Communitas Philosophy 2
Social development through 'self-organising learning communities'
Few other ways of working in large groups and organisations are capable of generating as much energy, enthusiasm and creative productivity as self-organising Open Space structures. If facilitated well, they can draw out unparalleled commitment and synergy between people, liberating a sense of togetherness and belonging.
Its success depends on a fine balance between structure and structurelessness, on firm, yet allowing leadership plus a sense of safety which derives from the group experiencing potentially destructive collective dynamics being addressed openly and courageously.
This aspect of the Communitas approach and philosophy derives from several influences.
Historically, it is strongly influenced by our experience of teaching on self-directed training courses for person-centred counselling, based on the humanistic work of Carl Rogers. On these courses (which had their heyday in the UK in the 1980's and early 1990's), as at Communitas, students and tutors jointly form a learning community which - instead of a fixed curriculum - creates and negotiates its own tailor-made programme of learning activities. The tradition of these courses was co-initiated by Thom Osborn, and some of his articles and papers go back to that time, and give a good impression of the radical, innovative and inspiring work that was set in motion then.
The principle of self-direction in large groups of people was taken into a variety of different developments, and in one of its forms is now known in OD as Open Space technology. A common tongue-in-cheek explanation for the energetic and motivated atmosphere which this way of working in groups can generate, is based on the feedback that for many people the best parts of events and conferences are the tea-breaks and open spaces in the programme which allow time for networking. So imagine an event that leaves out all the lectures and speeches, and consists purely of open spaces, and you have Open Space technology. As a large group intervention (LGI), in practice, it's not quite as simple as this, as even such bottom-up ways of working crucially depend on the right kind of leadership and facilitation.
The notion of self-organisation is enriched by the fact that it resonates with how that term is used - in a scientifically much stricter sense - in complexity theory (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopoiesis).
In summary: as a way of social learning and working together, self-organising Open Space structures model the idea of organisations as communities, encouraging the free participation of all its stakeholders. As such, they have an unrivalled potential for individual empowerment as well as collective transformation.
The possible advantages of self-organising Open Space structures are beyond doubt. However, as a way of working, the benefits of such structures stand and fall with the psychological 'health' of the community in question. Traditionally, organisations have veered between extreme individualism at the expense of the group on the one hand, or extreme communalism at the expense of individual freedom and creativity on the other. The psychological 'health' of an organisation requires that we find a third position beyond these two extremes. To ensure this kind of healthy community requires, in our view, other aspects of the Communitas approach as essential and complementary ingredients, as detailed in the following pages.