[Fwd: Forward to Harrison please]

[Michael Herman]

  hello everyone,

this came to me a couple of days ago, sorry for the delayed processing
here.

john is really looking for harrison, and also i think perhaps some of
you here on the oslist worldwide listserve.  he is not a member of the
list, so please reply to him direclty.

his email address is mailto:ArtsCnslt at aol.com

thanks for whatever help you can give him.

michael herman



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Forward to Harrison please
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:36:10 EDT
From: ArtsCnslt at aol.com
To: mherman at globalchicago.net



Dear Michael Herman:

My name is John McCann and I was at the firts Open Space on Open Space and
participated in a number of thre gatherings in the early 1990's. I have
incorporated OST into much of my work across the arts sector where I help design and
deliver leadership training and organizational capacity building programs. I am
hoping you will forward this note to harrison and others who may be of
assistance to me regards establishing a Community of Practice around leadership and
learning in the arts.

Many thanks,

A request from John McCann at Virginia Tech. I am looking for a theoretical
framework for understanding and working within informal, often self-organizing
systems.

In our work across the arts sector we recognize that alongside a formal
approach to professional development and organizational capacity building
(sequenced seminars, leadership academies, university certification programs, grant
making for OD work, etc.) there is an informal, rather self organizing "system"
of professional development, lifelong learning, and organizational capacity
building that exists at the national and local level.

This "system" has numerous aspects: freestanding seminars and workshops;
organization-by-organization technical assistance; leadership seminars; peer to
peer exchange; individual mentoring and coaching; incubation services;
one-on-one advise and counseling (in person, over the phone and email); posting,
exchange, and sharing of suggested links, reading recommendations, articles. It is
this systems in which we are interested.

This system represented above is self organizing in that no individual has
control over its parameters nor is there any discernible intentional influence
from one aspect of the system to another. No one entity or group of individuals
is in charge, yet the system keeps expanding in scope. The questions we want
to investigate are:

1. What are the steps in "seeing" this complex system? How might one map/draw
the system?

2. How can one assess the impact of this system on individuals,
organizations, and the arts field locally and nationally?

3. Can there be an intervention into such an informal and self organizing
system that could increase the quality of its offerings, identify economies of
scale, improve access to the system?

4. Are there existing models/experiences from other fields that would be
valuable to examine?

I would welcome your thoughts. Also we may be looking for individuals to work
with us in next steps. Please let me know of anyone (including yourself) you
believe might have the appropriate grounding and an interest in this
initiative.

A brief email of your thoughts would be most welcome.

Many thanx as always!!

John McCann, Co-Director
Institute for Cultural Policy and Practice
540-231-1854






--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement

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