Douglas, even when the feeling is very good afterward I am always a bit exhausted. Chris' remark brought me to the idea, that the secret seems to be to have "ho's naps" right in place and not afterwards ;-)
In fact I observed this same phenomenon not only in OST events, but always when participating in processes of highly efficient self-organization (= OS type processes) or accelerated relevant learning. It seems to be related to the climbing/jumping around between different levels of perception, abstraction, all that complex mental networking. I also observed that this "complexity-integration-exhaustion" goes slowly down when I do similar types of mental climbing&jumping in similar systemic environments again and again, but goes up drastically again, whenever there are completely new levels/aspects/(sub-)cultures to be integrated. Do others have similar or different experiences? Bernd On Sun, 9 Mar 2003 12:59:47 -0800, Chris Corrigan wrote: The first time I ever facilitated an OST event, I slept for 18 hours. It ain't easy. Chris > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Douglas > D. Germann, Sr. > Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 1:36 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: About the 3-week Senior OST > > To my good friends-- > > For all of you who agonized with me over the > hand-wringing and the design of this event, here is the > report I am sending to those who participated. > > In brief: as usual, it worked. > > Also, are you this tired after each OST? I felt like I > had been run through an old-time wringer-washer each > night of the event! > > :-Doug. Germann > > PS: Pictures and the reports are up on my website in the > discussion forums at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com > > ===clip > > What happened at The Waterford? > The results: A community advocacy group was started, and > an organizational meeting was set for April 23, 2003, > from 3:00 to 5:00 pm at The Waterford; plans were made > for people to visit with seniors in one facility > locally, including having a young man come in to play > the piano regularly. > > The event: > > Seniors, doctors, nurses, nursing home administrators, > senior living complex executives, discharge planners, > bank trust officers, insurance executives, hospital and > home care administrators, home care givers, lawyers, > senior service agency executives, CPAs, pharmacists, > care givers, and others who have a concern for seniors > were invited to The Waterford at Edison Lakes on > February 19, February 26, and March 5, 2003. > > 36 people came the first day, 18 the second, and 27 the > third, for these community Open Space forums. > > 10 break-out sessions were held the first day, 6 the > second. On the third day, 5 topics were posted, then > several combined and 2 groups met. > > What happened: > > Some controversy was raised at the first two sessions > and on the website for the meeting > ( http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com ), yet the group > became closer and established new bonds and caring > networks across professional boundaries. > > One man, new on the last day said that he was impressed > that this was taking place here and that he had not > heard of similar work in the community from which he had > come. Another participant said she had been all around > the country and had not seen anything similar anywhere > else. > > Many people remarked that we need to continue to meet so > see the perspective of all the others, so we are not > working with blinders. > > The sense of the final closing time was that people had > gotten a deeper sense of the needs and resources in our > community, that they had made new friends, and that they > wanted to continue to work together on these things for > the benefit of seniors. > > Facilitator notes: > > There were some remarkable things to me, as the > facilitator. > > For one, it was surprising that we picked up four new > people at the last session, and although they had not > experienced the prior sessions, they seemed to have had > as profound experiences as those who attended all three > sessions; they felt right at home to add their > perspectives to the discussions. > > For another, the group was anxious to get something > concrete to come out of the sessions. This is probably > not remarkable given that the Open Space format is > designed to encourage free thinking and positive action. > What other community meeting have you been to where > there was this quality of results? > > As usual, the meeting format (Open Space) worked, and > worked well, although people worried it could not work. > > Another observation was that the re-opening of the space > after the reports were read resulted in fewer posts than > in prior sessions, but the topics were very specific and > attracted much enthusiasm. It seems to me this was > because the general concerns were amply discussed in the > first two sessions. With the time in between to consider > the issues and opportunities, the members had a good > sense of what direction they wanted to go. > > A comment was made afterwards that the meeting was > running out of things to discuss. But the fact that a > group was formed to continue the work suggests > otherwise. The group might have been running out of > steam to continue discussing the issues posted; but new > themes for the new group will be all that is needed to > continue the enthusiasm. > > Should this new group revert to more "traditional" > meeting formats? > > There is danger in doing that: after having tasted the > freedom to act on their passions and responsibilities, > if their choices are restricted the members might not > long sustain their enthusiasm. > > I suggest the group continue the Open Space concepts > (the 4 principles and the Law of Two Feet) and > consciously choose to be open to whatever anyone brings > up--open both in attitude, and in meeting format. For > instance, open each meeting with an opportunity to post > topics for the agenda. > > The meeting format is simple, and with a little coaching > members could rotate facilitating it. > > ===end > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
