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<title>OSLIST Digest - 30 Nov 2009 to 1 Dec 2009 - Special issue (#2009-321)</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Dear All<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>We have been using OST in
our woodworking company WohnGeist since 2007. In our first OS event in June
2007 named “Vision 2020”, which lasted one day and invited 45
persons of our whole system (all our woodworkers, office and sale staff, clients,
suppliers, the graphics person, the press, friends, consultant friends and
family), it became clear that we need to find a larger building to bring our 3 woodworkshops
together in one place (<a href="http://www.wohngeist.ch/">www.wohngeist.ch</a>)
and that we really had a future to work towards. Up to then, my husband Stefan
and I had often felt overwhelmed by the responsibility for our growing company,
feeling like it was only the two of us who carried it forward. The feedback we
got in the OS event was very motivating. Peter and Pia Glanzmann were our
facilitators – thank you again!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Then in October 2007, my
daughters died in a flooding cave in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The OST principles
greatly helped us in accepting what is, as I have written to you earlier. Paradoxically,
this somehow gave us the last necessary impulse to be courageous enough for that
next big step with WohnGeist – the “worst thing” had already
happened, and if something were to go wrong with our plans for the expansion of
WohnGeist, it couldn’t possibly be as devastating as their death… <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So we eventually really found
a suitable larger place with as much inspiration as our old place in the historic
center of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Basel</st1:place></st1:City>,
and in April 2008 wrote a letter to our 1500 clients and friends, offering
sustainable investment possibilities (becoming a shareholder or giving us a
loan with nice conditions). We got 1 million Swiss francs! What an incredible
sign of appreciation for what we do… With this money and some help from
the bank, we were able to buy a great windows factory from 1963 nearby, which
we are now renovating and setting up to suit our needs. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In summer 2008, I needed
to take a time-out of half a year to grieve and start integrating my new
situation. I came back to work a day a week this January, and am becoming
stronger again as time goes by.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Stefan and I appointed two
members of our staff to become part of the management team, thus finally being
able to let go of some of our responsibilities. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In May 2009, we were
allowed to hold another OS event of half a day in the new place, which didn’t
belong to us quite yet, this time with 30 participants – our staff, some
clients and some members of our strategic council (see below). I facilitated it
myself. The topic was “Our design house – designing it the way it
will be fun to work in”. Our staff started to love the place and took
initiative for some of the upcoming projects. Some of the other participants also
took initiative – one of the results was a strategic planning group,
which is still working with great commitment to develop the strategy of the
next years for WohnGeist. And our staff commented that it was a pity to be
together only for half a day – so many interesting topics all at the same
time… they had much preferred the longer event from June 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Our project is well under
way since then. Two members of our woodworking staff postponed their civil
service resp. their further studies to help with the setting up of the new
place. There is a renovating team in the new place, using the agenda wall for announcing
and selecting jobs of the day to be done, and an everyday woodworking team in
the old place. All of our staff are taking full responsibility for their new
jobs, and we are deeply amazed at how well this really works, even if we have
been familiar with and living in OST since 1989 (myself) resp. 1996 (Stefan)...
The move has started and will be completed by February 2010. Even if there will
be more commuting (13 min. by train from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Basel</st1:place></st1:City>
main station to Frenkendorf) and less bicycling, we are all looking forward to
the new era of WohnGeist – being more efficient and working with much
more ease in the bigger spaces available there. We will also have a big
showroom there – a space which in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Basel</st1:place></st1:City>
city would be unaffordable!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In that letter of April
2008, we had also asked that people interested to become members of the board announce
themselves. 11 wonderful people emerged, and we decided it would be a pity to
select a few only. So we asked them if they would agree to become members of
the strategic council for a year, in order for us to get acquainted with how
they work, before electing our board. The first two meetings of the strategic council
were mini-OS-events of 3 hours, us identifying 4 or 5 topics (our most urgent
questions around buying and setting up the place), them completing to 6 or
changing our topics as they found necessary. We worked by the principles of
OST, but declared that this wasn’t really OST and named the differences. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Now the strategic council
just had its 3<sup>rd</sup> meeting, this time in our new place. It wasn’t
a mini-OST, even if we had a great ongoing buffet again </span></font><font
size=2 color=navy face=Wingdings><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;color:navy'>J</span></font><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'>, but a more structured event to prioritize and detail the
strategies which the strategic planning group had identified this summer. We
wanted to have the input of our strategic council for the next steps. Their
feedback in the closing circle was that they much preferred to work in OST…
and quite a few of them agreed to continue the work in the strategic council,
for almost no pay, but because they find it fascinating to be part of this
project.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So, as you can tell, OST
really gets people hooked. It really works if management (i.e. my husband and
myself) is open for whatever happens, too. So be prepared to be surprised…
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Oh – as I write, it
just dawns on me that in summer 2007, a friend has brought a shiny blue sticker
from Findhorn which we had posted on top of our office door. It reads “Angels
at work. Prepare for random miracles.” I guess this is true indeed. The
support of our angels is always there, and OST is helping us to stay open to
it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Thank you all! With love,
Catherine</span></font><font color=navy><span lang=EN-GB style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>Catherine
Pfaehler<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>lic.oec.HSG<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>Open
Space Begleitung<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>St.
Alban-Vorstadt 15<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>CH -
4052 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Basel</st1:place></st1:City><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>+41-(0)61
- 272 64 </span></font><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'>32<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=navy face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:navy'><a
href="mailto:c.pfaehler@open-space-begleitung.ch">c.pfaehler@open-space-begleitung.ch</a></span></font><font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#0000a0" face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#0000A0'><a
href="http://www.open-space-begleitung.ch/">www.open-space-begleitung.ch</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#0000a0" face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#0000A0'><a
href="http://www.wohngeist.ch/">www.wohngeist.ch</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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