Dear Peggy, Chris introduced my small piece when he asked, "Maybe I am begging the question about how much you need to know about a client before you work with them?"
For me the Open Space answer was..."not much!" Last year I opened space four times for 120 directors and staff members of the leading NGOs in Bosnia. The theme for each 2 1/2 day OST was "Sustaining an NGO" That's about all I knew going into it; NGOs and Bosnia. On the 2nd night of the 1st OST the group simultaneously organized a party. They found the band, singer, arranged the deal with hotel management, ordered the food, went to town and purchased award gifts, etc, etc. They hugged, danced and sang until 3 am. After the closing circle the USAID official that was present came to me and said, "this was an amazing event! They were all behaving like members of the same family." I said, "well that's the result of most OSTs I've done; no big deal!" He said, "It is a big deal. Don't you realize the group is 1/3 Muslim, 1/3 Croat and 1/3 Serb? Five years ago they were raping and killing each other!" I said, "Oh! I thought they were all Bosnians!" PS- The same thing happened at the following three OSTs that were also equally represented ethnically! It works because the right people come! Elwin Guild Baltimore __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed
