Organizing retrospective 106

This is a post in my series on organizing ”between and beyond.” Other posts are here. This is a retrospective of what has happened during the week. The purpose is to reflect on the work itself. Here is my previous retrospective. Here is my next retrospective.

What has happened? What needs to be done?
This week, I posted the following reflections on generative organizing:

• Monday — Generative organizing requires witnessing, experiencing, and feeling. We need to move ‘up‘ into our hearts (‘up‘ because intrinsic value has ‘higher‘ value than systemic value).
  Inspiration: A conversation with Skye Hirst (@autognomics).
• Tuesday — The paradox of authentic organizing, is that you have to take off the systemic order and then put it back, such that the systemic order is a reflection of the organization’s intrinsic order.
  Inspiration: A combination of input from Joseph Campbell (a mythodological story), Robert S. Hartman (intrinsic/systemic values),and David Bohm (notion of order).
• Wednesday — Generative organizing requires open space. It ceases as soon as the space closes.
  Inspiration: A mail from Harrison Owen to the OSList.
• Thursday — Generative organizing looks for the presence of life/well-being/beauty, rather than superficial bureaucratized order. This requires a willingness to observe and feel.
  Inspiration: This post by Petra Kuenkel‘s (@PetraKuenkel) on co-creation, collaborative spaces, and aliveness. Petra and I are both inspired by Christopher Alexander. Here is, by the way, my review of Christopher Alexander’s book The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth
• Friday — Generative organizing is appropriate for riding waves of uncertainty. It relies on collective decision-making, abductive logic, and human judgment. Generative organizing is impossible if constraints are fixed.
  Inspiration: Cynefin and Dave Snowden’s insights to leading and managing organizations.
• Saturday — Generative organizing is about uncovering what is already happening in and around us, creating conditions that enable it. It requires listening for the potential which is trying to actualize itself. It means listening to life from the place in us that is whole and connected to the wholeness around us.
  Inspiration: Thoughts and ideas from Harrison Owen and Rachel Naomi Remen. Both speak about who and what we already are.

I am currently reading Rachel Naomi Remen’s two books—Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings. I will review both books.

This week, I also finished reading Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics, and started reading Peter B. Vaill’s Managing as a Performing Art: New Ideas for a World of Chaotic Change. I will review Michael Pollan’s book later.

What was good? What can be improved?
I’m very pleased with my daily reflections.

Related posts:
Organizing in between and beyond posts