Storytelling before an 2 day event
Birgitt Williams
birgitt at mindspring.com
Sat Apr 5 09:59:42 PST 2003
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
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:
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