Gift of Chautauqua
Alan Stewart
alan.stewart at senet.com.au
Fri Dec 28 16:43:24 PST 2001
G'day All
Harrison's recent revisiting of Phoenix Rising prompts me to let you know of
a forthcoming event for which I welcome support.
I have been invited by Lisa Kimball to be a guest in a virtual conference called
a Chautauqua. Harrison was one of her previous presenters.
Lisa is well known internationally as a pioneer and world leader in getting the
best out of groups. She wrote:
"Hi Alan! A colleague shared your paper on "the conversing company" with me
which i love! I was wondering if we might entice you to be a guest in a virtual
conversation in our online Chautauqua? "
You can see more about it on her wondrous website Group Jazz http://www.groupjazz.com
It is scheduled for mid January.
Background to Lisa's invitation:
In May of this year I presented a keynote at the 1st World Conference for Systemic
Management in Vienna. www.isct.net
My paper on what I call "The Conversing Company" is currently available at
www.pnc.com.au/~lfell/stewart.html
I speak to people who wish, and are ready, to lead organizations in which everyone has
a chance to shine, about:
. dividends to be obtained through investment in processes which foster conversation
among people within and across traditional boundaries.
. cogent reasons why this way of being and doing is critical to success in a highly
competitive world.
. an organisational culture in which people make time to converse in a spirit of "We are
here to treat each other well" and "We're in this together."
. conversation being the fundamental means by which knowledge is constructed and
learning happens.
. this culture being created and sustained when sufficient attention is paid to processes
which promote conversing. These, in my experience, include OST and World Café www.theworldcafe.com
. how such an organization functions day to day.
. the immense power and potential of this kind of organization to bring out the best in
people - what a great place in which to work!
This 'transforming' (rather than transformed; is there such a thing?) organization would
have features of what I sense Harrison would characterise as an 'InterActive Organization'
and of what Birgitt describes as 'The Open Space Organization.'
Participating in Lisa's Chautauqua could be a great opportunity to alert many people world
wide about the substantial benefits to be gained from fostering OST and other conversational
processes in business, government, NGOs, community, educational, aged care and other settings.
Incidentally you may be interested to learn that there is a multitude of Café Conversations
happening globally in the month of January. See http://www.theworldcafe.com/ComConversation.html
I will keep you informed of developments on the Chautauqua and would welcome any support
you give to make the most of this remarkable gift.
With best wishes for whatever you and your communities bring forth in the new year.
Good to converse, with love
Alan
Adelaide
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20011229/321dc2d3/attachment-0016.htm>
More information about the OSList
mailing list