<html><div>Mike Bell is a friend and colleague who lives in the serious
North -- Yellow Knife NWT (CANADA). I sent him a copy of Chris's note,
and he responded with the following. I thought you all would enjoy. As
you will see, Mike promises to join the listserve.</div>
<br>
<div>Harrison</div>
<br>
<br>
<div>From: Mike Bell <mikebell@internorth.com></div>
<div>>To: "'Harrison Owen'"
<owenhh@mindspring.com></div>
<div>>Subject: RE: OS In Vancouver on Friday</div>
<div>>Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 08:58:45 -0700</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Harrison:</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Thanks for sending along the report on the Vancouver Open
Space. I had a </div>
<div>>similar--though much smaller experience--last week in Iqaluit on
Baffin </div>
<div>>Island. I was working with 9 Inuit middle manager trainees
deeply involved </div>
<div>>in the creation of Nunavut--the new Inuit Territory that came
into existence </div>
<div>>last year and covers the eastern and High Arctic. This
group is well </div>
<div>>educated and is "the best and the brightest",
The subject of the workshop </div>
<div>>was "Critical Thinking and Decision-making."
</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>During the initial planning session that I held with three of
the </div>
<div>>participants in the local coffee shop, I told them that the
first day would </div>
<div>>be mine with a set agenda, the last two days would be
theirs--with an open </div>
<div>>space format. The content of the workshop would be
real: We would critique </div>
<div>>and analyze from a strategic perspective how the existing
government was </div>
<div>>succeeding and/or failing in its efforts to set up public
government that </div>
<div>>truly reflected Inuit values and traditions.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>The first day, with their agreement, I spelled out some of the
basic </div>
<div>>principles of strategic thinking and analysis, worked with them
to develop a </div>
<div>>mind map outlining the major strategic issues confronting
government, and </div>
<div>>did a presentation of framing and reframing--followed by some
work with a </div>
<div>>reframing model I've developed over the years. </div>
<div>></div>
<div>>(All of our work up here is in a cross-cultural context. The
development of </div>
<div>>public government is in many ways an effort to find common
ground between a </div>
<div>>Western perspective and an aboriginal world view. Understanding
how cultures </div>
<div>>are frames and how frames influence us is helpful. In my
presentations I </div>
<div>>spend a great deal of time discussing organizations as living
organisms and </div>
<div>>the presence and influence of Spirit as a manifestation of
culture. They </div>
<div>>respond instinctively to these concepts.)</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>They ran the Open Space the second and third day. By Prior
agreement, it </div>
<div>>was supposed to end with brief reflexions from each participant
on some </div>
<div>>aspect of strategic decision-making. But the ending
changed. The </div>
<div>>participants decided they wanted to develop a position paper on
Traditional </div>
<div>>Knowledge and Values to be submitted to the deputy ministers and
</div>
<div>>politicians. This would be their "Graduation
Speech." What they wanted to </div>
<div>>do, in effect, was develop a score card telling the government
how it was </div>
<div>>doing. The last session was spent developing a brief terms
of reverence for </div>
<div>>their position paper. ("Whatever happens is the only thing
that can happen.")</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>The concluding comments were interesting. This was their
first experience </div>
<div>>with open space. They found it empowering, from a variety
of perspectives. </div>
<div>>On a daily basis they work under supervisors who are experienced
civil </div>
<div>>servants-- but they are all "white guys". The
"trainees" (a term they </div>
<div>>despise) have great difficulty communicating Inuit values to
their </div>
<div>>superiors--and letting these values influence policy,
structures, programs, </div>
<div>>etc. In the open space exercise they had a strong sense of
"calling the </div>
<div>>shots" and "being in charge". They found
this particularly useful from the </div>
<div>>point of view of learning. In every workshop experience
they'd had up to </div>
<div>>that point, there was some "expert" with the knowledge
trying to "pour it </div>
<div>>into them". In the Open Space they were the
experts--because they all lived </div>
<div>>within and shared their own culture and were doing the same kind
of work in </div>
<div>>different departments--and they were learning from one
another. They also </div>
<div>>noted that unlike the group government structures and
communication </div>
<div>>mechanisms, the Open Space was not a control structure. They
were all in </div>
<div>>charge of their own learning--and there was no one to criticize
their </div>
<div>>performance. </div>
<div>></div>
<div>>I found the whole experience really interesting and helpful to
me </div>
<div>>personally. Though I thought I was "holding the
space," they created their </div>
<div>>own space and let me become part of it. By the end of the
session I was </div>
<div>>saying things like "How are we going to deal with the white
guys?" </div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Take care. And thanks again for sharing the write-up on the
Vancouver OS.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Mike </div>
<div>></div>
<div>> </div>
<div>></div>
<div>> </div>
<div>></div>
<div>></div>
<div>></div>
<div>>----------</div>
<div>>From: Harrison Owen [SMTP:owenhh@mindspring.com]</div>
<div>>Sent: January 23, 2000 1:10 PM</div>
<div>>To: mikebell</div>
<div>>Subject: Fwd: OS In Vancouver on Friday</div>
<div>></div>
<div>><<<a href="file://\\ ATT00001.htm\" EUDORA=AUTOURL>File:
ATT00001.htm</a>>></div>
<div>>Mike -- this showed up on the Open Space listserve. Thought you
might be</div>
<div>>interested.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Harrison</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>**************************************</div>
<div>></div>
<div>></div>
<div>>>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; U)</div>
<div>>>X-Accept-Language: en,pdf</div>
<div>>>Approved-By: Chris Corrigan
<corcom@INTERCHANGE.UBC.CA></div>
<div>>>Date: Sun,
23 Jan 2000 01:09:46 -0800</div>
<div>>>Reply-To: OSLIST
<OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU></div>
<div>>>Sender: OSLIST
<OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU></div>
<div>>>From: Chris Corrigan
<corcom@interchange.ubc.ca></div>
<div>>>Subject: OS In Vancouver on
Friday</div>
<div>>>To: OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Amazing OS in Vancouver on Friday. The theme was
"Making lives better</div>
<div>>>for urban Aboriginal People...Let's stop talking about
it...let's start</div>
<div>>>doing it!"</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>175 people in attendance, including a federal cabinet
minister, two</div>
<div>>>deputy ministers, two cheifs, many leaders from throughout
the</div>
<div>>>Aboriginal community and dozens of community members,
program staff,</div>
<div>>>private sector representatives, and clients.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Opened with a a prayer and a song sung by Leonard George a
local chief</div>
<div>>>and son of the great actor Chief Dan George. My
opening stressed that</div>
<div>>>traditional nature of the technology, how this was how we
always met to</div>
<div>>>solve our community's problems. Stressed passion,
responsibility AND</div>
<div>>>self-management, which equates to self-government, a very
important</div>
<div>>>value in our communities. The particpants were charged
up and by the</div>
<div>>>time I had finished the opening, there was a stampede...five
people</div>
<div>>>jumped out of their seats. I had to call for more
markers!</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>It took us twenty minutes to set 45 agenda items,most of
them proposed</div>
<div>>>by strong young women. Very few of the agenda items
were proposed by</div>
<div>>>the leadership that was present. Instead they found
themselves actively</div>
<div>>>involved in a meeting where the agenda had been set by
people who never</div>
<div>>>get a chance to set an agenda.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>My notes remind me that the groups were very large and
intially quite</div>
<div>>>close together. The location was the Vancouver
Friendship Centre</div>
<div>>>gymnasium, an Aboriginal community centre, chosen for it's
locality and</div>
<div>>>the realized possibility of lots of drop ins. In my
experience, there</div>
<div>>>is nothing you can do to encourage Aboriginal people to meet
in smaller</div>
<div>>>groups. Has anybody else found this? First
Nations people seem to like</div>
<div>>>crowds...</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>This made the organizers a little nervous...shouldn't they
be further</div>
<div>>>apart? Shouldn't the groups be smaller? Over the
day of course, the</div>
<div>>>participants managed to spread themselves out nicely, and a
nice</div>
<div>>>self-ordering came out of it.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>In the vein of "trust the process" comes this
story...We didn't break</div>
<div>>>for lunch, with the result that the whole crowd lined up for
chow at</div>
<div>>>12:00 and didn't get into the 12:00 sessions by about
12:40. The</div>
<div>>>organizers were going nuts..."make an
announcement!" I refused. By</div>
<div>>>2:00, the meeting was running only 15 minutes behind, and by
4:00 ON THE</div>
<div>>>DOT we were back in the circle and beginning the closing,
right on</div>
<div>>>schedule. I asked the organizers if they had ever seen
a conference</div>
<div>>>that was running late bring itself back on time and not drop
anything.</div>
<div>>>They were amazed. I was amazed too. 175 people,
with no leadership or</div>
<div>>>influence, ran 40 minutes late and brought themselves back
on time.</div>
<div>>>Remarkable.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Closing was very powerful. We were lucky to have many
traditional</div>
<div>>>people in attendance so many prayers were offered.
This kind of thing</div>
<div>>>wouldn't make it in the business community, but as a
facilitator working</div>
<div>>>in the Aboriginal community, I am luckey to have built in
openings and</div>
<div>>>closing at my disposal. Sharing ranged from a woman
who was a recovered</div>
<div>>>drug user/alcoholic/prostitute making a committment to
action as a</div>
<div>>>result of the day to a man who lightened us up by coming
into the</div>
<div>>>circle, giving his name and occupation and stating that he
was looking</div>
<div>>>for a wife. Someone called out "how many horses
have you got?"</div>
<div>>>Laughter...his response: "None. They ran away and
we were too lazy to</div>
<div>>>brand them!" I LOVE the way we laugh at
ourselves!</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>This was a remarkable event and very important in the life
of the</div>
<div>>>impoverished urban aboriginal community of Vancouver.
Open Space has</div>
<div>>>opened a tremendous set of opportunities for people. A
whole new</div>
<div>>>leadership came forward, and a fresh momentum was
established. And</div>
<div>>>equally importantly, this may become known as the event
during which</div>
<div>>>Open Space took hold in the Aboriginal community in British
Columbia.</div>
<div>>>Everybody is now talking about using it. First Nations
people recognize</div>
<div>>>this technology, as I've said before, and meeting this way
is a very</div>
<div>>>profound process of rediscovery and is very imiportant to
unleashing the</div>
<div>>>cultural models that have colonized us for hundreds of
years. There is</div>
<div>>>a HUGE appetite for this now...I can't state it
enough.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>So thanks for all of you who wished me well. This was
easily the most</div>
<div>>>important facilitation I've ever done. Your support
was invaluable.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>I'd also like to thank Harrison, on behalf of the many
people who</div>
<div>>>thanked me yesterday for the technology. You have
given us a great</div>
<div>>>gift, even if it was only by holding a mirror up to
ourselves. Open</div>
<div>>>Space represents a beautifully natural and indigenous
technology that is</div>
<div>>>reawakening a power among a great many First Nations people
in this</div>
<div>>>area. It's very exciting to be a part of that.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Chi meegwetch. Sorry for my overstated ebulence.
I'm thrilled...</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Chris</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>--</div>
<div>>>CHRIS CORRIGAN</div>
<div>>>108-1035 Pacific Street</div>
<div>>>Vancouver BC</div>
<div>>>V6E 4G7</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Phone: 604.683.3080</div>
<div>>>Fax: 604.683-3036</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Harrison Owen</div>
<div>>7808 River Falls Drive</div>
<div>>Potomac, MD 20854</div>
<div>>USA</div>
<div>>phone 301-469-9269</div>
<div>>fax 301-983-9314</div>
<div>>website </div>
<div>><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" EUDORA=AUTOURL>www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a></div>
<div>>Open Space Institute websites</div>
<div>><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" EUDORA=AUTOURL>www.openspaceworld.org</a></div>
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854<br>
USA<br>
phone 301-469-9269<br>
fax 301-983-9314<br>
website <br>
<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a><br>
Open Space Institute websites<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
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