I have been in 2 OS events where we made requests for certain groups of people to hold back.
One was a 2.5 day OS meeting with people living with AIDS and some professionals working with them. On the first day, the professionals were not allowed to post any topics, but were to listen only. On the second day, they could post topics, ask for feedback on their projects etc. We decided on that to empower the usually expert-depending people living with AIDS, and it worked out wonderfully. The first day was much more interesting than the second day. However, for the professionals, it was a great experience to be so close to so many "clients", to feel them, to understand what were their concerns as a population, so "listening only" was not bad at all for them. The other one was a 1 day OS meeting with cancer patients and their families. The (few) medical doctors and professionals present from the cancer league were supposed to only listen. Some did, and others just couldn't let go of their role. However, for the professionals, it was an overwhelming experience to learn how well informed the "clients" were. Before the event, the cancer league was certain never to have a patient in any of its organs. After the event, they started looking for a patient who would come to join their board. Love, Catherine Catherine Pfaehler lic.oec.HSG Open Space Begleitung Burckhardtstrasse 2 CH - 3008 Bern Telefon +41-(0)31 - 536 05 31 Mobile +41-(0)76 - 488 15 46 [email protected] www.open-space-begleitung.ch -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Raffi Aftandelian [mailto:[email protected]] Gesendet: Montag, 29. November 2010 17:50 Betreff: making requests of leaders? Queridos amigos, Christine, your question about the challenging OST event you are working on encouraged me to post this question today. I've been meaning to put this out for weeks. I'm wondering how much it is a practice for all you to talk to or communicate with leaders and managers who will be attending an OST event and encourage them to *hold back* a little in order to equalize the power dynamics a little in the OST event. Specifically by *hold back* I mean: - asking them to wait a little before posting topics - for them not to feel like they need to post certain topics - not to try to steer the conversation, or try to resolve conflicts and ask them instead to participate as just one more person in the group. This question was inspired by coming across the document "Ground rules for Managers" in Lisa Heft's Open Space Idea Book. In that document, Lisa you go through a number of things that you communicate to leaders and managers ahead of an OST event, which include the requests above. When I came across this document in the book a few years back, I was surprised as I hadn't really heard of such a practice before. And finally for the first time I used it recently. I run a bimonthly Nonviolent Communication community practice event in OST (with one small- or perhaps for some, not so small- change-- we start with a short centering meditation) And it's hard to gauge right now if making those requests have helped in any way. The one person who I spoke to the longest about it seemed to ignore the requests in the document (I adapted the document for my situation; and the document explains that this is really something meant to be communicated orally. Most people I told them briefly about this over the phone or in person and then sent a full document over email). I'm really excited about making those requests in future OST events where it seems appropriate. And Lisa especially, I'm wondering that since you self-published the OS Idea Book, if your thinking around making those requests has changed. Thanks all! abrazos, Raffi * * ========================================================== [email protected] ----------------------------- To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
