In 1983, an American consultant named Harrison Owen arranged a conference on leadership on which he worked for a year. The conference went well yet afterwards everyone, including himself, thought the best part of the conference were the coffee breaks. I’m sure you can imagine!!!

Then Harrison thought, “If I have worked on something for a year, and the best part is the only thing I haven’t prepared – what would a conference look like, where the coffee breaks are the main thing? How would you practically go about organizing such a thing?”

What followed was a way of conferencing where preparations were focused on the physical setting, and the content creation was left to the participants. Using the prepared breakout spaces and announcement system, they were invited to follow their passion and take responsibility for what they care about.

Later, this way of conferencing has sometimes been referred to “unconferencing” or “open space” (somewhat confusing name …). By accident, I happened upon such a conference and the experience gave me a new outlook on human collaboration. Since, I have worked for such environments to be set up wherever there are people with shared potential.

If you’re curious, please don’t be a stranger!

… grateful for a business owner who envisions their work environment as supportive for bodily wellbeing and nurturing for peer-led initiatives – and who sees this post and hires me to make it a reality!

(the owner-thing is important, because culture only morphs when the one with the final word backs the new value set ……..)

In Place, the minds of the inhabitants were inseparable from the physical world. Whatever an inhabitant would think of – be it something frightening or wonderful – would instantly start to appear. The more minds thinking of the same thing, the faster it would appear. The more vividly they would envision it and the more they would feel it, the faster it would appear.

If you lived in Place, what would you think of?

… seems to be a project where every cell is supporting something/someone they themselves will be the body of. I’m wondering – are they aware of what or “whom” they are birthing? To what extent does it feel completely new and to what extent does it feel familiar?

In 2005 in Israel a seed sprouted and grew into a palm tree – after 2000 years.

Yes, you read that right. The seed was formed over 2000 years ago and then remained a seed. Seeds seem to be somehow “sleeping”. Then one moment, unfolding was possible. Suddenly after all this time, the surrounding conditions allowed for it to awaken.

I like to think as humans, maybe we are similar? That only when conditions allow for them, some aspects sleeping inside of us unfold. The contidions need not be optimal. But they need to be present.

Methuselah, judean date palm
Palm from old seed. Photo: Benjitheijneb, wikimedia

Story of the tree: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tree-grown-2000-year-old-seed-has-reproduced-180954746/

A room is as safe as the readiness to defend it. In a garden, if I sow a plant and put up a sign saying it must not be eaten – is that enough? If a rabbit starts to gnaw on it and I say “I condemn strongly” – is that enough? How set am I on the idea of the plant growing in peace? Do I have smart tools like a small protective fence or a milieu where the rabbit can still its hunger with something else?

You know the deal: You suggest something and someone else fights it. Then other folks notice “oh, if I support this idea, I might receive my share of the fighting”.

Is there another way?

What if, before entering the conversation, everyone “in the room” would have agreed to specific “rules of engagement”?

To benefit from all the potentially useful, but still unexpressed “pieces of the puzzle”, I want to make the environment friendly to expressing thoughts. The basic pattern I use for supporting “swarm intelligence” is to:

  1. Allow all ideas to be expressed
  2. Then, invite support and contribution to any idea the patricipants want to support

This way, ideas without support will wither away of their own accord, and ideas with support will evolve.

So what would an opt-in agreement look like in practice?

One opt-in agreement I’ve used when posing questions on Facebook has been:

  1. No commenting on other people’s answers
  2. Clarifying questions are ok
  3. Instead of commenting, bring your own answer to the question.
  4. When you see something you want to support, use the like-button