[OSList] inquiry OS

Mon Mar 4 15:38:29 PST 2013

Dear Celia,

I appreciate your inquiry as it seems we can learn more from what
appears to fall appart from what is considered usual or normal. As far
as I know OST should work almost always.

The money expectation you mentioned is a crucial factor and it is also
true for bolivian people. Harrison went directly to the point and
refers to the pre conditions for a successful OS gathering (better
than a "forum"). I hope to be useful calling your attention to these
details:

1. Try to relate the OS gathering to some typical meeting or historic
resemblances, when people get together to analyze, discuss or
celebrate something they are passionate for.

2. Besides the closing circle and after the gathering, organize some
event as a "reward" in which participants will elect the best
companion, best outcomes or some other categories.

3. If I am not wrong, read somewhere that people in Africa tend to
cherish their dreams and like to talk about them openly. If this is
correct, you may introduce this kind of topic as a challenge for
discussing the main theme.

Lots of success and a great hug from no raining by the time being La Paz

Jaime

2013/3/4, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>:
> Celia - the next message I read after yours came from a person who is (I
> believe) currently on OSLIST, but has yet to make an appearance. which he
> promises to do. I think it could have some relevance to our discussion and
> never putting too much stock in coincidence (synchronicity will do!), I
> thought to pass it along. Actually my motives are totally ulterior. If the
> author is listening I hope he will emerge from the shadows.J
>
>
>
> "My best guess is that XXX Organization (working in Western Africa - my
> addition, ho) has done better than 20,000 open space events as an
> organization, from small groups in weekly village meetings to as many as a
> few hundred in attendance in full OPOS events. We have had communities fail
> to achieve the outcomes they agreed to in OS, I would say, I think that
> about 5 out of 7 become sustainable, but all of the initial events seem to
> work in terms of the event process, I can't think of one that didn't."
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
> Harrison Owen
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>
> Potomac, MD 20854
>
> USA
>
>
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>
> Camden, Maine 04843
>
>
>
> Phone 301-365-2093
>
> (summer)  207-763-3261
>
>
>
>  <x-msg://63/www.openspaceworld.com%20> www.openspaceworld.com
>
>  <x-msg://63/www.ho-image.com%20> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
> Go to:
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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 3:39 PM
> To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
> Subject: Re: [OSList] inquiry OS
>
>
>
> 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
>
> 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.
>
> Potomac, MD 20854
>
> USA
>
>
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>
> Camden, Maine 04843
>
>
>
> Phone 301-365-2093
>
> (summer)  207-763-3261
>
>
>
> www.openspaceworld.com <x-msg://105/www.openspaceworld.com%20>
>
> www.ho-image.com <x-msg://105/www.ho-image.com%20>  (Personal Website)
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
> Go to: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 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 <http://www.omni-one-consulting.com/>
>
> <image001.jpg>
>
> 'The best way to predict the future is to create it' Peter Druker
>
>
>
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