Notes from a one day OST meeting

Sat Jan 19 09:24:23 PST 2002

Hi Chris,

I needed to wait until I had the energy to read your posting carefully and
give it some thought.

As you know, I've worked in our province in healthcare and have done OST
extensively in that mileau.  The first thing that struck me was, "Oh, Chris
has had a very TYPICAL OS experience in healthcare."  These folks are very
invested in doing things by convention, so when faced with an unconventional
approach, there is often initially a lot of resistance, a lot of shielding.

It was interesting that you noted some {nervous} laughter - this again
struck a really familiar chord.  Whenever things get really tense in
healthcare, we seem to default to laughter . . . I think it's a way to
diffuse the energy when things get a bit too close, too personal, when we
feel out of control.  (The classic is when a couple of nurses are preparing
a corpse for the morgue - often, if the person who died is someone whom the
nurses had been very close to, there is inappropriate, nervous laughter; the
nurses feel horrified at themselves, yet continue to laugh . . . I admit,
I've done that . . . entirely inappropriate, yet the only way to get through
this very difficult thing without "losing it".  Even though crying, grieving
openly, would be healthier and better, to do so would prevents one from
carrying on and looking after everyone else in his/her care . . . so you
swallow it and laugh . . . for self-protection . . . even though it is
really very damaging personally.)  I think this is what is going on in the
room when people start goofing around at quite solemn times - especially in
the first opening circle, when they feel put on the spot to reveal
themselves, their concerns, their passions.

In my experience in health care, it seems to go either of two ways during
the topic posting time, before they really get down to work - either to
laughter or to RAGE!

Your internal conversations sound like what I've gone through with virtually
every healthcare OST event I've done (except with the Occupational
therapists - a particularly "out of the box" and creative discipline, who
took to it like ducks to water).  AND at the end of the day, without
exception, we've had the conversation about how can we bring more of this
spirit into our workplaces.

My other comment would be about the sponsor.  In healthcare in our province,
senior managers are used to having the illusion of control, with the the
covert knowledge that they have absolutely no control over ANYTHING that
happens.  So I almost wonder if your sponsor wasn't expressing some relief
in her comment that she felt the space more open for her.  Maybe she meant
exactly that . . . that she finally felt able to admit (to herself, her
"subordinates" and her colleagues) that control is completely beyond her.
Maybe she felt released from the charade that she had any in the first
place!

Anyhow, kiddo, thanks so much for your beautiful chronicle, your guided
tour, through the very strange territory which is health care in BC.  Your
posting was so revealing, so personal, yet so universal, that it ALMOST made
me giggle.  (I'm getting better at letting myself feel grief . . . so
instead of giggling, I let a tear trickle down my cheek.)

Love,
Laurel.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Corrigan" <chris at chriscorrigan.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 11:40 AM
Subject: Notes from a one day OST meeting

> Colleagues.
>
> Yesterday I facilitated a one day OST meeting for about 35 managers of a
> health care authority.  They are going through incredible trauma right
> now with the health care system in this province being decimated as it
> is prepared for privatization.
>
> The OST was partly a learning experience for the managers, and partly a
> chance to talk about how they deal with change both as people and as an
> organization.
>
> I took some notes about how I was feeling throughout the day, and offer
> them to you as I wrote them.  There were a couple of subtle shifts in
> the energy during that day and as a facilitator, it's always hard to
> know how to respond.  Following is a bit of an internal dialogue I was
> having with myself.  I offer it especially to those facilitators who
> have not yet found themselves in this situation as a kind of guided tour
> through one person's psychic engagement with space holding.
>
>
> * The room was far from ideal this morning.  No really good wall to work
> with, tables in the room ready for lunch, no cordless mic.  We got the
> tables pushed up against the wall, but that is still where everyone went
> when they came in.  BIG grief issues, seeking comfort in the less
> unfamiliar of the two room set ups. During the day some folks used the
> tables, but most did not.
>
> * Topics slow to come out.  There is a lot of grief in the room and
> there is a palpable sense of watching the group go through a mini grief
> cycle with respect to the process.  It always hurts when they reach
> denial just when they have been invited to post a topic.  It took quite
> a while to get these 19 issues, and the group went through denial from
> being quiet and reserved to being uncomfortable with the silence, and so
> they started to laugh.  Then there was a really clear shift to a deeper
> reflective mode.  Out of that came the bulk of the issues.  People
> seemed to get more serious, although there was still a lightness to the
> underbuzz.
>
> * When I got to last call ("going once") about 4 or 5 more issues came
> out.  One woman was sitting on the edge of her seat just bouncing.  She
> popped up just as it seemed as if the agenda setting session was about
> to end.
>
> * How to role model working with silence.  If you get uncomfortable
> walking the circle over and over in complete silence, you are finished.
> You have to love the silence, see the stillness as a brooding harbinger
> of passion and action unleashed, like prairie storm rising up above the
> horizon to hail, rain and thunder on the land.  There is a moment before
> that, when the wind dies out and the light changes to a gold or green
> colour and the black clouds come upon you.  Then the rain is unleashed
> and the thunder comes and the regeneration process begins to flow,
> transforming the land from brown to green again.  It is like the I Ching
> image of Wu Wang (Without Falsehood).  It is the image of thunder under
> heaven, and precedes the falling of rain and Great Nourishment.  The
> text of the gua says :
>
> Without Falsehood.
> Sublimely prosperous and smooth.
> Favourable to be steadfast and upright.
> If one's intention is not truthful,
> There is trouble.
> Unfavourable to have somewhere to go.
>
> If you do not love the silence like you can love that moment before a
> storm, the group will seize upon your inauthentic presence in the room
> and turn on you.  I have seen it happen.  It almost happened today.
> Everything I did to role model my love for silence (smiling, frowning,
> making eye contact, looking at the floor) seemed to make it worse.  Then
> I stopped trying and suddenly the flow was back. Truthfulness and
> authenticity emerge on their own.  They cannot be cultivated.
>
> * What is this?  Where does  this self-critic come from?  One negative
> comment and my mind is filled with questions like: "this doesn't work.
> Who am I kidding?  I don't know what I'm doing.  This whole thing is
> flippant."  Even a batch load of positive comments don't seem to undo
> the damage I do to myself with the negative comments.
>
> * There is a lot of laughter and high spirit in the room despite this
> underlying toxicity in the environment.  The sponsor is worried that the
> energy level seems low.  I don't sense that. Oh no. Why not?  My sponsor
> seems to be saying that people feel so powerless that they sense that
> this is not a time when they can contribute anything.  They want to
> simply sit still and wait for things to happen to them.  I've heard
> those comments.  Nothing matters because we can't change anything
> anyway.  Hmm.  Maybe we have the wrong theme.  Maybe there is too much
> business to conduct and so people aren't willing to step back a bit a
> learn.
>
> * The energy picked up again in the last session.  I think sometimes I
> am too highly tuned, like a blade of grass waving with each
> imperceptible breath of air.  We ended with a bit of discussion on how
> to use OST with the Purpose, Vision, Structure and Action parts of
> organization, a little bit on the grief cycle which was critical for
> these guys to know about given everything that is going on for them.
> Sponsor said she felt that the space was more open for her now.
>
> * Several people asked me how they could access this spirit in their
> organizations.  I responded with saying that in the absence of knowing
> anything specific about their organization, that it should be about
> invitation.  Are you doing things in your organization that create and
> respect invitation?  What can you do to create an inviting workplace?
> Invitation makes so much sense because it allows people to respond
> within their personal givens, in a totally full way.  It asks them to
> give only what they can, and give it all fully.
>
>
> Chris
>
> --
> NEW EMAIL: chris at chriscorrigan.com
>
>
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Consultation - Facilitation
> Open Space Technology
>
> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> chris at chriscorrigan.com
>
> RR 1 E-3
> 1172 Miller Road
> Bowen Island, BC
> Canada, V0N 1G0
>
> phone (604) 947-9236
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
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>From  Sat Jan 19 14:52:33 2002
Message-Id: <SAT.19.JAN.2002.145233.0500.>
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 14:52:33 -0500
Reply-To: stjohnlu at altelco.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Jim Metcalf <stjohnlu at altelco.net>
Subject: poem
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Creative Space
Silence holds the open space
In tension. Striving with its
Own being, creative space
Changes without changing as
Silence grows and tension grows
Until a word is spoken:
Open space. Creative Space.

Tension holds space open now –
Talking tenses listening now.
Will listeners take two feet
And walk, or talkers? The hearts
Are trembling to know what they
Themselves will do. Tension grows.
Open Space, Creative Space.

Talking resolves with listening
As space opens, hearts open.
Listeners caring for talkers,
Talkers for listeners, balance
The caring of a heart for
Another , for self, until
Space opens creatively.

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<p class=3DStyleHeading1Centered><b =
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font
size=3D5 face=3DArial><span style=3D'font-size:16.0pt'><span =
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt'>Creative Space</span></span></font></b></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Silence holds =
the open
space</span></font></p>

In tension. =
Striving with
its

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Own being, =
creative space</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Changes without =
changing
as</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Silence grows =
and tension
grows</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Until a word is =
spoken:</span></font></p>

Open space. =
Creative
Space.

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Tension holds =
space open
now –</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Talking tenses =
listening
now.</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Will listeners =
take two
feet</span></font></p>

And walk, or =
talkers? The
hearts

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Are trembling =
to know what
they</span></font></p>

Themselves will =
do.
Tension grows.

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Open Space, =
Creative
Space.</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Talking =
resolves with
listening</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>As space opens, =
hearts
open.</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Listeners =
caring for
talkers,</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Talkers for =
listeners,
balance</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>The caring of a =
heart for </span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Another , for =
self, until</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in'><font size=3D2
face=3D"Century Gothic"><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt'>Space opens =
creatively.</span></font></p>

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