Report on a very sui generis OS

[Averbuch]

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  Gil
  this is the a most beautiful story of opening space
  I will read it again and again because it is perfectly Kosher in spirit and opens the heart to new possibilities and subtleties/
  thank you for writing and sharing
  Tova


  averbuch at post.tau.ac.il
  Tova Averbuch
  34 Rabinovitz street
  Holon 58672
  Israel


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Gilbert Brenson-Lazan 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 5:15 PM
  Subject: Report on a very sui generis OS



  Good morning, all:

  First and foremost I want to thank all of you who sent me your ideas on the challenge that I shared with you a few weeks ago regarding the use of OS as part of a major cultural transformation at a Central American Ag University.  I received dozens of letters, both on the list and off-list (although I can´t imagine why so many people chose to share their wisdom off-list).  Some of the suggestions were excellent but impractical due to the poverty level in Honduras and the unavailability of many items.  Others were very important and useful.

  I compiled (and translated) them and sent them to the organizers at the University and together we finalized the strategies on-line.

  My colleague-wife and I travelled to Honduras a couple of weeks ago to do the program.  Right from the start there were several major challenges, mainly with the previously agreed-upon and now undoable logistics, so we had to modify (considerably) the original plan to accomodate not only the logistic questions but also some last minute cold feet from some of the fossilized members of the administration and the alumni association that were all for change on paper but in flesh and blood it was too threatening.  

  The first day we spent mainly talking with students and faculty and getting to know the 7000 acres of campus, crops, pastures, animals, woods, jungle, etc.  That evening we did just the first part of the OS: 200+ of the 800 students, and almost no faculty members, responded to the initial call.  It was impossible to put them in a circle outside in the center knoll between the principal buildings (thanks, Harrison, for that great idea) as we had planned (no lights and no PA system were working) so we put them in the auditorium.  After a brief intro about the "rules" and "roles" of OS we gave out 10cm X 20cm cards to everyone with the invitation to mill around and get together in groups to decide topics and "convene" the work teams.  The only restriction was that every card had to begin with "How can we...".  We received over 500 cards!!!

  The next day we met with the volunteer internal facilitators (dorm supervisors, counselors, staff and faculty) and we briefed them on OS and their role monitoring the "second part".  Together we used stickywalls to affinity-sort the cards and summarize them.  Amazingly, especially for adolescents, almost all the cards were able to be summarized in 24 groups.  We insisted that all 500 be published immediately on the University Intranet, which amazed everybody with the transparency of the process and the good intentions of the majority of the University leadership.  

  On the third day all classes and work were suspended at the Univ. and we did the "rest" of the OS.  We prepared 30 workspaces in classrooms and sheltered outdoor spaces (24 subjects and 4 extras for spontaneous subjects, which very commonly arise in Latin American OS).    At first, the students just milled around in disbelief;  in its 80 years, the University had never given unstructured time to it´s students during a school day.  Finally a few first year students began to sit down and  talk in several of the meeting spaces.  The facilitator served as "convener" until a student or teacher agreed to take that role over.   Then, little by little, all the meeting rooms and overflow rooms were filled by students from all four years, faculty and even staff that had also been invited.  There was a core of 10-15 students in almost all of the groups and a VERY large number of roving bands (3-5) of bumblebees (we call them hummingbirds) that went from group to group and participated in many.  By midday things wound down (as we suspected) and a total of over 500 people had participated. In each group the facilitator and the student or faculty "convener" then went and posted their results to the Univ. Intranet.  

  In the afternoon, the sessions were moved to the six dormitory blocks (a kind of mini OS around dormitory-relevant topics chosen from the original list of 24).  Small groups began to organize around the topics and at the close of the afternoon those results were also posted on the Intranet but also a strategic plan was begun for each dormitory and actions and responsibilities were agreed upon.  A central consolidating committee was also self-selected that included students from all four years and six dormitories, faculty and staff, and they will consolidate all of the information from the OS on the Intranet, into a series of proposals to bring to the University.  The President of the University publicly thanked all the participants and agreed to consider and respond to each one with the same responsibility with which they were developed.   Other followups are being planned also.
   
  We left the school the next day with tearfull goodbyes (both from the students and from us). In the days that followed the event we have received many emails that have related how things are changing already.  I think the most moving one was from the president of the Alumni Association (who also participated and who´s psychorigidity was very prominant at the beginning) and said, in the close of his letter:  "I can now say the the words ´How can we....´  have become the symbol of the future of this University".

  It was the strangest OS we have ever done and not very "kosher"...but it worked.  If there was one lesson we learned, it was:  "Dare to try something different". 

  Warm regards,

  Gil


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   Gilbert Brenson-Lazan - Socio-Gerente
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