<div>Hi Raffi,</div> <div> </div> <div>What an impressive multiplication of treasures. It shows that the Open Space spirit is strong but also that its messengers, like you, can really open more doors for people to discover it. </div> <div> </div> <div>The best to you in your new projects.</div> <div> </div> <div>Diane<BR><BR><B><I>Raffi Aftandelian <raffi@BK.RU></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Dear friends and colleagues,<BR><BR>I'd like to share some recent news, thoughts, questions on the eve of<BR>returning to the my homeland, the US of A for a sabbatical or break from Russia.<BR><BR>On the one hand there is what is happening in Russia in the overall<BR>sense, which gives every reason to be grim. And the newspapers don't<BR>usually report the good news that happens beneath the radar.<BR><BR>Since the Moscow OS on OS, I have been hearing reports from all
kinds<BR>of places about OST successfully being used all over Russia. Some of this was<BR>fruit of the seeds planted in preparation for the August conference,<BR>some of this followed the conference.<BR><BR>By way of example, one young woman who came specially to a four hour Moscow<BR>Mentoring<BR>Circle from St. Petersburg and is now using OST on her own shared<BR>recently that she is now "bring OST to the human resources masses."<BR><BR>In St. Petersburg there are plans to create a club for top business<BR>executives. Format under consideration? OST.<BR><BR>OST is quietly being used with political parties here...<BR><BR>Another woman who attended a Moscow Mentoring Circle is using OST for<BR>her HR manager club. Proceedings of each meeting are posted online.<BR><BR>I have had the privilege recently of twice working with Russia's<BR>second largest cellular phone service provider. And it is absolutely<BR>delicious to see others say what I have been saying for the past
two<BR>years: trainings don't work. Ok, ok, that may be a little overstated,<BR>but it's been the general direction of my thinking recently. Plus,<BR>it's refreshing to hear that here in Moscow where trainings as a<BR>easily-recognizable learning format have not been around that long.<BR><BR>This company is looking to shift entirely to non-training formats for staff<BR>development. They intend to focus on<BR>action learning, coaching, Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space<BR>Technology.<BR><BR>My first project with them I suggested they'd be better off if I<BR>coached them in OST and if they ran the OST strategic planning session<BR>for one of their departments themselves. After a one day intensive<BR>mini-training in OST, they ran the OST meeting and couldn't believe<BR>the results. Sound familiar?<BR><BR>The second time I worked with them, I ran a daylong strategic planning session<BR>with about 35 and with less than an hour left invited one of them to<BR>run a mini-OS on
OS so that they reflect on the method. I was amazed<BR>that in the space of a day not only was a fair amount of action<BR>planning done, but that even had time to learn about the method.<BR><BR>Today, I had the privilege of running a mini-OST learning workshop for<BR>an HR manager, a corporate coach, a corporate trainer, and an<BR>entrpeneur in the field of innovative learning technologies. Such a<BR>pleasure to see them really getting it and also realizing how much<BR>complexity lies behind the simplicity.<BR><BR>One of them asked an unexpected interesting question about the OST practitioner<BR>community/organization after I mentioned the culture of generosity<BR>which you find among us here: Is there a mainstream and a minority/margin (a<BR>la Arnold Mindell) in the OST practitioner community/organization? My<BR>answer: you betcha! That for all the deliciousness of our<BR>community/organization, we are humans, and there is much work for our<BR>implicit shared values to
be explicitly reflected in our relationships<BR>with one another. For me this remains one of the learning edges of<BR>our community/organization. And I continue to explore how I can be<BR>more of a positive and constructive contributor in this regard.<BR><BR>And before taking off for the US, I'll be running an OST learning<BR>workshop (that's happening this weekend).<BR><BR>So yes, the seeds are sprouting here. Heck, let's not forget that OST<BR>has been here since there was a Soviet Union, it was used here at<BR>least as early as 1989...Time we began witnessing some sprout action.<BR><BR>I don't know when OS on OS XV is happening exactly. Late May? Kiev?<BR>But I know one thing- wouldn't want to give up front row seats. For<BR>the vegetarians who might be coming specially to this conference, you<BR>might consider getting ready now to try one Ukrainian delicacy, salo,<BR>jellied pork fat. While I did make a request that they make soy salo<BR>for me, I am not sure our
Ukrainian open space colleagues will be<BR>ready to go there...<BR><BR>It's exciting to continue to follow the conversation(s) on the list.<BR>And I want to share one of my greatest learnings from the Moscow OS on<BR>OS: hearing Birgitt say that maybe she is a slow learner, but she<BR>invited Harrison seven times, seven years in a row to Canada for OST<BR>learning workshops and each time she saw something new, something that<BR>took her deeper.<BR><BR>I saw after the OS on OS that I was asking myself, "What do I really<BR>understand about OS/OST?" Nothing, absolutely nothing. Right now I'm<BR>asking myself the same questions I was asking myself 5 years ago.<BR>Perhaps the only difference is that I am inclined to try to answer<BR>those questions myself and not put the questions immediately on the list.<BR><BR>It's a privilege to be in this community/organization!<BR><BR>from an unseasonably warm Moscow,<BR>raffi<BR><BR>---------------------------------------<BR>Raffi
Aftandelian<BR>consultant trainer facilitator essenceworker<BR>essenceworks consulting group<BR>organizational health and balance<BR>Moscow<BR>raffi@essenceworks.ru, raffi@bk.ru<BR>+7 926 377 79 15<BR>www.openspaceworld.ru<BR><BR>*<BR>*<BR>==========================================================<BR>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>------------------------------<BR>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<BR>view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:<BR>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html<BR><BR>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<BR>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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