You've seen Tom Atlee's description of the recent "Evolutionary Salon".
Here are my reflections, mostly on the partnership between TWC and OS.
We began our first evening in a circle with a check in, people speaking to
what attracted them to the Evolutionary Salon. We described the process
that we'd be using for the conference as a living experiment in being an
evolutionary social system. This let us use our real time experience as a
mirror for our learning.
The next morning, Juanita Brown took us into a World Cafe. I got to
participate. We focused on a question about our burning questions. I
think I had the honor of experiencing TWC at its very best. Juanita is a
master of her craft. When reflections were harvested at the end of the
session, people said they were touched by the experience, discovering the
feeling of connection to each other, the synergy among their burning
questions. They expressed excitement at the sense of intimacy and kinship
they felt.
I have to admit that as a participant, I felt as I did the last time I
experienced TWC: constrained by the expectation of staying at the table.
It was quite a contrast for me to hear the excitement of others in the
room!
We began the Open Space in the afternoon. Of course, people jumped in
with their sessions. They seemed to be doing just fine. Come the closing
circle, several people expressed distress at their experience. One went
so far as to ask if we could go back to the comfort and intimacy of a
cafe-like format. I thought to myself, "freedom shock" is alive and well.
The mix of people at the conference included scientists and people of
spirit. It seems there was something of a clash of cultures going on in
many of the sessions. I just listened -- no defending, no fixing.
As is my practice in multiple day events (learned from Spirited Work), the
convening group met to reflect on how things were going after the evening
circle. The meeting was open to any who wished to join us. A few people
did. One wondered if we needed to do something to "push the group" in the
direction we wished them to go (as if we knew what direction that was!).
We discussed the fact that the discomfort people experienced wasn't
necessarily a bad thing, that it provided an opportunity for something new
to emerge. I encouraged my nervous sponsors to trust that things were
going just fine.
That evening I found myself in a butterfly conversation with a couple of
people distressed by the "yang" energy they ran into, feeling unsafe to
express their "yin" selves. We talked at length about what it means to
take responsibility for what you love. They left the conversation
thinking about how to come fully present tomorrow in all their "yin"
glory.
The next morning, someone announced 3 new "yin" meeting spaces. There was
much laughter as people bantered about yin-ness and yang-ness and its
intersection. Turns out there had been LOTS of butterfly conversations
and those who had felt distressed, found their way, dissipating the angst
before it became a real issue. In fact, from that point forward, the OS
just flowed.
A reflection on how TWC affected the dynamic.
It was clear that people had a felt sense of community very quickly
through TWC. I think that the move into OS created that condition that
Harrison calls "freedom shock". It's possible that the contrast
heightened the shock. That said, I believe the sense of connection
created during TWC enabled those who were distressed to seek out the
friends they had made rather than completely check out (of course, being
in a remote location would have made it difficult to leave!). I wonder if
that is a benefit of a cafe prior to OS --
to create relationships that might support people to stay engaged if they
have a tendency towards freedom shock?
THE TWC MEETS OS EXPERIMENT
The OS continued as usual over the next couple days. During our
preparation for the conference, the planning team (Tom Atlee, Michael Dowd
and myself) discussed the possibility of convening evening sessions on
"what are we learning?" On the third evening, Tom and I decided that it
would be useful to do so and that we'd do it using "TWC meets the law of
two feet".
Our session question: what patterns do you see emerging? About 12 people
came. We started in groups of 4 with an agreement that we'd come together
as a whole to see what we'd uncovered in about an hour. In the meantime,
people were invited to stay or move as they wished. As context, I said
that we knew from the cafe experience that patterns become visible quickly
when people move around periodically, so moving is useful. At Juanita's
suggestion, we had blank cards in the clusters so that groups could send
an idea to another group if they wanted. They could also send an
emissary.
That was it. Basically, it was OS with groups of four discussing the
session topic. What happened was a kick. Two groups were quite intent in
their conversations, clearly not moving, just going deeper and deeper.
The third group eventually dissipated, a couple people going to sleep, the
others joining the two hot groups. And then others started arriving.
They just opted for one or the other of the groups. The conversations
were animated and intense. At one point, the group I was in sent a card
with an idea to the other group. In all, I think about 20 people were
there by the end of the evening.
After about an hour, we came together as one. First one group described
what they'd learned, then the other group did the same. The second group
mentioned that they used the idea they'd received on the card. The
remains of the original third group added their thoughts into the mix.
Llyn Peabody, new to graphic recording, but clearly in her element, took
notes, drawing an incredible visual map of the weave of our stories. The
result was electrifying and became the basis for some breakthrough ideas
the last day!
One side note -- someone said during the session that they often looked
for what was missing to understand a situation. I pointed out that the
yin/yang laughter in the morning signaled something rather remarkable that
was missing from our living experiment of an evolving social system:
angst. Rather than fragmenting into conflict, people had transcended it.
That drew a raised eyebrow or two as people digested how the space had
made room for conflict to be embraced with grace.
A reflection on the TWC meets OS experiment
Next time I'm a participant in an OS and have a large group, I'd likely
split up again in this way. It was a great way to reflect on our question
when the group was large.
THOUGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
Juanita and I talked the next morning about our impressions of the
intersection of TWC and OS. We discussed several strengths of TWC --
creating a sense of community and uncovering patterns quickly.
Given my own biases, I wouldn't use TWC as an opener unless the client had
some specific situation that moved things that way.
I can imagine experimenting with doing an evening reflection with people
beginning in small groups. I can see this as a natural flow of the energy
as people wander in, talking together before coming into a single circle.
I think this could be a low key transition that actually makes it easier
to convene the evening circle. By following the energy of people arriving
for the close, inviting them into reflection as they arrive rather than
waiting for everyone before beginning, I think something simple and useful
could occur.
Juanita suggested explicitly encouraging people post their sessions in the
form of questions. It made me smile when Harrison recently posted:
I think of every Open Space gathering as a (potentially) question rich
environment. That is why I always suggest to people that they phrase the
theme as a question, as opposed to a statement.
Questions are certainly a place of coming together.
So, that's about all of my musings on this subject.
yours, on a warm evening in Seattle,
Peggy
________________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 746-6274
<http://www.opencirclecompany.com>www.opencirclecompany.com
