New member

Tue Dec 16 02:02:20 PST 2003

Welcome Greetings from Berlin!

Hello, Dominique - Thank you for sharing your story!

May all your dreams comes true! Good Luck and much Success!

Gabriela Ender

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dominique Proudhon 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 8:58 AM
  Subject: New member

  Good day all,

  I joined the OSlist a few days ago and have been lurking for a while. I am very impressed with the quality of the exchanges on this list and find myself drawn to participate. Several threads called my attention; in particular the one questioning the list itself (what are we doing? Aren't we loosing our spirit, Should we split?) -I find these conversations very healthy. And also the one about Civil Conversation, which resonates with an old questioning of mine around ways to implement real participative democracy - I am dreaming of initiating some real debate around the question "what world do we chose to build for tomorrow?". I believe we humans are caught up in our own contradictions: after centuries of evolving faster and faster technically, and having more transformative power than ever, we are now facing the essential question of  Meaning: How do we participate in the world and to what end? What is our responsibility in regard to what is happening in our world? Especially all the "not so nice" little things like irreversible destruction of earth resources, loss of entire species, wars and weapon builders, starving, and all that noisy ongoing disconnected stupidity on our tv and radio shows that take people away from being.  I believe that for the first time, we, at least in "developed" countries, have won the freedom to look beyond simply working for survival, to ask ourselves: how do I want to also make this place a little better? 

  Anyway. I'll stop here for today. My goal was actually to introduce myself: 
  I am French and leave in Grenoble. After a PhD in molecular/cellular biology and 6 years of research. I decided to do something else with my life and moved to human resources development. I actually did that career move in the US: I lived 10 years in North Carolina. I wanted to understand why people so often get into conflicts because of "films" they make in their heads that have little to do with reality. I wanted to find ways to work on re-establishing lost connections, especially in the workplace, where they could serve common projects and goals. I trained with Will Schutz, originator of the Human Element, became a mediator, trained in various psychometric tools and got to work with various groups. Two years ago, just before I came back to France, I bought a book that called my attention: Open Space Technology, a user's guide. I read it in the plane. It was one of those "ha ha": I found something I was looking for. A piece of extreme simplicity that called on very ecological principles to set the stage for real connection between people and for meaning to happen. On top of that, this approach was shared openly without any bind, just as a gift to humanity, which seduced me even more...  I decided to try it as soon as I would get the opportunity, here, in France. Starting a new business as a group facilitator/team consultant has not been easy thing. Things are slow going and I often get discouraged. But I finally got the opportunity to run two different open space events for two different clients in the last year (30 people and 36 people). Both very energizing experiences and both around the question "How could we improve the way we function as a team?": I loved the first moments of surprise in people's eyes, and then the sudden rush to bring up issues as they understood that the event was theirs. Several persons approached me at the end telling me how much this work had moved them from a negative reactive position to an engaged position and telling me about a number of places they would see such work as useful. Thanks to Harrison, they got a gift they deserved. Felt quite good to serve in such a meaningful way. I'll continue. I now would like to share this approach with others in France and starting a French Open Space Institute (web site in preparation for sometime next year). Of course, I have plenty of questions around OST, but I'll wait: This post is already long enough, you guys are busy, and I need to read more of the documentation to make sure I am not asking questions that have already been answered 20 times. 

  All the best to each of you,

  Dominique

  Note: I am a guy, for those who would wonder.

  Dominique Proudhon

  Group Facilitation
  Problem solving
  Conflict resolution

  Dampierre
  38470 Notre Dame de l'Osier

  (33) 4 76 36 71 34

  (33) 6 78 91 48 77

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