<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Marty:<BR>
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I don't think I know enough to know if there was anything you could have done up front to prevent what happened, but I do know a couple of things:<BR>
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1. Remember that in open space, whatever happens is truly the only thing that could - which I take to mean in your circumstances that perhaps this group was not ready to see the opportunity in the day or that there was something else entirely happening in their lives which was "in the way" of their being able to take advantage of this or perhaps the question was the wrong one for them and no one had the nerve to really say, "Wait a minute, what we really need to talk about is..." <BR>
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2. Keep saying (as I used to say about my teenage kids - with clenched teeth) "Every client has their path, every client has their path..." and have faith that their process is their process and that they are learning what they need to learn right now<BR>
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3. A couple of questions that you might ask another time if faced with this kind of dilemma (and I offer these with humility and unfair hindsight knowing that these questions might well not ocur to me in the moment): "It seems like there isn't much energy around this question for this afternoon. Perhaps there is something else that is vital for this group to discuss to make progress together?" or "It seems like there isn't much energy around this questions this afternoon. May I make a suggestion that perhaps it would be important for this group to discuss what things already work around here that assist this group in contributing the value to the community that it wants to make. Are there any suggestions for what it might be important for this group to take forward in designing a new future?"<BR>
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Just a couple of thoughts. Please discard what doesn't make sense to you.<BR>
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Regards<BR>
Esther<BR>
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Esther Ewing<BR>
The Change Alliance - Assisting Individuals and Organizations to Build Capability<BR>
<A HREF="www.ChangeAlliance.com">www.ChangeAlliance.com</A><BR>
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New York, NY 10016-9804<BR>
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