This is just what I need. Tomorrow we do something similar
although on a much smaller scale, here in Victoria. I'll report
later, but for now, I just wanted to say thank you for this, as tonight
I'm riding your energy and momentum.<br>
<br>
Chris<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 11/7/05, <b class="gmail_sendername">Thomas Herrmann</b> <<a href="mailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com">thomas@openspaceconsulting.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Dear
Christine</font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Thanks
for sharing this beautiful story - still unfolding - for a long time!!! I am
always amazed at how come it is so unique (in our so called developed societies)
to get the chance to express oneself and be listened to. I wish this will be
natural one day. We´ll continue working on it!</font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Warmest regards</font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Thomas
Herrmann</font></span></div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;">
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font face="Tahoma" size="2">-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----<br><b>Från:</b> OSLIST
[mailto:<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a>]<b>För </b>Christine Whitney
Sanchez<br><b>Skickat:</b> den 7 november 2005 16:07<br><b>Till:</b>
<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br><b>Ämne:</b> Girl Scouts Open the Space for
more than 1,600<br><br></font></div><div><span class="e" id="q_1076cc32168e26c2_1">
<div><font face="Comic Sans MS">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Dear Open Space Friends,</font></span><span style="color: teal;"></span></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color="#008080"></font></font></span><font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS">It has been exactly one month since more than 1,600 Girl
Scout National Delegates met in Open Space. <span>I feel deeply grateful to each and everyone of you
who helped us to hold the space at the Girl Scout National
Convention. </span>I haven't written until now because, frankly, I'm
still processing what I experienced and learned and I'm not at all sure I
can do justice to telling the story. I'm literally still dreaming
about what was <span>perhaps</span> the most
powerful experience of my life so far, short of giving birth 3
times.</font></span></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color="#008080"></font></font></span><font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS">My greatest joy in working on this project has been the
incredible people and my personal reflections are filled with gratitude and
awe.<span> </span>Foremost, I am grateful to
my dear friend and business partner, Claudia Haack, who held the space with
me with such grace, resilience and generosity that I was able to
give myself fully to opening the space.<span> </span>Our partnership grew and our
friendship flourished as we worked on this project
together.</font></span></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color="#008080"></font></font></span><font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS">I think that part of why it's taking me so long to digest
what happened at the Girl Scout National Convention is that after a glorious
day of Open Space, Claudia, our volunteer team and I anchored Strategy Cafes
for close to 2,000 participants and generally worked on the fly for the next 3
days of the convention, including a final day with the Themefinding Team which
looked across the Open Space and Strategy Café reports.<span> </span>All the while, we were working with
close to 100 volunteers who had been trained in OS and World Café and
who <span>then </span>self-organized for
planning and implementation before, during and after the convention.<span> </span>As a member of the "Smooth Operators"
Team said, "I<span>t</span> was like you went from a
two person operation to a full staff of one hundred!"</font></span></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color="#008080"></font></font></span><font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font></p>
<font face="Comic Sans MS"> </font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Claudia and I are still in the process of writing up the
whole thing, including the Open Space on Governance and the Strategy Cafés and
I promise to share that with all of you as soon as it's finished.<span> </span>For now you can check out the online
version of the Book of Proceedings at </font></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: teal;"><span style="color: teal;"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="3"><a href="http://www.girlscouts.org/convention/conversationsummary.asp" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
www.girlscouts.org/convention/conversationsummary.as<span>p</span></a>. </font></font></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;">For a taste of the excitement, here are some of the
highlights and quotes from participants –</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: teal;"><span>ê<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">Based on the feedback we've
gotten the members of the volunteer crew<span>, from
the participants,</span> and the leaders of the organization, the Open
Space and Strategy Cafés have set the stage for an entirely different kind of
convention.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"I think this has forever
changed the National Council Session – no more being staged from beginning to
end.<span> </span>Instead, honest
dialogue."<span> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;"><span> </span>"I've never been to a convention that
felt so open and as honest as this one."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"I'd like to echo that and
there is a difference between input and influence and we now have a chance to
influence the future rather than simply provide input."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: teal;"><span>ê<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">While the Open Space was
focused on the topic of governance, it seems that only about half of the 94
sessions posted were really focused on governance.<span> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"It's very confusing.<span> </span>People don't really understand what
governance actually means and what it means to the organization."<span> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"Governance and operational
issues get blurred."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"Do
we all agree what governance means?"</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"Some delegates do not
understand governance because they are operations-based.<span> </span>Do delegates represent the
majority?"</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"This organization runs better
when it is run from the bottom up rather than from the top
down."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: teal;"><span>ê<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">Participants were clearly moved
by the experience of being in Open Space, being listened to, feeling supported
and how that all relates to what the Founder, Juliette Low, intended.<span> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"I think that we are getting
back to what Juliette Low started - she started this for the girls and I think
we are finally getting back to that today."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"I was more of a bee and a
butterfly and it was so great to hear the girls and I am so proud to be a part
of this grand organization."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"I'm hoping our national board
will always accept this process and participate in this with
us."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">[I learned that we can]
"support one another in the ambiguity and anxiety as we answer very hard
questions for the organization and that we sustain one another as we try.<span> </span>We need to include more and more girls
and younger girls. We need to share these conversations with the people back
home and become more girl-centric."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"We need to listen to one
another and remember what works best for the new girls, for the
traditionalists, for everybody."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>o<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">"Go back and do the same kinds
of things when we get home...talk, listen, talk, listen and listen more.<span> </span>We can make this an ongoing process
during the 3-year cycle.<span>"</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: teal;"><span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: teal;"><span><span> </span></span></span><span style="color: teal;">
</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>During the opening of
the space, I said that at that very moment, there were people all over the
world who were holding the space with us. Thank you, dear Open Space
family. We and the Girl Scouts have been blessed by your
spirit.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><span></span></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: teal;"><span>Namaste,
</span></span></p></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font color="#008080">
</font><div><font color="#008080"><em><font face="Bradley Hand ITC">Christine</font></em></font></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><font color="#008080"><em><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="1"></font></em> </font></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><font color="#008080"><font color="#008080"><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><strong>Christine
Whitney Sanchez</strong></font></font></font></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><span><font color="#008080"><strong><font size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color="#000000">K</font><font color="#800080">AI</font><font color="#000000">R</font>OS<font color="#000000">
<span><font color="#008080"> </font></span>Alliance Inc<span>.</span></font></font></font></strong></font></span></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><font color="#008080"><font color="#000000" face="Comic Sans MS" size="2">2717 E. Mountain Sky
Avenue</font></font></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><font color="#008080"><font color="#000000" face="Comic Sans MS" size="2">Phoenix, AZ
85048</font></font></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><font color="#008080"><font color="#000000" face="Comic Sans MS" size="2">480.759.0262</font></font></div>
<font color="#008080"> </font><div><font color="#008080"><font color="#000000" face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"><a href="http://www.kairosalliance.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
www.kairosalliance.com</a></font></font></div></div>
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