I was all prepared for a weekend at home as the whole city was totally closed down to wait out a typhoon - wind, rain, flooding - when I got a call from an OS colleague from Singapore who was in Taiwan doing a regional program for 35 associates from 10 Asian countries from his international law firm. The person doing Saturday's training was not able to get here from the US, so what to do?
With a few hours of planning it was decided to go with Open Space. The Regional Executive came on board, the theme was created, formal invitations written and delivered late at night, and the facility was set up. Just before we began the following morning, the person acting as sponsor was called away, so John filled in for him as well as being the facilitator. And it worked surprisingly well, though that certainly isn't what I would ordinarily choose. It was a marvelous learning experience for all of us and a bit awesome in the midst of the storm - which moved on in time for folks to catch planes home. I was reminded how easy it is to get in a rut about the way we do things. So was grateful for the opportunity of being really surprised - working with someone I didn't know, a group of people I'd not had the opportunity of meeting yet from an unfamiliar profession, picking up insights from the recent Singapore OS training - a quite unknown situation all around. Looking forward to more in Australia in a few months. Gail -- Gail West, ICA 3F, No. 12, Lane 5, Tien Mou West Road Taipei 111 Taiwan Phone: (8862) 2871-3150, Fax: (8862) 2871-2870 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
