Greetings Michael and Lisa What a gnarly couple of words 'trust' and 'know'. I know when I am teaching my mantra is 'trust the process' but I don't know that I know much at all really. But I know I do have to trust that it will all work out in the end or I will just become a bundle of 'worry'.I also like that smidgeon of doubt that keeps the nerve jangling a bit that is a part of 'trust' but to my mind not a part of 'know'. Thinking of you all at WOSonOS. Regards Anne in Napier, New Zealand. The sun has just come out after a few hours of beautiful desperately needed autumn rain.
> Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 00:04:35 +0200 > From: mmpa...@boscop.org > Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Balloons as an Ice Breaker > To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > > Dear Lisa, > I wonder about the "trust". If I am good and wise and reflected I might > be able to trust myself. > What kind of relationship do I establish between me and something or > between me and someone when I "trust" something or someone? > What about "know", in the sense of "I know that selforganisation exists" > or "I know that I and others do come alive, act and are productive under > the condition of expanded time and space for selforganisation"? > In the end, I might arrive at the same juncture regardless of whether I > "trust" or I "know": open space itself is the most luscious icebreaker > on earth (having seen this in the 170 events I facilitated for teachers, > social workers, mediators, grade school students, doctors, politicians, > government workers, architects, city planners, highschoolstudents, > chemical plant workers, IT specialists, alcoholics, communications > experts, ministers, volunteers, university professors, sanitation > workers...I KNOW it). > Seems to me that "knowing" is much less work for me than "trusting". > Isn't knowing also more robust and reliabel than trusting? > > Good thing we can munch on this some more at the WOSonOS beginning tomorrow. > You wont believe this but there were three more folks that signed in > today, 2 from Berlin and one from London. > Sleep tight > mmp > > > Lisa Heft schrieb: > > Hi, Lucas - if you trust the process, and you trust the people, no need > > to add any additional icebreakers - it is using precious minutes of > > their time. Many of us have worked with government folks. My > > recommendation is use every moment / don't waste any time / get to the > > Open Space. Don't do something directive, or creative, or 'helpy', or > > helping them feel something, or weaving them together or anything. Jump > > into Open Space. Trust it. Trust them. > > This ain't like other designed facilitated meetings. Open Space > > delivers. Delivers creativity, discovery, interchange, emergent thinking. > > As long as you are not morphing it or squishing it into too short a time > > or rushing them or doing OS when it's really a situation best done with > > a different (dialogue) tool. > > > > My two Euros, anyway (I'm WOSonOS-ing in Berlin at the moment) > > > > Lisa > > PS: Brightly colored principles and laws signs jazz the place up. People > > jazz the place up. Animated conversations jazz the place up.... > > > >> > >> On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Lucas Cioffi > >> <lu...@athenabridge.org> wrote: > >> Howdy All, > >> > >> Bottom line up front: How do you break the ice with participants > >> unfamiliar to OS? > >> > >> Here's one way I found helpful: > >> I recently facilitated an open space workshop for sixty participants > >> from roughly two dozen federal agencies. The topic was how to make > >> government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative as part > >> of the Administration's Open Government Directive. > >> I'm a novice at OS, but I've learned a bunch from this list and I'm > >> happy to offer an idea which may be helpful to others. OS can be > >> intimidating, especially for government employees, so I opened with a > >> collaborative exercise using balloons. The inspiration came from a > >> landscape architect's presentation where he accented a landscape with > >> huge balloon sculptures to give it a playful feel for adults. > >> > >> Rules of the Game: > >> Everyone gets 2 colored balloons in a sealed envelope. > >> There is a point system posted on the wall (Red = 5, Orange = 4, > >> Yellow = 3, Green = 2, Blue = 1). > >> Collaboration through trading is heavily incentivized-- if someone > >> ends up with a pair of balloons which are the same color, then their > >> score is multiplied times three. This encourages people to mingle and > >> create win-win scenarios. There are no restrictions on how balloons > >> can be traded (for example trading 1 for 1, 2 for 1, or even 0 for 1). > >> Participants are given three minutes to inflate and trade their > >> balloons. The goal is to have the most points. (An alternate goal > >> could be to maximize the number of points for the entire group rather > >> than individuals.) > >> Reasons why we opened with a game: > >> Make it clear that this was a place where it's OK to be creative, > >> unlike their standard government workplace > >> Prime the audience for the subject matter of collaboration (learn by > >> doing) > >> Have some fun > >> Build a bit of community among the participants who were mostly > >> strangers (incentivize mingling). > >> Create a shared experience. > >> Create a little chaos. > >> Jazz up the place visually with a few balloons (it needed some color) > >> Reasons why we opened with this game for this workshop > >> Thomas Jefferson had a saying that “He who receives ideas from me, > >> receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights > >> his taper at mine receives light without darkening me.” After the > >> exercise I asked the participants what the difference was between > >> trading a physical object (like a balloon) and sharing an idea; this > >> exercise was lively and helped them understand that their purpose > >> during the workshop was to share knowledge and benefit from others > >> doing the same. > >> > >> Each month a different agency hosts this workshop for all the other > >> agencies, and to keep the workshops fresh, our next opener will > >> consist of small collaborative teams competing to build the tallest > >> marshmallow-spaghetti tower (here's a fascinating TED video which > >> describes some stats behind this game). > >> > >> Any thoughts? Do you open with games or collaborative exercises that > >> you would recommend? As always, thanks for the discussion! > >> Lucas > >> > >> > > > > > > * > > * > > ========================================================== > > 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 > > > > -- > Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg > Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany > ++49-30-772 8000 > mmpa...@boscop.org > www.boscop.org > > > Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 393 resident Open > Space Workers in 68 countries working in a total of 141 countries worldwide > Have a look: > www.openspaceworldmap.org > > * > * > ========================================================== > 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 _________________________________________________________________ Feeling the financial pinch? 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