[OSList] who are the right people

[Lisa Heft - via OSList]

As Tree referenced, I am passionate about invitation. True invitation. Not just ‘everyone is welcome’ but what it takes for the host team’s reflection, tasks, strategy, actions to truly really welcome people into the room who are not like themselves, or the other participants - who represent different thinking on the issue, different parts of the system of an issue or opportunity, different experiences, different filters, different lives, different lenses, and so on. The richer the difference, the richer the learning / exploration / ideas (and so on).

I am not a ‘whoever (just) comes’ / ‘whatever (just) happens’ person. Whoever comes is informed by who and how they were invited, and how they were supported, or informed, or how resources were shared with them, or how they were responded to…  So they might be able to walk into that room just like everyone else there could. What did it / might it take. What action, relationship, resource, piece of information… What are the barriers to inclusion and how to reduce them. 

Does it mean offering a language buddy? A ride? A differently-constructed outreach message? A home-stay? Directions to a location, when it is assumed that others do that research for themselves? A conversation with a person as a first connection, instead of a link to text on a site? 

… and so on and so on.

This is one of the things we explore a bit, when I teach about Open Space. We explore it more when I teach about The Power of Pre-Work. 

Come explore those things if you feel you can join us, in this upcoming workshop: The Power of Pre-Work - this August 11-12, in Oakland California.  For more information, contact me directly.

I love this stuff. I love the understanding / strategy / practice of imagining who are ‘the right people’, how to include them, and what is possible given a host / host team’s capacities, energies and actions. I feel that we are enriched by each next person who walks into the room, and by those conversations and relationships we have with people who could for many reasons could not make it there, with us, that particular time. And perhaps they will be joining us the next time…

Enjoying thinking about all this,
Lisa

Lisa Heft
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
Opening Space