Carols question

[koos de heer]

Peg,

At 13:10 13-08-1998 -0700, you wrote:
>Please give Carol your thoughts.

This message goes to Carol and to the list simultaneously.

Carol, you asked (through Peg):

>>I have read with interest a couple of books on Open Space Technology.
>>Do you have any experience in working with this process in the
>>non-profit world, specifically a church?  The volunteer aspect of the
>>participants adds a different dimension and I'm wondering if there are
>>some examples you could give.  I work in a denominational regional
>>office and assist churches in long range planning and am very intrigued
>>by the open space process.

I have recently conducted an Open Space for a volunteer group (people
active in an ecological housing project) and it was very succesful.
As in most volunteer situations, people are already in it because the
subject has their passion. That is a very good starting point for
OS. At the same time, in many volunteer situations, the passion wears
off after a while. Open Space can very well be used to revive the
spirit, provided there is a theme on which to base the gathering.
But it should not be too difficult to find one, in our case it was the
fifth anniversary of the project and the question: "Where are we now
and where do we want to go?"

Good luck with it. And: the best way to learn about Open Space is to
do it. If you don't feel confident enough to start from scratch,
work alongside an experienced OS facilitator once, read some of
Harrison's work and you can do it yourself the next time.

Koos de Heer

------------
koos de heer
auryn management advies
utrecht, nl
koosdhr at auryn.nl
http://www.auryn.nl/