Add Australia and New Zealand to recent OS travels

Fr BRIAN S BAINBRIDGE briansb at mira.net
Tue Nov 14 15:33:18 PST 2006


Nicely done, Larry.
Wish I could put trip reports togerher that well.
Cheers and blessings, Br It is great to hear of your journey, Harrison,
through Japan, Taiwan and
> China.  It sounds like a marvellous trip in order to share the story in
> Japan and China and to increase the already active use of OST in Taiwan.
> I hope you recover soon from the traveling, I'm sympathetic.
>
> I've been wanting to tell a complimentary story to the list as well.  I
> tried from Australia, but for a number of reasons it didn't work.  It
> has taken me a bit of recovery time here in Toronto as well.  It is
> interesting synchronicity that it's now at the top of my agenda since my
> return.
>
> Australia and New Zealand have had a long history with OST.  Fr. Brian
> was a very early adopter and has attended more international OSonOS's
> than anyone.  Harrison, Birgitt and michael herman have all visited (and
> folks send their regards).  They hosted an international OSonOS in
> Marysville (Near Melbourne) and have had many internal in Australia and
> New Zealand OSonOS events.
>
> I was delighted when Brian invited me to visit for the month of October
> to support the networking of OSI Australia and New Zealand.  He
> proposed, with support from other active OSI folks like Viv McWaters,
> Andrew Rixon, Brendan McKeague and Anne Pattillo visiting the following
> cities: Wellington (NZ), Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and Sydney.  We also
> took a side trip for R&R to Cairns (near the Great Barrier Reef).  The
> University gave Becky the freedom to come for the month.
>
> Becky and I have now completed this learning journey - it was an amazing
> gift to go and be hosted there.  It was a pleasure to support local
> networks and OST practice development through workshops, conversations
> and presentations (11).  I both learned and shared what I have been
> trying to understand.  A couple of presentations seem to go really well,
> but it was the conversations that I loved the most.  Andrew Rixon and I
> played with using OST principles and the fishbowl for some larger,
> short, conversations - it worked really well twice.  It was great to
> have Becky as part of the conversations as she added substantially from
> her experience as an OST practitioner and a professor who teaches about
> facilitation methods in the context of environmental studies.
>
> Before I left, I had asked my hosts by e-mail or skype what ideas or
> presentations they thought would be of most help to their OST practice
> or initiatives.  Each request was somewhat different.  Some wanted help
> in legitimizing OST in their organizations.  Others were focused on the
> practice of OST.  Some were interested in theory or evidence. I prepared
> some power point pieces on Leadership, Complex Change and Spiral Dynamic
> and open space.
>
> The people I met in New Zealand and Australia were delightful -- warm
> and ready to talk, connecting with eyes and heart, mostly interested in
> what I had to say or at least in the conversation and mutual
> connections.
>
> At most events I said a few words about what I had been thinking, doing
> or writing and then had conversations with the participants, following
> the flow of questions and ideas.  With larger groups and time frames
> (more than 1-2 hours) others opened the space with OST.  With groups
> over 25 and less than 2 hours it was better to use the OS Fishbowl that
> Andrew and I discovered.  The approach enabled some quite amazing
> discussions at the Continuous Improvement Network of the State of
> Victoria (160 folks) or the OD Learning Community in Sydney (50 folks)
> in short time frames.  (I'll tell more.)
>
> In New Zealand, State of Victoria and the University of Western
> Australia there was substantial interest in the recent study by Sharon
> King and I on what successful leadership looks like in complex or living
> human systems.  There was also some interest in OST evidence like the
> recent article Becky and I wrote or in my use of Spiral Dynamics
> Integral to assist my understanding.  But it was in wide ranging
> conversations that often included OST practical advice, what happens
> before and after, emergent leadership and design, relationship to other
> perspectives, or how to prepare personally that I believe the learning
> was the deepest for all of us.
>
> The networks of OST practitioners in various cities were at different
> places, from active mutual support to colleagues looking to better
> understand how OST fits in their consulting or teaching perspectives and
> practices.  Some people have gone very deep with their personal practice
> of open space.  Others have gone wide to include a number of approaches.
> I saw the depth of connection and experience of key leaders who live in
> open space, like Brian in Melbourne (in his Parish and the World Bank)
> and Brendan in Perth (who has led 40 OST events this year).  It was
> great to see the breadth of connections to open space experience and
> perspectives - for example the links Viv makes to improv theatre were
> similar to those of Phelim when he was in Camden, Maine.  The University
> of Western Australia is the only University that I know with an internal
> OD department.  The presentation and the Brendan led OST there helped to
> stimulate two more OST events.
>
> I plan to share more of my experience and learning. I hope this gives
> some flavour of the trip.  I also plan to put up key materials on
> websites from the trip.  I know that others have taken journeys to
> spread OST.  Some locations are exploring where to go once it has been
> spread a-bit and there are a variety of reactions.  I want to thank my
> hosts in New Zealand and Australia for their warmth and openness.
>
> I want to thank Harrison and others for blazing the paths.
>
> Larry
>
> Larry Peterson
> Associates in Transformation
> Toronto, ON, Canada
> 416.653.4829
>
> larry at spiritedorg.com
> www.spiritedorg.com
>
>
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Fr Brian S Bainbridge
    0412 111 525
Skype: briansbain

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