New York City Stammtisch tonight!

[Esther Matte]

FRENCH FOLLOWS ENGLISH

 

Hi all!

 

Just a reminder of the New York City Stammtisch tonight, November 16, 2009
at Bistro Le Steak,

227 E 56th St. ((Subway lines E/V - 53rd Street/3rd Ave; and 6 - 59th/Lex)

http://www.bistrolesteak.com/menu_dinner.html.

 

If you happen to be around the Big Apple, come meet other people who like to

work in Open Space! Our topic of the day will be: What about convergence in
OS?

 

Hope to see some of you there!

 

FRENCH

Bonjour à tous!

 

Petit rappel du Cercle Forum ouvert de New York ce soir 16 novembre 2009 au

Bistro Le Steak 227 E 56th St. (Métro E/V - 53rd Street/3rd Ave; and 6 -
59th/Lex)

http://www.bistrolesteak.com/menu_dinner.html.

 

Si vous êtes dans la Grosse Pomme, venez faire un tour! Ce sera une belle

soirée. Notre sujet de discussion sera : Et la convergence en FO?

 

 

Esther Matte

Discover - Engage - Accomplish

New York: 212.755.0551

Montreal: 450.583.5849

www.excellence.ca

 

 

Esther Matte

Discover - Engage - Accomplish

www.excellence.ca

New York: 212-755-0551

Montreal: 450-583-5849

 



__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4584 (20091108) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com


__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4588 (20091109) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com



__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4588 (20091109) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com


__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4603 (20091113) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com


__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4611 (20091116) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com


*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

>From  Mon Nov 16 08:56:34 2009
Message-Id: <MON.16.NOV.2009.085634.0500.>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:56:34 -0500
Reply-To: bbunker at buffalo.edu
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Barbara Bunker <bbunker at buffalo.edu>
Subject: Re: Facilitation disasters or are they?
X-To: Tonnie van der Zouwen <info at tonnievanderzouwen.nl>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

I think that this very interesting conversation is moving from disasters to
situations where we feel that more could have happened....sometimes because we
didn't do all that we might have done in the contracting or in the event itself
or...??????  B3

Barbara Bunker

On Mon 11/16/09  4:46 AM , Tonnie van der Zouwen info at tonnievanderzouwen.nl sent:
> So pleased to see I am not the only one with events that turn out
> more or less as disasters.  I am very pleased this topic showed up.
> For my PhD project I read a lot of stories about OS and other large
> scale interventions, but it seems as if in formal literature all
> projects are successful. Maybe we don't like to talk about the less
> successful ones, so thank you all for sharing. Then again, what is
> success and when is going to show? I notice that especially in
> projects that  "fail" you see the working principles very clearly.   
> I want to share a story of an OS I facilitated a few years ago. It
> really educated me J .  It is about an organization that consists of
> 55 schools on 70 locations in one city. The public schools in the
> city are dealing with a negative image: many children from lower
> income families, too much foreigners, lower quality of education.
> They face a serious decline in pupil numbers. If the trend was not
> turned around some schools would have to close and the image of the
> public schools would become even worse. We had two meetings with a
> preparation team of seven people. We planned a one day OS as start of
> a bigger project to make the schools more attractive. The OS is
> planned on an already scheduled directors meeting. A  second
> conference is planned a few month later. They didn't want to invite
> parents or teachers, that had something to do with dirty laundry.
> What happened?  
> The OS is in the communication museum in the city centre. The
> conference room is long and narrow. Murphy's Law is working: The
> project leader is unable to come. The sponsor, the general director,
> is delayed. After reception with coffee, about 70 directors take a
> seat in a wide oval of chairs. My colleague Ronald, who is
> specialised in school marketing,  starts with a visualization of
> twenty minutes. He tells a story of what parents are experiencing
> when they visit one of the schools. Then the sponsor explains the
> goals for the day and for the larger change process, including
> personal targets for acquisition. After one hour, I introduce Open
> Space. The theme is: How do we make our schools more attractive?
> Energy levels are low. Looking at a lot of skeptic faces, I feel my
> energy dropping too. For a few minutes no one enters the circle to
> announce a topic. I just wait. Finally, eleven groups are formed for
> the first round and seven for the second round. The sponsor is
> enthusiastic about the process: they are really taking responsibility
> for subgroups and some groups have lively discussions. He sees the
> lack of taking own responsibility as one of the problems in his
> organization. Each group produces a report in a news centre with ten
> laptops. Reports are copied in a nearby copy centre. During lunch,
> information about school marketing and support options is displayed.
> Participants read the reports. After a plenary discussion,
> participants place stickers on flip charts to select the most
> important items. A third round for action planning is on the agenda,
> but energy is dropping fast. In the corridors I hear some very
> negative voices.  At three o'clock p.m. the sponsor decides to skip
> the third round and start with the conference evaluation in the
> closing circle. Am I pleased with that decision? It was enough for
> that day, but what about action planning? In the closing circle some
> are positive about the exchange of experiences and the opportunity
> for everyone to contribute who wanted to, some pass the microphone
> with a sceptic face. Every participant receives a binder with the
> reports and information about school marketing. The next week the
> planning group meets for the third and last time. The evaluation is
> positive in general, but they say the program could have been shorter
> and the beginning more energetic. The twelve items with the most
> stickers are selected for follow up actions in a project team. The
> second conference is called off.  
> I evaluated this case after two years, for my PhD study, using an
> evaluation instrument with success factors and effects I developed.
> The overall project was a success. A negative trend of ten years is
> turned into a positive one. The image of the schools is improving.
> The sponsor thinks the OS was worth the effort, it raised awareness
> of the urgency and collective responsibility for the issue. Among
> directors and consultants, perceptions of causes and effects differ
> strongly. It worked, but couldn't it have been done much better?
> There hasn't been another interactive project so far. Was this the
> only thing that could have happened? School directors face a lot of
> problems, maybe this was all the energy they could offer. But what if
> we had insisted on inviting more diversity, other voices? Same people
> - same interaction certainly showed here. What if we skipped the long
> introduction and opened space as soon as possible? My presence was not
> good, I felt intimidated. I think it could have been done much better,
> in any  case by me.  
> Hope to hear more of your learning experiences,  
> 
> Tonnie  
> VAN: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] NAMENS Suzanne
> Daigle
> VERZONDEN: maandag 16 november 2009 2:08
> AAN: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ONDERWERP: [SPAM]Re: [OSLIST] Facilitation disasters - your stories
> please   
> Such wise words on a topic that has generated so much insight.
> I felt myself seeped in what has been described and discussed. This
> community of learning and sharing is the best!
> Suzanne heading back to Florida after 2.5 wonderful days of Wave
> Rider surfing in Orillia, Canada! 
> 
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry  
> -------------------------
> FROM: Harrison Owen     
> 
> DATE: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:53:12 -0500   
> 
> TO:    
> 
> SUBJECT: Re: Facilitation disasters - your stories please   
> Absolutely Annamarie! It is all about choosing. A friend told me -
> never sell Open Space. It is like teaching a pig to sing. Sounds
> terrible, and annoys the pig. I think so.  
> ALSO - There really isn't any sale to be made or choice, for that
> matter. The nasty truth is that the whole cosmos is self-organizing
> (Open Space) - and so the fundamental choice was made just about 13.7
> million years ago. We do, however, have the choice about how well we
> "do" it. Or more extremely - whether we want to maintain the delusion
> that we are actually in control, and if not us, then surely somebody.
> Ah - the great aching simplicity of the days when we actually knew
> what we were doing, and did what we knew… 
> Harrison 
> Harrison Owen 
> 
> 7808 River Falls Drive 
> 
> Potomac, Maryland   20854 
> 
> Phone 301-365-2093 
> 
> Skype hhowen 
> 
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com [1]  
> 
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org [2] 
> 
> Personal website www.ho-image.com [3]  
> 
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
> archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html [4] 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> FROM: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] ON BEHALF OF
> Annamarie Pluhar
> SENT: Sunday, November 15, 2009 7:13 PM
> TO: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> SUBJECT: Re: Facilitation disasters - your stories please 
> Such an interesting conversation that you have started Robyn.    
> My own experience was (gulp!) 15 years ago. My life has taken twists
> and turns away from group facilitation - the fact that I'm on the list
> now has everything to do with a current contract/assignment.  Before
> meeting the client - knowing what they were looking for  "empowering
> the people" "new ideas" "enthusiasm" and "excitement" I thought that
> sounds like OS.  Turns out those are just words.. they only want want
> is safe and familiar and what they did last year.    
> 15 years ago, I was facilitating a two-day annual retreat for a
> smallish company.  Day two was to have been OS.  It was started OK,
> but the owner of the company hijacked the process (I can't remember
> the exact words) - he invited (he's the boss so invited...) everyone
> to go on a hike with him on a trail. When I was invited to go, I said
> "no" on the grounds that I wasn't sure everyone was there and some
> might be looking for the group. I was told that they ended up having
> a very good conversation on top of the mountain.    
> I think that the contracting process is the most important. what I'm
> holding to is that the client has to choose OS rather than it being
> recommended...    
> Annamarie Pluhar           
> PLUHAR CONSULTING   
> 
> Results through effective group process   
> 
> _802.451.1941_   
> 
> _802.579.5975 (cell)_     
> On Nov 14, 2009, at 7:44 PM, Robyn Williams wrote:  
> Hi folks
> On Friday I was facilitating a 2 hour workshop primarily using Open
> Space
> principles as requested, and as I would have suggested anyway given
> the task
> in hand. My own 2 feet did the walking less than halfway through
> when the
> 'person in charge', who I'd not met before, interrupted the process,
> criticised me, and gave me directions (in public) and not for the
> first
> time. The agenda items were being announced, and her direction was
> that all
> the issues should be dealt as a whole group and indicated that I
> should
> facilitate that. I said no, thanked them for their time, wished them
> well
> for the rest of the session, and left.
> Given the short duration and the task at hand, this had been a
> long-winded
> arrangement which resulted in more questions than answers. Arranged
> by a
> delegated person without authority, I wasn't able to ascertain who
> was
> really 'in charge' (I was told that it was a group project, ie all
> team
> leaders) or get agreement for a meeting to clarify expectations. The
> day
> before the workshop I contacted the Director of the department, had
> a
> pleasing chat, and arranged to meet before the session. That session
> was
> cancelled later in the day, and a shorter session was re-convened
> for
> another time (when critical people could be available). Sure bells
> were
> ringing but I started to think that I was being overly consultative.
> I mean
> what could go wrong in 2 hrs? Right? 
> On the way home I reflected on how it had unfolded and my part and
> felt that
> I'd done as well as I could do under the circumstances despite my
> inner-critic suggesting that walking out was pretty extreme and
> surely I
> could have done better. Needless to say I've learned lessons from
> this and
> have damage control ahead of me this week (sigh).
> So what would you do, or have you done, when your role is
> undermined?
> And how did you reach closure with the client/s?
> Best wishes, Robyn
> Fremantle Western Australia
> PS WA colleagues - anyone available to debrief this with me?
> *
> *
> =============================
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist   
> * * =============================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
> OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * *
> =============================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
> OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist     * *
> =============================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
> OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.openspaceworld.com/
> [2] http://www.openspaceworld.org/
> [3] http://www.ho-image.com/
> [4] http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> 
> 

*
*
=============================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist