help, please

Sun Nov 16 06:02:36 PST 2003

Julie,

Your experience here raises for me questions about Open Space as a way of
being, inside and perhaps more significantly, outside scheduled OST events
and gatherings. When I work with a community of work, faith, or geographical
community, I'm always curious about how to help nurture Open Space as an
intrinsic fiber in the community's fabric of being. For me this means being
Open Space in everyday contexts, especially the most mundane, ordinary, and
accidental. A group or community that does this, in my experience, brings
this in a deeper and more lively way to events and gatherings. Just a
thought.

Jack
____________________________
JACK RICCHIUTO / 216.373.7475
site: www.DesigningLife.com / blog: www.Gassho.Blogspot.com

  _____

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Julie
Smith
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2003 3:17 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: help, please

Greetings ~

It's amazing how life keeps supporting whatever lesson we're working on.
This morning I received this message from a colleague who participated in
one of my earliest OST's with a handful of tribal council folks from several
villages:

I was wondering if you might be interested in the possiblity of doing some
"Team Building" type training out in the villages.  I haven't thought
through how the training would go, that would sort of be up to you.  But I
was thinking that something like "team building" would be a very positive
thing for some of the tribal councils that I work with.

I discussed this possiblity with my co-workers and they were all very
supportive of the idea.

If you think that you might be interested in this type of thing, then maybe
we could meet and talk more about the details to see if it is possible.

Let me know what you think :)

When I started reflecting on our first experience together, I remembered
that this had been a very difficult OST.  The theme had something to do with
conflict resolution.  I did the opening and then "got out of the way" so
they could self-organize and learn from and with each other.  I really
believe in the power of all that stuff.  But the energy was flat.  Things
just didn't move.  People seemed to simply be rehashing what had already
been hashed through before.  No fresh insights to speak of.  They clearly
wanted that spark of new insight and inspiration, but it just wasn't
happening.  After a few hours of talking, they wanted more help from me in
understanding how they might do things differently.  They very clearly and
directly asked for more help from me.   I resisted participation, and
expressed confidence in their ability to find the answers they needed from
within themselves and within the group.  They resisted my resistance.  In
the end, I talked with them a bit about what it means to collaborate, to
engage in mutual problem-solving that relies on and respects the input of
everyone.  We talked about how collaboration changes the dynamics of human
interaction, and how that approach might help.  But it felt like too little,
too late.  Overall, I felt out of sync with OST, and out of sync with them.
It wasn't one of my brightest moments.

And now that I think about how it FELT when they asked for my help, I
realize I didn't have that sense of them asking me as an expert to solve
their problems for them.  It didn't have that us-them quality about it.
Rather, it felt very real and authentic, like they were asking me as another
human being to share my knowledge and insight to help them find their way
out of desperate situations.  (The situation in many places in Alaska is
truly desperate.  And tragic.  Things are so unbalanced in some areas that
suicide rates, especially for young Native Alaska men, are among the highest
anywhere in the world.  And that doesn't count the countless "accidents"
that result in injury or death.  Many communities are very small, perhaps
several hundred people, so the impact of each person on the community as a
whole is magnified.  Everything and everyone deeply matters.  And in
addition to whatever else is happening, the community is typically engaged
in deep grieving over many kinds of losses from the recent and distant
past.)

And so I wonder what ideas any of you might have about how to approach this
request.   I'm interested in thoughts about OST and also other approaches
that might come to mind.   I appreciate any and all ideas ~

Julie

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