Cross Cultural Facilitation

Sat Oct 1 15:45:42 PDT 2005

Hi Brendan - I read your message here and the replies and have taken some
time to breathe with it.  I acknowledge the frankness your client expresses
is very touching.  I've been involved in many cross-cultural and
cross-gender experiences and have no ready answers as I think each one asks
to be taken individually.  It would be wonderful to have an Aboriginal woman
who stands in her fullness of self as a role model and facilitator for this
one, eh?  Anyone you know you could refer to them?  I note that the client
states her confidence in having you hold the space - should they choose to
retain your services, I would suggest they introduce you in the invitation -
that way everyone will know ahead of time that you will be there?  My next
question is to you - do you feel you could hold the space?  There have been
a few times when I've referred clients to someone else as I felt I was too
passionate to "stay out of the space"!!

Hope this helps even a little bit!

Judi

Judith Richardson, MA, BA, BEd, MEC

PONO Consultants International

Optimizing Performance, Potential and Profitability

Phone: 902.434.6695

Fax: 902.435.1085

Winner International Coach of the Year 2004

www.ponoconsultants.com

  _____  

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Brendan
McKeague
Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 12:22 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Cross Cultural Facilitation

G'day folks in the OS global community
A new client has asked me about facilitating a one-day OS for a group of
stakeholders and others about the creation of a refuge/hostel for indigenous
women - she has only minor concerns about using Open Space having recently
experienced her first event with me - her major concern is about using a
non-Aboriginal white male as the facilitator - see honest and forthright
comments below - and this event would be in a different part of the country
from where I live and where I'm not known locally in the indigenous
community - any thoughts on this query? Any stories of this sort of
cross-cultural/gender scenario?
Cheers
Brendan 

We have an opportunity with the new site being built in ----- to devote some
of our resources to responding to the plight of indigenous families.  Having
a different focus away from the mainstream site gives our service an
opportunity to explore, with the assistance of indigenous stakeholders, a
different way of responding to women and children from indigenous families
escaping violence.  I don't know what this will look like and it will be
difficult and we won't always get it right.  It will be a process of
learning and experimenting with new ways of responding to families. 

This is like a leap into the unknown for us because it will change our
service.  It has not been undertaken by any other service to my knowledge,
so there is no blue print to how we should proceed.  Having said this, I do
think it is possible and I believe it will have a positive impact on our
service as a whole. 

There would be about 35-40 people invited to this gathering which would
represent all of the key groups that would have an interest in a mainstream
organisation taking on and providing a service to Aboriginal women and
children. 

There has been a positive reaction so far to the proposal from Aboriginal
organisations but I am sure we will face some resistance/perhaps hostility?
(I will probably know this before we enter an open space) - and in a sense
that is one of the reasons why I think an Open Space forum will be good so
that we can hear and respond to people's concerns. 

One of my concerns Brendan is how they will receive you as a facilitator of
this process.  I am confident about you holding the space for us to discuss
these issues but I also don't want to set you up in the process either.  I
am worried that there might be some hostility to a man facilitating the
process and not a woman (you may be the only man there).  I would love your
thoughts around this and whether you have done anything similar before.
Part of me says be courageous and go with what you think will work and
another part of me is scared stiff!  

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