SV: Storytelling before a 2 day event

[Thomas Herrmann]

Dear Birgitt
Thanks for emphasizing the importance of this work. Good suggestion to start
the day before! "Unfortunately" I am opening space about 300 km´s away that
day so I can´t make it!
What about my other alteratives, to have the storytelling a few days earlier
or doing some individual interviews. I would appreciate any experiences, if
anyone would like to share.
Regards
Thomas

> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]För
> Birgitt Williams
> Skickat: den 5 april 2003 20:00
> Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Ämne: Re: Storytelling before an 2 day event
>
>
> Hi Thomas,
> A big learning that I had years ago was in the Province of
> Ontario, Canada
> with a two day OST meeting for a large group of social and
> health services.
> It could have been a constructive, positive turning point to
> create a better
> future for social and health services at a most critical
> time. All the right
> people where there to make a difference. Harrison was brought north to
> facilitate. Larry Peterson and I assisted. There was no real
> pre-work done.
> There was a third day for the conference following the OST in
> which there
> were to be traditional workshops. Harrison, Larry, and I met
> with the client
> by phone and in person to make a case for the two days being
> insufficient
> for this OST meeting. Most of the participants were in deep
> grief due to
> recent government cuts in grants. Many social and health
> services had to
> close down. Others were forced into mergers. This meeting was
> to develop a
> plan for the future. There was no format to acknowledge the
> grieving nor to
> honor the past and present so that people had their best
> foundation to start
> the development of a plan for the future.
>
> On day one, almost all discussions were the story telling
> sort to discuss
> the horrors of what had and was happening. By day two, some of the
> discussions started to focus more on the future and on
> possibilities for the
> future. There was insufficient time, in relation to the
> grieving, to develop
> action plans and get more concrete about solutions.
>
> Throughout that sector of the province and beyond, the results of the
> meeting as I understand them were:
> 1. the reputation of OST was of a meeting format that just
> didn't work with
> residual anger at the format and the facilitators. Larry and
> I spent time
> doing damage control, enabling those who were talking to us
> to understand
> that if we had only had one more day, the results would have
> been to have
> some solid action plans and that the meeting format was good,
> as were the
> facilitators
> 2. at the time, the three of us had some feelings that the
> organizers wanted
> the meeting format to go badly---they had vested interests in other
> formats---they could have given us the time we needed to do it well
> 3.even today, 8 years later, I still run into people who
> comment about that
> meeting, very unfavorably----who say that we had our one big
> chance to bring
> about a better future for the social services despite the
> circumstances---they saw the potential of the meeting
> format---and they say
> we blew it
> 4. a very few people saw the potential and understood more
> time was needed
> and were willing to try the meeting format in their own organizations
>
>
> Eventually, with a lot of diligence, perseverence, and well
> done OST, the
> reputation of OST improved. There is still, however, some residual bad
> feelings. And how could we have done a better job? In my
> OPINION, we should
> not have taken on this job when we believed from the
> beginning that the OST
> required a minimum of 2 1/2 days to serve this community
> well. Since then, I
> have been a strong advocate of good planning work, a story
> telling evening
> the night before any OST event that is about the future so
> that the past and
> present can be honored, and if there is a lot of grieving due
> to recent
> circumstances, to insist on a meeting duration of 2 1/2 days OR if the
> client only has 2 days, to start at noon on day 1 and end at
> noon on day 3.
>
> I offer this to you to assist you in your decision making. I
> hope it helps.
>
> Blessings,
> Birgitt
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Thomas
> Herrmann
> Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2003 12:15 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Storytelling before an 2 day event
>
>
> Hi friends in Open Space
> I the end of may I will facilitate a 2 day OST conference for
> a department
> of a public organization (70 employees). Last friday we had a
> pre-meeting
> with the managers. We set a quite wide theme focusing on the
> future of the
> organization. The last years they have had cuts in their
> grants and it seems
> clear it will get even worse. Employees are worried about
> this. We had a
> look at the griefcycle and it differs in different parts of
> the department,
> but it seems quite a few of the employees are not really ready to talk
> future.
>
> We will not have the possibility to have a storytelling
> evening the night
> before so I am thinking of other alternatives, and would appreciate
> feedback.
> 1. use the first 2 hours before lunch to invite for
> storytelling and start
> the work in Open Space after lunch. That means one
> afternoon/evening + until
> lunch the next day for sessions + convergence in the
> afternoon (we won´t be
> able to go on to late day 2)
> 2. Have an evening/afternoon of storytelling the week before.
> 3. Collect stories by individual interviews, as Harrison
> describes in "the
> book". How does that work? How/when did you present the
> information to the
> participants?
> I´d be greatful for any advice!
> Regards
> Thomas Herrmann         Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
> Open Space Consulting   Fax   +46 (0)300-713 89
> Pensévägen 4
> 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
> Email: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
> www.openspaceconsulting.com
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Open Space Consulting bistår dig som vill
> skapa en välmående och effektiv organisation.
>
> Det gör vi genom att:
> * Erbjuda diagnoser för organisatorisk hälsa och balans.
> * Ge stöd i förändrings- och utvecklingsprocesser.
> * Handleda kreativa möten och konferenser.
> * Utbilda mötes- och processhandledare.
>
> "Inspirerade medarbetare, det skulle väl smaka?
>  Tänk - kaffepausens energi ständigt spraka!"
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Thomas
> Herrmann
> Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2003 12:15 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Storytelling before an 2 day event
>
>
> Hi friends in Open Space
> I the end of may I will facilitate a 2 day OST conference for
> a department
> of a public organization (70 employees). Last friday we had a
> pre-meeting
> with the managers. We set a quite wide theme focusing on the
> future of the
> organization. The last years they have had cuts in their
> grants and it seems
> clear it will get even worse. Employees are worried about
> this. We had a
> look at the griefcycle and it differs in different parts of
> the department,
> but it seems quite a few of the employees are not really ready to talk
> future.
>
> We will not have the possibility to have a storytelling
> evening the night
> before so I am thinking of other alternatives, and would appreciate
> feedback.
> 1. use the first 2 hours before lunch to invite for
> storytelling and start
> the work in Open Space after lunch. That means one
> afternoon/evening + until
> lunch the next day for sessions + convergence in the
> afternoon (we won´t be
> able to go on to late day 2)
> 2. Have an evening/afternoon of storytelling the week before.
> 3. Collect stories by individual interviews, as Harrison
> describes in "the
> book". How does that work? How/when did you present the
> information to the
> participants?
> I´d be greatful for any advice!
> Regards
> Thomas Herrmann         Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
> Open Space Consulting   Fax   +46 (0)300-713 89
> Pensévägen 4
> 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
> Email: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
> www.openspaceconsulting.com
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Open Space Consulting bistår dig som vill
> skapa en välmående och effektiv organisation.
>
> Det gör vi genom att:
> * Erbjuda diagnoser för organisatorisk hälsa och balans.
> * Ge stöd i förändrings- och utvecklingsprocesser.
> * Handleda kreativa möten och konferenser.
> * Utbilda mötes- och processhandledare.
>
> "Inspirerade medarbetare, det skulle väl smaka?
>  Tänk - kaffepausens energi ständigt spraka!"
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
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> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003
>
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> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
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>
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