בתאריך יום ג׳, 5 באפר׳ 2022 ב-18:01 מאת Birgitt Williams via OSList < oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>:
> Dear friends and colleagues, > this month I am celebrating 30 years of working with Open Space > Technology. What a grand journey it has been, giving me a vehicle to be of > help to leaders and their organizations...while simultaneously growing me. > I benefited a lot from in depth four day trainings in OST with Harrison, > attending, co-sponsoring seven training sessions in Canada. I continue to > facilitate in the ways that we were originally taught, with adjustments > made to adapt OST for the online environment. I refuse to facilitate an OST > less than four hours, with sessions never less than one hour. > > My two favorite experiences of being a participant in OST meetings: the > first OSONOS in a hotel near Dulles airport in which just over 30 of us > gathered to explore our learning with OST and the excitement of > participating in what was then pioneering work with organizations. The > second of my favorite experiences was the Expanding Our Now event in Oregon > in the mid 90's sponsored and facilitated by Harrison Owen and Anne > Stadler. Five full days within an OST container, exploring and > accomplishing ways to expand our now. Again, about thirty of us came > together, from a number of countries, with profound experiences within > which each of us experienced personal transformation and the expansion of > ourselves, and the expansion of our NOW. We who gathered understood that > the bigger our NOW, the better we facilitated. The power of a multi-day OST > is not often the current offer...however, it is powerful beyond what can be > imagined. > > In those early days, I experimented with how short an OST meeting could be > while still retaining what I believed was valuable about OST. Four hours > was the shortest I would go...and in those days I did so as a means for > following up from a multi-day OST for the purpose of moving topics forward > that had been prioritized from the multi-day OST. At the time, I believed a > short (ie 4 hour) OST was valuable only after a multi-day OST in the > organization. I believe that OST was initially devised for multi-day > meetings. > > I also experimented with frequent OST meetings in the same organization > ie: monthly. The story goes that the first two monthly OST meetings were > loved by our staff and Board as the newly preferred way to have our > monthly meetings. At the third meeting, I sat and said to those gathered > (about eighty people) that they need what to do so please post their > topics. Everyone stayed seated until someone said "we know what to do, > however, there is something important in this opening that you do that > helps us to determine what we want to post and to get on with it. We need > you to do the opening. It is not sufficient to tell us that we know what to > do." And so I learned that the opening, even with a well seasoned group, > gave benefit from the ritual and was to be included. At the fourth monthly > meeting, as I entered the room, a staff member stood up and said "we don't > want to do these kinds of meetings anymore. We come up with all sorts of > ideas for going forward but after the fact, we find out what the barriers > are to taking action and it is very disheartening to us". We sat together > and talked this over. Two gifts emerged from this. The first was the > concept of the 'givens', providing the shape of the OST meeting (defining > the playground to which people were invited) by clarifying beforehand any > non-negotiable barriers. Once we worked out the givens together, we > successfully had years of OST meetings. The second gift was the emergence > of another meeting method Whole Person Process Facilitation (WPPF), > designed to be used in between the OST meetings to examine what had come > out of the OST meeting and what would move forward into action..and how. By > alternating OST and WPPF for our monthly meetings, more actionable items > moved forward than would have moved forward with OST alone. And the > participants, with the addition of the givens, and the bi-monthly OST/WPPF > meetings were well satisfied that we had a new way of working...during > meetings and then into the daily life of the organization. > > My favorite examples of facilitating OST meetings is difficult to narrow > down. One that stands out as dear to my heart is for Saving Newborn Lives, > a global project of Save the Children USA. Representatives from eighteen > countries participated in the OST that evolved into the strategic plan and > was a significant part of their organizational transformation from a > research program to a service delivery program.Another one that stands out > is an OST for the exploration of issues and opportunities for housing hard > to house marginalized people. In our Regional government at the time, the > idea of one-third of the spots designated for the homeless themselves was a > big challenge resulting in skepticism about it all working, one-third of > the spots were for government, and one-third of the spots were for > non-profit organizations. The people were in genuine contact with one > another, and a lot got accomplished, much to the surprise of many of the > participants. I heard just last week that one of the task forces developed > from that OST is still active and has been making a big difference for > almost thirty years in getting marginalized people housed. A testament to > sustainability of results from a single OST meeting. > > If you know me, you know that I was attracted to the genuine contact that > is experienced in every OST meeting...genuine contact with self, with > other, with the collective, and with Creator/Spirit/Creation/Conscious > Energy. I developed the Genuine Contact Program and way of working, with > Working With Open Space Technology as one of the essential modules of this > program > > I appreciate the journey, the blessings inherent in the journey, the > miracles I have witnessed with OST, and its role in my life, > > in genuine contact, > Birgitt > [image: Picture] > > > *Birgitt Williams* > *Senior consultant-author-mentor to leaders and consultants * > *Specialist in organizational and systemic transformation, leadership > development, and the power of nourishing a culture of leadership.* > www.dalarinternational.com > > > >> Learn More & Register > <http://www.dalarinternational.com/upcoming-workshops/> for any of our > upcoming workshops here. > > > PO Box 19373, Raleigh, NC, USA 27613 > Phone: 01-919-522-7750 > Like us on Facebook > <https://dalarinternational.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35ed818c946a88ba7344da05f&id=6677c35b38&e=e7zyhHfiqG> > > Connect on LinkedIn > <https://dalarinternational.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35ed818c946a88ba7344da05f&id=c26173f86b&e=e7zyhHfiqG> > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > Past archives can be viewed here: > http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
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