Hello dear colleagues - I have just returned from giving an Open Space methodology workshop for students and staff of the School of International and Public Affairs and the Conflict Resolution Working Group at Columbia University in New York - folks who do international facilitation work in high conflict zones.
As usual, I learn so very much from participants in these workshops - even by the very questions they raised as their OS topics. The Open Space held within the workshop was a on an issue with which these folks always wrestle as they offer facilitation for/in communities around the world which are in high conflict: How Do I Impact the Communities I Work With? A sampling of topics: - What is my responsibility for something that I start that could be potentially dangerous for the people I am working with? - How can / should I understand what came before me? - My family-to-be and what that means for my work with communities dealing with conflict - How to address privilege, power, information and money differentials between me and local partners? - Why do I want to work with "exotic" communities and not the one closest to me? - When did I do a good job? -- Measuring success - How does "my" "world view" impact the communities I am working with? - What do we do when it feels like there is "no exit"? - When not to do anything - i.e., not to intervene? One story: One of the participants facilitated his first Open Space several weeks before this workshop. He had never experienced OST but had heard about it and with consultation from fellow staffers who had used it in other countries he decided it would be the most effective method to use for his work this time in Northern Iraq. So he brought a copy of Harrison's "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide" and read it on the plane bringing him to that country. His boss and mentor said he coached this gentleman by calling him to say he would do marvelously and simply to "Trust the process" and "Don't get in the way" (don't feel you have to intervene or use another process with it). This fine gentleman of faith and skill and humility reported at our workshop that the Open Space worked marvelously. As we all knew it would. Yet another example of the elegance and ease (to learn) and universality of OST's design, and how anyone with a good heart and mind (and a bit of reading and careful thought and intention and faith and trust and support and skill and courage and love) can do it. Take care, Lisa ________________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant, Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e 2325 Oregon Berkeley, California 94705-1106 USA +01 510 548-8449 [email protected] * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
