Colleagues: Last weekend I held a two day Open Space meeting and training with 30 First Nations youth from Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Thanks to all those who sent me words of wisdom regarding his endeavour. This posting is long, because several people asked for a detailed account of my experience.
The Open Space was held around the theme of "What are the issues and opportunities for us to be leaders in our communities." There were 34 people in attendance, the majority of who were 15-27 years old and 22 issues came forward. My opening was standard although it followed an ill advised invitation from one of the sponsors to have everyone introduce themselves. This set the meeting back by about 45 minutes, but I wasn't worried as I knew that the group would bring it back on time by the end of the day. The eneregy definitely flagged however, but I noticed that it picked up again once I began walking the circle. I made no special efforts to create an inclusive environment. My opening was no different than if it had been a group of adults. This was the right move as one of the sponsors, who was acting more like a chaperone than a colleague came across as quite patronizing and controlling, and in light of the kind of empowerment that the youth felt in OS, they really lost patience with her. At any rate, 22 good topics came forward including one which was simply a blank piece of paper. The convenor of the group advised me that he knew he wanted something to happen, but he couldn't think of what he wanted to say. So he posted a blank sheet, put a time and place on it and took his seat. I chuckled at this embodiment of the second principle. The item later came to be known as the "Zen group" as people waited to see what would happen there. As it turned out, two people later meeting near the agenda wall were discussing the fact that no one had raised recreation activities as a topic. One of them then looked up at the wall, noticed that there was a blank item and filled it in with her topic. A group of five then convened around it. I was really struck with this opening of space within the open space. It was actually a nice gift that the convenor made, and he didn't even attend the group. Right near the end of the OS as I was preparing for the closing circle, the controlling sponsor, who was clearly uncomfortable with my role in the whole process ran me up and down about one youth who was not happy with the way his group had gone and was very frustrated. She demanded that I speak to him. While I thought about this she came to me again and complained about one young woman who had run out in tears. This was serious trust the process time, and I made the decision that these youth had found their power in the Law of Two Feet and were dealing with their issues. I later found out that they were fine; the young man got over it, and the young woman was dealing with private grief and when she had taken a break and had a good cry she came back to the meeting. It was clear to me that she didn't want to embarrass herself or others by weeping in front of them, so she went for a walk. There is a powerful learning in this about the filters we see the world through. The sponsor saw the youth one way, as misguided people who were incapable of taking care of themselves, and I chose to see it the other way, that these youth had power and that they accessed it to deal with their issues. As the day went along, I noticed that the room felt bigger and the work seemed less productive. i had an uneasy feeling that people were skipping out on the meeting or not reporting on all the groups. To my amazement, as I counted people in the room, it never really dropped below 28 people and of the 22 groups that were convened, 20 posted reports. There was a deepening of quality and initmacy over the day that was very inspiring to see. The next morning was a convergence exercise where people were very uneasy with being conservative. I must admit that this left a bad taste in my mouth about the dot voting aspect of convergence, and my feelings echo others, like Peg, who have been trying to explore other means. At any rate, convergence was mostly effective, although more discussion than action planning took place. I posted a blank sheet for evaluations and other graffitti and below are the comments that people wrote: · I give it the big BOW-WOW · Intense · Very flexible · Allowed for brainstorming · Sessions too long or 3 sessions without a break too much · A bit overwhelming at times because there is so much to cover · Appreciated the open communication and freedom to move. · Open-minded, open-herated and great for the soul · Participation is the key one gets out of it what they put in. Great job Chris! · Encourages one to take to responsibility, commit to our issues by being here to raise them. Focus made on solutions to these issues. I think we might do without talking about the issues. I think we might do without talking about the issues and just focus on the solutions. · Great concept, this open space thing. Really productive. Unfortunately I feel everyone is not participating fully. Participation is the key. Some interesting stuff in there. Someone drew a butterfly on the sheet before going around the room decorating the letters I used to designate meeting places. The training afternoon was amazing, and once we started to uncover stuff about learning and empowerment, people really took to the process. I presented the nuts and bolts, talked about how energy moves around, spent some time on the opening and did some things on preparing as a facilitator. Again, i treated the group as i would any other. These guys took to it like ducks to water, and immediately recogized the indigenous nature of the process. There are at least a half dozen who have told me that they will use the process. As some of you told me I would be, i was very moved by this experience. These youth taught me a great deal and gave me a real gift in allowing me to work with them. They know all about energy and comitment and responsibility and so the training was almost self-running. And to see this group of 30 young First Nations leaders emerging was breathtaking. I am very proud of this work and extremely gratified to see it taking in our communities here in the West. The following day, I scrawled the following in my journal: "This training has left me very emotional -- very moved and welling with tears. 30 young people in a circle learning about Open Space, teaching ME about energy. At one point I said "I'll share this with you, but I have to say that I don't know much about how energy works" and Skeena whispers audibly : "Yes you do." Others draw connections to yoga, to their sweat lodge and sundance practices, to postures and power and feeling energy move around the circle. I am just very struck with the beauty and smarts of these folks. It makes me want to weep at the generosity of Creation that would admit this truth into the universe." Thanks for all who helped me to prepare. Again, I give thanks for the wisdom and generosity of spirit on this list. Chris -- CHRIS CORRIGAN 108-1035 Pacific Street Vancouver BC V6E 4G7 Phone: 604.683.3080 Fax: 604.683.3036
