Some "brief" stories

[Larry Peterson]

Chris:  Thanks again for the great Winterpeg story.  Wonderful Spirit
and connection to Elders! Wow.

Here are a few other stories of Opening Spaces:

-I think Meg mentioned the event with Starfield Consulting: both
consultants and clients who have worked with them.  Becky (my wife who
is also a trained OS facilitator), Opened two spaces that day.  The
first was on a more generic topic of integrating traditional project
management approaches with those that engage energy (or life).  The
afternoon Open Space was with the smaller group that stayed exploring
how Starfield can implement those integrated approaches.  Everybody
loved the day, including the clients who came to play.  It has
stimulated others to consider doing the same.

-As part of a team building process (helping the team to practice
self-organizing), an Electronic Service Delivery team spent 1/2 day in
December in Open Space on what it will take to be successful in the next
six months.  (Sure a day or more would have been better, but they were
not ready to go there.)  We didn't do a "convergence" until last week,
but as we reflected on the progress they had made since the OS, they
were ready to "re-launch" their major IT project with OS as a key
component with all the stakeholders.  We'll see if they are ready now.

-A half-day OS was part of a day event to start the process with a
Starfield IT expert to develop the functional requirements for a new
piece of legal services software for some children's aid services.  The
givens took quite a while to clarify and some group decisions were
required about an ongoing project group so that limited the time.  The
quality of the time was again astounding.  Certainly the legal and
service staffs at the agencies were ready to meet again this way.  Not
only did they develop more clarity about the needed functionality, but
the enjoyed talking to each other.

-Even though I had some trouble getting in I enjoyed Gabrielle's online
OS.  Particularly a couple of discussions.  It really helped that I knew
a lot of people there.  I didn't like the way the facilitator (the
software) declared when it was over in a discussion!  But, I can see the
need for it given the nature of the software.  Great work Gabrielle

-This weekend I lead a workshop on "Orchestrating Partnerships" for
national health associations or foundations, e.g. SIDS and ALS.  After
some input on research and team formation from the various organizations
on day 1, we went into OS on Day 2.  It was wonderful again.  They loved
exploring partnerships with those who had more or less experience.  The
"convergence" yesterday morning was partly in the whole group to give
the government some direction, but mostly in the organizational teams
that came to the event.  They developed their back home strategies
(including some more OS events).

I know that Diane Gibeault has been doing so many OS events she doesn't
have time to share the stories, and that others of you might be in the
same situation.  So, I have 15 minutes between calls and I hope the
stories help.

Larry



Larry Peterson
Associates in Transformation
Toronto, ON, Canada
416.653.4829

larry at spiritedorg.com
www.spiritedorg.com

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