Hi, brother Chris -
Chris wrote: <So my question goes to people who have worked in this situation, with groups that are highly wedded to positions. What are the kinds of invitations that allow for "airing," generated shared understanding, and perhaps lead to transformative relationships? > One of the best themes I've seen a core planning group come up with in an incredibly high-conflict situation - where people couldn't even breathe they were in a place of such pain, fear and anger - was: "Getting Unstuck" In the opening I presented it as not a time for solutions, but an airing. Getting more air around it all. So that's different than everybody understanding each other exactly, and certainly different than people changing each other. But it's certainly an opportunity for naming things, for deep listening, for witnessing. Of course a single event doesn't shift behavior, so much work was done by that group post-Open Space event - they learned communication tools, adjusted the way they held meetings, kept meeting and so on. Lisa ___________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant, Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
