Soft Skills and OS

[Doersam, Laurel]

I used OST with master's students to evaluate and wrap-up a summer
residency.  The process was very well recieved and the quality of
information the university gleaned about the residency was excellent.
Unlike most evaluations, the focus was on what can be created or designed
for future residencies, rather than what needs to be fixed.  This was pretty
refreshing.  The students were quite enthusiastic about the process, as was
the program director.  I was not involved in any instruction during the
course of the residency, so, like Jeff, it was easy for me to hold the
space.  It might have been tougher to focus on the future if the program
director himself had facilitated, as the tendency is to rehash what went
wrong in those situations (or at least, that had been the case in previous
years).  At any rate, Open Space would be a wonderful wrap-up for a soft
skills course . . . a superb venue to practice all the soft skills, with
some responsibility and PASSION added to the mix!

Laurel.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Aitken [mailto:ja at svn.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 9:22 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Soft Skills and OS


I was invited to use OST as a wrap up for a graduate course in Appreciative
Inquiry; about 20 students. In 2.5 hours there were many good conversations
(we had two 45 minute session times) - people had a chance to wrap up loose
threads of inquiry, and/or discuss the future - and the 30 minute closing
circle was a wonderful closing for the whole course.

I was not the instructor for the course, so it was easy for me to hold the
space. If you have no "givens" or desired outcomes except coming to
closure, I guess it will be easy for you as instructor to hold the space
open... this is worth the time you take to think it through.

Jeff

-
Jeff Aitken
Consultant/Facilitator
Specialist in Open Space Process
PO Box 1092 Inverness CA 94937 USA
415.669.1924
415.663.9410 fax offsite
mailto:ja at svn.net

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