[OSList] inquiry OS

[Skye Hirst]

What a rich and important conversation so very helpful as we think together
how this living process in which we all participate shows up so uniquely in
each organism self (cell in organism) and yet the organism (most immediate
context) in which we are living up close and personal,  will seek to find
the most "effective action" for itself and for the context and that seems
to be what's happening.  It would appear you (and the community there) are
in the beginning process of finding  what works (what the passion is) as
you offer up  an open safe space,  something else will emerge.  Sounds as
if you are providing a new possibility to be sampled and determined if it
is an "effective act"  hmmm.  Love thinking and feeling my way on this as
are you. Congrats and thanks for your courage and passion.  Feels most
wonderful. Thanks for bringing this to the list.


On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Celia Bray CEO Omni One <
celia.bray at omni-one-consulting.com> wrote:

> Thanks so much for your feedback. To answer your questions so far. ****
>
> ** **
>
> **1)      **Participation was voluntary, although the culture in Kenya is
> that people expect to get a payment to attend forums, so some of them were
> misinformed and may have come for the expected money. This is a culture
> started by foreign aid and is now endemic. The first thing people ask if
> there is a forum is ‘how much money will I get’ to attend. While the money
> thing makes true motivation for attending cloudy, there were some that did
> know there was no financial gain for attending. ****
>
> **2)      **The theme was peace in the community and it was 2 days before
> the elections in Kenya. The theme was relevant and something that a lot of
> people were directly effected by from the post election violence in the
> 2007 elections. So relevance was there but that does not mean it is
> something that people are passionate about. ****
>
> **3)      **It was an open community forum, not within an intact system.**
> **
>
> **4)      **I noticed also that people stayed in their small clusters of
> people they knew. They did not mix or move around to work with other
> people. Not sure what that was about or how normal that is. ****
>
> **5)      **Kenya has an education system where children are told what to
> think and what to do. It is not a culture that naturally lends itself to
> people making their own decisions and breaking out of the usual tribe. ***
> *
>
> **6)      **Another observation is that people seem to finish their
> discussions very quickly and merge sessions so that they cover all the
> topics in one or 2 sessions, leaving the later sessions as a blank space
> where there is nothing to discuss. It feels like there is a very
> superficial discussion of topics rather then getting into the heart of it.
> In a forum of 100 people, to cover all the topics in a couple of sessions
> is a surprise to me. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Any further ideas would be much appreciated. I am a westerner working in
> Kenya, so culturally I am still learning a lot. I know I am missing
> something important. I think it is helpful to draw my attention to the
> question of passion. It does feel like passion is missing, and also the
> hunger to get to the bottom of things is missing. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Peace****
>
> ** **
>
> *Celia Bray*
>
> *CEO*
>
> *Omni One Ltd*
>
> *Peace, Enterprise and Community Development*
>
> P  +254 735 191 344****
>
> E  celia.bray at omni-one-consulting.com****
>
> W www.omni-one-consulting.com****
>
> [image: OmniC84a-A08aT06a-Z]****
>
> 'The best way to predict the future is to create it' Peter Druker****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:
> oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf Of *Christine Whitney
> Sanchez
> *Sent:* Monday, 4 March 2013 7:08 PM
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] inquiry OS****
>
> ** **
>
> Celia,****
>
> ** **
>
> Adding to Harrison's and Chris's questions about invitation and voluntary
> participation, I wonder whether the participants are working together on
> something and truly understand the process and benefits of
> cross-pollination?   Are you working with public forums or within an intact
> system?  ****
>
> ** **
>
> And I wonder if it might be counter cultural (within the system or in the
> larger culture) in some way?  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Thanks for bringing the discussion to the list.  I love a good mystery!***
> *
>
> ** **
>
> Warm wishes from the air from Phoenix to DC,****
>
> ** **
>
> Christine****
>
> ** **
>
> On Mar 4, 2013, at 10:35 AM, Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com>
> wrote:****
>
> ** **
>
> Agreed…sounds like a passion deficit.  In my experience, when people are
> gathered to discuss an issue that just burns within them, OST meetings fly.
>  We are never bored by immediate need!****
>
> ** **
>
> My advice in the pre-meetings with your sponsor is to ask - "Why do we
> need to hold this meeting?  What is happening that makes this meeting
> important for everyone who will attend?"  From there, your invitation
> process should be to reach all of those for whom this issue matters
> greatly.  The key is not in doing Open Space, it is in invitation.  If the
> structure of Open Space is a fireplace, invitation is the wood and passion
> is what lights it.  If one of the three is missing, your OST will fizzle
> (or work anyway, but with low energy, if you want to put it that way).****
>
> ** **
>
> Chris****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> On 2013-03-04, at 9:21 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:****
>
>
>
> ****
>
> Celia – Odd indeed! My first thought is two questions: A) Is participation
> totally voluntary, or have the people, in some way or another, been “told”
> to come? B) Is the subject (Theme) of the OS something that the people
> truly care about? If the answers are No, No – then I am not very surprised
> with the results. On the other hand, if the answers are Yes, Yes – this is
> definitely weird and worthy of study.****
>
>  ****
>
> ho****
>
>  ****
>
> Harrison Owen****
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.****
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>  ****
>
> *From:* oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-
> bounces at lists.openspacetech.org]*On Behalf Of *Celia Bray CEO Omni One
> *Sent:* Monday, March 04, 2013 2:05 PM
> *To:* oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> *Subject:* [OSList] inquiry OS****
>
>  ****
>
> Dear OS community****
>
>  ****
>
> HELP NEEDED.****
>
>  ****
>
> I have been working in Kenya for the last 8 months and facilitated a few
> open space forums. I have noticed a pattern developing in my OS forums that
> is not great. I am not sure if i am doing something wrong when opening the
> space. It seems that when it is time to start session 1, if people don't
> have their own topic in session 1 they just sit there. People only really
> engage in the topic they put up themselves and sit around being butterflies
> for the rest of the forum, complaining they are bored and waiting for their
> session. Also, when they have finished their discussions they don't join
> other people's group to contribute.****
>
>  ****
>
> It has happened a few times. I wonder if it is normal or if I am missing
> something. I do explain that if they are not discussing their topic they
> can look at other people's topics and go to other groups, but it seems to
> not be heard. It is not just a few, it is many people, sometimes half or
> more of the forum are sitting waiting for their topic.****
>
>  ****
>
> Please help me to understand what might be going on or what I might be
> doing wrong.****
>
>  ****
>
> Thank you****
>
>  ****
>
> *Celia Bray*****
>
> *CEO*****
>
> *Omni One Ltd*****
>
> *Peace, Enterprise and Community Development*****
>
> P  +254 735 191 344****
>
> E  celia.bray at omni-one-consulting.com****
>
> W www.omni-one-consulting.com****
>
> <image001.jpg>****
>
> 'The best way to predict the future is to create it' Peter Druker****
>
>  ****
>
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