OS with women's organization

[Raffi Aftandelian]

Dear listers,
Thanks for your suggestions regarding the timing of storytelling in an
OS. I ended up doing the storytelling before lunch and starting the OS
with the OS with the women's organization after lunch.

This was the second OS I conducted, altogether 1 1/2 days (not
counting storytelling), another small one: we started with 9 and ended
with 6.

The event was titled "Org'n X moves forward". We worked on the event
name and that was the best we were able to come up with in the
planning time. People recognized it wasn't the best event title, not
quite exciting.

And I find that doing OS constantly tests me as a facilitator:
-where am I?
-what am I feeling?
-what am I doing with those feelings?
-do I really believe in what I am doing?

The OS as far as I could see went successfully. At least the
participants were happy. And they wanted to do another one maybe in a
few months.

They are at a difficult point because the current director of the organization feels burnt out and they are
about to lose their space. And nobody is really stepping up to bat to
take her place.

The OS was to help them determine how they might, among other things,
find another director. This question was not addressed at all-- people
put forward things they felt passionate about. And people already feel
pretty overwhelmed and the task of finding a director or assuming
additional responsibilities is too much for them. They are not
particularly passionate about finding a director.

When Birgit Williams trained us in OS in Novosibirsk, Russia last
year, she asked us what is the essence of OS, it was and still is -
thus far- about profound non-intervention in group process. And I found
myself forcing myself not to intervene. We really only had one room as
a meeting space and so I sat where the groups were working at times
almost eavesdropping on what they were saying.

The major testing point for the group was when it came to action
planning. There were three priority topics:

-training programs
-collaborating with municipal authorities
-finding a new space for the organization

And when it came to taking responsibility to "champion" these issues,
the energy shifted dramatically. It almost felt liked somebody had
died right in the middle of the room. And now they were faced with the
question of "what are we gonna do with this corpse"? I sensed my own
discomfort. I waited. My intervention was (and I hope I didn't violate
any cardinal rules here):

1. reminding folks what the extent of the responsibility of
championing and issue is, that there could be co-champions

2. checking to see if I understood correctly who was going to champion
the issue

3. seeing that when there was no one moving forward on the first
topic, to suggest that we move on to the second topic and that maybe
somebody would be ready to champion the first topic in a few moments.

They did find a champion for all issue areas, but this was a true
testing point...

I felt I was making a major effort at times not to say anything. I
learned later that the participants did not feel me in the room, which
was a consolation.

I notice that a big part of me still looks at OS skeptically. I still
don't quite believe it works because I have not personally seen
significant results from it. Also, it is hard to believe with every
bone in my body that something so minimalist can achieve such major
results. To really believe in it maybe I would need to work with a
large group and see major results. It is one thing to read about OS
with some major company and its fantastic results, it is another to
have a personal experience of it.

In a sense this skepticism is an asset right now because it can help
me understand the point of view of potential clients. It is not the
best kind of energy, though, to go in with when conducting an OS.

The first OS I did got people very excited but there was no follow-up really. People committed to things,
but what was supposed to happen-- creation of tolerance trainings
programs in schools- didn't quite happen. Maybe I didn't do the prep
work right (in this second case, too, I realize now looking back I
could have been more thorough in the prep work-- especially in
creating an invitee list).

I have heard skepticism regarding OS from others who have participated
in it, including one person who participated in one you did, Harrison,
(something about jails and South Africa). What I have heard is that OS
brings people into a very excited state. That doesn't necessarily mean
that there is follow through after the event even though the OS may
have allotted time for it.

Maybe like everything in life OS can't be expected to work perfectly because its
success depends on many variables.

Still, I keep at looking for OS opportunities because another big part
of me is enthralled by this process and by what it can offer.

A big hug to all from sunny Moscow,
Raffi Aftandelian

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