Length of contributions LO11899

Arthur Battram (apb@cityplex.demon.co.uk)
Tue, 14 Jan 1997 11:04:00 +0000

Replying to LO11783 --

Was: Disappointment -- No soul?

>I should have stopped here because some readres are complaining to the
>length of my contributions.

says At de Lange recently.

Cue 'rant' mode:

What's this? Censorship thinking on the list? If At goes on too long for
you, whoever you are, then don't read him. We've recently had a thread on
software that screens/threads/organises email -get some and screen him
out. And include me on the list, and Sherri Malouf and Ben Compton, and
other 'motormouths'. Then all you'll have is nice short soundbites, a sort
of MTV for the learning organisation.

Grrr! rant over, very very serious point follows...

I'm a talker. When I used to work with groups running training events,
I'd negotiate 'group boundaries' It always saddened me when the group
wanted a rule about 'talkers saying less'. The implication was that this
would allow more space for those who weren't talking. I would suggest a
'everyone try to listen more' or 'pause before you speak, hear the
silence' type rule instead, but these weren't always adopted. IMHO,
'talkers talking less' doesn't enable the non-talkers [lurkers in email
speak] it blocks them still further. The unwritten rule becomes 'speak
and you get told off'. The outcome is a subdued group, under the control
of the leader[s].

Let's focus on increasing returns, with 'rules' for positive outcomes like
'listen more' not negative 'rules' which are about control.

Best wishes

Arthur Battram

And yes I like to think of myself as a person of heart, which means I get
upset about things, almost as often as I get excited about other things.
Which is why this post includes 2 types of emotion...

The worst sort of censorship is self-censorship, when our internal model
of 'what others would think' tell us not to do it, and we don't ever
engage with reality. It's the killer aspect of autopoiesis [see a
previous post of mine in the archive for a description of autopoiesis]. I
nearly didn't post this...

Note to At de Lange: your postings are too short! More please maestro!

--

from Arthur Battram, organisational learning adviser, helping local authorities to apply complexity concepts to personal and organisational learning. 'Learning from Complexity' pack available real soon now, approx 110 full price [55 -half price- for local authorities in England and Wales who finance LGMB] for details email me: apb@cityplex.demon.co.uk

***the truth? that would be an ekumenical matter...***

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>