Last year I received an invitation from Daniel Mezick to visit Harrison Owen, a pioneer in Open Space and an author of Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide among many books on organizations transformation.
Listening to Harrison telling stories, there were 3 biggest lessons (Ahas💡) I learned and took away:
1. The Griefwork Process
Harrison explained what he calls The Griefwork Process and how it relates to Open Space and Organizational Change. We usually understand how grief works in our personal lives but it’s harder to make this connection when it comes to organizations even though it is crystal clear. Stephen Covey once said, “Human beings are emotional beings NOT logical beings.” An organizational change triggers emotions and when an organization ignores emotions (or The Griefwork Process), it eventually loses.
To understand what The Griefwork Process means, Dale Emery in his article, Resistance as a Resource explains; “As transitions specialist William Bridges has observed, it isn’t change that people resist. It’s loss.” [Bridges]
When we expect to lose something we value, we think of what it would be like without it and that’s when The Griefwork Process kicks in in our minds then we tend to try to avoid or resist the change so that we don’t incur the loss. That’s when organizations (or the individuals in it) start “playing defense” as Tom Demarco noted in his book Slack. He said, “When peer managers play defense against each other (try to stop each other from scoring), they are engaging in anti-cooperation.”
Why do they engage in anti-cooperation? It’s because they are going through The Griefwork Process. Harrison explains The Griefwork Process in one of his books as the following stages: Shock and Anger, Denial, Memories, Open Space and Possibilities.
2. Addictive Behaviors or Habits
Have you ever tried to stop a bad habit (old behavior)? Every year, we commit ourselves to stop a bad habit or start a new habit. How many times have you committed yet you couldn’t change that habit?
Harrison explained that “it is hard for executives to give up the notion that they are in control.” This prevents them from issuing an invitation which is essential “to invite self-organization to take place.”
Why is it so difficult? One word: Loss. The loss of control or perceived control. Again, The Griefwork Process is at play. The fear of loss triggers The Griefwork Process so this might be at the heart of the matter.
Learning The Griefwork Process, that is (Shock and Anger, Denial, Memories, Open Space and Possibilities) is essential to organizations who want to move beyond the 3rd stage (Memories). I remember thinking during the conversation that organizations who understand The Griefwork Process and are able to bounce back quickly (resiliency) will be at the helm of innovation.
3. Telling Stories
A colleague of Harrison said, “We kept the data and threw out the stories and he (Harrison) kept the stories and threw out the data.”
One of the thoughts that was nagging me on the way back from the visit was that stories are just data with empathy and as humans we connect much more with stories than data because of the empathy element. I later came across a ted talk on The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown saying, “Maybe stories are just data with a soul.”
I distinctly remember Harrison opening the conversation or “the space” by saying: “My hope for the day is to go places that I’ve never been and I don’t know where that is.”
Is your organization ready to go to places where it’s never been? Check out Open Space Agility and explore the possibilities with Open Space.
