Diversity and disability in Open Space

[OLSON,LINDA (A-SantaClara,ex1)]

Hello to everyone that I haven't talked to in a long, long while...

I will be facilitating a day and 1/2 open space meeting in a few weeks.  The
theme of the meeting is to ID design criteria for their overall
organization.  (the organization was split in half from HP to form Agilent
(using a clone and go approach).  Now, they need to create an organization
that will serve their customers effectively and efficiently.  The design
team will use the info that gets generated from the meeting (the meeting
includes employees from the IT organization and internal customers, approx
60 people) in their meeting the following afternoon.  So what I'm wondering
is what have you found that works from a process stand point?...to get the
reports done in one day, book printed in the evening, book distributed in
am, and have all the participants ID the 1,2,3 design criteria that's most
important to each individual.

How have folks done the ID process (voting, etc)and what would work with 60
plus people?
I'm thinking there may be time after the ID for people to again
self-organize into the groups they choose and have further discussion around
the topics?

I'd love to hear ideas about how to approach this.

Thanks in advance for you help!

Linda Olson

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Corrigan [mailto:corcom at INTERCHANGE.UBC.CA]
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 9:03 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Diversity and disability in Open Space


I can't add too much to the Elder's comments.  Some people feel that way
about
using First Nations traditions, others feel that way about the bells or
Harrison's hat (if the comments from his YWCA OS are any thing to go by!).

My thoughts are as follows: I think it is important to use a certain amount
of
discretion and tact in handling tools and materials that are "borrowed" from
Aboriginal culture, especially if one has a limited understanding of those
tools, and especially if traditional people are likely to be in attendance.
I
personally don't use a "talking stick" or even refer to one here on the west
coast (the home of talking sticks) because talking sticks are used in
ceremonies
here and have a particular role to play.  Many Aboriginal organizations DO
use
them in their deliberations, but as my ancestry is Ojibway, and not coastal,
I
tend to shy away from using coastal objects.  I have thought of using an
eagle
feather, but that would be more appropriate east of here.

It is important to be sensitive about drawing on First Nations cultural
models
and tools because these things have been appropriated and sold over the
years,
and several in the community, myself included, consider that unethical.
Search
the Web and you'll find sweat lodge ceremonies, sage sticks, medicine wheel
tarot cards, sweetgrass and many many other things for sale.  Traditionally
these things are not sold, and in many cases, there are traditional
propritary
rights associated with ceremonies, musical instruments, designs and
medicines.

I always describe Open Space as a process that is fundamentally the same as
our
traditional modes of meeting, deciding and acting.  It runs on rather deep
seated and natural principles that tend to both transcend and incorporate
individual cultures and are more rooted in basic biology, physics and
ecology.
My own practice is within the First Nations community, and I am First
Nations,
so I talk about it from that perspective.  However, I do talk about it
differently if I am working with another group, and I look for other models
and
metaphors more rooted in the culture of the organization, group or
community.
I'm not always comfortable doing that, especially if the other culture is
not
familiar to me.  I appreciate that this is tricky issue for non-Aboriginal
facilitators, but perhaps it helps understanding why some people feel that
way.
The bottom line, I think, is how you approach using the tools. Be yourself,
be
honest and be authentic and good things will happen.  For what's it's worth,
having a good heart really does matter, which is why I suspect the Elder was
understanding.  If you really were exploiting this technology for commercial
gain or whatever, you would have got a much harder time, especially from the
Elder.

My concluding thought would be that when we use the tools like the talking
stick
and the medicine wheel, we should keep in mind that these things are
representations.  The talking stick is a tool that honours the circle,
shares
power and authority amongst all speakers and reminds people of respect.  The
medicine wheel is one form of a very old and widespread way of looking at
the
world and has correlations in alomst all traditional cultures.  Both of
these
things are useful anchors, and both can be replaced by other appropriate
representations.  It doesn't change the content, message or magic of Open
Space.

Those are my two cents...there's probably alot more to be said.

Chris

Michelle Cooper wrote:

<snip>

> Aboriginal women were strongly represented at this conference.  One of the
> women had done concurrent sessions on the day prior to the open space
where
> the concept of healing circles had been discussed and the talking stick
used
> in the session.  The deaf-blind woman had found that session great,
because
> only one person spoke at a time!! I had been asked to do a brief
> introduction to open space at the conference opening (as difficult as it
is
> to talk about rather than do).  A participant shared with me that the next
> day that one of the aboriginal women commented negatively about the notion
> of "stealing cultural traditions" and then marketing them.  I had
neglected
> to say that OST was not copyrighted or trademarked, even though I had
> acknowledged that Harrison had drawn from many cultures and traditions as
he
> developed the process. The concerns did not emerge again as we actually
did
> the open space part of the meeting.  I did overhear discussion between one
> elder and another participant discussing this comment.  She simply said
that
> some people feel this way.  Any thoughts Chris?
>

<snip>

--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
108-1035 Pacific Street
Vancouver BC
V6E 4G7

Phone: 604.683.3080
Fax: 604.683-3036