do with the client groups of our other centers. Other Board members, staff members, volunteers, and benefactors wanted to align themselves with the center that was working in an ethnic community that was working primarily Italian and Portuguese seniors who were non-English speaking. They wanted nothing to do with the other client groups. Then there were the Board members, staff members, volunteers, and benefactors who wanted to align themselves with the work of the third center, which was focused on youth and working with youth programs. The youth were youth of refugee families who had come into Canada. Likewise, they were so committed to the youth that they wanted nothing to do with the other centers. It was clearly an example of “just because the CEO says so, doesn’t mean we are one big happy family.”
Organizational transformation had eluded me, despite my best intentions, my skilled leadership, best practices of the day, a good feedback and evaluation system, and my enthusiasm and wisdom.
Turning Point Towards Success Through Training in Open Space Technology
In 1992, thanks to a phone call from a colleague that was involved in exploring organizational transformation, I became aware that Harrison Owen, creator of Open Space Technology, was conducting his first training session in Canada. My colleague urged me to attend and said that what I learned from Harrison would put a framework around the way that I was managing the organization and possibly give me some new insights into how to create the corporate cultural shift that I was after.
I was deeply moved during the Open Space Technology training with Harrison Owen. During the four-day program, I felt like I had come home. The concepts that he spoke of, the simplicity that he spoke of, and the belief in the people of the organization to move transformation forward were all within my own belief system. Yet, as the CEO of Wesley Urban Ministries I had been so busy managing and trying to move things forward through my own initiatives and from my own energy that I had forgotten to rely on what the people could do to move things forward. I had not created the space for them to take their own initiative. I had thought I had, but in the reflections that I was doing during the Open Space Technology training, I realized that there were missing elements. I was convinced that these missing elements within Wesley Urban Ministries were the key ingredients for us to achieve the corporate cultural shift that we were after.
The Open Space Technology training program was a catalyst for me to access my own deep inner knowledge. In some ways, I can say that I learned nothing new because it was all inside of me. However, it was deeply buried. I accessed deep inner knowing that I did not know was there. I remembered anew the importance of intuition and the vast collective wisdom that was present whenever a group of people 19 were gathered together. I became conscious at a different level of Spirit present everywhere.
Open Space Technology, as developed by Harrison Owen to that point in time, was a methodology designed for conducting better, more effective meetings. You can read about this in Open Space Technology: A Users Guide by Harrison Owen, publisher Berrett-Koheler, 1997 and in his subsequent books including Expanding Our Now, 1998. Basically, Harrison was tired of meetings that went nowhere. He realized that all of the energy of a meeting tended to be during the coffee breaks, or before or after the meetings, when people were really animated and networking with each other. The meetings themselves were much lower energy and creativity was always stifled. In thinking about this, he also though about his experiences in a West African village during his time with the Peace Corps and how that village organized itself. He also thought about his studies in Eastern and Western theologies. Open Space Technology was the result of how he put all of this together to create more effective meetings. By 1992, he had conducted dozens of Open Space Technology meetings. By paying attention to particular ingredients, he was assured that the meetings were always effective. He had also begun training others in how to lead Open Space Technology meetings. They in turn were going out and conducting their own Open Space Technology meetings with equal success.
I was deeply interested and impressed. I could see many applications for Open Space Technology to create better meetings, using the collective wisdom, working with Spirit.
My Realization That Open Space Technology Could be Used as a Way of Running an Organization
I also moved beyond seeing Open Space Technology as a means of effective meetings and thought of the possibilities of using Open Space Technology as a way of running an organization.
Although I have great interest in meetings that are effective, I am much more interested in organizational effectiveness. Organizational effectiveness for me means an organization that is able to fulfill it’s purpose and mandate, while at the same time being a place that is life nurturing for it’s employees and volunteers. An effective organization does not need to sacrifice productivity for the sake of high staff morale, nor does it need to sacrifice high staff morale for an improved bottom line. An effective organization is able to have success with both on a sustained basis. I spent several days following the Open Space Technology training reflecting on my new learning and my remembered learning and determining what I could do to bring Open Space Technology into Wesley Urban Ministries on an ongoing basis. It was my belief that if we used frequent Open Space Technology, we would increase our solution focus as an organization. I believed that we would come together as an organizational whole in ways that I had not been able to achieve with the previous methods that I had been using. 20
In hindsight, the timing could not have been better. In Ontario, Canada, at that time, we entered into the full force of a period of economic recession. Because our client base were the marginalized of society, the number of people in great need who turned to us for assistance doubled and during the winter months, tripled. There was increased pressure on our “no-charge food store”; increased need of basic food, clothing, and shelter; increased stresses on individuals and families where they needed to come into any one of our three centers for counseling help or recreational opportunities to relieve stress and to develop strategies for coping. With the recession, we had a decline in the amount of money that donors were able to give to us, just when we needed it most. We also were reduced in our government funding, as were all social programs.
Immediately following the Open Space Technology training, I entered a period of deep reflection, a real stepping back from the organization and looking at it. At the end of my period of reflection, I had come to some realizations and conclusions.
1) I admitted to myself that all of the management practices that I had been taught had not brought about the corporate cultural shift I was mandated to achieve. I did not have an existing strategy or methodology that would help me create the shift or the corporate cultural change that I needed to create.
2) I liked what happened during the course of an Open Space Technology meeting that brought about real problem solving, real creativity, really tapping into the wisdom and potential of the individuals that attended as well as the collective, and fostered high communication, networking, and productivity. I wanted to take the risk of bringing Open Space Technology into Wesley Urban Ministries as the means that I would use to bringing about the corporate cultural shift of uniting the organization and of shifting it to a social justice model. I also realized that I did not know what the component parts of that would be, nor how to establish goals and objectives or a direct line strategic plan using Open Space Technology. What I did have to go on was that I had a clear idea of my intention for the organization and the intended outcome. My intention for the organization was to achieve the unification of the three separate centers into one organization so that we could take maximum benefit from all of the resources we had when we combined them. I also intended that by bringing the organization as one unified organization we would have a common story to tell to our donors and other funders. It was my intention that by bringing a unified picture to them, that we could dramatically increase the resources that were provided for us so that in turn we could do more work and better work for the client base that we were serving. I set this as my intention and my outcome. I also set for myself the outcome that if I could not achieve this using Open Space Technology, it was clear to me that I was not the person to lead this organization through the corporate cultural shift for it’s long term viability. Here I don’t want to forget about the importance of remembering the board members who were very keen on the move towards the social justice model had a vision that was not just for the viability of the organization. They were very determined that the best way to work with people in need was to 21 provide opportunities for the people to access their own power and to be partners with us in the work rather than being in a position of just receiving from us. Again, that reminder that this is similar to what we had already learned in developing countries. We learned that the effect of a charity model was devastating to those countries whereas the effect of working with the people so that they were building their own skills and economic bases was highly effective.
3) I developed a strategy in which we would conduct our first Open Space Technology meeting with the broadest possible theme or focusing question. I wanted the theme to be “issues and opportunities for the future of the organization and the development of a strategic plan”. This meeting was to include board members, volunteers and staff. I had a sense that if we used the broadest possible topic, we would be able to identify what the critical issues and opportunities were for the organization. At that time, I did not have a concept of how we would do our follow up work from the topics we identified at the Open Space Technology meeting. I did not admit this to anyone, hoping that an idea would come to me. I simply knew that previous ways of working had not been achieving what I needed to achieve.
4) I wondered if I, at the CEO level of the organization, could be the facilitator of an Open Space Technology meeting for the organization? I realized that in facilitating the meeting, I could not be a participant in the meeting and add any of my opinions to the content of what came forward. I really had to examine whether I was prepared to let go of that level of control. My conclusion for myself was that it was much more important to me to see if the organization could bring about it’s own transformation than it was for me to affect the content. My job was to create the picture of where we might go and to create the conditions so that the entire group of staff, board, and volunteers could help us to find the way. I know that my fellow managers at the time would have said that I was abdicating my responsibilities as a CEO. I thought differently. I had tried the other ways and they hadn’t worked. I saw this as exercising my full responsibility, but very differently. At the time, I felt like I was taking a risk. At the same time I was realizing that it wasn’t a risk because I had no other way that was available to me or that I knew of to go. In making my decision that I would be the one to facilitate the meeting, I also wondered whether the staff and the board and the volunteers could accept that I could create an environment that was safe enough for them. I wondered if there was enough of a respect and trust for me, and I concluded that there was. We were an organization that was working very well together and where there was good camaraderie, despite the fact that the mandate that I’ve already talked about was not fulfilled.
5) I also considered whether or not an organization whose structure was a hierarchical structure, could do more with Open Space Technology than simply have an Open Space Technology meeting. Being a hierarchical structure and having an Open Space Technology meeting seemed to work out just fine because the meeting was around an issue of concern for the organization and then set up for action beyond the meeting. It did not result in organizational change to a significant degree. 22
The question for me was “could we be a highly participative, highly creative, highly productive organization on a daily basis and be a hierarchical organization?”.
My conclusions were that if we were clear about why we had the hierarchy and what the hierarchy was to function for, we could also be clear about what we did not need the hierarchy for. Therefore we could determine where there was real freedom to act. I also realized that I was not absolutely clear in my own mind about the full role of the hierarchical organization.
I knew that our hierarchy was necessary because of the requirement of some of our funders for critical incident reporting (i.e.if there was an injury to a child in one of our programs or the death of a homeless person there was to be a rapid mechanism of notification to the funders and rapid response on the part of the different layers and responsibilities in our own organization to take certain actions regarding the critical incident). The funders had a very specific role for the CEO and how the CEO was to remain informed of all critical incidents. I also knew that we were using the hierarchical structure to keep intact work teams operating in ways that were similar to each other. Through these work teams, we provided the mechanism for rapid communication when needed throughout the organization (this was in the days before we had the resource of systems wide voicemail or email, which would have helped that function). Beyond that, I wasn’t really sure why we had to have the hierarchy. I was sure that we couldn’t totally wipe it out. This may or may not have been true, but it was what I concluded at the time.
I was in a position that I have seen several times since with other CEOs. I knew that the existing strategies of the times were not going to bring about the change that this organization needed. I was faced with the unknown of where Open Space Technology would lead us, but by this time I was equally convinced that the root to our organizational health, organizational effectiveness, and the fulfillment of the mandate I had been given would not be found by any means except Open Space Technology.
In other words, I was using Open Space Technology because I didn’t know which other way to go and because intuitively, it felt right. I recognized within the Open Space Technology meeting that it appeared to be the natural way that people worked at their highest potential together. I certainly saw people accessing their inner greatness.
Birthing the Open Space Organization
So, in 1992 at Wesley Urban Ministries, we conducted our first Open Space Technology meeting to look at issues and opportunities for the future of the organization. It was a two day meeting and was well attended by staff, Board members, and a number of the organization’s volunteers. We had about 140 people in attendance. I facilitated the meeting, making it clear in the opening that by doing so, I was removing myself from input to content in the meeting. 23
As with most Open Space Technology meetings, the closing circle was very emotional. People spoke about their commitment to the organization and their delight in the process. It was clear that people had networked and spoken with people they didn’t usually didn’t have a chance to speak with nor an interest to speak with. New linkages were formed. At this point I can’t remember how many topics were put up, but I do remember some of the critical ones because they were the ones that we conducted further Open Space Technology meetings about. They included addressing: 1) the issue of affordable housing for people with no income; 2)the issue of health care that was provided on the streets where people lived instead of at some clinic that people such as the homeless never attended; 3) communication within the organization; 4) increasing resources; and 5)advocacy for social justice. I was pleased with our Open Space Technology meeting and keenly interested in whether or not we could sustain the new linkages and the greater level of creativity and communication from the Open Space Technology meeting into daily organizational life. In other words, was it just a great meeting, with an emotional closing circle, or would there be lasting results from the meeting?
The strategy of how to move things forward after the Open Space Technology meeting was not thought through but seemed to evolve. The logical next step from my perspective was to hold separate Open Space Technology meetings on each of the key areas from this first meeting. We conducted these meetings over the course of the next three months, each meeting lasting about four hours. This was also a first attempt that I am aware of at conducting such short Open Space Technology meetings. Harrison, in the training, had said we needed at least a full day. We just couldn’t afford that kind of time on a frequent basis, if we were to continue doing key meetings using Open Space Technology. The short meetings worked.
About the third such meeting, I thought that I could skip through the opening and simply said to the participants to put up their topics, they knew what to do. A spokesperson stood up and said that this was not acceptable. The participants told me that although they almost knew the opening of the Open Space Meeting by heart, it was important for me to do the full opening every time. They identified that it was not just the words, but that somehow it felt different for them if the opening was complete. Because of my studies in energy work, I did not question this. I did not understand all of the components of the opening of an Open Space Technology meeting in the same way that I do now after many years and more personal development. I simply understood that the participants said that it was important to them, and that was good enough for me. Every four hour meeting had an opening, two session times, and a closing circle, following the format that I had been taught by Harrison, but just with less session times.
From these initial Open Space Technology meeting in 1992 until I left the organization in 1995, we became the first intentional “Open Space Organization” that I am aware of. It was pioneering work. We learned a great deal along the way about what worked, what we needed to pay attention to, and what needed to be let go of. We took time to reflect about our learning and to develop a list of what we felt was 24 important in an Open Space Organization. I will share this list in a minute but first I want to tell you of some of our results of working in this way. The shift from “having a series of Open Space Technology meetings” to becoming an intentional Open Space Organization took place between the fourth and fifth meetings, three months into the use of frequent Open Space Technology meetings. The shift took place amidst great anger and upset. When I later discussed this with Harrison, he called it “Freedom Shock”. When I provide you a little later with the list of the key items that we learned to pay attention to, I will explain what happened as Freedom Shock.
Our Achievements From 1992-1995 as an Open Space Organization
1) By 1995, we had gained funding for and erected a $12 million housing complex in the inner city for the homeless and hard to house. The Open Space Technology meeting to discuss housing included the people who were in need of housing. Open Space Technology meetings to discuss the housing were conducted within the drop-in center for the homeless and there was one meeting that was conducted where the homeless gathered in an area outside. Needless to say, when the housing was erected, it was erected in a way that directly met the needs of the homeless as identified by the homeless including meeting the needs of physically disabled persons amongst that group.
2) By 1994, Wesley Urban Ministries received initial funding for the development of a community health center with a mandate to service the people on the streets that might or might not include a physical location. It was an innovative idea of bringing health services in mobile form where they were most needed. In the development of the initial concept of seeking the resources for the community health center, there was a series of Open Space Technology and follow-up meetings. Again, these meetings included the people who would be receiving the services or people who had most recently been in similar positions but were now in satisfactory housing. Once the funding was announced, the organization was created as an organization in a series of Open Space Technology meetings to establish what the issues and opportunities were for operating the community health center. During the first Open Space Technology meeting, there was an identification of who was interested in serving on the first board. The first board was born during the first two meetings.
This situation was one in which Wesley Urban Ministries provided the initial steps to get the community health center moving but then was going to release it to run as an independent corporation. One way of providing support to the organization that was forming was for Wesley Urban Ministries to hire an executive director on a contract basis to staff the center, to be a resource to the board and to provide enough support so that the board could get themselves going. Once the board was established, it was up to them whether or not they would have an executive director or whether they would even use the one that was in on a temporary basis. In actual fact, once they decided who they were as an organization, they decided that they did not want to go with that particular executive director and made a choice of their own. It had seemed necessary at the beginning to provide them with this staff support in order to 25 get the community health center up and running within the time frame that the funding required.
3) Departments that had been antagonistic towards each other started working together. The most striking demonstration of this was the relationship of our fundraising department with all of the other departments. There had been a number of people in the organization, and this has been my experience with many social service organizations, that were very interested in service delivery and were very antagonistic towards the department that was responsible for fundraising and resource development. What surprised me was that some of the people that were the most antagonistic towards the fundraising department were the ones who not only attended the first discussion about it (OK that part itself wasn’t so surprising because they actually went there to speak against it) but then they continued with the discussions beyond the meeting., The discussions were positive rather than antagonistic. I was surprised that people who had been antagonistic towards fundraising had come to the realization that they need to give some of their energy towards fundraising or else the service delivery just wouldn’t happen. The staff, Board members, and volunteers in fundraising and the ones in service delivery didn’t become friends overnight and in some cases animosity continued. However, they worked together in a way that generated 40% increased revenues in the first year of working together. This then plateaued out, but maintained a very steady increase over the next few years. This too was surprising because of the period of recession that the country was in. Most other social service organizations in our province were reporting declines in funding during this time.
4) By 1993, the three different geographic locations of Wesley Urban Ministries were working together co-operatively, supporting each other and making the best use of collective resources. The mandate I had been given to bring the organization together as one whole had been achieved. Board, staff, and volunteers now identified themselves as working with Wesley Urban Ministries, rather than their previous practice of identifying with a particular location only. This was most apparent when one location experienced the need for additional help. People throughout the organization pitched in and helped, as part of their natural process together.
5) Somehow, at some point in time, in 1993, there was a shift throughout the organization towards thinking in terms of social justice rather than charity. I do not recall how it happened or when. I feel as though overnight, something happened that changed. Volunteers, Board members, and staff were arranging events and programs that created conditions for empowerment and challenged any action in the organization that looked like charity. Not everyone made the shift. Some staff and Board members left. And some of our donors stopped assisting us. And others came in who were excited by our philosophy and vision, ensuring the increase and sustainability of our resources. The motto of the organization, “together we can make a difference” shifted from words to action. I do know that for years, as the CEO, I had 26 attempted to hold people accountable to a social justice model and it just didn’t happen, except at the senior staff level and amongst a rare few Board members, front line staff and volunteers. At some point in 1993, I became aware that I was holding no one actively accountable. I discovered that they held each other accountable and I had very little involvement in the shift. I won’t say that the part of my mandate to bring about the shift from a charity model to a social justice model was fully achieved. I see that as an ongoing process. However, a critical mass of people within the organization made the shift and the corporate culture shifted. This shift in the corporate culture was a fulfillment of my initial mandate.
6) In 1994, we hired an independent organizational consultant to do an evaluation of the organization. I do not recall what measurements she used. I do recall that as well as assessing the knowledge and skills of the Board members and myself as leaders of the organization, that she used a measure to see how similarly the Chairperson of the Board and the CEO perceived the organization, its purpose, its values, and its vision. She provided us with a report that gave us an excellent rating. She spoke of her surprise at finding that the Chairperson of the Board and myself had an identical profile of how we viewed the organization. She said that even by simply measuring this, she would have known that the organization was healthy. She said that in her research, this was a prime indicator.
7) The organization received a number of awards from the community in 1995 including the Award for Organizational Excellence from the Mayor’s Race Relations Committee, the Pinnacle Award for Public Relations, and the Woman of the Year Award for the CEO.
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 27 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
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 started calling the deeper essence of the organization was to spend time regularly to discuss our assumptions about the organization, and about specific areas of work.
5. Holding as many meetings as possible using Open Space Technology
Every Open Space Technology meeting we held was designed to bring results. Sometimes key areas were identified that we agreed required further Open Space Technology meetings. We held an annual two day Open Space Technology meeting for organization-wide strategic planning, periodic full day Open Space Technology meetings within different working units, and regular monthly short four hour Open Space Technology meetings to discuss key items that had emerged.
6. When holding a meeting that is task focused that is not appropriate for Open Space Technology, we held the meeting with process and format conducive to the values inherent in Open Space Technology including sitting in a circle with no tables, using process facilitation involving whole brain and intuition.
7. Recognizing when a meeting was open for participation or was simply to provide predetermined direction and information.
When providing predetermined direction and information, we were clear that the meeting was not a participative one and we kept those to a minimum and short. 28
8. Working with chaos by learning about it and navigating with it rather than trying to manage it.
We had discussions within the organization about chaos, about chaos and change being constant and how to work with it. We started using words like navigating with change and started to talk about and laugh about the impossibility of managing change. This affected how we did our planning, shifting us away from linear goal setting and strategic planning, and leaving room for new opportunities as they emerged. 9. Formal leadership committed to leading in a different way.
We altered the role of management to one in which we identified management tasks as those that removed barriers for the job to get done, and one that ensured that we provided resources for the job to get done. A significant way of doing this was managing the organization in a way that paralleled the Open Space Technology meeting, complete with an ongoing bulletin board and opportunities to attend discussion sessions that could be set by anyone, based on passion and responsibility. At the Board level, it was essential that the Board was in a policy governance model.
10.Clarifying “givens” for the organization and clarifying “givens” for each OST meeting.
This was probably the biggest breakthrough that we had in our journey to become and then sustain ourselves as an Open Space Organization. After the third month of Open Space Technology meetings, staff rebelled at the start of a meeting saying that they did not want any more of these meetings. When we discussed what the trouble was, amidst a great deal of anger from the staff, they said that every time they came up with a creative solution at an Open Space Technology meeting, they felt shut down afterwards by finding out about some reason why it couldn’t be done. Usually the reason was legitimate and usually I was the one who gave it. I had been unaware of this or the impact. My intentions were good. It was also apparent that staff were rebelling against the new responsibilities for solutions in the organization. This is what Harrison Owen called “freedom shock”.
This took us to discussing the “givens” or limits that we worked within as an organization. We then pared the “givens” down to what truly was a “given” and all staff, Board and volunteers proceeded with our Open Space Technology meetings, knowing up front what was and was not doable.
11.Bringing the processes and changes to everyone’s awareness
We frequently discussed organizational processes and changes so that we all paid attention to the organizational whole and how it ran. This enabled us all to be “keepers of the vision” and to move forward as a collective whole, each person being given the chance to make his/her personal meaning out of it all. 29
12.Organizational lifecycle
We studied and worked with knowledge about organizational lifecycles and worked intentionally to challenge ourselves to keep ourselves at peak performance in relation to structure being appropriate to support the spirit of the organization and of achieving the purpose.
13.Understanding authority, accountability, and responsibility in a framework of working with energy from passion and responsibility. We worked from a belief that all people were precious and valuable and that the wisdom to do what needed to be done was amongst the people involved with the organization. In doing so, we had discussions about accountability, authority, and responsibility to ensure that we were clear about these while simultaneously working with passion and capturing maximum energy to move things forward without getting in our own way with too many rules.
Aftermath
We sustained ourselves as an Open Space Organization, based on these key ingredients, from 1992 through 1995. It was an exciting time with a terrific staff and Board of Directors. We were excited about what could be done by working differently. My time to leave was quickly approaching. My successor would soon be hired. I was confident that the organization would remain an Open Space Organization, with key leadership from senior staff, particularly our Director of Services, Bill Mackinnon. The sad news is that it did not remain an Open Space Organization, despite the best efforts of Bill Mackinnon and the majority of the staff team. They were handicapped in doing so by a number of factors, some of which took place prior to my leaving and some of which took place after my departure.
Prior to my leaving, we accepted a Board member who was not supportive of the purpose, values and operating style of the organization. He was immediately placed on the Executive as our Treasurer. We had wanted him for this specific skill set and felt that he would not undermine the corporate culture that the rest of us sustained. Within months, for a number of independent reasons, all but one of the Executive resigned from the Board of Directors. A meeting was held at the home of Jack Moore, who was no longer active in the organization. Remaining key Board members met to determine how to stop the exit of more Board members. Our new Treasurer was causing great turmoil. A strategy of collaboration amongst the remaining Board members was developed. In hindsight, I wish that there had been more honesty directly with the Treasurer. Then, through a series of circumstances, this new Treasurer became Chairperson of the Board. No one else was willing to accept the position. He had a different idea about how the organization should operate. And hired an executive director in keeping with his own philosophy. Management by 30 control set in and a charity model approach to our customers was endorsed. Bill Mackinnon and many staff made a valiant effort over the next two years to ensure that people were valued and solutions were found. During the two years, many staff left the organization, and finally Bill too had to leave. The new CEO was taking him through a disciplinary process with intent to fire him.
What could we have done differently? Probably many things. The one that is top in my reflections is that it is not good to bring someone into the organization at a leadership level who is in disagreement with the values and purpose of the organization. Even one such voice, if strong, can wreak havoc.
The good news is that we continue to be proud that we achieved what we did during those years. The staff who dispersed to other organizations have a definite influence on those organizations regarding operating differently for effectiveness. And for me, I learned what I had set out to learn and have duplicated the Open Space Organization in other organizations and can share the learning to encourage others to work this way.
The story is not yet over for Wesley Urban Ministries. I am told that the new CEO has left, the Chairman of the Board resigned, and the Board of Directors has rehired one of the senior staff who was there during our Open Space Organization time to lead the organization.
Part Three of My Story of the Open Space Organization
My Evolving Work with the Open Space Organization 1995-2000
The next stages in my experience with the Open Space Organization, now in my work as a consultant to organizations, were guided by three questions:
What is the Open Space Organization? Why is the Open Space Organization important to the evolution of humankind, or is it? What is my personal purpose within this world work within the context of the Divine Operating Plan (God’s plan)? 31
In telling this story, I am not interested in converting anyone to my beliefs. I am sharing where I have been, what is important to me, and what I have learned. The learning continues. Others, who so wish, will create their own journey with the Open Space Organization. It is my wish to be as truthful as I can be in my current understanding of the Open Space Organization and of myself. In expressing myself as clearly as I can, anyone who chooses to join me in this journey is informed about why I teach what I teach, why I work as I do, and what I hope to contribute as my service in the world.
When I relate this story of my evolving work with the Open Space Organization, it is deeply interwoven with my evolution as a person. I believe that truth is revealed to us only when we are able to handle the truth. This requires personal evolution and growth, the willingness to change, the willingness to pay attention and examine what is before us, and the willingness to seek truth and face it when it appears. For me, my story of my evolution is closely woven with the evolution within the organizations and individuals I work with.
The following poem by David Whyte, from his book Fire in the Earth, expresses for me what I am saying here and my choice to tell the story of where I stand, with passion and love for humans, for collectives of humans, for our earth, and for God. The poem is called Self Portrait.
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God or many gods. I want to know if you belong or feel abandoned. If you can know despair or see it in others. I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world with its harsh need to change you. If you can look back with firm eyes saying this is where I stand. I want to know if you know how to melt into that fierce heat of living falling toward the center of your longing. I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in THAT fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God.
My Beliefs
The following beliefs effect all work that I do, and my state of BEING in the world. 32
I believe that all individuals at this time are at a time in their evolution where there will be recognition that the critical work as an individual is to BE which requires awareness of self that is genuine and that individuals are coming to a recognition that this is as important as what the individual DOES.
I believe that each and every person is precious, that we are all unique individuals and we are all also connected at unseen levels with all of Creation. Whatever each of us does as an individual affects all of creation.
I believe that the current collective paradigm emphasizes the return of responsibility to looking after our personal health. I believe there is a return in our collective consciousness of responsibility to looking after the earth, a return to recognizing that Spirit is in all matter and that we need to find a different way of conducting our lives and our organizations.
I believe that individuals are at a time in evolution in which it is imperative that individuals learn to manage their personal energy by becoming aware of it and aware of the relationship between personal energy and optimum health; personal energy and the relationship of the individual with all of creation through understanding energy and energy work.
I believe that organizations are at a time in their evolution of recognizing the importance of the humans within them and recognizing that people are to be worked with as being precious and that Spirit connects us all and simultaneously organizations will achieve success beyond current expectations. Working with people as precious and leading organizations as though Spirit matters is compatible with success, not opposed to it.
I believe that we each must take responsibility for whatever we create and I believe we co-create with God/Spirit. For me, when I am in-spired (Spirit moving within me), I am clear that Spirit is working through me and I also take responsibility for what emerges in the process. I am always given the choice of what I want to do with my in- spiration. I have free will to create as an individual. I use my free will to create what is for my highest good and highest joy and simultaneously what is for greater good of all of creation, to the best of my current ability to discern this.
I believe that there is a blueprint in every cell of every human that has all of the information of the laws of the universe and that we are not so much needing to find new information, but to remember and access what we already know.
I believe that as humans we continue to evolve to higher consciousness. Through higher consciousness we will find freedom. At present, I see this as freedom to move beyond our addictions as individuals and as a collective, including freedom from addictions to fear. I believe that addiction to fear is the largest barrier to overcome in our evolution. 33
I believe that our greatest growth is found in our relationships: our relationship to self, our relationship to one other, our relationship to a collective of people (an organization), our relationship to the earth, and our relationship with Spirit within all.
For me, it is important to be on a quest with my questions, to probe and experience and experiment until I find my way and until I am satisfied. I recognize whenever I reach a place of personal satisfaction with the truth that I seek, when I experience a deep inner peace and harmony, that I am on a path that is right for me to fulfill my purpose here on this earth at this time in my evolution.
All Organizations are Open Space Organizations, yet only some want to work in this way at this time
I continue to believe that all organizations are Open Space Organizations and that when the Open Space Organization is not visible, it is simply a matter of too much stuff (structure, processes, busy work) in the way. I continue to believe that all organizations are capable of becoming intentional Open Space Organizations at some time in their evolution. However, not all organizations are willing to work as an Open Space Organization at this time in their evolution.
Initially, I was perplexed by this. I would meet with executives who had said that they wanted a higher performing organization. The most frequent comments about troubles in their organizations were “I can’t get my people to accept their responsibility”, “staff morale here needs to be improved”, “communication needs to be improved”. In various ways, and quite often by holding an initial 2-3 day Open Space Technology meeting to develop vision and strategic plans, we would explore what the potential in the organization seemed to be. I had countless numbers of conversations in which the executives would say “we understand that this way of working would take us to real success. We are just not ready yet.” The first few times I heard this, I was in disbelief. What part of success and health where they not ready for? I kept my question to myself. None of these executives who saw that success was possible and stated their unpreparedness at this time to work with this, have been in contact with me again.
As I reflected about this, sipping my coffee, I looked at the coffee, which I know is not good for my health, and I looked at my husband sipping his coffee and smoking a cigarette, and I realized the executives of these organizations were no different from us. We, Ward and I, know that coffee and smoking tobacco are not good for us. And yet, I am not yet ready to give up coffee and my husband is not yet ready to give up either coffee or tobacco. We, each of us, may never choose to be ready to take that step towards our health and well being. The organizations are not yet ready to give up their addictions either, even when they know that there is a way to be healthier.
Today, when I hear the stories “we are not ready yet”, I have compassion, and hope that they will be ready one day. 34
Reclaiming the organization as an Open Space Organization, an interconnected learning organization, requires working with the will to change and the will to be healthy. It is about recognizing that change is a constant, not a destination and that change management is an oxymoron. Success in working with change is dependent on building the capacity of individuals and of the organization to navigate with change. At the level of the individual, capacity can be enhanced through meditation and yoga. At the level of the organization, capacity can be enhanced through conducting meetings through the use of Open Space Technology and working as an Open Space Organization. Neither Open Space Technology nor the Open Space Organization is a destination.
From time to time, I come upon executives who want a healthy organization, who want to tap into the wisdom and potential of their workforce, who want a nutrient environment for the workforce, and who strive for success even beyond their expectations. In every such situation that I was part of, the decision to become an Open Space Organization, sometimes referred to as an interconnected learning organization, emerged immediately following an Open Space Technology meeting in their organizations. The Open Space Technology meeting in every case was a powerful experience for these leaders to see what was possible. I always end every Open Space Technology meeting with a framework that allows for action/reflection learning about what was experienced during the meeting regarding leadership, vision, community, and management. Use of this framework is described in Open Space Technology: a user’s guide by Harrison Owen. I have always seen it as a critical element in maximizing what happens in the organization following an Open Space Technology meeting. The second key ingredient in opening space for the conversation about the Open Space Organization to take place is to hold a debrief meeting with the executives following the Open Space Technology meeting. I attend to this meeting whenever I agree to facilitate an Open Space Technology meeting for an organization about the future of the organization.
Perspectives that are common among organizations that want to work as Open Space Organizations
I have learned that organizations that are ready NOW to work as an Open Space Organization have some common perspectives in what they value within the senior management team. Now, when I am in discussions with an organization about working as an Open Space Organization, I explore with the executives whether these values fit their values.
1. They value whole systems thinking and understand that the organization is not a “closed system” but is an “open system” subject to constant change and interaction with the environment in which it operates. You want your organization 35
to be flexible, allowing it to navigate with change and chaos, and to flourish as a result of navigating the changes and chaos for increasing organizational success.
2. They value the importance of a learning organization capable of achieving success today and for the long term. You want to implement a learning organization that continually builds the capacity, skills and knowledge in both individuals and in the organization as a whole for ongoing organizational effectiveness.
3. They value utilizing the best people for the job and you want to achieve success by fully tapping into the potential of the individuals of the organization.
4. They value the power of well functioning teams for getting the right results in the right timing to take advantage of opportunities as they are created. You want to develop well functioning work teams to handle day to day work and you want to develop cross functional teams that excel in assessing and overcoming performance challenges.
5. They are prepared to create a nutrient environment for your organization to flourish. You want to create an environment in which individuals empower themselves to get the job done within a clear framework of parameters that are understood throughout the organization. You also want to create a nutrient environment in which your staff really participate in finding and implementing solutions to greater and greater levels of effectiveness in achieving outcomes.
6. They value a healthy organization that produces results and yet is a healthy environment for those who are involved to grow, flourish, and evolve. You want to work towards organizational health and sustain a healthy organization for high productivity, high learning, and the growth and evolution of your people.
Consistent Tangible Results
In all organizations that we have worked with as Open Space Organizations, the following tangible results are common:
Breakthrough learning Appropriate structure Genuine community and effective communication High morale Spirited performance Engaged involvement High efficiency High productivity Shared leadership Shared vision 36
Clear purpose Growth from within Elimination of barriers to doing a job quickly with excellence and pride Increased creativity Sustainable and renewable organizational health and balance from a holistic health perspective energy released for further successes An organization that navigates with change and takes advantage of the opportunities that change brings, quickly (change is a constant in the world) A workplace or organization where the human being flourishes
As A Consultant I Worked from Clear Intention
As a consultant, I worked to clarify my motivation for why I was doing the work that I was doing with organizations that wanted what they had experienced in the Open Space Technology meeting to become part of their daily life as an organization.
The conclusions that I arrived at from the work I did to clarify my motivation was 1. to discard my attachment to outcome 2. to recognize that there was NO MODEL that was the Open Space Organization and the attempt to develop a MODEL was antithetical to the Open Space Organization as already present and organic 3. to recognize that no two Open Space Organizations were likely to be duplicates of each other 4. to recognize that the organizations themselves might not be aware of themselves as Open Space Organizations by that name and that it didn’t matter 5. that the evolution (or devolution) to an Open Space Organization must be from the inside out, with minimal external consultant involvement if any external consultant involvement was even desired by the organization and 6. that my intentions as a consultant must be clear and stated to the organizations that engage me
In the materials I provide for any organization that I work with, and now on the www.openspacetechnology.com website within the write up of the Genuine Contact Program, I have been clear that my intentions for the work I do with any organization that engages me are the following:
1. My intention is to provide services to assist with organizational change and transformation for increasing effectiveness and success. This organizational change and transformation is to be developed from within the organization through the wisdom that is present in the organization.
2. My intention is to work in organizations where senior leaders are committed to the development of balance and health of the organization. 37
3. It is my intention in all situations that I work in that I provide minimal external consultant intervention with the emphasis focused on building the skills for organizational effectiveness in-house for change to be developed and sustained from within.
4. My intention includes working with the organization as organic, a living organism. My intention is to work with simplicity in mind, working from the premise that complex solutions or models are a barrier to organizational effectiveness and learning, whereas simple means that are easy to use bring about real organizational effectiveness and learning.
In all of the work that I do with organizational change and transformation, my intention is to assist the organization work towards achieving:
1. Ability, capacity, and skills to navigate with change and chaos and to flourish as a result of navigating with change and chaos for increasing organizational success.
2. Implementation of an interconnected learning organization that continually builds capacity, skills and knowledge in both individuals and in the organization as a whole for ongoing organizational effectiveness.
3. Success by fully tapping into the potential of the individuals of the organization.
4. Well functioning work teams to handle day-to-day work and to develop cross- functional teams that excel in assessing and overcoming performance challenges.
5. An environment in which individuals empower themselves to get the job done within a clear framework of parameters that are understood throughout the organization.
6. A nutrient environment in which staff really participates in finding and implementing solutions to greater and greater levels of effectiveness in achieving outcomes.
7. Organizational health with high productivity, high learning, and the growth and evolution of the people in the organization.
8. Leadership development.
How I work in the Development of the Open Space Organization
I do preparation work of myself as an individual on an ongoing basis, committed to my personal growth, evolution and self knowledge. I do not ask of an organization what I do not ask of myself. I consider preparation to “hold space” for the organization equal to preparation for “holding space” for the Open Space Technology 38 meeting. A CEO of a hospital system, who had spent years working with the materials of the Learning Organization of Peter Senge, was very interested in the Open Space Organization as he understood it. He understood that it was a phase beyond Peter Senge’s Learning Organization and he was seeking the next phase. A key question that he had for me during the interview was “what do you do to prepare yourself?”. I replied that my preparation is in my daily life, and not specifically for any Open Space Technology meeting or organization. He was satisfied with this answer, one which fit with what he had hoped for.
I work from my perspective and interpretation of what Open Space Technology is. In working with the Open Space Organization, I pay attention to assisting leadership to create the same container for the Open Space Organization that is created for the Open Space Technology meeting. To do this, I work with leadership to develop their own perspective and interpretation of the Open Space Technology meeting. The form is the easier part to understand including the four principles, the one law, the circle, passion and responsibility, the givens, the theme, topics, and reports. The essence is much more difficult, requiring a study and understanding of energy work. It requires a reweaving of the concepts of East and West, spirit and matter, mind and body. The weaving is one that is pro-life and pro-spirit. It is a weaving of the knowledge within the person, the knowledge of ancient and modern holistic health, and some understanding of the evolutionary journey of consciousness to a higher consciousness. Harrison Owen, in his books, gives introduction to much of this and I encourage leaders to read his books. I also encourage leaders to read The Four Fold Way by Angeles Arrien for an introduction to universal healing practices and four archetypal energies (warrior, leader, healer and teacher) and to listen to audio tapes of Carolyn Myss called Energy Anatomy. Carolyn Myss takes the listener through a study of energy in the human, what happens to our personal health when we leak energy, and how to manage personal energy. And finally, I encourage leaders to read the I Ching (whatever version appeals to them from difficult translations from the original Chinese to simpler translations). The I Ching is considered to be the oldest book and is the book of changes. Reading through the 64 different life situations and understanding that all of life is a flow between the different possibilities and that change is a constant is beneficial for any leader. These are not the only resources that would be useful and I encourage leaders to view the bibliography on my website for other suggestions. It is important that through whatever resources used, that the leaders understand that there is a lot going on in their organization at the unseen level. Eventually our discussions become discussions that raise the idea that “holding space” is the holding of a frequency or a particular harmonic. I work with leaders to assist them in coming to terms with the importance of their BEING rather than their DOING, for the holding of space for the organization in a particular frequency and harmony.
With the executive, I focus on uncovering key ingredients from which an organization determines what will work for its own unique culture. We suggest the list of key ingredients that we identified at Wesley Urban Ministries as noted in part two of this story of the Open Space Organization: 39
14.The grief cycle at work promoting understanding and tolerance
All staff are to be introduced to an understanding of the cycle of griefwork and challenged to view situations within the organization from a perspective that rather than dealing with “resistance to change”, they could be dealing with a person working through the grief cycle. This is to be used to promote understanding and tolerance, deferring judgement about others, and working with the grief cycle intentionally as needed within the organization.
15.Storytelling promoting awareness, collectiveness, empathy, truth
Time is to be taken at regular intervals, every three months or so, for staff to tell stories. The focus is on stories of the organization, of their immediate work in the organization or the larger context. Story telling time is to be seen as valuable, with all stories—sads, glads, and mads—being valued. Pictures and other artifacts are to be encouraged to accompany the story telling.
16.The story of the organization including purpose, values and vision
Time to be taken to achieve great clarity about purpose, values and vision throughout the organization. The purpose, values, and vision should be taken into account during every Policy and Operating decision that is made. All decisions and actions should ensure congruity with the purpose, values and vision.
17.The deep essence, working with what is not seen
Time to be taken to assist staff to understand that most of what really goes on in the organization is 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.
18. Holding as many meetings as possible using Open Space Technology
From time to time these will be multi-day meetings but most organizations cannot afford this very often. We encourage frequent four hour meetings and finding a way to create one big ongoing Open Space Technology meeting as the operating system.
19.When holding a meeting that is task focused that is not appropriate for Open Space Technology, we encourage that all other meetings are done with process and format conducive to the values inherent in Open Space Technology including sitting in a circle with no tables, and my preference of course is to encourage them to use process facilitation involving whole brain and intuition.
20.Recognizing when a meeting is open for participation or was simply to provide predetermined direction and information. 40
When providing predetermined direction and information, we encourage that the meeting, because it is not participative not use a participative meeting format. We encourage that these meetings be kept to a minimum and to be kept short.
21.Working with chaos by learning about it and navigating with it rather than trying to manage it.
Time is to be given for discussions within the organization about chaos, about chaos and change being constant and how to work with it.
9. Formal leadership committed to leading in a different way.
Leadership needs to make time for its own meetings, learning to lead and manage differently. Middle managers are often fearful that there is no place for them. There is a place for them, if this is appropriate for the organization. A significant way of doing this is to look at managing the organization in a way that parallels the Open Space Technology meeting, complete with an ongoing bulletin board and opportunities to attend discussion sessions that could be set by anyone, based on passion and responsibility. At the Board level, it is essential that the Board uses a policy governance model. In our experiences to date, we have found that when the leadership is not committed to the Open Space Organization, it is not possible to evolve (devolve) to working in this way.
22.Clarifying “givens” for the organization and clarifying “givens” for each OST meeting.
Time is to be taken to discussing the “givens” or limits that are worked within as an organization. The “givens” are to be pared down to what truly is a “given” and all staff are to become aware of the “givens” or to actually be involved in their identification.
23.Bringing the processes and changes to everyone’s awareness
Time to be taken to bring processes and changes to everyone’s awareness. Other means of communicating this are also to be found.
24.Organizational lifecycle
Annually, time is to be taken to ensure that structure is appropriate to support the spirit of the organization and of achieving the purpose of the organization. Corrective action that might include removing structure or increasing structure might be needed. 41
25.Understanding authority, accountability, and responsibility in a framework of working with energy from passion and responsibility.
Time needs to be taken for discussions about accountability, authority, and responsibility to ensure that there is clarity about these while simultaneously working with passion and capturing maximum energy to move things forward.
Organizations use only what has meaning for them. These ingredients come together as an organizational operating system that is right and unique for the organization. My friend and colleague Andrew Donovan in Melbourne, Australia has postulated that this is similar to what an operating system of a computer does for making the most of the computer. The operating system for the organization enables the organization to make the most of its potential.
I provide skill development opportunities to ensure that the skills for maintaining the operating system are “in-house” with minimal involvement from me (with occasional calls similar to those in our metaphor of using the computer’s operating system, for tech support). I have narrowed down what is needed here to 1. four days of training in facilitating Open Space Technology meetings so that they can facilitate their own and each others meetings; 2. two days of training in facilitating meetings using whole brain Process Facilitation to be used for meetings where Open Space Technology is not appropriate; 3. two days of training in Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution so that they have a means of assisting with conflict resolution for situations that arise where individuals or teams identify the desire the resolution of conflict—this desire is a frequent by-product of Open Space Technology meetings; and 4. three or four days of training in leading differently with the Open Space Organization as per our list of key ingredients.
The “in-house” training is done with the senior managers and any others that they want to have present. The “in-house” training is done in a way that provides resources for this initial group to train others within the organization so that these skills become skills throughout the organization without the external consultant being necessary.
I continue to work with the framework of the medicine wheel or healing circle that was originally used at the end of the initial Open Space Technology meeting. This medicine wheel is used for developing a framework with the organization that it can use to discover its state of overall health and balance as an organization. It remains a framework for the organization to use on an ongoing basis, to identify if it is healthy and in balance or if it has drifted out of balance. This framework provides the organization, beginning with the senior leaders but used throughout the organization, a framework for working with course correction to regain a state of balance and health. I provide the group with a copy of an article that Larry Peterson and I wrote that was published in Berrett-Koehler’s bi-monthly journal At Work: Stories of 42
Tomorrow’s Workplace Feb 1999. A copy of the original article is on the www.openspacetechnology.com website in the section about the Open Space Organization. I have taken the development of this framework further, with further study of medicine wheels, and use a slightly different version now with organizations. I begin by working from the middle of the medicine wheel, working with the purpose of the organization. Nothing moves forward if the purpose is not clear and it is amazing how often the purpose is assumed to be clear but then with work, it is not clear at all. We then go to the north, to examine leadership and develop corrective action if necessary, the east, to examine and if necessary develop vision that is clear and focused, the south to examine community including morale and communications, the west to examine management and to make a plan for corrective action if necessary, and then to the cross that connects the wheel, representative of relationships, to examine clear good relationships. This framework provides invaluable information and a prescription for corrective action. During the time that Larry and I worked together, we concluded, based on our experience, that corrective action needed to be taken in a particular order. This is covered in the article we wrote. I have since found that beginning with purpose is essential to developing organizational health.
The final focus I have with the senior leadership team is to take them through an exercise to establish the “givens” of the organization. I use whole brain Process Facilitation whenever I do this type of meeting. Together we determine what really is “given” within the organization, always paring these “givens” down to their barest minimum to what is truly a “given” or non-negotiable. This in turn, is the key ingredient to determining the degree of freedom (space) within the organization. In most situations, I find this the most difficult of all the work that I do with the organization. I don’t know why, but most senior leadership teams do not agree on the “givens” easily, and are often not aware of what they are. They see that this may have been one of their biggest problems in how they lead the organization, having left their employees with confusing and maybe contradictory understandings of what was not negotiable—resulting in great stifling of creativity.
In most cases, all of this work is done during the first year, with somewhere between thirty and forty days of working with the leadership group. In between what I have described here, are coaching days as needed.
Sometimes, in a small enough organization (60-100 people) I have done all of the work I have noted here with the entire staff team. When this was not possible, we developed a plan to work with bringing all of the staff to understand the “givens”, the freedom to act, and the basics ingredients of the Open Space Organization that need to be attended to. Sometimes I was involved with some of this such as facilitating an Open Space Technology meeting, and most times I was not needed. On one glorious occasion, at the end of nine months, when the management team was reviewing what they had done to bring about their transition to a healthy organization, they had a fairly accurate list and then a question, wondering what my role had been. Totally 43 present, and totally invisible, a lesson we learn in facilitating the Open Space Technology meeting.
Circumstances in Which We Have Not Had Success and in Which We Have Had Success
To date, using the basics as noted above, and always resulting from an initial Open Space Technology meeting followed by a debriefing discussion, there have been common circumstances amongst organizations in which our follow up with development of the Open Space Organization was not successful. Over the past few years, we have had three opportunities to work in large organizations in which one large division or department wanted to develop as an Open Space Organization. The larger organization was not involved, nor was the leadership at the top of the organization very supportive. In two organizations, the division/department we worked with operated as an Open Space Organization within months. In one case, senior management, despite excellent work from the division, disbanded the division to become assimilated within the organization elsewhere and fired the Director. In another organization, head of the department we worked with was disciplined by the senior manager for the participative format that was not to be tolerated. The department returned to previous ineffective and conflict ridden ways of working. And in the last of these three opportunities, we only got as far as the exercise of determining the “givens” and then the division head made the decision that it was unwise to proceed with this within the confines of the larger company.
In the twelve organizations where we worked with the senior management and the whole organization, we were unsuccessful in six of the twelve. In every circumstance where we were unsuccessful, something was discovered within the organization that was the exposing of a lie. In four of these organizations, the lie was that the leaders said that they wanted a participatory organization. It seemed that when they discovered that this was truly a participatory organization, they did not want an organization that they could not control what arose in the participation. In one circumstance, an fraudulent situation was uncovered. The leadership who worked with me were prepared to expose the fraud. They were fired. And in the final organization where we were unsuccessful, leadership was not prepared to be truthful about the “givens”.
We experienced wonderful success with six of the twelve organizations and will soon be seeking their assistance to tell their stories in their own words. Three of these organizations are now in their fourth year of operating as Open Space Organizations. In two of them, I have had the opportunity to return annually to assist with some fine tuning.
Added Challenges 44
It would be much easier to develop an Open Space Organization from the inception of the organization, rather than working with an organization where many patterns and actions are already established. I continue to use the word “devolve” because there is a devolution of many things to create some space.
It is not necessary to have an external consultant involved in any of this. Sometimes internal personnel, following the debrief meeting of the initial Open Space Technology meeting, run with this work on their own. And that is wonderful. I get calls from these people from time to time, clarifying an item or two with me. The added challenge for internal personnel is during the meeting in which the “givens” are established. I have found so much resistance amongst leadership teams to being honest about the “givens” that I feel that an internal person would have an almost impossible time of holding the senior leadership team to speak the truth and come to agreement about the “givens”. I believe that if the “givens” are not done well, the space is not honestly defined and will cause troubles along the way regarding reality and expectations.
The Genuine Contact Program
I have taken my almost a decade of experience with the Open Space Organization and captured what I have learned in terms of what seemed to be essential for this to work. The initial stage of my learning about the Open Space Organization was evolving an organization that I was CEO of, to an Open Space Organization. I was then intentional about offering the opportunity to become an Open Space Organization, an interconnected learning organization, to every organization for which I did an Open Space Technology meeting. I was very eager to work with organizations of up to 100 people because I wanted a smaller size of organization so that I could observe the progress and results easily.
I then wanted to see if what I had learned was duplicable based on sharing key ingredients rather than a model, and based on my understanding that the change would need to be driven from the inside. After I saw that the evolution to an Open Space Organization was duplicable, recognizing that no two Open Space Organizations would be identical, I spent a year figuring out how to take consultants through a workshop to enable them to work with organizations as Open Space Organizations. Together with my husband and partner, we spent the following year fine tuning these workshops and testing them to see if the learning we desired for people was facilitated through our workshops. Three of our five workshops have been led by me for many years. However, only in working together was I able to step back and really look at how these workshops make up the teaching of what I really do with organizations.
The result of this is our Genuine Contact Program with five workshop components: #1 Working with Open Space Technology (4 days); #2 Working with Process Facilitation (2 days); #3 Working with Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution (2 days); #4 The Advanced Program of Open Space Technology focusing on the Open Space 45
Organization; and #5 Train the Trainer in the Genuine Contact Program. Thanks to wonderful colleagues and friends around the world, we have led workshops in various locations. Our intention is to provide the first four components so that they can be accessed within particular geographic locations and those who wish to take only one component can do so and those who wish to take all four have this available. The first “Train the Trainer” is going to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, in the meeting space in our home Sept 21-24 of 2001. Those who join us for the entire program will be going out into organizations taking them through the development of the Open Space Organization as per what we have described here, using our training materials. These people will continue this pioneering work.
We see the Genuine Contact Program as the vehicle for assisting organizations become Open Space Organizations, interconnected learning organizations. We see the Genuine Contact Program as the vehicle for assisting consultants, human resource departments, organizational development departments, and leaders to learn how to develop their organizations as Open Space Organizations. We wanted to provide an effective and quick means for an organization to access the issues that need to be addressed ; and the solutions that need to be implemented from the collective genius of the human resources of the organization. The Genuine Contact Program fosters a solution focused organization, achieving results that surpass expectations, while attending to the provision of a nutrient environment for the human spirit to flourish, to fulfill its potential, and to tap into its creativity. Solutions that come from the collective genius and passion of the human resources of the organization do achieve implementation and follow up. The organization is successful in fulfilling its purpose, making the most of the potential of human resources, while attending to business as though God and the human being matter.
My Story of the Open Space Organization: Part Four of Four
The Genuine Contact program is a vehicle to develop the conscious Open Space Organization. The conscious Open Space Organization requires that the organization works to cleanse, balance, and nourish itself to health. Within the Genuine Contact program, we work with the following beliefs:
1. Spirit is all that is. 2. All organizations have within them the blueprint for health. 3. Focusing on genuine contact enables individuals and organizations to achieve health and to experience our connection with all that is.
We work with Spirit. Spirit works with us. We work from Spirit. Spirit works with us. We work to Spirit. Spirit works with us. And we are of Spirit
My enlightenment is not a destination to be reached. I have always been enlightened. I simply have to remember my way. And not be afraid to go to the unknown. In the unknown, I will recognize that I always knew…. 46
The inspired organization is not a destination to be reached. All organizations are inspired organizations. They simply have to remember their way. And not to be afraid to go to the unknown. In the unknown, they will recognize that they always knew…
On earth, the mystical requires that we learn to walk the mystical path with practical feet. To mentor myself to walk the mystical path with practical feet, I strive toward and maintain mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health. In each of these aspects of myself, I cleanse, balance and nourish myself. My consciousness of this process began by sorting out for myself who I am. I choose life nurturing patterns. I could have chosen otherwise… however, I cannot deny that underneath, I am an inspired being, connected to Spirit and all that is. I chose to work with this consciously. I do not choose to argue for my limitations and why this is not possible. I choose to work with my full power and light.
In mentoring the organization to do walk the mystical path with practical feet, I mentor the organization to strive toward and maintain mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health. Organizations also must be able to answer “who am I”. All organizations are learning organizations. They have learned either life depleting or life nurturing patterns.
Today, I and others mentor organizations to cleanse, balance and nourish themselves so that they can learn life nurturing rather than life depleting patterns and free themselves from the life depleting patterns that developed from previous learning. Often, part of the previous learning is to “argue for limitations” rather than working with their full power and light. Organizations can choose life nurturing patterns, or they can choose otherwise… they are inspired organizations connected to Spirit and all that is no matter what their choice. All organizations are Open Space Organizations. They can choose to work with this consciously or choose not to. I choose to work with organizations that choose life nurturing patterns, that choose to cleanse, balance and nourish themselves. I choose to work with organizations that have made a choice about becoming conscious about their connection to, with, from and of Spirit. I choose to work with organizations that choose to be conscious Open Space Organizations.
For those seeking to cleanse, balance and nourish themselves, Open Space Technology and Whole Person Process Facilitation are meeting methodologies that provide a window to what is already there under the surface, underneath the patterns that have been learned.
In learning to work as inspired organizations, organizations can begin using meetings as the catalyst and then developing appropriate structure to support the awakened inspired performance. I tend to get right into the middle of something and then figure out what it is. And often, just when I think that I have it figured out, I realize that I know very little about it at all. This leads to another period of sitting in the middle of whatever it is a while longer until I reach another stage of “aha, I know what it is”. Over time, this way of living and learning has gotten me into more than a little hot water. However, I believe my learning is much deeper and richer for it all.
I have gone through this living and learning process in understanding the conscious Open Space Organization. You might note, if you read the previous three parts of this story, that I preface the term Open Space Organization with the word conscious now which I didn’t before.
Previously, I wrote about leading an organization as the first intentional Open Space Organization. This period, from 1992 through 1995 was followed by a period of determining whether what I had learned about leading organizations in this way could be duplicated. I found that by paying attention to certain key ingredients and working with the organization from a holistic perspective, that intentional Open Space Organizations emerged. A test for me followed as I struggled to find a way to teach others how to develop intentional Open Space Organizations. I teamed up with my husband, Ward, in this quest, combining our varying skills. We found that the teaching required us to put aside what we had discovered and to find the right questions so that each person who learned with us could have their own opportunity for discovery, finding the place we had found, as though for the first time. 47
The Genuine Contact program emerged from this with its seven component parts. The Genuine Contact program was designed with simplicity in mind, to teach people within organizations how to work with, from, to and of Spirit. The program assists in personal and professional development for participants in the program. Within the program, participants are taught to use meetings as a catalyst for working from, with, to and of Spirit.
The result of working with the Genuine Contact program within an organization is to foster development as a conscious, life nurturing, interconnected learning organization based on what is already present in the organization. We name these organizations conscious Open Space Organizations. The process we teach requires that leaders and mentors work with the organic nature of the organization, with its own change from within the organization. External consultant assistance must be kept to a minimum.
The program attends to the practical “how to”, walking the mystical path with practical feet. It is not the only way to work with Spirit in organizations to bring about results. However, it is the way that we have found and now teach around the world.
Within the Genuine Contact program, we work with the following beliefs:
4. Spirit is all that is. 5. All organizations have within them the blueprint for health. 6. Focusing on genuine contact enables individuals and organizations to achieve health and to experience our connection with all that is.
Within the Genuine Contact program, there are seven components: 1. The Genuine Contact program is underpinned with the healing circle or medicine wheel as the overall matrix for our learning, healing, development, evolution and consciousness. This assists us in walking the mystical path with practical feet and bringing about results that exceed expectations. A holistic matrix, whether the Medicine Wheel or another, enables adults to learn through action/reflection learning and provides a common framework for conversation and learning as a collective. 2. The International Alliance for Mentoring (IAM) is a forum to learn the art of mentoring and to “walk the talk of mentoring” of both individuals and organizations. Consultants are encouraged to shift their perspective of their role away from viewing themselves as consultants “to” which seems to work with more of a “medical model” to the role of mentoring the organization and its people to work towards their own health and wholeness, underscoring a “holistic” approach. 3. The learning journey in Working With Open Space Technology provides the opportunity for participants to learn an effective holistic meeting methodology that works from, with, to and of Spirit. Participants in the four day Working With Open Space Technology session develop and enhance skills in facilitating meetings in which a frequency is held for people to make life nurturing choices from amongst agenda items within a particular theme and givens. Within Open Space Technology meetings, choices are made amongst topics that are posted at the start of the meeting. 4. The learning journey in Whole Person Process Facilitation provides participants the opportunity to learn about another effective holistic meeting methodology that works from, with, to and of Spirit. Participants in the two day Whole Person Process Facilitation session learn to develop and enhance skills in facilitating meetings in which a frequency is held for people to make life nurturing choices based on what is presented to them to solve within a particular topic and within stated givens. Within Whole Person Process Facilitated meetings, choices are made amongst persons to work with to move posted topics forward into integrated learning and action. 5. The learning journey in Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution provides participants the opportunity to learn about the development and enhancement of skills to facilitate meetings in which people determine personal boundaries and view situations from flexible rather than fixed perspectives. Participants in the two day Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution session learn that healing is possible if there is a will for healing and if there is a willingness to look from new perspectives. 6. The four day learning journey in Advanced Work With Open Space Technology focusing on the conscious Open Space Organization provides participants with the opportunity to learn to 48
develop and enhance skills in leading and mentoring conscious interconnected learning organizations. These organizations provide the conditions for choices to be life nurturing rather than life depleting. 7. The final component of the seven is a learning journey to develop and enhance skills to teach others in all of the components of the Genuine Contact program , ensuring that the program maintains its integrity (wholeness) and respects the unique contributions that each individual makes to the program.
Maybe one day, assisting others to learn about the conscious Open Space Organization will be simpler than this. However, for now, this is the simplest approach that we have found. The learning cannot be superficial but must go deeply into one’s belief system, assumptions, and consciousness about life and values. Teaching others about working with meetings as the catalyst to enable organizations to be healthy enough to recognize themselves as conscious Open Space Organizations working with Spirit is an effective and efficient way. And we have found that using meetings that work with, to, of, and from Spirit is an effective and efficient way for organizations to learn and become conscious of themselves as Open Space Organizations.
We offer learning opportunities through which each individual has the opportunity to clarify his or her own beliefs about organizations, how they work, and where Spirit fits into it all. Every component offered has merit on its own, however, it is the full mixture of the seven components that is the holistic vehicle for working developing the conscious Open Space Organization. Time and experience needs to be given between the components for the learning and practice to deepen. Breaking out of old beliefs and patterns can happen quickly. Often, participants in the Genuine Contact program experience this in the first day or two of working with the opportunity we offer for their personal reflection. However, deepening and grounding the new patterns and beliefs in daily reality usually takes a little longer.
Ward and I “walk our talk” with our own lives and our own businesses as best as we are able to do so.
We terminated all business activities, products and services that were not about “creating opportunities for higher consciousness”. We continually challenge ourselves and each other to stay open to working with, to,of, and from Spirit. Sometimes fear gets in the way, causing us each to experience constriction where there is no room for Spirit. At such times, we mentor each other to “breathe” and move away from fear into the place that we each understand as our connect with Spirit. We encourage each other to move beyond limiting beliefs.
Basically, we opened space and we keep space open in these businesses and for all of the suborganizations within them and their connections with each other. They are all doing fine and I will give progress reports from time to time.
We understand and experience that a business is an organization or system. And within a business, there are many subsystems. And outside of the business, in the connections with other businesses, including our own, there are many systems unto themselves and yet interconnected. Interconnected to the planet too. When I sat and drew circles on a paper for all the systems, with one nested within another, and sometimes not nested within but having points of connection, the number of circles was endless. Circles within circles. Circles connected to circles.
We currently want to explore what this means in relationship to the conscious Open Space Organization. When organizations are open rather than closed systems, and an organization is made up of multiple systems, some contained within its boundary and some outside of it and some in and out and connected, speaking of the conscious Open Space Organization takes on more dimensions. 49