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This paper was written by Birgitt Bolton of DALAR Associates and Michelle Cooper of The Cooper Group Consultants. Much of the content is taken from THE MILLENNIUM ORGANIZATION which was written by Harrison Owen (1994). Birgitt and Michelle give you an overview of the Journey to the Millennium Organization using Owen's teachings, as well as highlighting for you the role of the manager along the journey. Please note that while the combination of thoughts in this article
is our work, the majority of the content is the work of Harrison Owen and
the reader can get much more insight from reading Millennium Organization.
This article was merely an attempt to capture Owen’s work in a condensed
form as a simple introduction to the Millennium Organization and to the
role of management in the “new” organization, which is a question that
Michelle and Birgitt are frequently asked.
In 1981, we remember sitting through seven weeks of an intensive management course in which we were learning all about quality circles and what was then referred to as team leadership. At the time it seemed like ground breaking management technique. Like many managers of the time, we were taught and believed that carefully controlled team leadership and careful use of quality circles, along with management practice of making the plan, managing the plan, and meeting the plan would have us move our organizations to the leading edge in efficiency and competitiveness. In hindsight, this course as well as others taught in the same era were not faulty in what they taught --it should have worked and for a time it seemed to--but were faulty in what they did not teach. But then as with all things in life, hindsight is wonderful, and we have a choice about bemoaning that which did or did not happen, or to learn from the hindsight and move to the future with new understanding. In the late 1980's and early 1990's with some hanger-ons even today, there was a proliferation of material about "managing change". The net result was that managers were led to believe that change could be managed and hence controlled. We know today that managing and controlling change is impossible, an act in frustration, and usually a prolonging of unnecessary organizational stagnation and pain. We also know that chaos is not going to go away, but is in fact a very present force in our organizational lives. Leading management experts of the 1990's (Senge, Wheatley, Bridges, Owen, to name but a few) have helped us to understand that our organizations are not closed systems to which careful management practice can be applied, but are open systems that call for entirely different management practice. At this point in 1996, our lived experience reflects this. The rules have changed. Usually, by the time a plan is made, the rapidly changing environment has declared it as obsolete. If we are then foolish enough to proceed with the plan, we run into serious trouble. Managers are experiencing stress at record levels. They try to work even harder, somehow more efficiently (as though they weren't already doing so), but end up with that feeling of "the more I do, the behinder I get". The environment is changing so rapidly that chaos starts to seem all pervasive. So we need to embrace the chaos, learn how to navigate it, and proceed on our journey to the millenium organization with a vision of what it might be. To do this we need to understand the change process, we need to understand our role as managers in the change process, we need to let go of the many fears we have, and move to the new. We need to learn how to navigate. Enter the work of Harrison Owen. He puts other management/leadership theory and practice into perspective, he discusses the importance of chaos, he provides a tool for navigating through chaos (Open Space Technology), and he provides insight to the characteristics of the Millennium Organization (see the bibliography at the end of this paper for reference books). Owen has trained many of us throughout the world in the use of Open Space Technology as a navigational tool, sharing his material and insights, and inviting us to participate in the evolving of Open Space Technology in the world. THE JOURNEY First we need to put the old to rest by acknowledging that the organization as we knew it no longer exists. The end of what was needs to be told and acknowledged. As human beings we need to grieve that which was, whether it was good or bad, before we can move on to the new. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE NEED TO LEAVE BEHIND THE OLD, AND ASSIST THOSE IN THEIR ORGANIZATIONS TO GO THROUGH THIS RECOGNITION AND THROUGH THE GRIEVING PROCESS. To do this, management must learn about and understand the grief cycle and recognize that each person goes through it at their own pace. It is helpful to name this for everyone and assist everyone in understanding that they will likely all be at different stages in the grief cycle. The grief cycle is characterized by shock and anger, denial, avoidance, resistance, and then memories. When we are through these parts of the cycle, there is a time of chaos when we know that the old is no longer but the new is not yet formed. It is a time of change. The good news is that the new can be grown with wonder and imagination (Owen, 1991). THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO LET GO OF CONTROL. CHANGE CANNOT BE MANAGED OR CONTROLLED. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO UNDERSTAND CHANGE AND TAKE ON THE JOB OF THE MIDWIFE IN BIRTHING THE NEW. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE CHAOS AS ONE OF THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR THE NEW TO BE BORN. MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO LEARN ABOUT CHAOS, LEARN FROM IT, PREPARE FOR CHAOS, AND THEN GO WITH THE FLOW. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO FIND TOOLS TO NAVIGATE THROUGH CHAOS TO THE NEW. THE TOOL THAT IS MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IS OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE CHAOS AS ONE OF THE CONDITIONS FOR OPEN SPACE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Open Space Technology If Open Space Technology is used as the way to get to the Millennium Organization, it is important to note that there is exactly one way to derail the journey and that is to attempt to control it. Spirit does not respond well to commands and orders (Owen, 1994). Owen has demonstrated that one large Open Space event involving everyone in the organization is the best way to get the journey to the millennium organization started. It is fast, simple, effective, relatively inexpensive, and will change the story of the organization with everyone involved in the change. People are challenged and free to realize their potential and as a result they take charge of the new and do good work. Following the one big Open Space event, it is wise to have a number of Open Space events in series or simultaneously, each one dealing with a separate business issue. Owen is clear that there is a limit to the number of Open Space events that one organization can digest. There is a point (around about seven events) that Open Space moves from the status of a special event to a way of doing business, and you know that the Millennium Organization has arrived. Telling the Story The Critical Questions With the use of Open Space Technology as a navigational tool, it is essential to answer three fundamental questions: 1.Who are we? 2.What are we doing here? 3.Where are we going (what are the issues and opportunities for our future?)? This forms our organizational story, our purpose for being. It is important
to analyze the story, sustain the story, listen and pay
THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO WORK WITH THE STORY ON A DAILY BASIS The Millenium Organization From Owen (I994) we learn that productive organizations will be flexible, adaptable, capable of constant transformation, all the while maintaining a clear sense of purpose, meaning, identity. It will generate high impact, effectiveness, and high overall performance. According to Owen, the Millennium Organization is Spirit filled and supported by appropriate structure. It grows from within and is not laid on from the top. Barriers to doing a job quickly, with excellence and pride are eliminated. This results in efficiency, high productivity, and shared leadership. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO FOCUS, GROW AND CULTIVATE THE SPIRIT OF THE ORGANIZATION. Owen describes the Millennium Organization as having the following characteristics: high learning high play appropriate structure and control genuine community
High Learning Owen is clear that it is chaos that sends an organization on to its future. Enter the importance of learning. Learning that is fully responsive to the chaotic conditions of the environment and the organization as an Open System leads to creativity and innovation. He acknowledges that while painful, chaos can open up any situation in new and different ways. According to Owen, in the Millennium Organization learning is an everyday, everybody, all together phenomenon. High Play As we explore new realities, we engage in constant alternation between experience and concept, and we need to do this playfully. Owen advises not to ask if the theory is true, but rather whether it works. If it works, use it. If it doesn't, try another. High play is characterized by the following principles: show up, be present, tell the truth, let it go. These principles are taught by indigenous peoples around the world. Appropriate Structure and Control According to Owen, the Millennium Organization is more a matter of style than of structure. The structure should be anything that works. The non-critical nature of size and structure is a challenging statement to make in this era, when many are investing heavily in moving toward the Millennium Organization by changing size and structure as the essential components. Owen says that size and structure make only a marginal difference in terms of impact, effectiveness, and overall performance. It doesn't matter whether we configure our organizations with no visible structure, or a flat-lined hierarchy, or a steeply ranked hierarchy, or a circle. The critical element about structure is that the structure is appropriate to the task, the environment, and to the people involved. The metaphor that Owen uses is that structure in an organization is like shoes on the feet, with different shoes for different occasions. The organization may well find it necessary to operate from multiple structures simultaneously. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER. MANAGEMENT IN THE MILLENNIUM ORGANIZATION IS NOT PERFORMED BY AN ELITE GROUP OF PEOPLE, BUT A FUNCTION TO BE PERFORMED BY ANYBODY. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF CENTRES OF CONTROL BASED ON TASK AND FUNCTION. THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IS TO ENSURE AND ENABLE THE GROWTH OF APPROPRIATE STRUCTURE TO SUSTAIN THE NEW CULTURE. THE STRUCTURE NEEDS TO SUPPORT THE SPIRIT (DYNAMIC PURPOSE) OF THE ORGANIZATION. Genuine Community Owen states that we do not have to work at building community. He says in the past that we have worked hard at this with seminars, training programs, books and videos, but that the more we tried, the further we got from our intended objective. Somehow we built walls, created boundaries, and created turf. In his experience, when structure and control stand in the service of learning and play, community is the inevitable result. Leadership becomes a shared phenomenon which is passed around depending on the task at hand. This phenomenon was grown in Open Space, with passion linked to responsibility.The net result is genuine community. We have successfully used Open Space Technology to move many organizations along on their journey to the Millennium Organization. We thank Harrison Owen for his pioneering work in giving organizations this navigating tool and insight into the Millennium Organization. A Selected Bibliography Bridges, William Managing Transitions: Making the Most
of Change
Owen, Harrison
Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations
Owen, Harrison
Leadership Is
Owen, Harrison
Riding the Tiger
Owen, Harrison
Open Space Technology: A User's Guide
Owen, Harrison
The Millennium Organization
Owen, Harrison
Tales from Open Space
Senge, Peter
The Fifth Discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization
Wheatley, Margaret Leadership and the New
Science
To obtain copies of other occasional papers, or to order copies of Harrison Owen's books, contact the Open Space institute of Canada, 15 Delisle Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 1S8 (416) 975-9229 (phone) Birgitt Bolton can be reached at birgitt@worldchat.com
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