Dear Birgitt Thanks for emphasizing the importance of this work. Good suggestion to start the day before! "Unfortunately" I am opening space about 300 km´s away that day so I can´t make it! What about my other alteratives, to have the storytelling a few days earlier or doing some individual interviews. I would appreciate any experiences, if anyone would like to share. Regards Thomas
> -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > Från: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]För > Birgitt Williams > Skickat: den 5 april 2003 20:00 > Till: [email protected] > Ämne: Re: Storytelling before an 2 day event > > > Hi Thomas, > A big learning that I had years ago was in the Province of > Ontario, Canada > with a two day OST meeting for a large group of social and > health services. > It could have been a constructive, positive turning point to > create a better > future for social and health services at a most critical > time. All the right > people where there to make a difference. Harrison was brought north to > facilitate. Larry Peterson and I assisted. There was no real > pre-work done. > There was a third day for the conference following the OST in > which there > were to be traditional workshops. Harrison, Larry, and I met > with the client > by phone and in person to make a case for the two days being > insufficient > for this OST meeting. Most of the participants were in deep > grief due to > recent government cuts in grants. Many social and health > services had to > close down. Others were forced into mergers. This meeting was > to develop a > plan for the future. There was no format to acknowledge the > grieving nor to > honor the past and present so that people had their best > foundation to start > the development of a plan for the future. > > On day one, almost all discussions were the story telling > sort to discuss > the horrors of what had and was happening. By day two, some of the > discussions started to focus more on the future and on > possibilities for the > future. There was insufficient time, in relation to the > grieving, to develop > action plans and get more concrete about solutions. > > Throughout that sector of the province and beyond, the results of the > meeting as I understand them were: > 1. the reputation of OST was of a meeting format that just > didn't work with > residual anger at the format and the facilitators. Larry and > I spent time > doing damage control, enabling those who were talking to us > to understand > that if we had only had one more day, the results would have > been to have > some solid action plans and that the meeting format was good, > as were the > facilitators > 2. at the time, the three of us had some feelings that the > organizers wanted > the meeting format to go badly---they had vested interests in other > formats---they could have given us the time we needed to do it well > 3.even today, 8 years later, I still run into people who > comment about that > meeting, very unfavorably----who say that we had our one big > chance to bring > about a better future for the social services despite the > circumstances---they saw the potential of the meeting > format---and they say > we blew it > 4. a very few people saw the potential and understood more > time was needed > and were willing to try the meeting format in their own organizations > > > Eventually, with a lot of diligence, perseverence, and well > done OST, the > reputation of OST improved. There is still, however, some residual bad > feelings. And how could we have done a better job? In my > OPINION, we should > not have taken on this job when we believed from the > beginning that the OST > required a minimum of 2 1/2 days to serve this community > well. Since then, I > have been a strong advocate of good planning work, a story > telling evening > the night before any OST event that is about the future so > that the past and > present can be honored, and if there is a lot of grieving due > to recent > circumstances, to insist on a meeting duration of 2 1/2 days OR if the > client only has 2 days, to start at noon on day 1 and end at > noon on day 3. > > I offer this to you to assist you in your decision making. I > hope it helps. > > Blessings, > Birgitt > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf > Of Thomas > Herrmann > Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2003 12:15 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Storytelling before an 2 day event > > > Hi friends in Open Space > I the end of may I will facilitate a 2 day OST conference for > a department > of a public organization (70 employees). Last friday we had a > pre-meeting > with the managers. We set a quite wide theme focusing on the > future of the > organization. The last years they have had cuts in their > grants and it seems > clear it will get even worse. Employees are worried about > this. We had a > look at the griefcycle and it differs in different parts of > the department, > but it seems quite a few of the employees are not really ready to talk > future. > > We will not have the possibility to have a storytelling > evening the night > before so I am thinking of other alternatives, and would appreciate > feedback. > 1. use the first 2 hours before lunch to invite for > storytelling and start > the work in Open Space after lunch. That means one > afternoon/evening + until > lunch the next day for sessions + convergence in the > afternoon (we won´t be > able to go on to late day 2) > 2. Have an evening/afternoon of storytelling the week before. > 3. Collect stories by individual interviews, as Harrison > describes in "the > book". How does that work? How/when did you present the > information to the > participants? > I´d be greatful for any advice! > Regards > Thomas Herrmann Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81 > Open Space Consulting Fax +46 (0)300-713 89 > Pensévägen 4 > 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden > Email: [email protected] > www.openspaceconsulting.com > > ---------------------------------------------------- > Open Space Consulting bistår dig som vill > skapa en välmående och effektiv organisation. > > Det gör vi genom att: > * Erbjuda diagnoser för organisatorisk hälsa och balans. > * Ge stöd i förändrings- och utvecklingsprocesser. > * Handleda kreativa möten och konferenser. > * Utbilda mötes- och processhandledare. > > "Inspirerade medarbetare, det skulle väl smaka? > Tänk - kaffepausens energi ständigt spraka!" > ---------------------------------------------------- > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > --- > Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 > > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf > Of Thomas > Herrmann > Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2003 12:15 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Storytelling before an 2 day event > > > Hi friends in Open Space > I the end of may I will facilitate a 2 day OST conference for > a department > of a public organization (70 employees). Last friday we had a > pre-meeting > with the managers. We set a quite wide theme focusing on the > future of the > organization. The last years they have had cuts in their > grants and it seems > clear it will get even worse. Employees are worried about > this. We had a > look at the griefcycle and it differs in different parts of > the department, > but it seems quite a few of the employees are not really ready to talk > future. > > We will not have the possibility to have a storytelling > evening the night > before so I am thinking of other alternatives, and would appreciate > feedback. > 1. use the first 2 hours before lunch to invite for > storytelling and start > the work in Open Space after lunch. That means one > afternoon/evening + until > lunch the next day for sessions + convergence in the > afternoon (we won´t be > able to go on to late day 2) > 2. Have an evening/afternoon of storytelling the week before. > 3. Collect stories by individual interviews, as Harrison > describes in "the > book". How does that work? How/when did you present the > information to the > participants? > I´d be greatful for any advice! > Regards > Thomas Herrmann Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81 > Open Space Consulting Fax +46 (0)300-713 89 > Pensévägen 4 > 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden > Email: [email protected] > www.openspaceconsulting.com > > ---------------------------------------------------- > Open Space Consulting bistår dig som vill > skapa en välmående och effektiv organisation. > > Det gör vi genom att: > * Erbjuda diagnoser för organisatorisk hälsa och balans. > * Ge stöd i förändrings- och utvecklingsprocesser. > * Handleda kreativa möten och konferenser. > * Utbilda mötes- och processhandledare. > > "Inspirerade medarbetare, det skulle väl smaka? > Tänk - kaffepausens energi ständigt spraka!" > ---------------------------------------------------- > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > --- > Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 > > * > * > ========================================================== > [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
