<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" xmlns:b="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" xmlns:c="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" xmlns:odc="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:odc" xmlns:oa="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:q="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:rtc="http://microsoft.com/officenet/conferencing" xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:Repl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/repl/" xmlns:mt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/meetings/" xmlns:x2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" xmlns:ppda="http://www.passport.com/NameSpace.xsd" xmlns:ois="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" xmlns:dir="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:dsp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" xmlns:udc="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:sub="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/2002/1/alerts/" xmlns:ec="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#" xmlns:sp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" xmlns:sps="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:udcs="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/soap" xmlns:udcxf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" xmlns:udcp2p="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/parttopart" xmlns:wf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" xmlns:dsss="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig-setup" xmlns:dssi="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig" xmlns:mdssi="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/digital-signature" xmlns:mver="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns:mrels="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships" xmlns:spwp="http://microsoft.com/sharepoint/webpartpages" xmlns:ex12t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" xmlns:ex12m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" xmlns:pptsl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/SlideLibrary/" xmlns:spsl="http://microsoft.com/webservices/SharePointPortalServer/PublishedLinksService" xmlns:Z="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" xmlns:st="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dear friends and colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>When I post to a list, I imagine I am in an OST meeting, posting something I am passionate about, stating why I am passionate about it, and then waiting, watching, wondering what will show up in the conversation. And then it is clear that the topic is done…for now…and as the convener of the topic, it is my responsibility to acknowledge this. I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to all who participated in this conversation, whether actively or passively, engaging your thoughts on the topic and thus enriching us all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I believe that power deeply entwined with love is an important power to be used wisely, to be expanded in quality and scope, and to be an active force in the world beyond what we think of as the world in our consensus reality. I think of this as the ‘ordinary world’ and the ‘extraordinary world’. The ‘extraordinary world’ is a world still unseen by most, and with time and our growth, will become the ‘ordinary world’. From my perspective, OST can have a significant role in uncovering who we are and how we behave beyond today’s status quo ‘ordinary’. We are definitely of service already as consultants who use OST meetings a lot in our work. I believe that by upgrading our work with the non-visible self, that there will be a deeper effect on the individuals in the OST meeting that shifts the desire for moving beyond the status quo of organizational life. In an OST meeting, the spark begins. I believe that we cannot ‘do’ something to fan that spark in any way that is sustainable. However, we can ‘be’ in such a way that there can be a greater energy field for inspiration to carry this spark forward and to find an improved way of being in organizational life. And no, this shift does not come naturally just as a result of having participated in an OST meeting. In fact, there is often real setbacks after an OST meeting when people experience ‘life as usual’. I believe that we have quite a wonderful opportunity as facilitators of OST meetings to do what Ghandi apparently said ‘we need to be the change we want to see in the world’ or this could be ‘we need to be the change we want to see in our organizations’. I realize that my query about the upgrade of the facilitator of OST is about working with the energy field in such a way that it increases the opportunity for healthier organizations to emerge. I am convinced as are some of you that this can be co-led, co-facilitated with people in the organization itself…consciously so. I currently give guidance to the senior leadership team and my sponsors to be ‘energy anchors’ in the meeting. Then, at the end of the day, we discuss how it felt and what they observed/had insights about…and the process for the longer term seems to begin…and without me ‘doing anything much’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>In teaching people how to work with OST in their organizations for maximum long term benefit (note that this is different than teaching people how to facilitate the OST meeting), we constructed our training to explore the form of OST as per ‘the User’s Guide’, and we choose to spend a lot of time exploring the essence of OST. My reason for doing this resulted from a person assisting me with an OST meeting…and she asked so many many questions. I asked her to put her questions down on post it note papers, one question per note…and she presented me with quite a stack. What she said was “you think this is effortless but in shadowing you, I see that there are really so many little decisions that you are making throughout this meeting”. I realized that there was no formula to answer her many questions. the gift in this for me was to recognize that if I could assist someone to grasp their own concept of the ‘essence’ of an OST meeting, and then to stay true to protecting that essence, then the facilitator would also learn how to not be what is referred to as a ‘space invader’ themselves…by their decisions. The most common space invaders from my perspective over the years have been the facilitators themselves…inadvertently through some comment, some action, some decision. So, when the program we created for teaching Working with OST includes the form, and includes getting in touch with a personal perspective of the essence of an OST meeting. And now, I am finding myself committed to including a greater emphasis on the energy field of the facilitator and the resulting influence. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Blessings to all…and again thank you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Birgitt<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>