Open Space Technology: A User's Guide

Open Space Technology: A User's Guide by Harrison Owen

Some of my notes....

The total simplicity of Open Space (sit in a circle, create a bulletin board, open a marketplace, and go to work) contrasts radically with the quality of results and speed of achievement.

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My experience tells me that the circle is the fundamental geometry of open human communication. A circle has no head or foot, no high or low, no sides to take; in a circle, people can simply be with each other-face to face. After all, we do not have a square of friends, and on a cold winter's night it is nice to be part of the farnilycircle.

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Two additional mechanisms suggested themselves from the life of Balamah: the community bulletin board and the village marketplace. The bulletin board provides a convenient, low-tech means for identifying what people are interested in. The marketplace provides a means of bringing interests together in an orderly way. Both mechanisms are so ancient and ingrained in the human experience that explaining the rules is unnecessary. And of course if the village marketplace has not been a part of your experience, a shopping mall will do.

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As in many senior management groups, the agenda for the weekly Chief and Staff meetings was guarded as closely as Fort Knox, all in the name of efficiency. The gain in efficiency, however, was often balanced by a loss in effectiveness, as only those items officially on the agenda could be discussed. The rest remained unspoken, and possibly unspeakable.

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I strongly urge that you read the whole book through, skipping details where they become overwhelming. And then just do it, even if your first group is only the neighborhood children with associated dogs and cats. With a little experience under your belt, you can come back for the fine points.

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Open Space Technology is effective in situations where a diverse group of people must deal with complex and potentially conflicting material in innovative and productive ways. It is particularly powerful when nobody knows the answer, and the ongoing participation of a number of people is required to deal with the questions. Conversely, Open Space Technology will not work, and therefore should not be used, in any situation where the answer is already known, where somebody at a high level thinks he or she knows the answer, or where that somebody is the sort who must know the answer, and therefore must always be in charge-otherwise known as control, control, control.

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There are, in fact, five Conditions of Use when it comes to OST: 1) There is a real business issue. Open Space is not about "doing a process"; it is about doing a real and needed job. 2) A great deal of complexity. A simple business issue does not require meeting in Open Space or in any other fashion. Just do it! But if this issue is so complex that nobody can quite get their arms around it-that is "meat and potatoes for Open Space. 3) Lots of diversity in terms of people and points of view. 4) Real passion (people care.), and probably also conflict. 5) A decision time of yesterday (genuine urgency).

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In a curious way, Open Space Technology always seems to work; it just may be that sometimes people are not totally pleased with the results. Not to be mysterious, but in the Open Space environment, people tend

to be creative, synergistic (they work together), and self-motivated. If this type of behavior is not desired, it can cause problems.

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Sponsors need to know what they are getting into, what they can expect, and what will be required of them during and after the event. Even more important, the sponsors need to understand that they will never know exactly how things will turn out in detail and specifics. It is true that there are certain general results which can be promised in Open Space, and we will consider them shortly. It is also true that the final concrete and specific results are always emergent from the group, and rarely in accord with some preexisting plan, except by coincidence.

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My first principle in consulting with a client is never attempt to sell Open Space. Explain what it is, the global experience, how it works, and why you think it might be particularly appropriate for the client's situation-and stop right there! Give the client plenty of open space in which to make his or her own decision. This may sound extreme, but in situations when my client was saying "yes"-but I sensed it was really a "maybe" or possibly "No"-I would suggest that the client think about it some more. In extreme cases I have even said that the client should consider all other possible options for the achievement of the hoped-for results, and when or if he feels that he has run out of options to come back for another conversation. My record in such situations is just about 50/50-but I always felt totally comfortable with the decision, no matter which way it went.

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In the final analysis, when consulting with the sponsor/client, the critical question is, Do you trust thepeople? If the answer is yes, then probably you should give the people space to find resolution for the common issue. If the answer is no, then other options need to be considered.

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Although Open Space Technology is powerful and effective, never use it for the sake of the process alone, only for the potential results. OST is designed to do a job, to work a real business issue, no matter how you define business or issue. So a first act of preparation is to determine in concrete terms what you want to accomplish, best stated in a question.

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Open Space Technology runs on two fundamentals: passion and responsibility. Without passion, nobody is interested. Without responsibility, nothing will get done.

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For Open Space Technology to work, it must focus on a real business issue that is of passionate concern to those who will be involved.

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The process of invitation becomes extraordinarily simple. Given the business issue of choice, run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.

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Simply say that although it may be new to this group, it has been used all over the world with predictable results. By the end of the gathering, the following will have occurred, and that is a promise!

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If samples are less than helpful, a basic format can assist. I suggest four simple sections all presented in a page, or less. More than a page, and it probably won't get read.

1) The Theme (issue)., Stated in ten words or less-preferably much less (see above "Fixing Arizona")

2) Background/Rational This should include highlights and most especially intriguing questions. But by no means should this be a full documentation of present status and desired future. If further documentation is URGENTLY required, include it in the package, but not the invitation.

3) Logistics (Where, When, and How): Keep it simple-the place of meeting, time of start and ending, but obviously you can't include the

agenda, because that hasn't happened yet. However, to mollify those who absolutely require an agenda you might indicate when meals will take place and the schedule of sessions. You might also want to indicate that this will be an Open Space but avoid a detailed explanation. It will only get you in trouble. If you absolutely have to say something try: "Open Space Technology is a highly participatory process which has been successfully employed in multiple situations all over the world'

4) The Promises (see above)., As I have said previously, most people really don't care about the process. They care about results and need to have some assurance that their time will be well spent. The promises will help in that regard.

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When faced with a situation like the one described above, I simply would not consider anything less than two full days. In part this is a matter of allowing sufficient time for the issues to emerge and be addressed. During the first day, most of the issues will be raised, at least by title, but with a second day there is the opportunity to go deeper. And there is an added piece of the mix which is equally critical-the night in between. Although it may be true that formal sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the conversation never stops, even when people are asleep.

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This means that if you have a series of speakers you want the group to hear or other programmatic activities you want everybody to be a part of, do it before Open Space. The reason is simple and

relates to the essential precondition of voluntary self-selection, without which Open Space Technology will not work. There will be no problem, however, if the command performance takes place before the Open Space.

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When it comes to designated breakout spaces, a workable rule of thumb is five per one hundred participants. This presumes that there are some additional public spaces in the facility, such as the lobby, gardens, hallways, and of course, the more the better. It also presumes that some people will find it comfortable and convenient to meet in the large main room.

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In one particularly creative gathering (for the 2,108 German psychiatrists), which took place in two large circus tents, the breakout areas were indicated by helium filled balloons anchored by sandbags. The scene was completed with the necessary signs (Four Principles and One taw) attached to thin sticks and floating around the large space supported by bunches of balloons. A magical sight indeed!

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For example, all meals can be served as buffets over a several-hour period, allowing people to come and go as they please. For coffee breaks, try replacing the fifteen-minute mad dash, which nobody observes anyhow, with a more leisurely approach. The world will not come to an end if the beverages and snacks are left out for an hour or longer. Of course, things do get cold, or warm, over time, but that problem can be solved by serving foods that do well at room temperature over extended periods of time, such as fresh fruit.

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With the machines up and running, each convener of a group is invited (strongly urged, begged, but never commanded) to ensure that a reasonable record of the discussions in his or her group be prepared. I say "ensure" because it may be that somebody other than the convener will do the job, and often it turns into a group effort.

To provide some level of uniformity, a standard format is supplied. Typically it has four parts: 1) Title, 2) Convener (with phone number and address), 3) List of participants, and 4) Discussion and recommendations. The actual length is immaterial, although reports usually run several pages. Some people may get carried away, and ten-page reports have found their way in. One limit to verbosity is that participants themselves are responsible for the typing.

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As the reports are gathered they should immediately be printed out, and copies should be hung on the wall under a large sign saying Breaking News. You will be amazed how much interest and excitement these real-time, instant proceedings will generate. And they also serve a very practical function. Participants who may not have been able to attend a particular session can still keep up by checking the News Wall. And in the event they want further information it is a simple matter to find the reporter.

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The unique and critical role of the facilitator in an Open Space event revolves around two functions: creating time and space and holding time and space. Observably, in performance, this means doing less rather than more. Under the best of circumstances, the facilitator will be totally present and absolutely invisible.

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For the meeting to be effective, the indigenous sense of time and space must be allowed to emerge. That will only occur if the facilitator creates an environment of safety.

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Thus, furtive glances at one's watch on the part of a North American facilitator operating

in a Latin environment communicate that not only are things "late" but lateness is bad. It is much better, albeit painful, to put the watch in a pocket and understand that it will start when it starts. The job of the facilitator is not to keep things on time, but rather to enable the creation of safe time. It is up to the participants to make their peace with the time they create, and to render judgment on themselves regarding tardiness and punctuality.

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Unless the facilitator is truly and authentically present, nothing that is done, or not done, will make any difference.

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When living fully on the planet or facilitating Open Space, Angie suggests that the following four things are necessary:

• Show Up

• Be Present

• Tell the Truth

• Let It All Go

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Finally, let it all go. Angie actually says, "Have no attachment to fixed outcomes." Her way or mine, the point is that we have no permanent claim on anything that is, and the sooner we get that through our heads the better things will be. It is not that we have gone out of control, it is simply that we had no control to begin with.

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To the best ofruyknowledge, there is exactlyone way to absolutelyguarantee the failure of an Open Space event, and that is to by and control it.

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On the contrary, preparation is an intentional, ongoing act that must become part of the life of the would-be facilitator.

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For myself, I find that a period of intense and intentional meditation for several hours prior to the event is essential. For you, the same results may be achieved by taking a walk or going for a jog. Whatever the procedure, the objective is to achieve clarity of self and purpose, combined with openness to the environment and others.

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It is sometimes suggested that placing a small table in the center of the circle with the paper, markers, and masking tape is a good idea. This does make it easier for people whose arthritis or egos make it impossible to bend over, but it is a suggestion I avoid.

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So, nothing in the middle except for paper to write on, markers for the writing, and masking tape to stick the posters on the wall. A parting note on the paper: I find quarter sheets of flip-chart paper to be just the right size.

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The signs to be made cover three different aspects of the event: 1) Theme, Behavior, and Expectations; 2) Daily Schedule and Space/Time Matrix for the Wall; 3) Report Production.

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Thus there are four separate signs to be made: 1) the theme (briefly stated), 2) the four principles, 3) the one law, and 4) "Be Prepared..." Depending on the size of the group, you may need several copies of each of them. Once made, they should be posted in the sequencegiven above in several locations around the room, but not on the wall where the issues will be posted Make sure they are high enough to ensure visibility.

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I suggest allotting one and one-half hours for each session. Longer or shorter is possible, but the time suggested has worked well over the years.

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STAGES OF INITIATION

1. Welcome

2. Focus the Group

3. State the Theme

4. Describe the Process

5. Create the Community Bulletin Board

6. Open the Village Marketplace

7. Get out of the way!

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Unless you are hosting your own group, the first person to speak in the circle is the official sponsor, whomever that may be. Particularly if you are an external facilitator, it is important that the assembled body be greeted by somebody they all know, or know of.

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Recommended speech in this situation goes something like the following: "Welcome to you all. I know we are going to have a useful time together, and now is the moment to get on with it. Here's Harrison"

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Once introduced, I come to the edge of the circle and say something simple like, "Welcome to Open Space" I then start walking slowly around the inside of the circle, and as I go, I invite the participants to let their eyes trace the circle to see who is there. The important thing is to move with slow deliberation and allow people time to really see who is sitting in the circle, even if they do not know who the other people are.

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"In case you are curious about how we are going to get from here to there... well, it is called Open Space Technology. OST has been developed over a period of time, starting in 1985. It has been used all over the world Willi groups from five to two thousand You will be surprised how simple it is, and strangely it always seems to work. "

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At this point, you have described the basic mechanisms of Open Space Technology, and some participants may have some questions. My advice is don't take any; keep on going.

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If at the end of our tune together you find yourself walking out Willi just what you walked in with, you will have wasted your time. It is a common experience in Open Space that our precious agendas are trashed While this experience pray be painful, it is not without benefit, for when our old agendas depart, new ideas may emerge. So do yourself a favor, trash that agenda right now. Or at the very least get ready to. Be Prepared to Be Surprised!

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As a matter of principle (less is more), I always attempt to take as little time describing things as possible. Fifteen minutes seems to be about right and half an hour is definitely on the long side.

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Some sense of anxiety and adventure is essential. In the theater this would be known as warming up the crowd or "vamping until ready"

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As a rule, the number of issues relates directly to the number of people in the group. Groups of twenty-five to fifty will have about thirty issues; groups of one hundred to two hundred will have about seventy-five issues. Groups of more than three hundred participants will not generate a substantial increase in the number of issues. The largest number I have experienced was 236 issues with a group of two thousand.

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It is also important that the group hear the names of those posting the issues, and further that the names be written on the papers. Part of this is a matter of identification: who is doing what. But of equal importance is the matter of commitment. When you announce an issue and call out your name, you are much more likely to follow through than if the arrangement is anonymous. Going on record, publicly, is critical to confirm commitment.

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Toward the end, take special pains to make sure that, for whatever reason, somebody isn't hanging back and about to be left out. More often than not, just as you are sure that nobody has anything more, somebody will make a break for the center. It is extremely important that everybody has a chance, even if it means holding the group up for a few moments.

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You can deal with all of this simultaneously by suggesting that people sit down so that others can see, and further, that sign-up be held in abeyance until the full menu has been posted. I use the example of going to a good Swedish smorgasbord and filling yourself up on the first dish. It may taste wonderful, but look at all you will miss. And the worst of it is, you will never really know. So patience, just a little patience, is a virtue.

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It may occur to you that arranging the issue papers by time slots (in addition to by the days) could be helpful. If nothing else this would make the Community Bulletin Board look more like a traditional agenda. I would advise against this for several reasons. First, there is the practical fact that such arrangement will add yet another level of complication-when simplicity is the order of the day. But more importantly, I have found that just as soon as everything is arranged in the "proper" order everything changes.

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When all, or most, have reached high ground, I say something like, "People, the village marketplace is open. Go and sign up for whatever issues you wish to pursue. Enjoy yourselves. As soon as you have your groups together, go to work. I will see you for Evening News" And I leave to take a walk or more usually a nap.

In the early days, I used to preface my departure with some words like, "I am going now, but if you need me I will be just down the hall" I have since learned that those words are totally gratuitous. The participants don't need me and don't care where I will be. I am the only one who is even aware that I have left.

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Another word for holding, as in holding space, might be caring, to which we might add cleaning, clearing, or even honoring. I suppose there are big things that can, and should, get done under this heading, but for the most part I find it is the little things that count-like picking up coffee cups and trash.

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But it is really our job, all of our jobs, and most especially the job of the facilitator. It is a job that allows you to go anywhere and just watch.

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I have found that three questions can be helpful: 1) What is the dance? 2) What is the smell? 3) What are the colors? When you first try to access and focus your intuition in an Open Space with these questions, it is helpful to find an out-of-the-way corner which is still somehow connected to the ongoing action. As you improve with practice, you will find that you can do it anywhere, anytime, regardless of the tumult and energy manifest by the group.

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ask yourself, What is the dance? It will be immediately apparent that the assembled horde is not doing a waltz or tango, but there is a flow, an ordered movement as groups form, dissolve, and form again. And how does that feel to you? Smooth, jerky, frantic, graceful? Don't attempt any judgment about what it means or whether it is good or bad, just allow yourself to be fully present to that dance. You might even just enjoy it! After a bit, go to the next question.

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And so the question-What is the smell? Ask the question without judgment or analysis. Just let your nose do all the work and notice what happens.

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After a bit, ask the final question. What are the colors? This will probably work better if you close your eyes, for the colors you seek are not those on the walls of the rooms or clothes of the people. They are the colors of your mind. You may have difficulty with this; some people do. But if you are patient the colors will come through, at least they always have for me. It may begin as black, but notice if the black has hues of deep purple or red. And when the colors brighten, what is the shade and texture? Once again, refrain from making a judgment about good or bad, right or wrong, pleasant or jarring-just notice the colors.

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When you have finished this little exercise, notice how you feel. Warm, sad, happy, peaceful, energized? And most especially notice if you feel called upon to move somewhere-even if the destination is totally unclear. If that happens, Do it!

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As with most enterprises, it is the little things that count. For example, if participants come with an apparently reasonable question regarding what they should do, an appropriate response would be What would they like to do? More often than not, they already know, or if not they will benefit greatly from taking a little time to figure it out.

If the question is more of a suggestion, which in a traditional conference might have been made to the management/planning committee, I have found it effective to ask the questioners why they don't take care of that. The point is made: we are all the management.

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When people find that they are truly being treated as responsible and free individuals, they tend to live up to those expectations.

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Very occasionally, however, misunderstanding or subtle peer pressure will get somebody into an Open Space environment who should not be there. Such people must be taken care of.

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The facilitator's first thought must be to protect the space and people's right to choose. This can usually be done easily and inoffensively by saying something like, "I think what is proposed is probably a veiygood idea; why don't you propose a new session dealing with that?" An alternative might be, "Since we have all been sitting liereforsonie tune, I suggest that we take a break, and then those who would like to pursue this idea may come back and do so. As for the rest, they can get on with whatever they had in mind "

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But I have come close, and I think the reason I have so far escaped the awful choice is that my consultations with the client before the gathering are intense, and I make every effort to clearly state the nature of my role as facilitator.

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My options were fairly limited, but one thing I was sure of. if I moved at all there was a high likelihood that the group would panic, or at least somebody might do something that would later be regretted. I resolved to do the only thing I could do, hold the space.

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It is small wonder then that the role of the facilitator in Open Space is perceived as strange, counterintuitive, or just plain wrong because intervention in any overt sense is rarely, if ever, part of that role. I would never say never, but I will say that in twenty years in hundreds of Open Spaces, I have never found it necessary to intervene with any group.

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In those situations where I was successful (the group became unstuck or the conflict calmed) I gladly accepted whatever accolades were offered and felt proud at having done my job. But I noticed that there was also an unintended consequence. The group became dependent on me or some other facilitator every time they felt they were in trouble. And after a while the groups would become so dependent that they would not think of having a meeting without a facilitator at hand.

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When you start doing an Open Space and get to the point where you are supposedly Holding Space, find yourself a good sturdy chair, preferably with strong arms. Sit in the chair and firmly grip the arms. When a moment arrives that you are sure your help is required for the fix, by all means charge to the rescue. But keep firm hold of the arms of the chair. It will feel a little odd, but you will quickly get the picture that fixing that group is not your job. They can do it perfectly well all by themselves if given the space. Trust the People.

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Creation of an action plan, by whatever name, requires that at least three things be accomplished. First, the group must identify the areas where some action is needed. Second, the required action must be specified in sufficient detail that real work can commence. And third, responsible parties must be identified who will get the show on the road.

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For relatively simple discussions with smaller groups (less than one hundred), conducted over the course of a single day, it is quite possible to conclude that day with any of the approaches described below, and walk out with a useful action plan.

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I find that ten dots per person works out about right. The instructions are as follows: After reading tfieproceedings and talking with your colleagues, find the issues you believe to be the most important Indicate your level of enthusiasm for those issues bypasting some number of your sticky dots on the papers You can put all the dots on a single issue or spread them out. The choice is yours.

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The sticky dot approach becomes difficult with larger groups. Personally I find that anything over one hundred participants is too many for the sticky dots, and with truly large groups a paper balloting procedure is almost essential.

The process here is actually simple, but labor intensive. A special ballot is prepared listing and numbering each issue. Each participant is given a ballot with the following instructions: After reading thiepro- ceedings and talking to your colleagues, identify the ten issues which are of the greatest importance to you. Rank these issues indicating your preference by

assigning 10 to your most important issues, 9 to the second, 8 to the third, and so on. Wlien you have marked your ballot, hand it in. It will take about one hour for the reading, conversation, and voting.

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With a list of the top ranked issues in hand, set up an equivalent number of flip chart stands around the perimeter of the large meeting room. At the top of each chart write the issue, one per chart. The actual order doesn't make much difference, but a little showmanship can be added to the occasion by doing it one at a time in the order of priority. If all the participants are standing about, this becomes a marvelous, and slightly suspenseful way of announcing the results of the balloting. Beneath each issue add titled blank sections so that the flip chart page appears as follows: 1) Issue 2) Related Issues 3) Next Steps 4) Co-Conspirators.

After the flip chart pages have been prepared, invite the original conveners of the (now) top issues to stand by their chart. With the conveners in place, invite all the participants to visit any or all conveners/charts and add (write in) their contribution.

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To assist them in this process, I propose a sort of triage. As they consider the suggestions of the total group along with their own best judgment, do they think this issue is a Dolt, a TalkAboutlt, or a Clear as Mud?

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I take a radio mike and race around the space from convener to convener. And after each one has spoken, I solicit applause from the total crowd. That may sound a little odd and unbusinesslike, but by that time the group is really into the whole affair, and some small amount of celebration is in order.

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As you construct the closure for an Open Space event, it will quickly become apparent that the more-or-less standard ways of bringing a program to conclusion simply will not do. Whatever is done must be done in the same spirit as the rest of event. So, for example, having the "leader" stand up and deliver an impassioned speech about all the wonderful things the participants are now going to do will be experienced as dissonant to the synergy and collegiality that have evolved.

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In practice, the microphone, or the Talking Stick starts from my place in the circle. I explain simply that it will be passed to my right, and as it reaches each person, they are invited to share briefly what the event has meant for them and what they propose to do in the future. There is no necessity to speak; anyone who so chooses may simply pass the mike along to the next person.

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Personally, I find the report-out less than useful, most often producing boredom, frustration, or both. If reporters take the time they think their subject deserves, most people are bored. If the time is limited, the reporters are frustrated. Truthfully, the report-out is not a very efficient or effective way of communicating the results of the conference. A written set of proceedings will do a much better job.

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When the microphone finally comes back to me, I ask the group to stand and allow their eyes to move around the circle in silence, acknowledging each other, what they have accomplished, and what they hope to do.

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So after a few moments, I ask each person to turn completely around in his or her place, face outward, and imagine what he or she is going to be doing in the days immediately ahead.

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To the north is leadeiship, the powerful trail breaker, pointing the direction and opening the way for Spirit to grow and evolve. The animal is the deer and the color is red. To the east is vision, the highflying seer of all. The animal is the eagle and the color is blue. To the south is community, the warmth of hearth and heart, which binds all people together. The animal is the mouse (as in cuddly, warm, friendly), and the color is yellow, the color of the Sun. To the west is managemend. It is quite doubtful that Native Americans ever used this term, but I believe (or at least I would like to believe) this is what they had in mind. The animal is the bear in his slow, methodical, plodding mode, best seen in the berry patch as he takes care of business. Not very exciting, but very effective when it comes to handling the details of living in the community. The color is green, as in growing things.

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We have discovered one, almost "sure-fire" approach to the achievement of suboptimal results. That is to follow what for many organizations is standard procedure. After a meeting which had been productive of many new ideas, projects, and proposals-all of these are referred to some external, and presumably higher, body for evaluation and implementation.

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. —Persian proverb

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He was appalled to see eighty-two children, seventy-eight boys, and the four girls who had the pluck to join them, kneeling on the frosty ground, in the open. Haji Ali, avoiding Mortenson’s eyes, said that the village had no school, and the Pakistani government didn’t provide a teacher. A teacher cost the equivalent of one dollar a day, he explained, which was more than the village could afford. So they shared a teacher with the neighboring village of Munjung, and he taught in Korphe three days a week. The rest of the time the children were left alone to practice the lessons he left behind.

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After the last note of the anthem had faded, the children sat in a neat circle and began copying their multiplication tables. Most scratched in the dirt with sticks they’d brought for that purpose. The more fortunate, like Jahan, had slate boards they wrote on with sticks dipped in a mixture of mud and water. “Can you imagine a fourth-grade class in America, alone, without a teacher, sitting there quietly and working on their lessons?” Mortenson asks. “I felt like my heart was being torn out. There was a fierceness in their desire to learn, despite how mightily everything was stacked against them, that reminded me of Christa. I knew I had to do something.”

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Mortenson was amazed by the computer’s cut and paste and copy functions. He realized he could have produced the three hundred letters it had taken him months to type in one day. In a single caffeine-fueled weekend session under Syed’s tutelage, he cut and pasted his appeal for funds feverishly until he reached his goal of five hundred letters. Then he blazed on, as he and Syed brainstormed a list of dozens more celebrities, until Mortenson had 580 appeals in the mail. “It was pretty interesting,” Mortenson says. “Someone from Pakistan helping me become computer literate so I could help Pakistani kids get literate.”

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A month after returning to Berkeley, Mortenson got a letter from his mother. She explained that her students had spontaneously launched a “Pennies for Pakistan” drive. Filling two forty-gallon trash cans, they collected 62,345 pennies. When he deposited the check his mother sent along for $623.45 Mortenson felt like his luck was finally changing. “Children had taken the first step toward building the school,” Mortenson says. “And they did it with something that’s basically worthless in our society—pennies. But overseas, pennies can move mountains.”

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After almost two decades studying Ladakhi culture, Norberg-Hodge had come to believe that preserving a traditional way of life in Ladakh—extended families living in harmony with the land—would bring about more happiness than “improving” Ladakhis’ standard of living with unchecked development. “I used to assume that the direction of ‘progress’ was somehow inevitable, not to be questioned,” she writes. “I passively accepted a new road through the middle of the park, a steel-and-glass bank where a 200-year-old church had stood…and the fact that life seemed to get harder and faster with each day. I do not anymore. In Ladakh I have learned that there is more than one path into the future and I have had the privilege to witness another, saner, way of life—a pattern of existence based on the coevolution between human beings and the earth.”

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“I have seen,” she writes, “that community and a close relationship with the land can enrich human life beyond all comparison with material wealth or technological sophistication. I have learned that another way is possible.”

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Norberg-Hodge admiringly quotes the king of another Himalayan country, Bhutan, who says the true measure of a nation’s success is not gross national product, but “gross national happiness.” On their warm, dry roofs, among the fruits of their successful harvest, eating, smoking, and gossiping with the same sense of leisure as Parisians on the terrace of a sidewalk café, Mortenson felt sure that, despite all that they lacked, the Balti still held the key to a kind of uncomplicated happiness that was disappearing in the developing world as fast as old-growth forests.

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There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you? —Rumi

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It may seem absurd to believe that a “primitive” culture in the Himalaya has anything to teach our industrialized society. But our search for a future that works keeps spiraling back to an ancient connection between ourselves and the earth, an interconnectedness that ancient cultures have never abandoned. —Helena Norberg-Hodge

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“If you want to thrive in Baltistan, you must respect our ways,” Haji Ali said, blowing on his bowl. “The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die,” he said, laying his hand warmly on Mortenson’s own. “Doctor Greg, you must make time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated. But we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time.”

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Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them.”

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“Why don’t you leave it to us? I’ll call a meeting of all the elders of the Braldu and see what village is ready to donate free land and labor for a school. That way you don’t have to flap all over Baltistan like a crow again, eating here and there,” Haji Ali said, laughing.

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Mouzafer and the Korphe men were Shiite Muslims, along with Skardu residents Ghulam Parvi, and Makhmal the mason. Apo Razak, a refugee from Indian-occupied Kashmir, was a Sunni, as was Suleman. And the fiercely dignified bodyguard Faisal Baig belonged to the Ismaeli sect. “We all sat there laughing and sipping tea peacefully,” Mortenson says. “An infidel and representatives from three warring sects of Islam. And I thought if we can get along this well, we can accomplish anything. The British policy was ‘divide and conquer.’ But I say ‘unite and conquer.’”

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After attending a conference of development experts in Bangladesh, Mortenson decided CAI schools should educate students only up through the fifth grade and focus on increasing the enrollment of girls. “Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities,” Mortenson explains. “But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls.”

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Faisal Baig needed no more information. With his AK-47 in one hand and the other balled into a fist by his side, he stared at the first blood-hued light brushing the tips of Afghanistan’s peaks. For years he’d seen it coming, the storm building. It would take months and millions of dollars poured into the flailing serpentine arms of the U.S. Intelligence apparatus to untangle for certain what this illiterate man who lived in the last village at the end of a dirt road, without an Internet connection or even a phone, knew instinctively. “Your problem in New York village comes from there,” he said, snarling at the border. “From this Al Qaeda shetan,” he said, spitting toward Afghanistan, “Osama.”

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Kim Trudell, from Marblehead, Massachusetts, had lost her husband, Frederick Rimmele, when, on his way to a medical conference in California on September 11, his flight, United Airlines 175, vaporized in a cloud of jet fuel against the south tower of the World Trade Center. Trudell asked Mortenson to carry her husband’s medical books to Kabul, believing education was the key to resolving the crisis with militant Islam.

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“It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Fedarko says. “Here comes this teenage girl, in the center of a conservative Islamic village, waltzing into a circle of men, breaking through about sixteen layers of traditions at once: She had graduated from school and was the first educated woman in a valley of three thousand people. She didn’t defer to anyone, sat down right in front of Greg, and handed him the product of the revolutionary skills she’d acquired—a proposal, in English, to better herself, and improve the life of her village.

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“It was a very humbling victory,” Mortenson says. “Here you have this Islamic court in conservative Shia Pakistan offering protection for an American, at a time when America is holding Muslims without charges in Guantanamo, Cuba, for years, under our so-called system of justice.”

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“When your heart speaks, take good notes.” Judith Campbell

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It is my vision that all people of our planet will dedicate the next decade to achieve universal literacy and education for all children, especially for girls. Over 145 million children in the world remain deprived of education due to poverty, exploitation, slavery, religious extremism, and corrupt governments. May this book, Three Cups of Tea, be a catalyst to bring the gift of literacy to those deprived children who all deserve a chance to go to school.

Community: The Structure of Belonging

Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block

It is the opposite of thinking that wherever I am, I would be better off somewhere else. Or that I am still forever wandering, looking for that place where I belong. The opposite of belonging is to feel isolated and always (all ways) on the margin, an outsider. To belong is to know, even in the middle of the night, that I am among friends.

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Whatever the symptom-drugs, deteriorating houses, poor economy, displacement, violence-it is when citizens stop waiting for professionals or elected leadership to do something, and decide they can reclaim what they have delegated to others, that things really happen.

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Geography, history, great leadership, fine programs, economic advantage, and any other factors that we traditionally use to explain success made a marginal difference in the health of a community. Community well-being simply had to do with the quality of the relationships, the cohesion that exists among its citizens. He calls this social capital.

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These large group methods are too profound and too important to stay primarily in the hands of specialized experts. They need to be in the regular practice of community and institutional leaders. They are more than simply tools; they are the means of creating the experience of democracy and high engagement, which we say we believe in but rarely embody. As this thinking and practice grow, they have the potential to fundamentally change the nature of leadership, which would be a good thing.

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They have also codified the distinction between solving problems and creating a future.

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Her guiding question was "How will the world be different tomorrow as a result of our meeting today?"

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Kathie wanted the whole system in the room, and then she constantly broke it into small groups.

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The most organizing conversation starter is "What do we want to create together?"

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He claims the ability to herd cats, which many have said is impossible. He does this by tilting the floor, which changes the conditions under which the cats are operating. Emergent strategies focus on conditions more than on behaviors or predictable goals.

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A shift in the thinking and actions of citizens is more vital than a shift in the thinking and action of institutions and formal leaders. This is in sharp contrast to the traditional beliefs that better leadership, more programs, new funding, new regulations, and more oversight are the path to a better future. At times all of these are necessary, but they do not have the power to create a fundamental shift.

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All transformation is linguistic, which means that we can think of community as essentially a conversation. Then we act on the principle that if we want to change the community, all we have to do is change the conversation. The shift in conversation is from one of problems, fear, and retribution to one of possibility, generosity, and restoration. This is the new context that both creates strong social capital and is created by it.

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I am using the word conversation in a broad sense-namely, all the ways that we listen, speak, and communicate meaning to each other. So, in addition to speaking and listening, this meaning of conversation includes the architecture of our buildings and public spaces, the way we inhabit and arrange a room when we come together, and the space we give to the arts.

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Every time we gather becomes a model of the future we want to create.

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We believe that defining, analyzing, and studying problems is the way to make a better world. It is the dominant mindset of western culture.

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As an aside, to return to in more depth later, some reasons for discounting the power of citizens are well founded, for most of the time when citizens come together it makes no difference. That's because they operate under the retributive principles that I am trying to describe in this section. They want to define the problem, find fault, elaborate fear, demand control-oriented action, and point to leaders. Many citizens get engaged in community only when they are angry.

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Possibility also gets undermined by being confused with optimism.

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The communal possibility rotates on the question "What can we create together?"

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This question of what we can create together is at the intersection of possibility and accountability. Possibility without accountability results in a wishful thinking.

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Here is a part I especially like: One exercise was for individuals to complete a questionnaire about their strengths as part of a program on positive psychology. The members noted that this was the first time in their lives they had ever taken a test and gotten good news from the results.

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The future of a community then becomes a choice between a retributive conversation (a problem to be solved) and a restorative conversation (a possibility to be lived into).

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We displace or assign to others certain qualities that have more to do with us than with them. This is called projection, an idea most of us are quite familiar with.

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Communal transformation, taking back our collective projections, occurs when people get connected to those who were previously strangers, and when we invite people into conversations that ask them to act as creators or owners of community.

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We would stop doing surveys about how people feel about their bosses, the results of which no one knows what to do with anyway. The attention would turn from the boss to peers, which is the relationship that produces the work.

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We will never eliminate our need for great leaders and people on the stage; we just cannot afford to put all our experience and future in their hands.

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The weakness in the dominant view of accountability is that it thinks people can be held accountable.

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To see our conventional thinking about accountability at work, notice the conversations that dominate our meetings and gatherings. We spend time talking about people not in the room. If not that, our gatherings are designed to sell, change, persuade, and influence others, as if their change will help us reach our goals. These conversations do not produce power; they consume it.

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Accountability is the willingness to care for the well-being of the whole; commitment is the willingness to make a promise with no expectation of return.

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Commitment is to choose a path for its own sake. This is the essence of power. Mother Teresa got this. When asked why she worked with people one at a time rather than caring more about having impact on a larger scale, she replied, "I was called by faith, not by results." If you want to argue with Mother Teresa, be my guest.

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Our explorations to this point lead instead to the understanding that transformation occurs when we focus on the structure of how we gather and the context in which the gatherings take place; when we work hard on getting the questions right; when we choose depth over speed and relatedness over scale. We also believe that problem solving can make things better but cannot change the nature of things.

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To be more specific, leaders are held to three tasks: to shift the context within which people gather name the debate through powerful questions, and listen rather than advocate, defend, or provide answers.

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The role of leaders is not to be better role models or to drive change; their role is to create the structures and experiences that bring citizens together to identify and solve their own issues.

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Every gathering, in its composition and in its structure, has to be an example of the future we want to create.

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But they are limited in the power to transform because they assume that a defined destination can be reached in a linear path from where we are today. This is the fundamental assumption of the problem-solving model.

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To state it more precisely, what gives power to communal possibility is the imagination and authorship of citizens led through a process of engagement. This is an organic and relational process. This is what creates a structure of belonging. This is more critical than the vision and the plan.

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In communal transformation, leadership is about intention, convening, valuing relatedness, and presenting choices. It is not a personality characteristic or a matter of style, and therefore it requires nothing more than what all of us already have.

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Leadership begins with understanding that every gathering is an opportunity to deepen accountability and commitment through engagement. It doesn't matter what the stated purpose of the gathering is.

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The social outcomes of the Hoxseys' and Sparoughs' work would most likely not be valued by the assessment at all, nor would their leadership style show up as a positive factor. Conventional measures would miss the essence of the humanity and restraint that led to transformation in the form of a group of young African-Americans

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The small group also offers a self-correcting quality when things are not going well. There are always times in any gathering when we become stuck. Energy is low, perhaps there is anger or cynicism in the room, or simply confusion, and we are unsure what to do. The best path in nearly every situation is to put our faith in citizens to identify and name what is occurring. Simply request people to form small groups of three or four and ask them to discuss what is going on and report back in ten minutes. This request need not be sophisticated. Simply say, "Form small groups of four and talk about how this meeting is going and to what extent we are getting what we came for."

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The point is that every large group meeting needs to use small groups to create connection and move the action forward. As obvious as this might seem, it amazes me how many events and gatherings do not do this. How many conferences, summits, and events have we attended where the small group discussion is relegated to the breaks and thereby left to chance?

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Having a standing microphone for citizens that they have to walk to and even line up behind does not count. Most public meetings have leaders with their own mikes and citizens traveling to a common mike. The geography of this disparity speaks volumes as to who is important (leader) and therefore who has the future in their hands. Juanita Brown and David Isaacs have written the profound insight that every moment is a combination of methodology and metaphor. What may seem like a small procedural or technological matter is actually much more important than we have imagined because of its metaphoric message. The amplification of a human voice is a good example of this.

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Another example: Ask people making a powerful statement to the whole community to say it again slowly. They speak for all others who are silent, and in that way they speak for the whole. These can be sacred moments and repetition honors this. One more detail along these lines: When people speak in a large group, they need to be acknowledged for the courage it took to speak out.

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The setup is as important as the question, for it provides the context. As a reminder, the context we are creating space for is relatedness, accountability, gifts, and generosity. Being precise about the setup is an essential task of leadership. Without a clear setup, each and every time, citizens will revert to the default conversation. The setup inoculates us against the power and habit of speaking into scarcity and dependency. It is so seductive to start talking about the need for more funding, the wish for better leadership, the power of the media, and how others need to change.

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There are four elements to the setup:

Name the distinctions.

Give permission for unpopular answers.

Avoid advice and replace it with curiosity.

Precisely name the question.

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When people are asked a question, they are conditioned to seek the right answer to feel good, or to fit in for the sake of belonging. Encourage them to answer honestly, by naming possible unpopular answers and supporting their expression.

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Advice also weakens relatedness, even if people ask for it. Urge citizens to ask one another instead, "Why does that mean so much to you?" When they answer, ask the same question again, "And why does that mean so much to you?" The goal is to replace advice with curiosity.

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Invitation counters the conventional belief that change requires mandate or persuasion. Invitation honors the importance of choice, the necessary condition for accountability.

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David Bornstein's research describes how real transformation occurs only through choice. It cannot be sold or mandated. This is particularly true with transformation in community. Institutions and systems can mandate change or attendance from employees because they are under a legal contract. If you don't show up, you violate the contract. This leads to a discussion of consequences, which are very popular in a patriarchal control world.

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"Who do we need in the room for something different to occur in the world?"

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This means that we constantly seek people in the room who are not used to being together. In most cases this would bring together people across sectors (business, education, social services, activists) and, more important (though it is rare) across economic and social classes. Hard work to make this happen, but perhaps more important than what occurs in the gathering.

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We need to tell people explicitly what is required of them should they choose to attend. There is a price to pay for their decision to attend. They will be asked to explore ways to deepen their learning and commitment. Some other common hurdles that should be part of the invitation are: plan to engage with "others," put your interests aside for the moment, commit to the time, and be willing to postpone quick action.

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What is the crossroads where you find yourself at this stage of your life or work or in the project around which we are assembled?

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Later, the more direct individual question for possibility will be

What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?

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This sounds simple and true enough, but in a patriarchal world, dissent is considered disloyalty. Or negativism. Or not being a team player. Or not being a good citizen. America, love it or leave it. You are either with us or against us. This is a corruption of hospitality and friendship. Hospitality is the welcoming not only of strangers, but also of the strange ideas and beliefs they bring with them.

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is critical, and hard to live with, is that leaders do not have to respond to each person's doubts. None of us do. Authentic dissent is complete simply in its expression. When we think we have to answer people's doubts and defend ourselves, then the space for dissent closes down. When people have doubts, and we attempt to answer them, we are colluding with their reluctance to be accountable for their own future. All we have to do with the doubts of others is get interested in them. We do not have to take them on or let them resonate with our own doubts. We just get interested.

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It does mean that instead of answering every question, defending their actions, they can ask questions to find out more about the concerns, the doubts, and even the lives of citizens.

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It does mean that instead of answering every question, defending their actions, they can ask questions to find out more about the concerns, the doubts, and even the lives of citizens. No one understands this more than Mike Butler, police chief of Longmont, Colorado. One of Mike's favorite statements is: "For 80 percent of the calls we receive, people do not need a uniformed officer, they need a neighbor." Wise man.

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get interested in people's dissent, their doubts, and find out why this matters so much to them. Dissent becomes commitment and accountability when we get interested in it without having to fix, explain, or answer it.

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"No" is the beginning of the conversation for commitment.

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The challenge is to frame the questions in a way that evokes dissent that is authentic. We do not want to encourage, through our selection of questions, any kind of denial, rebellion, or resignation. To circumvent denial, don't ask people whether they think there is a problem. Or even ask them to define the problem. Do not ask people what they are going to do, or to list the ten characteristics of anything. The way to avoid rebellion is to stop trying to sell or control the world. When faced with rebellion, all we can do is recognize it, not argue.

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The convener's task is to direct the eyes and words of citizens toward each other. That is why we have people sit in circles, facing one another.

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The only act that puts membership at risk is the unwillingness to honor our word.

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I am not what I am not able to do. I am what I am able to do-my gifts and capacities.

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Every time we gather, there needs to be space for a discussion of what gifts have been exchanged. This question needs to be asked of the community:

What gift have you received from another in this room? Tell the person in specific terms.

We focus on gifts because what we focus on, we strengthen. The gifts-of-this-gathering question can be asked this way:

What has someone in your small group done today that has touched you or moved you or been of value to you?

or

In what way did a particular person engage you in a way that had meaning?

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Here are the design elements for structuring hospitality into our gatherings.

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Greet people at the door; welcome them personally and help them get seated. People enter in isolation. Reduce the isolation they came with;

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Connection Before Content

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Restate the Invitation

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Connection occurs when we speak of what matters about this moment. This is done most easily through questions (surprise!).

Some examples of connection questions:

What led you to accept the invitation?

What would it take for you to be fully present in this room?

What is the price others paid for you to be here?

If you could invite someone you respect to sit beside you and support you in making this meeting successful, whom would that be?

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One structural sequence for creating community is to start with the individuals reflecting on the question, and then have them talk in trios, next in groups of six, and then to the whole community. Shorthand is 1-3-6-all.

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Late Arrivals

Have them announce to the group that they are leaving and where they are going. This will create some discomfort, but that is the nature of separation.

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Remove their chairs-if the chairs remain empty, it only reminds us of our loss.

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Breaking Bread Together

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There can be no transformation without art. Art in the form of theater, poetry, music, dance, literature, painting, and sculpture.

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Ken and John work hard to get a cross-section of people, especially those citizens that are typically disengaged. They actively recruit those on the margin and make sure they are welcome. They want two kinds of people in the room: those who have a direct stake in the design, whom they name the "internal community," and some outsiders, whom they call the "external supportive community." This recognizes that the wider community has a stake in the quality of design for each property or neighborhood. It takes a region to raise a village.

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When strong differences become obvious, they also handle conflict in a special way. They avoid the arbitrator role and instead use a fishbowl structure to resolve conflicts. They put those who disagree in the center of a group and have chairs for others to occupy so that their voices can be heard. This means other citizens participate in conflict resolution instead of the usual approach of handing the issue to a professional.

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When people get stuck in their differences, Ken intervenes. He tells them, and other citizens who are interested, that they have 20 minutes to resolve the conflict. At the end of the time, Ken comes over with a pink pearl or a silver dagger. One of the two is placed on the design, depending on whether the citizens have been able to reach agreement. If they can agree, they get the pink pearl. If not, a silver dagger is placed on the design and the group moves on. He reports that this structure often achieves agreement, even when people have been at odds with each other for years.

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Making sure that citizens can identify where their own ideas show up in the design is left to chance. The real difference between what Ken and John do and what is traditionally done is really a contrast between the contexts out of which designers operate. Ken and John bring a context of valuing the gifts of citizens, the importance of engagement, and the hospitality of physical space, all elements of restorative places.

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A final comment on space: The argument against great design is always cost and speed. The discussion about cost and speed is not really about cost and speed. It is an agenda that declares that human experience is a low priority.

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The possibility that is working on me is the reconciliation of community. Reconciliation is for me the possibility of the end of unnecessary suffering. This is the context within which I show up, even though, as with us all, I sometimes don't know whether I am working for God or the devil.

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After all the social scientists, historians, economists, biologists, and experts from other disciplines have finished with their explanations, it seems that what I am calling political, avoidable, suffering occurs as a result of our disconnectedness and the imbalance of power and resources that is such a dominant feature of our culture. This in no way puts blame on anyone or any segment of society. I do not believe "those people" exist anywhere in the world. I have simply come to believe that when we are unrelated to those whose lives are so different from ours, suffering increases.

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If you notice that they are dealing drugs, you hold the thought that they have entrepreneurial skill; it is just aimed in the wrong direction. If you are concerned that they are not in school, well, they are learning something, just not what we had in mind.

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Human services also relate to citizens through diagnostic categories. We are only interested in their needs and deficiencies. If a family or person has no pressing needs and deficiencies, nothing that can be categorized, we have no interest in them. Perhaps we should develop diagnostic categories for people's gifts. Right now we have only crude positive labels: high school graduate, economic status, size of family, job experience. Suppose we named people in categories, such as: a connector, knows everyone in the neighborhood, street-level entrepreneur, fashion plate, compassion for

those in need, lights up a room when they enter, creative speech, practical intelligence, risk taker.

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The Questions

What is the crossroads you are faced with at this point in time?

What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?

How valuable an experience (or project, or community) do you plan for this to be?

How much risk are you willing to take?

How participative do you plan to be?

To what extent are you invested in the well-being of the whole?

The all-purpose ownership question:

What have I done to contribute to the very thing I complain about or want to change?

What is the story about this community or organization that you hear yourself most often telling? The one you are wedded to and maybe even take your identity from?

What are the payoffs you receive from holding on to this story?

What is your attachment to this story costing you?

What doubts and reservations do you have?

What is the no or refusal that you keep postponing?

What have you said yes to that you no longer really mean?

What is a commitment or decision that you have changed your mind about?

What resentment do you hold that no one knows about?

What forgiveness are you withholding?

The Questions

What promises am I willing to make?

What measures have meaning to me?

What price am I willing to pay?

What is the cost to others for me to keep my commitments, or to fail in my commitments?

What is the promise I'm willing to make that constitutes a risk or major shift for me?

What is the promise I am postponing?

What is the promise or commitment I am unwilling to make?

What is the gift you still hold in exile?

What is something about you that no one knows?

What gratitude do you hold that has been gone unexpressed?

What have others in this room done, in this gathering, that has touched you?

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