[OSList] OS in Liberia... plus some QUESTIONS

Wed Aug 10 10:54:38 PDT 2011

Well Done Susan! I can see, touch, smell the whole thing. And with rainy
season in play it is all one fine day, Liberia style – And 40 years just
peeled away. I been there. And when it comes to your question about the
quality and content of the sessions – I think you may be missing something.
The traditional Liberian village IS a “community dialogue.” On occasion
there are focal points – the people will sit in a circle (where do you think
I “stole” Open Space from???), but in truth the whole village is “the
circle,” and the conversation never ceases. There is an old village saying
that “The sun will not set on a Palaver,” meaning that the people will talk
until they find a way. Most of the conversation occurs in ways and places we
will never see and it never stops until it is “done.” The formal circle (the
sessions) is only the overt manifestation, important, but just the tip of
the iceberg. We tend to think of discrete units – processes that we “run”
such as Open Space, Café, etc. The people come from a very different place.
It is ALL dialogue with its own unique ebb and flow.  In the formal setting
(in the circle) it is the Elders, Chiefs, and Medicine People (Zos) who
speak, but that is neither  the beginning nor the end of the conversation
and it all takes a time to develop – and that is “Liberian Time” – not our
clocks. Everybody (who cares) has a part. 

I more than suspect that we have much to learn from the millennia of
experience carried by the people. If you were to ask me what you might have
done differently I would suggest keeping your eyes on two things: Time and
flow. Or put a different way, you need some time for the flow to establish
and do its work. I can understand why you might have started with a Café,
but when you switch to Open Space you will inevitably interrupt the flow. I
would start with the circle (pure Open Space) and just let it go. Another
old Liberian phrase, “Take Time!” The circle will do it’s magic, and the
Liberians are pros
 they have been there before and understand at a level we
may never attain. As I said, I think they have much to teach us.

But as you said at the end – it all worked (or words to that effect). 

Good job! And I am green with envy!!

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 20854

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
Go to:
<http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Susan Partnow
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 11:47 AM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Subject: [OSList] OS in Liberia... plus some QUESTIONS

I'm just back from another trip to Monrovia where I am training a core team
of Peacebuilders  in Compassionate Listening and Restorative Circle practice
as well as OST.  We hosted the second Liberia Peacebuilder Community Summit
(after holding one last March).  It was a great day, with well over 100
diverse people in attendance - primarily community members, with a sprinkle
of NGOs and Western expats.  Our theme was, How can we Build Partnerships
and Strengthen Peacebuilding Together? NG0  + Business + Community +
Government

The day began with torrential rain and thunderstorms - despite our many
efforts to influence the weather patterns through pleas, visualization,
prayers and any ways we could imagine... WAWA was strongly at play.  ("West
Africa Wins Again" - our code word for the unavoidable complications and
chaos that arise in a developing world with minimal infrastructure and
different views of time)... Arrival for everyone was delayed well beyond the
usual, due to the rain...  Plus, the AV guy with the sound system was
nowhere to be seen and the generator was locked up and no one present had
the key (yet all parties had been pre-paid for their services).  The noise
from the rain was so intense that we felt we couldn't begin the program
without amplification.  Fortunately, a fabulous culture troupe was there -
and they were great troupers indeed, offering a wonderful morning
performance even before they had their costumes on.  (They also entertained
at lunch and at the close of the day).  Finally, we decided we'd just have
to make the best of it and get started with the program, sound or no
sound...  And happily, in the middle of our Liberian partner's  welcoming
remarks, the AV guy showed up.  –all in all, a great work out for OS
Principles:  ultimately of course it started at the right time and the right
people were there!

A small group of our Core Team of  Peacebuilders  had worked hard on the
prior Saturday to prepare all the signage – and to take on the facilitation.
I prepared a sample script (adapted from Lisa Heft’s wonderful offerings)
and coached them Saturday afternoon, with the assurance that I would be
ready to intervene and support them on Monday.  It was a thrill to witness
them stepping up to leadership as I stayed ‘in the wings’ and played a very
minor role.  We began with a World Café –which was a powerful way to begin
the morning and get everyone engaged and intermingling across the many
differences present in the room:  men/women, elders/youth,
educated/illiterate, Christian/Muslim/Traditional – and 16 different ethnic
groups, plus Westerners.  We used stones gathered near the beach for talking
objects.  The questions:  

Round 1) Think of the times when you had successful partnerships across
sectors
Share the highlights. What made it possible?

Round 2) What are the challenges that keep you from building stronger
partnerships?

Round 3) What can you do to build better partnerships?

Then we moved to Opening Circle for the Open Space:  the group generated
about 20 topics for the two sessions.  It was great to see many in the group
really get the idea of the Law of Two Foot – and move around amongst
sessions.   Also, I noticed the questions were juicier than last March when
we held the first Open Space.  However, what I noticed during many of the
sessions was a tendency for one person (typically an elder male) to become
the director of the session and, rather than generative conversation, the
group tended to just list ideas for the ‘director’ to record.  It didn’t
seem like new insights or ideas emerged; rather more of a rehashing of what
they began with.  Observing this in so many sessions opened my eyes again to
how many skills and experiences we may take for granted that are essential
building blocks for the capacity for generative conversation:  asking
questions, taking turns, building on each other’s ideas (rather than making
parallel speeches), being open to new ideas or uncertainty or not knowing,
etc.  (The World Café is a great learning experience for all of this
)  In
any case, the day brought a sense of community and empowerment to all who
attended, and a number of ideas and action plans were set into place

MY QUESTION:  Who has Opened Space in other places where the culture is very
patriarchal and participants have limited education (many illiterate) – and
what they do have is in a very didactic system, where you learn by rote and
never ask questions?  Have you encountered the lack of generativity in the
sessions?  Do you have any suggestions?  I am contemplating that in the
future, I would recommend that a Core Team member attend each session to
help serve as a facilitator with the goal of facilitating conversation and
brainstorming.

PS  If you’d like to see some pictures and read the blogs posted from
Liberia, go to:  

http://globalcitizenjourney.org/category/new-blog/ 

Susan

Susan Partnow

Founding Director, Global Citizen Journey

4425 Baker Ave NW

Seattle, WA 98107

tel. 206-783-8561

fax 206-782-7786

www.globalcitizenjourney.org <http://www.globalcitizenjourney.org/> 

join our mailing list <http://oi.vresp.com/?fid=fb96ddc75f> 

www.susanpartnow.com <http://www.susanpartnow.com/>    Partnow
Communications, Organizational Development, Consulting & Facilitation

www.conversationcafe.org <http://www.conversationcafe.org/>    Co-Founder

www.compassionatelistening.org <http://www.compassionatelistening.org/> Sr.
Certified Facilitator

"When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness.  Our
seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly
necessary we are to each other."  --Margaret Wheatley

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20110810/aca7dce1/attachment-0008.htm>