<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>for elena re: kitchen talks</TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Cris,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I love your idea and really can say, that what I've
read in the book of Peggy Holman and Tom Devane about AI give me such a feeling.
I never tried it as it was discribed, but we used the 4D part in the workshop
"Organizational Development" as some of the trainers from US showed us. I like
it and it worked very good. What I miss in AI I don't know and hope
when Peggy comes to Novosibirsk in July she would probably discribe to us, or to
me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The idea of pumping is the same as I mean it,
though I was thinking of more structuring of the process of discussion,
as FSC gives the posibility to analize the past and people are saying that they
relived 30 years of their lives in the 30 minutes they have to think about it,
they discover what happened and how they lived. and our people like to analize
the past, so they are very common and that gives them a feeling of community and
also the ground to go further, to the trends of present time and then to desired
future, which is the most unconcrete in our workshops but a lot of
fun.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>so my concern how to do it more detailed and more
concrete, and I started asking more questions while I'm giving the task - how do
you see the society, how do you see your organization, or community you live in
and yourself, your role and so on, as I came to this idea while reading the book
"Creating the shared vision" - sorry, I don't have it by hand, if I reproduce
the name not exactly. in OS - as we say what would you like to start with? what
questions would you like to discuss and what projects would you like to propose
for discussion and if you start one, we would like you to answer 6 Ws. So the
results became much more concrete. and people are happy themselves that it is
not just talking and blaming but real projects which they can start doing
today.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>that I love. there were 6 project in the last FSC
we did in January, but as I left for S-F I did not make a report for public and
in English, though we printed the whole protocol at once, day by day, what I
learned from OS.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>so </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>going step by step somewhere.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and the book of Harrison Owen gave me another
metaphors for approaching to hearts and mentality of Russian people. They know
EVERYTHING so when they start talking - we know everything - I start asking -
why are we so clever, but so poor. So we can move further
together....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>ok</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>thank you for your letter.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I hope we shall have other good experience at this
weekend,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>today is a holiday in our country, but I have to
make 60 copies of handouts - that is the not so easy part of FSCs and we
leave tomorrow 5 pm to arrive 4 am by train to start FSC at 9....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a life of a trainer or a facilitator or whatever
crazy peple we belong to...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>best wishes to you</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>good luck with your idea. I'm not sure we can talk
this way in Russia, the analyses part sound better for me. but I really don't
know much of AI.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Elena</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:chris@springbranch.net" title=chris@springbranch.net>Chris
Weaver</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 08, 2001 1:25
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> for elena re: kitchen
talks</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear Elena,<BR><BR>I enjoyed your posting to Harrison.<BR><BR>I
am interested in the approach you describe of using Future Search to "prime
the pump" before an OST event. I just had a discussion with a colleague
on a related matter today.<BR><BR>We are designing a program that would bring
OST to some remote communities of very independent-minded rural people in the
Appalachian Mountains of the southern USA. My colleague, who has worked
in these communities for years, tells me that nothing in the local culture
resembles the experience of OST, and she is afraid that if opening the space
is the first thing we do, that people will not have the confidence, trust, or
reference point to step forward and convene.<BR><BR>If she was new to OST, I
would perhaps disagree, but she's not. She knows OST. She knows
rural mountain people (since she is one!) and she wants the program to
succeed.<BR><BR>Like the people in Robtsovsk, the rural mountain people have
their version of kitchen talks, and a depth of community oral tradition that
is beyond the understanding of mainstream America.<BR><BR>What we talked about
today was to hold two events to lead up to our community OSTs. The
first, on a Sunday afternoon after church, would be a program of local music,
history, and storytelling. The second, a week later, would be, well,
"kitchen talks," except structured as interviews, based on the "discovery"
stage of Appreciative Inquiry process. By design, the events will
attract both long-time settlers of the region and newcomers, and we want to
help people start talking across these often-tense lines. We are
thinking of starting with questions like "Tell the story of something you use
in your kitchen that your family has had for a long time." ...and move
toward questions like, "Tell about a time when you realized how strong your
community is."<BR><BR>Appreciative Inquiry process moves from these one-on-one
interviews to groups of six or eight, and people share highlights and themes
from one another's stories.<BR><BR>The OST event would then not be held until
a week after that, on the third Sunday. My colleague believes that in
this cultural context, holding these preliminary events will greatly enrich
the results in our OST events, in particular by <I>giving the old settlers
their voice</I> so that the newcomers aren't the only convenors (and so that
the old settlers will feel that something's in it for them, and will
come).<BR><BR>So, this story may or may not have anything to do with
Robtsovsk! But I am interested in this idea that, in some contexts, it's
good to prime the pump - not as a part of the OST, but as a
prelude.<BR><BR>Blessings to you unforgivable optimists!!<BR><BR>Chris
Weaver<BR><BR>-- <BR>S P R I N
G B R A N
C H<BR><BR>Opening the Space for Inspired
Collaboration<BR>P.O. Box 8234 / Asheville, NC 28814 / USA<BR>Phone: 828
225-0007 / Fax: 828 225-0303<BR>http://www.springbranch.net /
chris@springbranch.net<BR><BR>F A C I
L I T A T
I O N<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>