Appreciative Inquiry meets The World Cafe meets Open Space
Alan Stewart
alan at creativestate.biz
Wed Jun 1 23:52:24 PDT 2005
G'day Christine and All
Wonderful to hear your lovely voice too.
Taking just one - seminal in my mind - point from your posting:
"Since meaningful questions form the fulcrum of each process, some of our most generative learning came from crafting questions out [of] the key learnings from each part of the training."
Could it be that different 'conversational and collaborative learning approaches' (Juanita Brown) generate and/or address different kinds of questions?
I say this remembering that 'Strategic questioning' of Fran Peavey * is a process of generating a question which is likely to take at least three years to answer.
Which is not the purpose of using approaches for 'decision time is yesterday' issues!
I appreciate that you and I, like other OST practitioners on this list, will likely have associated ways of seeing things. Pat Black, for example, recently described beautifully the operation of her OST 'lens' in 'I do not come to open space from any kind of professional facilitator or corporate background ...' (leverage points Thurs 26 May, 2005).
Nonetheless I would be most grateful for any illumination on the validity of the notion of 'different questions for/from different approaches' (- and folks!) from 'spacers' who have also worked with other processes.
Knowing that this somewhat confused way of expressing could be through my not yet finding the right question :-) *
With love
Alan
Hong Kong
* 'When you go to the edge of what is and what is yet to become, it is not
an easy journey. Sometimes upset is going to come. Be patient with
yourself and with each other. It's ok to feel creepy. It doesn't mean
that you are a creep. It means that you feel creepy. It means that you
live in a creepy world. When you feel creepy you're part of the world
feeling itself. You're part of the world feeling itself into healing and
its alright. Help each other through it. So don't be afraid of upset.
It's only pain moving, nothing more, nothing less.'
Fran Peavey: Heart Politics
----- Original Message -----
From: Christine Whitney Sanchez
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 2:31 PM
Subject: Appreciative Inquiry meets The World Cafe meets Open Space
Hi Peggy, Alan, Harrison, and all you WC and OS combiners,
If I may weave Appreciative Inquiry to this discussion - last October, Genevieve Treille, Christine Kohler and I piloted the "Transformative Large Group Conversations" training with a small international group outside of Paris. With participants from South Africa, France, Spain, Israel, France, Mexico and Ireland, we experienced just how well Appreciative Inquiry, World Cafe and Open Space all resonate with people from diverse cultures and across languages. Since meaningful questions form the fulcrum of each process, some of our most generative learning came from crafting questions out the key learnings from each part of the training.
A bit about the training design. We used the 4 D's of Appreciative Inquiry as the organizing model for this training. DISCOVERY: We started with an original set of AI questions focused on "change" for the interviews, small group and large group discovery process and then wrote World Cafe questions from the AI themes which we used for the DREAM portion of the training on the second day. The key findings from the cafe conversations were synthesized and then crafted into one convening question for the next 1.5 days in Open Space (DESIGN). Each participant left with project plans for using one of the methods back home (DESTINY).
Recently, Claudia Haack and I facilitated the second version of this training with a gathering of 35 people in Chicago. Based on the evaluations, of both of these events, I would say that each person left the training with one or two "favorite" methods. For some, the heart and warmth of Appreciative Inquiry is a great place to start any type of large gathering because it helps to ease people into deep one-on-one conversations and can be used for full blown change processes as well as 15 minute conversations. Many participants had great fun while discussing challenging topics during the World Cafe portion of the training and some left with intentions to really take care to spice up the atmosphere at the cafes they offer at home (there has been talk about designing "Cafes in a Bag"). Open Space was initially uncomfortable for a few (perhaps that shock of freedom) but, of course, it worked brilliantly and I think was the overall favorite for many. As we kept discovering together, the "best" method(s) will depend on the purpose, the group, and the facilitator.
Several people commented on how cool it was to see how the questions naturally arose from method to method and that "doing' each process first was the best way to learn about it. By the way, at the second event, participants received a copy of the AI Thin Book, the quintessential user friendly Open Space Users Guide, and the beautiful new The World Cafe book. What a delight to have such great resources!
Christine
Who is relishing the hundreds of postings I'm getting to after a couple of non-stop months
Christine Whitney Sanchez
Triune Milagro, LTD
480.759.0262
VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.triunemilagro.com
Invoking the wisdom and capacity of the human spirit!
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Alan Stewart
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 5:09 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: The World Cafe meets Open Space
G'day Peggy and All
It's wonderful indeed to have the comprehensive account of your observations and experience to complement Tom's enthralling report. Maybe Juanita would wish to add her's too ...
Several queries for you Peggy:
. At what stage were the OS principles and law introduced to the participants? Was this at the first evening circle or at the Open Space the following afternoon?
. Did you have any sense that issues/questions posted in Open Space were related to those which emerged in the opening Cafe session?
. You mentioned that you got to participate in the Cafe. I wonder if Juanita did likewise in the Open Space?
. I wonder too if what you interpreted as 'freedom shock' was related to the fact that participants did not know each other, whether or not they came from different backgrounds.
I ask this because I have used the two processes in combination - in the same order - with people from very diverse backgrounds and who had encountered each other previously (they were members of a leadership program). They did not manifest this kind of distress, at least in my observation. Mind you some of them were quite taken aback initially by the very notion of turning to face each other rather than their accustomed experience of someone speaking to them!
With love
Alan
Hong Kong
----- Original Message -----
From: Peggy Holman
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 2:04 PM
Subject: The World Cafe meets Open Space
You've seen Tom Atlee's description of the recent "Evolutionary Salon". Here are my reflections, mostly on the partnership between TWC and OS.
We began our first evening in a circle with a check in, people speaking to what attracted them to the Evolutionary Salon. We described the process that we'd be using for the conference as a living experiment in being an evolutionary social system. This let us use our real time experience as a mirror for our learning.
The next morning, Juanita Brown took us into a World Cafe. I got to participate. We focused on a question about our burning questions. I think I had the honor of experiencing TWC at its very best. Juanita is a master of her craft. When reflections were harvested at the end of the session, people said they were touched by the experience, discovering the feeling of connection to each other, the synergy among their burning questions. They expressed excitement at the sense of intimacy and kinship they felt.
I have to admit that as a participant, I felt as I did the last time I experienced TWC: constrained by the expectation of staying at the table. It was quite a contrast for me to hear the excitement of others in the room!
We began the Open Space in the afternoon. Of course, people jumped in with their sessions. They seemed to be doing just fine. Come the closing circle, several people expressed distress at their experience. One went so far as to ask if we could go back to the comfort and intimacy of a cafe-like format. I thought to myself, "freedom shock" is alive and well. The mix of people at the conference included scientists and people of spirit. It seems there was something of a clash of cultures going on in many of the sessions. I just listened -- no defending, no fixing.
As is my practice in multiple day events (learned from Spirited Work), the convening group met to reflect on how things were going after the evening circle. The meeting was open to any who wished to join us. A few people did. One wondered if we needed to do something to "push the group" in the direction we wished them to go (as if we knew what direction that was!). We discussed the fact that the discomfort people experienced wasn't necessarily a bad thing, that it provided an opportunity for something new to emerge. I encouraged my nervous sponsors to trust that things were going just fine.
That evening I found myself in a butterfly conversation with a couple of people distressed by the "yang" energy they ran into, feeling unsafe to express their "yin" selves. We talked at length about what it means to take responsibility for what you love. They left the conversation thinking about how to come fully present tomorrow in all their "yin" glory.
The next morning, someone announced 3 new "yin" meeting spaces. There was much laughter as people bantered about yin-ness and yang-ness and its intersection. Turns out there had been LOTS of butterfly conversations and those who had felt distressed, found their way, dissipating the angst before it became a real issue. In fact, from that point forward, the OS just flowed.
A reflection on how TWC affected the dynamic.
It was clear that people had a felt sense of community very quickly through TWC. I think that the move into OS created that condition that Harrison calls "freedom shock". It's possible that the contrast heightened the shock. That said, I believe the sense of connection created during TWC enabled those who were distressed to seek out the friends they had made rather than completely check out (of course, being in a remote location would have made it difficult to leave!). I wonder if that is a benefit of a cafe prior to OS -- to create relationships that might support people to stay engaged if they have a tendency towards freedom shock?
THE TWC MEETS OS EXPERIMENT
The OS continued as usual over the next couple days. During our preparation for the conference, the planning team (Tom Atlee, Michael Dowd and myself) discussed the possibility of convening evening sessions on "what are we learning?" On the third evening, Tom and I decided that it would be useful to do so and that we'd do it using "TWC meets the law of two feet".
Our session question: what patterns do you see emerging? About 12 people came. We started in groups of 4 with an agreement that we'd come together as a whole to see what we'd uncovered in about an hour. In the meantime, people were invited to stay or move as they wished. As context, I said that we knew from the cafe experience that patterns become visible quickly when people move around periodically, so moving is useful. At Juanita's suggestion, we had blank cards in the clusters so that groups could send an idea to another group if they wanted. They could also send an emissary.
That was it. Basically, it was OS with groups of four discussing the session topic. What happened was a kick. Two groups were quite intent in their conversations, clearly not moving, just going deeper and deeper. The third group eventually dissipated, a couple people going to sleep, the others joining the two hot groups. And then others started arriving. They just opted for one or the other of the groups. The conversations were animated and intense. At one point, the group I was in sent a card with an idea to the other group. In all, I think about 20 people were there by the end of the evening.
After about an hour, we came together as one. First one group described what they'd learned, then the other group did the same. The second group mentioned that they used the idea they'd received on the card. The remains of the original third group added their thoughts into the mix. Llyn Peabody, new to graphic recording, but clearly in her element, took notes, drawing an incredible visual map of the weave of our stories. The result was electrifying and became the basis for some breakthrough ideas the last day!
One side note -- someone said during the session that they often looked for what was missing to understand a situation. I pointed out that the yin/yang laughter in the morning signaled something rather remarkable that was missing from our living experiment of an evolving social system: angst. Rather than fragmenting into conflict, people had transcended it. That drew a raised eyebrow or two as people digested how the space had made room for conflict to be embraced with grace.
A reflection on the TWC meets OS experiment
Next time I'm a participant in an OS and have a large group, I'd likely split up again in this way. It was a great way to reflect on our question when the group was large.
THOUGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
Juanita and I talked the next morning about our impressions of the intersection of TWC and OS. We discussed several strengths of TWC -- creating a sense of community and uncovering patterns quickly.
Given my own biases, I wouldn't use TWC as an opener unless the client had some specific situation that moved things that way.
I can imagine experimenting with doing an evening reflection with people beginning in small groups. I can see this as a natural flow of the energy as people wander in, talking together before coming into a single circle. I think this could be a low key transition that actually makes it easier to convene the evening circle. By following the energy of people arriving for the close, inviting them into reflection as they arrive rather than waiting for everyone before beginning, I think something simple and useful could occur.
Juanita suggested explicitly encouraging people post their sessions in the form of questions. It made me smile when Harrison recently posted:
I think of every Open Space gathering as a (potentially) question rich environment. That is why I always suggest to people that they phrase the theme as a question, as opposed to a statement.
Questions are certainly a place of coming together.
So, that's about all of my musings on this subject.
yours, on a warm evening in Seattle,
Peggy
________________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 746-6274
www.opencirclecompany.com
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