We lived the Open Space magic! Exhausted, exhilarated, in awe and filled with gratitude…Wow! Wow! Wow! Our budding company, which is almost two years young, just completed its third Partner Summit. As a community of *wholistic *partners joined by our associate marketing company colleagues and a handful of close business friends, we decided to give it our all , invest and immerse ourselves in a full-blown Open Space.
It was a time of transformation, of discovery, of intense reflection and emotions, of intimate sharing of dreams, fears and hopes all under the big tent of Open Space. Diane Gibeault, who had trained about a third of us in Ottawa (English and French sessions), guided us through our two and a half days of emergence and convergence which culminated in a flurry of action-packed initiatives that we each feel so passionate about and so deeply committed to. There are no words to describe the magic of what happened there. There were many funny moments. Like the night before we started when we discovered there was no electricity in our chosen Open Space venue. We knew the place was in construction and had seen the cement floors, exposed ceilings, bare white walls now adorned with the 4 Principles, Law of 2 feet, Market place, etc. Then there was the weather: dark and gloomy every day except for the final morning which meant that the natural light we had planned on from all those windows still kept us in the dark. We connected cables from the corridor to manage our newsroom equipment. It was all part of the chaos and confusion, of the birthing and letting go. In a frenzy of activity, we helped in the prep creating the posters, the forms, designing the invitations, creating a banner with the theme of "Inventing our future". We wanted to learn and experience EVERYTHING as participants so that one day, we would truly know what our clients would live and feel when they tasted their first Open Space. I got the OS bug at an Art of Hosting event. Trusted my gut and attended the Open Space training in Ottawa. Was then totally hooked after helping a friend facilitate her first Open Space. From there, it was Wave Rider at Sleeping Lady. Now next week, I’m taking the big leap by hosting my first Open Space at the Ions Noetic Science conference in Tucson on Harvest Day. I will be surrounded by many friends of Open Space and feel confident (though I will have butterflies in my stomach) that self organizing will work there too. After our own Open Space summit, I now know without a doubt that Open Space works. How could it not? It’s all about self organizing and shared leadership, a living system and the laws of nature. Yes Harrison, you have been singing the tune for a long time. I get it! We get it! And for us, what we want to do now is be Wave Riders by living Open Space from the inside out in our community of practice. So Diane Gibeault, Barbara Hebert, Sharon Joy Kleitsch, and my Sleeping Lady friends…, Larry, Anne, Roosevelt, Sherry, Anh, Colette, Elaine, Dan, Jun, Robert, Dale, Tenneson, Brian, Teresa, Ashely, Joan, Elena and so many others, thank you for inspiring me in Leavenworth. What a precious gift! If any of you are in Tucson for the IONS conference next week, come join us on Sunday afternoon June 21st . The theme of this Open Space Harvest is *Global Shift: Next steps* and if you come "Be ready to be surprised!" Suzanne 941-359-8877 203-722-2009 (c) s.dai...@nufocusgroup.com www.nufocusgroup.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
