Open Space with Midwifes

[Catherine Pfaehler]

Dear Listers

 

I had the honour to facilitate an OS for the association of midwifes of our
region in the end of January in Bern. There was a bit of a conflict amongst
different groups of them. Their president, midwife in a hospital, held a
flaming speech in the beginning together with a freelancing midwife,
pointing out clearly why the time has come for them to start cooperating
closely in order to secure their future, instead of continuing to cultivate
their differences (the cake is getting smaller, less births and less
money!). 

 

What happened then was amazing. They only had an afternoon, but the 57 women
present held 22 intense workshops in 3 time-slots and created 8 ongoing
projects. They only realized afterwards that it didn’t matter AT ALL what
type of midwife was calling for a workshop or speaking in a workshop – all
of them were equally engaged and full of energy to promote their image in
the public, to control the quality of their work, to start lobbying
politically up to the national level, etc. The conflict had virtually
disappeared and a lot of energy had emerged to tackle the tasks ahead.

 

The president wrote a great résumé on www.bernerhebamme.ch
<http://www.bernerhebamme.ch/>  (go to Open Space) and just published it now
in their online newsletter. It’s in German, but there are pictures, too. In
the short meeting we held this week with the preparation group to find out
how to continue, they identified ways to keep the energy up and decided to
hold another OS next January. :-)

 

The preparation group had set up the rooms in 1.5 hours thanks to Michael
Pannwitz’s great cards (now translated in English!). I was assisted by a
female participant from the OS for people living with AIDS from last October
who wanted to learn more about Open Space, and by a young woman who was
working with a member of the preparation group to find out more about
becoming a midwife. They did a wonderful job taking pictures and with a very
slow surplus copying machine we were allowed to use from the hospital – the
documentations had to be sent to the participants afterwards because the
machine was too slow. So next time, we will rent a quick one to be able to
hand out the documentations in the end!

 

Thank you all for your help through discussions on the list and your
websites! Catherine

 

Catherine Pfaehler Senn

Open Space Begleitung & Coaching

Kellersriedweg 8

CH - 2503 Biel

+41-(0)32 - 365 68 41

c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch

 


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