How it went: Thank You

[scochran at leadershipresults.org]

Thank you so much, Doris for investing the time and
energy in sharing your story.

I'm saving your reflection as a tool.  There are so
many commonalities in for me in approaching the
effective use of OST, and the way I feel (and haven't
realized until reading your message) about facilitating
OS.

Steve Cochran
Executive Director
Int'l Centre for Leadership Results,
in collaboration with Gettysburg College
Gettysburg PA 17325
717-486-4072
SCochran at LeadershipResults.org
www.LeadershipResults.org




On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:54:06 +0100, Doris Gottlieb
wrote:

>
> Last Friday and Saturday I facilitated the OST event
> that I spoke about when
> asking advice about how to deal with being being a
> facilitator with a group
> that I was also a member of.  It was a great
experience
> and I'm exhausted
> but I wanted to try to write down some of things that
> happened  and share it
> with the list since I've been here in the shadows for
> so long and have
> gotten so much valuable advice and inspiration.  I
> sometimes find it hard to
> jump in with my story, but I'm going to try.
>
> First of all the event last weekend is part of a
number
> of OST's that I've
> been doing this year as a way to see for myself if I
> like facilitating Open
> Space events, if I can do it, and if I can find my way
> professionally to
> integrate this practice in with my other professional
> passions.  So since
> about April 2003 I just said to myself I would talk
> about Open Space
> Technology meetings to everyone I could in a
> professional context and when I
> felt it was appropriate suggest it to all prospective
> clients.  I also
> decided not to worry if the situation would be 'ideal'
> but instead to just
> feel in myself it Iit was ethically correct for me to
> try. This freed up a
> lot of space for me personally to suggest Open Space
as
> a method and since
> then I've facilitated about 7 OST events and used them
> as a sort of "action
> learning" experience for myself.
>
> Given this it was funny that the event that I
> facilitated this weekend was
> not suggested by me, but instead by a colleague.  I
was
> part of a group of
> ex-participants in a two year training program for
> trainers and
> organizational consultants.  Together with the
Director
> of the institute
> several of us were looking for ways of making more
> contact with other
> ex-participants and sharing ideas and exploring ways
of
> networking together.
> So there we were trying to think for the group:
> "should we send a
> questionnaire to ex-trainees asking them what they
> would want from a
> meeting?" "How can we organize something to fit
> everyone's needs?" And very
> important for the Director of the Institute "How can
we
> make sure this isn't
> going to just be a re-hash of the past or an exercise
> in re-living the
> experience but instead lead to something new for
> people?" We had many
> problems defining this and I was also completely
> involved. Another
> ex-participant from the outside read a draft of the
> questionnaire we had
> designed and said he wouldn't come to such and
> event...but what if we used
> Open Space.  It was as if a lightbulb went on over my
> head...and it was a
> chance for me and my colleague to talk about Open
Space
> and see if indeed
> the other members of the organizing committee wanted
to
> "sponsor" an OST
> event - which of course we did.
>
> I was very honored that the group entrusted me to be
> the facilitator of this
> event and excited about presenting this method in the
> context of the
> training program.  OST was a new method for most of
the
> members of the group
> so it was an adventure to use it in this context.
> The preparation took about 7 months, partly because we
> were located in two
> different countries and didn't have time to meet
> together. Partly because it
> took some time for the idea to "ripen" and partly
> because it was difficult
> to find a good site for the event in our budget in the
> Netherlands...but we
> did it and we got a very good response to our
> invitation to look forward and
> backward and explore our community of Practice...
>
> I learned a lot in these days...I don't know how to
> explain it all but let
> me write a few things that happened and what I
> learned...
> - As I said in my question for advice, I had wrestled
a
> long time with
> whether and how to participate in the event. In the
end
> I decided to remain
> wholely the facilitator and not take part in
> sub-sessions.  I learned that
> this invisble role of "holding" the space is very
> important. That somehow by
> being there to clean up the buffet table to have small
> talks with other
> participants, to get the lights turned back on in the
> plenary room when they
> went out by mistake at 6:00 was very important.  I
also
> felt an inivisble
> function I was fulfilling - holding the space in my
> mind and my body.
> - Silence - I read with much interest about silence
> this weekend and silence
> was one of my big learnings this weekend.  At IAS (the
> program) silence
> played a big role, particularly because of the methods
> used in the program
> people wait to look within themselves before they
> speak, and when people
> speak it is with a great deal of awareness and thought
> about what they want
> to say.  This meant that we had many silences (some of
> 5 minutes or more) in
> the plenary sessions.  Although in my role as
> ex-trainee I know this from
> the group and as a matter of fact those silent moments
> of inner
> concentration were some of the best moments of the
> program for me, I
> couldn't forecast the impact it had on me as a
> facilitator. My internal
> dialogue at the first evening news went like
> this:..."no one is saying
> anything...okay I'm calm....no I'm not...don't they
> like me? The method? Is
> it working?....stop someone talk....intervention."  It
> was a great stuggle
> within myself to keep faith in myself, the method the
> group.  I was luckily
> able to speak about it with the organizing committee
in
> the evening and the
> next day I made the following decision: 1. We have 1
> hour for the morning
> news and I'm not stopping until the hour is over (at
> least) NO MATTER
> WHAT...2. every time it gets unbearable I'm going to
> wait for 30 seconds
> (ie: an eternity) and then wait another 15 seconds
> before I say anything."
> every time this happened someone said something
> meaningful before I was
> unable to bear it, our morning news and our closing
> plenary were very silent
> but also a great deal was said that was meaningful for
> the group.
> - The news wall.  Our main objective in this was to
> give people a chance to
> meet individually and we had no intention of follow-up
> on any actions so I
> didn't know whether or not to have a news wall.  I
> decided to have a news
> wall and give the group the option  of posting reports
> and several did come
> in.  Not too many people seemed to look at the reports
> though.  In our
> closing plenary I asked the group how they had
> experienced the New wall and
> was told that somehow even though people may not have
> looked at the news
> they still found it important to have it there. It
> served as a sort of
> marker of what was happening around them...it was a
> symbol of the
> sub-sessions as well as a pragmatic indicator of what
> happened.
> - Me and my anxiety.  I am in my heart an insecure and
> anxious person.
> These are painful troublesome traits that can twist me
> up into knots and
> take the joy out of my life, but also they are part of
> me that I have to
> learn to manage. It's also funny because when I look
at
> my work, I keep
> gravitating to methods and philosophies that people
> find are anxiety
> producing because you let go of control and go with
> what is happening vs.
> your own plan.  So somehow this inner paradox is is
> there for me.  I
> realized that for me working with Open Space means
that
> I have to have help
> managing these anxieties. Some of the ways I did this
> were:  being very
> controlling about the physical space and how it looked
> and having someone
> (in this case co-organizers) who know I need to talk
> with them and just spew
> my fears at them...just so they can listen and I can
> then let go of
> them...For me it would be reason in itself to have a
> second facilitator (in
> an invisible role) at an event.  That way I can share
> my feelings with
> someone and be freed up to let them go when with the
> group.
>
>
> In the end it was a great 24 hours and we were
> surprised when people took
> responsibility to further this initiative and we ended
> up with several
> statements of intention for follow-up on the event.
>
> I did also ask the other trainers as Kerry suggested,
> to comment on their
> experience of the method.  Some of the answers I got
> were:
> - People were very happy with the sense of freedom
that
> they experienced in
> the method it freed them up to be here in the present
> and explore new optons
> together (not just reminisce about the past).
> - There was a lot of interest in the method as a whole
> (I may have just
> started my own competition :) )
> - There was a comment that the method showed us about
> the culture of the
> organization we were part of. People fought throughout
> with the difference
> between this method and the way we worked in the
> training group both with
> the differences and similarities. (one of the big
> differences being the way
> we worked with time ).  It was for many people
exciting
> to see these
> differences and similarities arise so clearly during
> the days and to
> experiment with them.
>
> In all it was a very rich experience for me on my
> continuing journey to
> integrate Open Space into my working life.
>
> Doris Gottlieb
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: OSLIST
> [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]Namens kerry
> napuk
> Verzonden: dinsdag 20 januari 2004 12:30
> Aan: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Onderwerp: a question for advice
>
> Dear Doris Gottlieb
>
> An interesting question.
>
> I agree you were right to establish clear ground rules
> about your
> participation as the facilitator.
>
> One suggestion might be to hold a de-briefing after
the
> event for
> experienced facilitators to discuss their experience
> and exchange
> comments on approach and style.  In this way, you can
> formally learn
> from each other and improve everyone's art of
> facilitation.
>
> You also could extend the post event discussion to
> include sponsors
> and their experience with the process, especially how
> they will take
> the energy forward and implement outcomes!
>
> Good luck on the event.  Let us know how it goes!
>
> Kind regards
>
> Kerry Napuk
> Open Futures
> Edinburgh
> --
>
> *
> *
>
==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> *
> *
>
==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html