IF YOU WERE THERE, ADD SUBTRACT CORRECT THIS RAMBLING AND SEND TO LISA. TKS, ELWIN --------------------------------------------------------------------- SESSION: OST and Conflict
Convener Elwin Guild Tuesday 3 5 PM Participants: Harrison, Sue Inches,????????? Four Case Studies were presented as examples of a wide variety of conflict instances where Elwin used OST. 1. Last weeks consulting contract with a small and defective office within the U.S. Dept of Interior. This was a two-day team building workshop that was in reality a set-up to eliminate/terminate one of the office employees. The new boss felt this person was an obstructionist and determined to cause trouble for him. This background was unknown until three days before the workshop, which Elwin had already announced to be an Open Space event. Given this last minute news, Elwin went to the OSLIST and asked for advice. Elwin received 14 responses and all concluded by saying, go for it! Elwin rewrote the workshop invitation and provided a new theme in place of the previous announcement of team building. The new theme was, How can we find joy and satisfaction in our work? All six members of the office were present from the new Director to the Receptionist. I opened the workshop with a half-day communications exercise. In the remaining half day, Space was opened and 5 Issues were posted. All dealt with the need for harmony. Elwin left the room as soon as the marketplace opened. Elwin returned near the 5 PM closing hour and found everyone deeply engaged. The group did not stop its session until nearly 5:30 PM. The second day was devoted to revisiting the 5 issue sessions and expanding on some elements of each. Next the group discussed and agreed on specific actions to be taken to improve relations and operations in the office. At the closing circle each member committed to work more collaboratively and to work as a group more often. The best statement was, I think we should look at today as a new start and opportunity to bring pride back to ourselves and our office. 2. A 2 1/2 day OST for an International Consulting firm that just underwent a senior management coup detat in order to launch a global marketing strategy. This OST engaged 160 employees of a newly expanded business. Because this was the result of by-outs and mergers most of the participants had never met. The CEO was concerned that the change and loss of original partners would negatively impact the new firms need for energetic engagement. The OST theme was How do we create a global vision? At the closing the CEO stated that OST had far exceeded his wildest expectations for creating a common vision. 3. A series of four 2 1/2 day OSTs each with 30 participants representing Croat, Serb and Bosnian Muslim NGO leaders in equal numbers (10). The objective was to find improved management strategies for post-war operations. Elwin explained that in preparation for each OST a person from each group would in private conversation mention that NATO had arrived a month to soon! This meant that if they had a little more time they would have killed all of the enemy that they are now forced to coexist with. During each OST the participants arranged for a dance party that included local folk groups, poetry contests, gag gifts/prizes, and various skits. Each of these occasions reminded Elwin of an Irish Wedding! One would never know that at the outset they viewed each other as mortal enemies. Harrison joined the session at this point and presented his experiences in the Practice of Peace. Many questions were sparked by his several stories of OST events in the Middle East. It is fair to say that in the end all were agreed that OST thrives on CONFLICT, PASSION and DIVERSITTY! 4. The surrender of the Communist National Dairy Union to the Bulgarian Dairy Association during a 2 1/2 day OST with 253 participants. This OST brought together an equal number of Communists and new Democrats all of whom shared a lifes interest in the dairy business. The agriculture economy was a total chaos and the Government had no clue as to what to do. The theme was, Can we build a new dairy economy in Bulgaria? To everyones surprise in 2 1/2 days a national association was formed and its leadership chosen and all stakeholders were included. Not a shot was fired. Today this trade association is the leader in the former USSR and highly respected in Western European circles as well. * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist