I was working with a group yesterday that was making a number of small decisions as they worked their way through an agenda. The meeting was semi-formal and my role as facilitator was mostly to hold space and draw attention to process where appropriate.
I let the group talk, asked questions from time to time and noted the decisions that they had made. As I was observing this group working, I noticed something interesting about their process.
Frequent readers will know that I use the diamond of participation often as a map to organize and design meeting processes. One feature of the diamond is the three phases that groups go through, from divergent thinking through emergent thinking to convergent thinking. There are noticiable transitions between these three phases, with groups becoming quiet when the hit the groan zone, and the energy becoming lighter when concrete proposals and decisions begin to emerge.
Yesterday I was watching the pattern of the conversations in the group and I noticed that the language changed. Participants began and ended each journey through the groan zone using lots of “I” language and while they were in the middle, there were lots of “we” statements. A typical agenda item began with one partcipant introducing it with a personal statement or a question. The group listened and then replied with further I statements. These responses were a combination of personal questions and personal responses to ideas. Typically I heard things like “What I\m wondering about is…”, “I don’t like that idea very much…” “I can see your point…”
As the conversation unfolded however, there was a shift to “we” and group members began exploring ideas that were in the best interests of the group. People seemed less preoccupied with their own ideas and began working on the emerging ideas that were capturing energy. There was the occasional drift back to “I” language but for the most part I heard things like “We could do it like this…” “We don’t have the time or resources for that…” or “How else could we do that?”
Finally, you could tell the conversation was coming to a close when people started discussing the personal implications of the emergent decision. “Okay, so I will make that change to the timetable…” “I like this choice…” and so on.
Not just a flow from I -> WE -> I, but I also noticed that the conversation went from curious to concrete, and that this map took the form of quadrants, similar to the ones I have worked with before. This observation is in line with Otto Scharmer’s Theory U, and this diagram above shows the path the conversation took also shaped like a U, with the group going from inquiry which opened up options to concrete decisions and implementation plans.
The cool thing about this map of patterns is that it gave me enough for to be able to hold very lightly the conversational space that the group was in. I watched them go through this process something like 15 times over the course of the day and only a couple of times did they get stuck. When they did, it was simply a matter of consulting the map to see what to do. I intervened at least one in each of these four quadrants, something like this:
- Asking for more clarity in personal introduction of agenda ites, and alos inviting the person introducing the item what they are curious about.
- Helping the group see emergent ideas as they were taking shape and asking about the nature of the ideas rather than people’s personal preferences or thoughts.
- Inviting people to concretize what they were hearing, and to explore the implications of one option over another.
- Inviting personal responsibility and ensuring that implementation plans were in place for each decision.
Simple, but this is value of having maps at your finger tips to help find your way through the wilderness of emergent conversation\
Update: Dave Pollard has built on this thought and redrawn the map and I like his thinking. I will say though tha tthis version of the map stops at decision making, and my interest is in seeing the way the individal comes back into the fold as implementation takes over. We’ll be talking more about this I think at the Art of Hosting this month here on Bowen Island. At any rate, here’s Dave’s map:
Thanks Dave!
Raffi Aftendelian has released the final version of Living Peace: the open space of our lives. It features contributions from all over the world, including a piece from my life and business partner Caitlin Frost about parenting in Open Space.
Another free book from the Open Space community. Thanks Raffi and everyne who contributed!
Raffi Aftendelian unearthed a beautiful gem today. Writing on the OSLIST, he quoted something Harrison Owen had written 40 years ago when he was unknowingly being inspired to create Open Space Technology. As a text to a photo essay on life in a Liberian village, Harrison wrote:
A very special part
of any village celebration
is the appearance of the various “devils.”
The word devil is very misleading,
and was undoubtedly
the unwanted gift
of an early missionary
The devils are not evil,
but rather represent
a respected (albeit feared)
part of the village.
Nothing of importance happens
unless they appear and dance.
In their appearance,
all aspects of the village
are brought together-dance,
music, government, and religion.
When the “Devil” dances, life goes on.***
In the village,
all things go in a circle,
and everything fits.
To speak of the drums
is to speak of the dance,
is to speak of the Devils…Weaving and Forging
Fire and Steel- the Bush
Life, Death and Life again.
Ain’t that something? Another little tidbit to add to the nascent beginning of Open Space.
From our recent trip to San Francisco…light streaming through through one of the uprights on the Golden Gate Bridge.
I awoke this morning and read two scary articles courtesy of the terror of my RSS feeder. First, Dave Pollard counted down the order in which his domino theory of outright planetary collapse may unfold. Then, I read Andrew Simms article on why we only have 100 months left before reaching the tipping point for runaway climate change.
Neither of these scenarios are unfamiliar me, but something about waking up this morning and reading them straight off got my attention. I started thinking about what to do and started reflecting on some of the things that I am already doing.
There are levels on which we work and live as a human being. From the personal to the cosmic, we live nested in spheres of influence and connections that sustain us. So here is my thumbnail take on what we can do at different levels. While I aspire to these, and practice many of them, I’m not perfect, which is why the first one makes sense.
Personal
- Practice meditation or personal inquiry so that you have the wits to handle massive change that lies beyond your control. If you are the kind of person that completely loses it whenever the power goes off you have work to do. Meditation and inquiry also generates compassion for yourself and others, which is a key capacity.
- Erase your debt, get out of the credit economy.
- Wean yourself as much as possible off of products and services that you don’t need and that contribute to waste, carbon emissions and debt.
- Choose wisely how you spend your money. Invest in local food and food producers and in local businesses to strengthen the economy around you.
- Grow your own food, and learn how to take care of your body, your home and your things.
- Do not be a passive consumer of anything, including ideas and entertainment.
- Do what you can. ASk for help. Work with others.
- Think about your work and what you are being trained for. Euan put me on to an old George Monbiot piece on this.
Family
- If you have children in your family, don’t send them to school. Investigate alternatives that will raise them up as learners, able to adopt to change rather than fixed in old knowledge and old paradigms. Help your children participate in your community and help your community understand that the place for children and youth is ANYWHERE, not locked away for seven hours a day in schools.
- Families are an economy of scale bigger than one. It makes sense to work together in learning about your home and community, growing food and looking after one another.
- Use the family relationships as a practice ground for working with relationships. Apply what you learn there to working with others.
Community
- Work with others to meet common needs. For example, start up a community shared agriculture program to enhance food security.
- Learn how to work together well. Learn good processes, and be conscious about how you are with others.
- Offer what you can and ask for what you need.
- Participate in local affairs and in what people in your community are doing to sustain positive futures for yourselves.
- Make meetings count. Especially if you have to travel, then make sure that what you are doing is spending your time, carbon emissions and money wisely. There might come a time when meeting to set good relationships and exchange good ideas is a thing of the past.
Scales beyond
- Andrew Simms has a god line in his 100 months piece: “the government must lead.” If climate change is the issue, governments must lead in setting the kinds of targets, incentives and influence that the market needs to make alternative possible. It cannot be up to us alone to tend our victory gardens and turn off our lights. Governments at all levels must take responsibility for how the influence or don’t influence the environment that makes it possible to change. In Canada, our government is not doing anything meaningful to mitigate climate change. So either I could run for office, or vote for someone who will. In the meantime, I can continue to practice personally in defiance of the mainstream economic model that is killing us.
- Writing about and practicing these kinds of strategies does have the effect of tipping the collective consciousness. When it comes to radical changes, individuals lead, and governments follow, sometimes very far behind. Global corporations are the last to change most of the time. Local governments and local business change first. Support those shifts.
Above all, don’t lose heart. If you lose heart you become a significant part of the problem. If you withdraw, you become a burden on the system, and worse if you refuse to change, you continue to give a tacit mandate for the status quo to continue, if only to meet your needs. If anything, these doomsday scenarios are useful for throwing into relief the kinds of daily choices that we make. Above all, act with consciousness in what you are doing. Consider the consequences and actions and let people know about strategies that work.
That’s what I’m learning these days.