Story of a 2.5 day Open Space (long)

[Chris Corrigan]

Colleagues:

It's a rare treat to have a chance to facilitate a 2.5 day Open Space
Technology meeting.  In cricket parlance, this is the Test match of OST,
as opposed to the one day version, and it demands the same kinds of
skills: concentration, presence, acute observation and pacing, both from
the facilitator and the participant.

I love getting the rare chance to be with a group in OST for a full 2.5
days.  And I love what happens as a result.

I just finished one which was many months in the making and had great
results.  The OST was hosted by the Katzie First Nation
(http://www.katzie.ca) which is a small First Nation occupying five
reserves on the Fraser River, smack in the middle of a bunch of rapidly
growing suburbs near Vancouver, Canada.  It's a strange anomaly.  For
9000 years, people have been living where the current Katzie village is,
but in the last 20 years, thousands of people have moved in next door.
Huge houses, Sport Utility Vehicles, and soccer fields - all the
hallmarks of North American affluence and suburbia -  surround this
little reserve, a postage stamp of land, on the wrong side of the flood
dike and littered with fishing boats and nets, stacks of firewood and
tarpaulin-covered cars and trucks.

Numbering about 450 people, Katzie is a small First Nation, especially
in the face of what surrounds them, but they can be powerful and
influential.  Their claim on their traditional territory takes in most
of the suburbs of Greater Vancouver, as well as areas of mountain
wilderness and forest north of the region.  They are making steady
progress in the treaty process which will see self-government restored
to the community as well as a grab bag of tools and rights that will
allow them to fully participate in the surrounding local economy.  But
as important as the treaty process is, it means nothing if they don't
have good neighbour relations.

And so over the years, Katzie has made friends (and some enemies) with
the people, municipalities, organizations and businesses that have
assembled themselves around the little reserve on the river.  Sensing
that a treaty settlement is possible within another couple of years,
Katzie decided to turn it's attention to putting a little more concrete
on the relationships it has been nurturing and explore ways in which the
First Nation and its neighbours might get down to work on stuff.

So with the support of the British Columbia Treaty Commission
(http://www.bctreaty.net) and the Greater Vancouver Regional District
(http://www.gvrd.bc.ca) Katzie decided to sponsor a 2.5 day Open Space
meeting, to invite people to come together under the theme of
"Connecting the Pieces: Leaders in Action."

The invitation went far and wide and on Wednesday morning 35 people
showed up, committed to stay for the full three days.  They came from
local tourist businesses, forest companies, service agencies, and local
governments and all were interested in building the new relationship.
Chief Peter James welcomed us with a few words of gratitude at the
turnout.  We began slowly, and as I opened space and described the
process, I talked about how leadership and action lies squarely in the
province of the individual, and that despite the great relationship
building that had happened in the area over the years between
organizations, it was clearly PEOPLE that made the difference, and that
people would make the difference this week as we moved from the esoteric
world of "relationship building" to the real world of "work."

Twenty four topics went up, followed by another 6 over the course of the
conference.  The conversations on the first day tended to be about
getting to know one another once again and dealing with stereotypes and
prejudices.  Some of the conversations were quite heated, and others
were accused of "going around and around in circles (!)"  The five or
six Katzie representatives had a silent agreement among themselves to be
present in every group, and so as their neighbours wrestled with issues
like forestry, history and educating the young, the Katzie hosts sat
with them, answered questions with tact and diplomacy and generally held
space for their neighbours to learn, think and create.

As we went around the circle on the first evening, I asked for one word
from each person.  Words like "Surprised," "enlightened," "happy,"
"fun," "productive," and "deep," surfaced.  People were getting a sense
that there was something different happening here, that this was a
meeting between First Nations and non-Aboriginal people quite unlike any
they had been to before.

Sure enough, my suspicions that transformation was underway were
confirmed on the morning of the second day.  The first man in the room
was a recent European immigrant who lived in an affluent and cozy little
village by the sea.  He came to the meeting representing his mayor and
council and a citizen's advisory committee on the treaty process that
was known more for their hard line stands and bluster than for their
advice.  He had brought with him a stack of what he later called
"propaganda" that was intended to be distributed amongst the conference
goers as a way of making positions known.

He admitted to me that he had wisely refrained from making a statement
on the first day and instead chose to listen to what people were saying
in the groups.  His "enlightenment" (his word) was so profound that he
claimed not to have been able to sleep that night, as his head was full
of questions and learning.  In the closing circle on the second day he
shared how the world appeared different to him now and that all of his
assumptions about Aboriginal people lay shattered.

Day two was very deep, and the conversation that had laid the groundwork
on day one seemed to shift towards very important work on day two.
Actions got planned and organized, laughter filled the room and the
energy was high all day.  At the closing on day two, people began
talking about the process, the fact that it was responsible for so much
happening and the astonishment that 35 people could engage so deeply in
only two days.

>From the beginning, day three was going to be special.  The morning was
dedicated to action planning and the afternoon featured a "leader's
lunch" and discussion, primarily for mayors and others who were
interested in the outcome, but who couldn't commit to the full three
days.  Others who wanted to come for only a part of the conference were
invited for the third morning.

For the morning, I used what has now become my standard action planning
process.  I invited people to read through the proceedings and identify
themes in their minds that ran through all the discussions and around
which substantial and real actions could be organized.  I invited them
to vote with their hearts and step forward to manifest all this
leadership and action we had discussed, and post a topic intended to
"get the issue out of the room."  I had a conveners for that had boxes
for the following:

* action item;
* what will we do?
* when will we talk again and where?
* who (else) needs to be in the conversation?

This is a process where convergence happens in the mind, voting happens
in the heart and responsibility happens in the feet.  Full body action
planning.

Eight conversations were proposed and two of these merged so that six
hour long discussion groups took place.  Without exception they were
focused, efficient and began some deep planning.  Plans were constructed
in some of the following areas:

* beginning to involve Katzie in regional tourist marketing;
* creating an agreement with the largest local forest company both to
hire more Katzie workers and to train them as well as work respectfully
in Katzie territory;
* Reaching deep into the youth organizations in the community to
extensively promote an awareness of Katzie and their history;
* Undertaking Virtues Project (http://www.virtuesproject.com/) training
and workshops to teach respect and intercultural communication.
* create an archeological advisory team to advise local governments and
developers on areas of historical importance to Katzie and to provide
developers with advice regarding how to respectfully proceed in these
areas;
* Writing a series of newspaper articles on Katzie for the local press
* Creating links with local Chambers of Commerce and local governments
to fully accept Katzie as a legitimate business and governance partner
in the region;
* Providing local government expertise and assistance to Katzie so the
First Nation can develop a community plan that uses the same language as
the surrounding municipalities.

All of these action plans were created by 35 people in one hour.  They
were fully endorsed by individuals who committed to making them happen.
Meetings were scheduled, tasks assigned and potential partners
identified.  All of these actions will proceed not because it is
somebody's job to do it, but because somebody WANTS to do it.

One of the new comers on day three was a lawyer who was used to long
drawn out conversations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
He was astonished at how efficient the groups were, and how focused they
were on making it happen.

But these weren't the only actions that were captured.  For the first
time I used an evaluation sheet for each person that focused not on the
process but on their work.  It was a simple sheet that had a space for a
name, address, email address and then a large box entitled "As a result
of this meeting..."

These sheets capture both smaller actions (the preparation of a proposal
for economic development funding, the intention to invite someone to a
meeting, a scheduled phone call etc..) but also learnings.  Examples
from the sheets include:

* "I have a renewed enthusiasm to promote linkages between First Nations
and local government."
* "I am overwhelmed by the creativity and commitment that has become
apparent through this exercise."
* "We will revisit [cultural heritage impact] studies done with First
Nations in the 1990s on archeological sites."
* "I know have the tools and means to reach and inform my community of
the changes in our lifestyles and relationship with the surrounding
First Nations."  (This last one from the sleepless immigrant).

I highly recommend this form of evaluation because it both captures
otherwise unknown actions, and gets people to consider how the meeting
has affected themselves and their own work.

The closing circle was quite powerful, as was expected.  And in a final
demonstration of the skillful practice of grace that had characterized
the Katzie representatives throughout the conference, the head of the
treaty team gave every participant a T-shirt with the Katzie logo on it
along with a personal thanks.  She thanked every single person with a
list of the unique contributions they had made over the three days.  It
was very impressive.

Following our closing we prepared for the mayors and other dignitaries
to arrive.  Lunch was served and after an hour we gathered in the circle
again, now closer to 50 people strong.  I invited reports from each of
the action groups and then questions or further offers of help.  The
mayors were quick to volunteer their staff for jobs.  "Call so-and-so
when you get back.  I'll make sure he can help you out..."  We had a
little bit of further conversation about the three days and then people
broke up, dismissed with a short thank you speech from Chief Peter
James.

The proceedings will be made public from this event, probably at the
Katzie website. I will notify the list when they are up so you can read
more, as if you haven't already read enough!

Open Space Technology faired well in this context.  It brought together
people with widely differing interests and a bag load of assumptions
about each other.  At the end of three days, deep relationships were
forged and significant action began. One person who had been in a number
of one day OST meetings said she would never again settle for only one
day, and that she would always push for at least 1.5 days, having seen
how much further that sleep takes the group.  Having used OST now for
two regional visioning exercises, both geared towards making things
happen, the results are in.  The process works well, better over two or
three days rather than one, but the main benefit seems to be in getting
people focused on that which is truly important, generating commitment
and responsibility and transcending rhetoric.

Cheers,

Chris

---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

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