My first time

[Justin T. Sampson]

Hi Mark,

This agenda looks great. The central space for Dialogue & Deliberation
followed by an explicit Determinations session feels good for reassuring the
group about how formal decisions can be made. Summary Reports by Members is
a nice alternative to the "Officers' Reports" we usually have on the agenda,
which I had explicitly left out yesterday. Interestingly, one member posted
each officer's report as a topic in the Open Space yesterday, but no one
else was interested -- including the officers -- except that I wanted to
hear the Treasurer's report myself. :) But I think a more open "member's
reports" at the beginning of the meeting would be really interesting.

I'm fascinated by the "freedom shock" phenomenon mentioned by others! I'll
have to go read more about that in the archives. I was really trying to
emphasize the "freedom and responsiblity" theme, since those are keywords
for Libertarians as well.

At the moment I'm a little shy about asking to try it again; maybe I just
have to wait a few days to reenergize. Having seen the results yesterday, it
almost feels irresponsible to go back to how I was holding the meetings
before! We've been looking for a less cramped space to meet in anyway, so
that might help relieve some of the chaotic feeling. And by coincidence I'll
have a lot more experience before the next meeting -- the last day of this
week's Applied Improv Network conference is all Open Space, and I'll also be
attending Lisa's Open Space workshop the two days immediately before our
next meeting!

Thanks,
Justin


On 11/12/06, Mark R. Jones <mark.r.jones at sunyata.ws> wrote:
>
>  Hi Justin.
>
> Congratulations !
>
> I agree with the other comments that the gap between
> expectations for the meeting process, and the actual
> meeting process (OST) — was too large for your folks
> to co-integrate emotionally and cognitively.
>
> In the past, I worked as a senior executive consultant
> to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).  Having
> recognized the "gap" in my corporate work, I provided
> a cognitive bridge in how I presented OST structure.
>
> I issued formal invitations that satisfied what people
> mostly expected to see.  But I used OST as the internal
> process that executed the"Agenda".
>
> TITLE               (Title of participating group OR "Subject")
> DATE               (Planned date for the meeting)
> TIME                (Planned starting and ending times for the meeting)
> LOCATION        (Planned location for the meeting)
> INVITEES         (Names and contact information of participants)
> PURPOSE         (OST "Calling Question"  tagline text )
>
> AGENDA            *  Welcoming Statement
>                         *  Opening Remarks — OST "Invitation" (context)
> text
>                         *  Roll Call of Voting Members
>                         *  Summary Reports by Members (OST "Check-in")
>                         *  Issue Topics | Questions (OST "Create the
> Agenda")
>                         *  Dialogue & Deliberation (OST "Market")
>                               — In small groups and in the Whole
>                         *  Determinations (OST "Convergence" in the Whole)
>                         *  Learning Review (OST "Closing Circle" in the
> Whole)
>                               — "Reflection" in the Whole
>                               — "Commitments" in the Whole
>                               — "Process Check" in the Whole
>
> This approach seemed to satisfy the cultural needs and forms.
> And yet it was a solid implementation of Open Space Technology.
>
>
>
> *Mark R. Jones
> **Chief Executive Officer
> The Sunyata Group
> The Integral Wellness Group
> *----------------------------------------------------------------------
> PO Box 58788
> Renton, Washington
> USA 98058-1788
> Phone:      425-413-6000
> e-Mail:      mark.r.jones at sunyata.ws
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From: *"Justin T. Sampson" <justin at krasama.com>
> *Reply-To: *OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> *Date: *Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:05:43 -0800
> *To: *<OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> *Subject: *My first time
>
> Howdy,
>
> So I held my first Open Space today, as I mentioned earlier. It
> was the regular monthly meeting of the Libertarian Party of San
> Francisco, which I serve as Chair. It felt great! There was lots
> of energy all the way through, people seemed engaged more than
> usual, and some really important things were discussed that had
> only been grumbled about before. Folks jumped right up when I
> invited them to offer topics in the opening. The physical space
> was really too cramped, but the group managed to split and
> recombine and morph and move around the room over the course of
> the meeting. I sensed a much greater commitment to action
> following the meeting than this group usually has. And the energy
> just kept going -- we usually meet formally 3-5pm and have a
> social hour 5-6pm that actually fizzles out by 5:30, but this time
> when I left at 6pm almost all of the 15+ attendees were still
> there talking. In almost every respect that I care about as a
> facilitator, this meeting was a great success...
>
> EXCEPT -- no one liked the process! There were no kind words, and
> a few nasty ones -- "we need more structure and leadership", "the
> format was horrible", "this was a bad idea."
>
> What's going on?
>
> Cheers,
> Justin
>
>

*
*
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