a story of Talking "Sticks"

[WB-TrainingConsultingDevelopment]

Gerard

thank you for helping me to deepen my understanding, what the talking stick is about.
And for the technical hints

I very much appreciate your sharing

Bernd

On Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:00:47 +0100, Gerard Muller wrote:
Dear all,

A conversation with a collegue about the use of the talking stick inspired
me to send this mail about one detail of it.

Instead of bringing one myself, I now ask the sponsor of an event to think
of one.
After explaining what we use it for, I say something like the following:

I would like to ask you to choose the object, and to explain why you chose
it
(or else decide who should do this).
Ideally, the object symbolises the direction, vision or process you have
started. It could be an old object which your organisation has which can
also be connected to the future.

For an Open Space I do coming Monday, which is for an organisation which
works well (but is much like a machine) and needs to go through an
intensive change process, I added “ It could be an object which can
symbolise the values and strenghts which the organisation tradtionally has,
but which has the
flexibility and responsiveness to the environment which you envision.”.

The particular CEO the next day wrote back “Thank you for the challenge! If
I can handle that in accordance with your demands, the rest of the day will
be easy!”

I feel that leaving this up to the sponsor has a couple of advantages, the
most important one seems to be
that if chosen well, the object (and the story with which it is introduced)
is better than anything I could
bring along - and most clients really make an effort choosing something.
The choice sometimes reveals things I have not noticed or understood about
the situation, and it is also fun because of the creativity
which emerges.

Some examples of talking “sticks” I have experienced: a 5000-year old
flintstone, a mountai crystal, a Lego helicopter (leadership was the
issue), a branch with apple blossom (the future strategy for apple and pear
producers), the statuette of the sower ( symbol of an agricultural
university), the declaration of the rights of children (librarians of
children’s books), a Nokia cellphone (creating a network). Most interesting
- and powerful - however I feel are the stories to introduce the objects
with, rather than the objects themselves. It's probably the combination
that does it.

In situations where it is unclear who should open the meeting introducing
the talking stick provides an opportunity for a second person to have a
clear tole. For example in the case of a university which was making its
strategic plan in Open Space, it was clear the Chairman of the Board would
open the meeting.
However the Rector in reality had most of the responsability (and work). So
I asked the rector to find the object and introduce it.

I look forward to hear any other experiences or examples.

Greetings from Denmark,




Gerard Muller
Open Space Institute Denmark

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