Alan, Thank you for writing this up and providing us with good detail and the suggestion to think of using "to converse". You have given me more to ponder and explore. My intention with this is to look for a way that assists a large group of people identify the theme and givens for the Open Space Technology meeting. To date, I have always had these preliminary meetings with "the sponsor" and "the sponsor" has been identified as the CEO, management team, or a team assigned to "plan the meeting". However, if "the sponsor" is really the whole group that is to be involved in the OST event, it would be important to include them all in the selection of the theme and givens. Because I am attached to getting the outcome of having the theme and givens, it is not appropriate to hold this pre-meeting in OST, the way I see it. So...I am looking for something else and will pursue exploration of the World Cafe processes.
And Ingrid, thank you also for your response. And alerting us all to a key question that is provocative. Blessings, Birgitt -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]On Behalf Of Alan Stewart Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2000 5:44 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Open Space a la carte (long) Hello to Birgitt, Ingrid and All Your request for clarification and elaboration of my interest in World Cafe processes is just what I need to put these on 'paper.' For I have long had the thought to do this, since the time of Birgitt and I conversed about these matters while on a walk on which she had her first experiencing of kangaroos and of an echidna (spiny anteater) in the wild during her first visit to Australia, last year. I did a fair amount of composing of what to put out when seeing people's experiencing at the Berlin gathering, among which were expressions of disquiet at having 'Dialogue' imposed on small group gatherings. Then a gift arrived in the form of an opportunity to facilitate a different kind of meeting process (Passion Cafe) in the boardroom of one of the world's best known consulting companies, Ernst and Young, in Sydney; what I referred to as 'the big end of town.' This was for a KMLF (Knowledge Management Leaders Forum). Entitled 'Is Conversing Working?' this Cafe was a remarkably successful gathering in that people commented: 'I am so hungry for this kind of communication.' 'At these forums we usually sit in rows looking at a speaker. This is the first time that we turned around to look at each other.' 'This is an idea whose time has come.' Following this there was another extraordinary happening, in the form of driving with a close friend (Lloyd Fell, who writes songs) from Sydney to a conference held near to Melbourne called 'Spirituality, Leadership and Management' (www.slam.net.au). There I facilitated a 'Passion Cafe' with the theme 'Time to Converse: it's time to talk about, create and sustain a culture of conversing in workplaces'. Participants noted that their experiencing of the process was highly congruent with the theme and pervading spirit of the conference. Lloyd and I then came on to Adelaide along the coast (Great Ocean Road), arriving here late last week. Last Friday we gave a joint offering on 'No singing or cafe tables allowed in this boardroom' in which we used the Cafe format to introduce ideas - in a light touch way - about stages of human knowing that contribute to 'wholeness of being.' Participants reportedly liked this very much. And so I have been 'in communicado' to the outside world for the past couple of weeks and yet in very close communication with Lloyd during our wonderful travels. I will foreshadow that his work will come to your attention in the not too distant future and that it could resonate deeply in you. To say more here could be a distraction; nonetheless you at least have an inkling that something profound is in the wind. Some idea of what this could be can be found be found at www.autopoiesis.net.au. Birgitt's request has a number of questions imbedded in it. Perhaps a good way of commenting on my use of Cafe processes in relation to OST is to address these questions in turn. > I wonder if you could please elaborate a little on the difference >between how you perceive conversational processes in relation to what is >known as "Dialogue" Process. I have come to appreciate that there is value in using the verb 'converse' rather than conversation. For those interested references on this are available. For practical purposes I sometimes describe OST and World Cafe as 'conversational processes.' Perhaps what is salient here is that, when I facilitate either of those this is what I say, _in addition to_ the principles of OST: . We are here to treat each other well . 'We're in this together.' . This gathering will only happen once; never again will this group of people be together to experience the learning that could only happen with those who are here. I feel that these are important to set the context in which people converse, talk openly and freely with each other. This is what a participant commented last year when I facilitated a 3 day residential for graduate students in Social Ecology: "The 'keeper' for me was the wonderful notion that every time we talk openly with another human being, a third -joint-level of consciousness is created, from the best of both of us. When we argue or debate, we actually seek to block the other's contribution and limit potential solutions or suggestions, limiting world consciousness." And so I sense that _conversing_ is what happens at gatherings underpinned by the principles of OST. This is not Dialogue, as I understand the term, which is a formal process which requires certain conditions in which to operate and specific instructions. Conversing 'just happens' when the conditions are right. And when it does people: . collaborate in an open, friendly format . build ideas together, with enthusiasm . 'talk up' issues, rather than try to 'score points' or to persuade . harness the collective intelligence of the group . arrive at surprising solutions to complex questions . notice and honor the emotional underpinnings of other's and of own responses . recognise that right and wrong, winning and losing are irrelevant . welcome diversity of opinion as a wellspring of creativity . sustain openness to creativity . appreciate the value of alliances based on interdependency . enlarge their vision . recognise and acknowledge 'blind spots' in their own perspectives, without losing face. >....[I] would very much like you to elaborate on the difference of what happens in the world cafe > to what happens in an OST meeting. Among the differences I note are: PHYSICAL ARRANGEMENTS . people sit at small tables, maximum of 6. At least to begin with. As the meeting proceeds participants set their own arrangements! . participants are in the same room continuously - apart from when they use the L2F to wander where they please. . what emerges from the conversing is recorded on paper table cloths. These recordings can be transcribed or photographed later. . decor and music are used to create the ambience of a Cafe. It is amazing how a few drapes, candles, vases of flowers can transform a room. On my recent travels I used Jennifer Lopez' "Lets get loud" to set toes tapping at the start of the Cafe. Nancy Margulies notes that 'You can also end by dancing.' FACILITATION The main point is that the facilitator has no role in providing direction to the content of the conversing. The extent to which the facilitator 'intervenes' in asking people to move depends ing on the purpose of the exercise. When it is 'the real thing' ie for real business purposes facilitation is very much like 'true blue' ie pure 'holding the space' OST practice, although there can be benefit in suggesting that people move around. When it is for 'demonstration purposes ie to introduce people to the process then the facilitator does invite people to move to other tables every now and then. CHOICE OF TOPICS TO ADDRESS I have used OST to 'bring forward' topics that have been 'fleshed out' in subsequent Cafe gatherings. Other members of this listserve have done the opposite. OST can be used to address very complex and conflicted issues and that this takes time ie 2-3 days. As I have used Cafe processes these have focused on quite specific questions and have been conducted over periods ranging from 1 to 4 hours. An important point to note, which the founders of Cafe processes (Juanita Brown, David Isaacs and Nancy Margulies) emphasise, is that Cafe is used primarily to go deeper into questions. It is Nancy who coined the term 'Open Space a la carte', in my understanding. > One of my current explorations follows from the premise that it is the >Sponsor who opens the space and the facilitator who then can proceed with >facilitating the Open Space Technology meeting. I am convinced of the >importance that the Sponsor should have the opportunity prior to the Open >Space Technology meeting to make "informed consent" about saying "yes" to >having an Open Space Technology meeting in the organization. I will speculate here, without having had direct experience of this belum (lovely Indonesian word meaning 'Not yet'), that a Cafe process could be a useful way to introduce a sponsor to the conversing that happens in an OST gathering. And it could be used pragmatically, as Ingrid suggests, to clarify and formulate the theme for the Open Space. This is not a comprehensive analysis of correspondence and differences between Cafe and OST processes. It is an expression of some of my lived experiencing that the two can, in particular contexts, complement each other nicely. In the near future these ideas will be located on the World Cafe website www.theworldcafe.com. I share these ideas in a spirit of 'here is a contribution that members of the list may find of value.' Whether you do is not my business. For this is what Meg Wheatley (whose name pops up periodically on this list) pointed out to me through her writings: There is only the fight to recover what has been lost And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss. For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business. TS Eliot East Coker V My 'trying' may provoke new questions about the conduct of our wonderful practice - which is about recovering what has been lost! Some of you may have a different 'take' on these matters, perhaps specifically on what you understand by 'Dialogue', and would wish to contribute your perspective to this conversation. Please do. Whatever, please accept whatever you notice as significant here as having come via a channel from the land downunder, whose residents are reputed to stand on their heads all day. (I do a lot, but that's a family secret!). Good to converse, with love Alan Alan Stewart Multimind Solutions Adelaide