Hi all. Yesterday I facilitated the storytelling event I told you about last week. Thanks for your answers on and off-list. Well, I sure learned a lot, but didn't feel to happy about the evening. It was slow and stiff. I had some feedback today from a couple of ladies who felt really bad during and after. There was some talk about the evening at closing today and most people seemed to think that it was too heavy and didn't have a good taste. My fortune they were very happy about the OST process today!! Or else I would probably been in the famous donkey-business by now. I have thought all of it over and I can see some probable causes. I would appreciate some feedback from you. We started off at 6 pm. 85 participants showed up. The headmaster greeted everybody shortly. I presented myself and went pretty straight on asking them to pick a stone that looked interesting to them. Since we had heeps of snow I had to buy stones. Found very beutiful ones, white, blue, green, black in all shapes. Everybody picked a stone, and the atmosphere seemed promising. Then I asked them to right down their story, most seemed to enjoy it and wrote quite a bit - so far so good. I asked them to spend 10 minutes and share their story with a collegue and.. then mistake nbr I told them they could take some food when they like too (since I did not mention that before). Everybody was starving and rushed to get food... Probably not too many had their priorities on sharing the story. After 10 minutes the bells called everybody back. I asked those who cared to, to share the story from their stone. Silence...I think a woman started by saying something about her stone - similarities to the school. Next came the headmaster bragging around for quite a while (I had asked him to stay cool). The process was VERY slow ALL THROUGH and there was a lot of waiting between each person who stepped forward. Quite a few of those who talked were new at school. On Harissons advice I had set a finish time (my luck). I set the end to 8 pm. There were some moving stories, all were glad ones. I remember particularily one woman who thanked her collegues for the immense support while she was sick (for more than a year). "Thanks to your support I stand here today!" I kept out of the way and somehow managed to stay pretty "relaxed" (I don't know how). There was so much resistance. I know there are things under the surface. Twice women came to me today telling me how bad they felt during the evening. One of them said that nobody dares to say anything bad about the managers because of the upcoming wage negotiations. One told me that so many old memories came back to her, obviously not nice ones. I had the opportunity to sit down some time with one of them which felt good for both of us, I think. Apart from what is already obvious I can see some more things that were not good. There was not really voluntary attendence. I think because of how I had acted, those who talked stayed in the middle. The room was "cold", the food was not too exciting (a large sandwich with different stuff). During the storytelling everybody sat, most had brought there plate and a drink. Nobody moved to get more to drink or eat. Most were tired after a whole days work.... and so on. At evening news today the discussion came up when one woman said she thought the idea of having a talking stick in the middle was not good - she talked also about the storytelling which she did not like. There was a discussion about why there was such resistance to step into the middle and get the stick (stone). There was a suggestion to send the stone around, which I did. Some commented on the heavy evening. Many said how pleased they were with today. I'm so happy it went fine today, and look forward to tomorrow morning. I'll come back to you with a report then. Any comment, experience, support appreciated! Thomas
Thomas Herrmann Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81 Open Space Consulting Pensévägen 4 434 46 Kungsbacka Email: thomas.herrm...@telia.com Member/director of BNI Palace Chapter (www.bni.nu) Jag kan tillhandahålla professionella affärskontakter: Revisor, Reklam, Tryckeri, Organisationskonsult, Resebyrå, Konferensarrangör, Marknadsföring, Försäkringsbolag, Utbildningsmäklare, Telekommunikation, Profilkläder, Fastighetsmäklare, Advokat, Naprapat, Rekrytering, Florist, Film & Video, Bokföring, Hemservice. * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed