This is great.
Harrison, I do hope anyone feels invited and safe enough to open as much
space as they need at that moment. Whether County wants to go down that
road is the question I’ll need answered. There is much the recovery
effort needs to be mindful of, especially with families and communities
still struggling with loss, and I would hope this would be an
opportunity to aid social and emotional recovery as much as the public
recovery efforts. Part of how open, for me, also includes the inevitable
discussion with how we distribute the initial invitation: publish in the
daily mass media, or direct invites to the 100s in the database, or more
narrow? I’m not sure where they are leaning on this.
I’m glad Birgitt brought up about the money. I was wondering this too,
and how the dynamic changes once money is in the equation. Yours is
really interesting how it turned out! (And, another story I’ll keep in
mind when talking with the County!!) We are thinking of announcing a
grant program through a 3^rd party for collaborative action projects,
and wondered if that would complicate things more. While we are a ways
from designing details, my thinking right now is an Issues and
Opportunities morning circle, then an afternoon Actions circle (1 or 2
time slots) for personal initiatives that might dovetail to
collaborative actions which submit later on to the 3^rd party. Or, do we
take a lighter touch with announcing grant opportunities and then a full
day Issues and Opportunities circle?
Thanks again! ~Eric
*From:*OSList [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf
Of *Birgitt Williams via OSList
*Sent:* Thursday, June 13, 2019 10:58 AM
*To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Cc:* Birgitt Williams
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] Government community engagement
I like what Harrison says and the conversations happen...either where
they don't make a substantial difference (out in the back rooms and
parking lots or on fb) or they do make a difference (in an OST meeting)
where they are visible and can be engaged in.
The situation even within an OST takes a different tone when money gets
involved. When people come from a prosperity frame of mind, they tend to
believe that there are enough resources including the coming money, to
do what is needed. When people come from a scarcity frame of mind, they
start getting into positionality about where the money is going to go.
One example that I was involved in was when a national church made the
decision to allow ordination of gay/lesbian pastors. Many congregations
left, taking their money with them in disagreement with the decision.
Others chose to express their upset by withholding money from social
justice efforts...and this church was dedicated to social justice work
within the country and abroad. For three years, there was a hold on
distribution of the remaining monies/income, and when a new idea came
forward the answer to spending the money was always a firm 'no'. The
entire situation was in bunker like mentality of scarcity.
Some in leadership asked me if I could do something to help this
situation along. I proposed an OST meeting and we used 'givens' that
included 'any topic that anyone wanted to move forward that did not
require money from the national church could go forward without further
approval' and 'any topic requiring money would go forward for a vote to
determine if it could go forward within a very limited budget that was
made available...something like $40,000'. We had a great OST meeting and
it was the first breathing space that the leadership of social justice
within that church had in some years. I could feel the breathing
starting in the room. I had organized the posting of reports on two
different newswalls. One newswall was for reports that did not require
extra money, the other newswall was for reports that did require extra
money. If memory serves me right, 78 topics were posted on the wall of
'not needing extra money' because the people in the discussion knew how
to resource that topic. Only 6 topics (approx) were on the wall of
topics requiring extra money. No vote was needed because the $40,000
could fund all of them.
You can imagine the chagrin in that community of people. Holding their
breath for years, bunker mentaility, shell shock, lack of action....only
to discover that they could do much more than they had let themselves
believe.
Only sufficient open space combined with passionate people, could have
achieved what transpired and followed.
Birgitt
*Birgitt Williams*
*Supporting Next Level Leadership "Leading So People Will Lead"*
Author, Senior Consultant, President Dalar International Consultancy,
Inc <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
Founder Genuine Contact Program
<http://www.dalarinternational.com/genuine-contact>
Co-owner Genuine Contact Group, LLC
<https://genuinecontact.net/about/co-owners/>
Founder Extraordinary Leadership Network
<http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/>
*Learn with us for your growth and development for the new leadership
paradigm *
Genuine Contact Summer Academy
<https://www.dalarinternational.com/summer-academy-2019/> theme is
Genuine Contact: a holistic approach to change June 22-28, 2019
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada--early bird registration price still
in effect. Approximately 30 participants from many countries taking a
deep dive into working with change, learning more about thriving in
today's performance environment of constant change.
*Trail-Blazing Membership to the International Community of Practice
Available Now <https://genuinecontact.net/membership/>--*the
international community of practice working with the Genuine Contact
program since 2001 is now evolving itself as a membership organization.
Trail Blazing members have the opportunity from now through August 2019
to help develop the membership model. I hope that you will become a
Trail-Blazing Member, adding your support to the growth of Genuine
Contact in the world...and there are membership benefits that are sure
to make this worth your commitment.
PO Box 19373, Raleigh, NC, USA 27613
Phone: 01-919-522-7750
On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 4:17 PM Harrison Owen via OSList
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
wrote:
Eric… There is a marvelous chimera about… that somebody (anybody)
can decide how much “space” to be opened. It is a simple fact of the
matter that if “the issues” are in the hearts and minds of the
people, they will be “there.” No matter what the organizers think,
wish, hope. The People rule. And those issues WILL be discussed –
perhaps as “Elephants in the room” – but they will be there. Believe
it! There is a choice, however.
Will all this be a “Back channel discussion” with all the
narrowness, distortions and meanness that naturally accrues? OR …
will the people be invited to deal honestly, fully, and (perhaps)
painfully with the real issues for which they have a passion and
concern? Worst case scenario is that the “worst” happens. People
talk Honestly! Truth. It will not fit nicely in a parliamentary
resolution – but it will surely be the place where any formal
resolution MUST start.
Curmudgeonly Opinion from the Great State of Maine.
Harrison
*From:*OSList [mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] *On Behalf Of *Eric
M. Kapono via OSList
*Sent:* Thursday, June 13, 2019 12:18 AM
*To:* 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
*Cc:* Eric M. Kapono
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] Government community engagement
Aloha all,
Thank you Rob, Peggy and Birgitt for sharing your stories and
perspectives. They give me great examples for my conversations with
the County. Rob and Peggy’s examples, while very different contexts,
are helpful when considering government community engagement at a
large scale. And Birgitt, we are soon to discuss how much space the
County is able and willing to open via the invitation, e.g.,
recovery of the region is very much an island-wide issue. As we get
into details, I may be in touch directly.
Mahalo nui! ~Eric
*From:*OSList [mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] *On Behalf Of
*Peggy Holman via OSList
*Sent:* Friday, June 07, 2019 2:21 PM
*To:* Open Listserv
*Cc:* Peggy Holman
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] Government community engagement
I have a really old story of working with the Washington State Arts
Commission. We ran 20 open space gatherings over 6 weeks on the
“Issues and Opportunities for the Arts in Washington State". We
started with a statewide gathering followed by 18 3-hour Open Spaces
in towns and cities as large as Seattle and as small as Twisp. We
ended with a second statewide Open Space that started with sharing
the reports in multiple forms (paper, flip charts, closing comments
on construction paper chain links (sample in picture below) then
opened the space for action.
The themes that WSAC took from the meetings to guide their work:
*WSAC Strategic Themes*
1.*/Communities/* thrive when the arts are integrated into civic life.
2. */Connections/* enhance our effectiveness when the individuals
and organizations in the arts community work together across
perceived boundaries of geography, esthetics and organizational scope.
3. Arts are integral to the */education/* and life of WA
children and youth so that…
4. /Promoting/ the power of the arts in the lives of individuals
and communities.
It resulted in new funding for the commission, a change from being
distrusted to trusted and many collaborations. I thought I had a
write-up online but I can’t find it. I’ve copied it from a doc below.
Peggy
Washington State Arts Commission’s Strategic Plan:
A Conversation about the Arts
The Governor’s Call for Action
In 1997, recognizing the value of arts to citizens, tourism,
business, education and communities, Governor Gary Locke launched an
initiative to strengthen arts funding in Washington State. He
appointed a Blue Ribbon Arts Task Force to review State support of
the arts and recommend ways “to ensure that our cultural life
remains strong.”
…After a one-year review Governor Locke’s Arts Task Force called for
strengthening WSAC’s role and developing a “thoughtful plan for
increased funding.”
With strong statewide support for those recommendations, the 1999
Legislature approved a $750,000 increase to WSAC’s budget – the
first budget increase the agency had received in a decade. The
funding increase came with the requirement that WSAC submit a
strategic plan to Governor Locke and key State leaders by June
30,2000. This plan is the result of that charge, and the outcome of
a planning process that stretched across the state.
Planning on the Arts: Voices of the People
From the early states of this planning process, WSAC envisioned a
/statewide conversation about the arts/ that would strengthen the
State’s arts resources and expand the impact and effectiveness of
the arts for all residents of the state. Through two statewide
meetings, 18 community meetings, several meetings of the Washington
State Arts Commission, an online forum and a dedicated phone line,
WSAC recorded the views, concerns, ideas and dreams from people
across the State. More than 1000 people have been involved directly
in the development of this plan; their testimony, stories,
deliberation and reflection are the foundation for this strategic plan.
In the statewide and community meetings, the format used was Open
Space Technology, a process to enable large groups of people to
explore complex issues. Participants at each session recorded the
discussion in a summary format that could be understood readily by
someone who wasn’t there. True to the spirit of Open Space
Technology, the discussions were driven by passion for the arts and
responsibility for the issues and opportunities faced individually
and collectively.
Excerpt from “Planning On The Arts: Washington State Arts
Commission’s Strategic Plan”
Reflections on the process
When WSAC first contacted me, their biggest concern with an open,
“conversational” meeting format was that community divisions would
drown out any possibility of a cohesive plan. East vs. west, big
organization vs. small organization, rural vs. urban; participants
would focus on their own agenda and fight over a small financial
pie. In fact, just the opposite happened. People came together and
focused on their common hopes and aspirations for strengthening the
arts throughout the state. The plan became an occasion for an
unprecedented commitment to inclusion of many perspectives. As a
result, when sent out for comment, the plan was enthusiastically
received; everyone found their voice reflected. Ironically, the
fear of conflict was released so completely, that the significance
of its absence was barely noted.
Behind the scenes: Supporting the meetings
__To support the 20+ meetings held by WSAC, a call was issued for
skilled Open Space practitioners in Washington State. More than 20
people agreed to participate. They were convened for a
train-the-trainer session that introduced them to WSAC, the process,
engaged them in finalizing the meeting design, and provided them the
logistical information they needed.
Meetings ranged in size from 5 to 100. Depending on the anticipated
size, some practitioners worked in pairs, others alone. They took
their work seriously – every commitment to participate was honored
by these practitioners. In addition, at the train-the-trainer, we
agreed to share experiences via e-mail as the events took place.
The unanticipated result was a rich conversation among practitioners
that enabled each meeting to build on the learnings from the ones
that came before.
________________________________
Peggy Holman
Co-founder
Journalism That Matters
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA 98006
206-948-0432
www.journalismthatmatters.org <http://www.journalismthatmatters.org>
www.peggyholman.com <http://www.peggyholman.com>
Twitter: @peggyholman
JTM Twitter: @JTMStream
Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into
Opportunity <http://www.engagingemergence.com>
On Jun 5, 2019, at 8:53 PM, R Chaffe via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
You might try “Irrigation Futures” 2005 with QJ Wang the
leader. The work involved extensive use of open space over 8
months with focus groups meeting every second week.
The scenarios developed have significantly changes the way the
community conducts its conversations by being very inclusive and
ensuring that there are more than one path to the future, then
as the drivers change the community has already developed
tactics to ensure sustainability.
After the 2009 fires in Victoria where over 150 people were
killed and too many whole communities and towns wiped out.
Where OS principles were followed the recovery has been much
more sustainable and positive. Note it is not an example of OS
technology as being the only way or that the technology was used
in its pure form far from it. What we see now is over reaction
by the public sector to establish infrastructure that is not
used and has become a massive burden to the Local Government.
This was done using controlling techniques.
After the fires in south west Victoria a couple of years ago it
was found that the most successful process to gather and share
data and information including gaining consensus was what they
called a sausage sizzle. It is OS principles in action. Create
a space that attracts people, leave it open so that any issue
can be discussed, make sure the law of mobility is applied,
create space for the bees and butterflies, when it starts is
when it starts when it is over it is over and what is done is
all that can be done. In this case the organisers ensured that
at each sausage sizzle there were a number of people who could
offer “expert advice” or support ie professional who were
prepared to listen and from time to time interject topics for
conversation. From each event notes were taken to form the
framework of community action. I don’t think this has been
written up but I have proposed the idea to Rotary International
to be its basis for response to natural and other disasters.
The sausage sizzle site were close to the regular gathering
point, in this case the local livestock market place. A normal
gathering site. This is critical as it reflects a tendency to
hold onto the past that has been destroyed by the “fire” in this
case.
In your situation I suggest it is perfect and would form the
basis of training people in effective gatherings by teaching the
OS principles, which really are about listening to what is is
in front of head of those who are part of the conversation.
Please get back to me if you think I can help. Note the
Irrigation Futures Project was regarded as Exemplary by external
evaluators principally because of the staff including me as the
facilitator. It was also said it would be very difficult to
reproduce due to the need of a highly skilled team, the time
allowed two years and the budget $4.5 million. We were dealing
with and industry that was valued at over 2 billion dollars
annually with 85% of the products produced exported from
Australia. That is. VERY important part of the economy where
the cost represented less than 1% of the annual worth. Public
bodies do not like spending money on facilitation even with this
exemplary example.
I also used open space to debrief Incident Management teams to
being the process of healing and minimise post traumatic
incident syndrome. It still is one of the best ever and it was
almost our open space. The cost of fighting the fires and
primary recovery cost in 2003 exceeded $100 million and impacted
on 1/6th of the state of Victoria. In this case only one life
was lost and virtually no significant infrastructure was lost in
Victoria. We can conclude it was a significant event that was
well managed with minimal collateral damage!
Regards
Rob
On 6 Jun 2019, at 12:54 pm, Eric M. Kapono via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Aloha all,
I’m looking for references to a similar situation (more
below) where OS was the contributing factor of success, in
particular to communicate to government and community
leaders here why OS will get the results they need.
The context is the community engagement piece of recovery
efforts from the 2018 volcano eruption in Hawaii. I’m
consulting with the County Recovery Manager, who has been
convening other types of gatherings much of this year. Now
that disaster relief funding is closer to being on the
ground, the County wants to convene a larger, multi-sector
event, to encourage development of community-based recovery
actions. The County is also planning to have a Disaster
Recovery Fund setup, which would field a competitive process
for proposed projects, some of which may have convened in
the larger event and decided there to collaborate on a proposal.
As with other parts of the recovery effort, this event would
be under public scrutiny. It may be the largest event
they’ve held, and County leadership is worried of
perceptions and actual results coming from the event. In
other words, there may be tendencies to have more control
over the design/outcome of the day, in which case OS
wouldn’t be the chosen organizing framework, but something
else they’re more at ease with or accustomed to. I do
believe, however, those community-based recovery actions are
what they want most.
Do you have links or references to similar public sector
gatherings using OS, under scrutiny, and producing
anticipated results satisfactory to government and
community, that I might share with County leadership?
Mahalo!
~Eric
Eric M. Kapono, CPF
/Advancement Services/
/for Native Nonprofits/
Hilo, Hawaii
808.969.3991
_www.advancementservices.org
<http://www.advancementservices.org/>_
IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator
<https://www.iaf-world.org/site/facilitators>
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe send an email
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
Past archives can be viewed
here:http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe send an email
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
Past archives can be viewed
here:http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
Past archives can be viewed here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
Past archives can be viewed here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
