Hi Chris. I'm with you on this one -- Sometimes OST ("Transformation" -- transformative inquiry) Sometimes Not OST ("Translation" -- translative positioning) In my work with large-system change and cultural transformation -- research, training, and experience has led me to the following gentle pattern: * From the total set of Stakeholders in the system -- Identify the "Opinion Leaders and Social Connectors" * Discern from among them who the most willing and compelling "Inviters" were * Establish a Cross-Functional (X-F) Team to develop the "Invitation" and
to serve as the collective sponsor of "Event" * Use minimal OS ("Law of Two Feet") to conduct XF-Team meetings * Determine preferred "Event" format(s) ----- + I tend to default to OST if I can get a 1:8 ratio of OS-trained community members to explicitly hold time/space during the event. My experiments indicated that POP Seattle worked because it was convened within the Spirited Work Community -- an OS-trained collective + If 1:8 ratio of OS-trained community members are not available, then I use other meeting formats as seem appropriate -- but always modified with: -- The practice of Collective "Attunement" from "Silence" -- A collective "Opening" -- A core practice of minimal OS ("Law of Two Feet") -- A collective "Closing" * Invite "ONLY" Opinion Leaders and Social Connectors to initial gathering(s) * At "Event": -- Take time to have XF-Team representative(s) clearly frame intentions (specifically focused on highest collective aspirations) -- Describe core practice of minimal OS ("Law of Two Feet") -- Invite "Opinion Leaders and Social Connectors" into Follow-on planning * Analyze & Publish Results: X-F Team would generate a "Findings" Report (proceedings and/or article) including recommendations * Plan & Initiate Follow-on Events: X-F Team would possibly reconfigure from broader participant base and identify next steps and processes In the somewhat contentious domains of military, homeland security, and healthcare -- this gentle pattern has continued to work for me as an effective practice of peace in the transformation of despair into hope and positive generative action. It is all about the transformation of consciousness. For myself, I use a (probably unpopular) metaphor of a nuclear reactor. A "Convening" (Fusion and/or Fission) occurs within a containment vessel. Highly-charged or frissionable elements <"participants"> :-) can be brought into the containment vessel for transformation and action. By proximity and pressure, high-energy interactions and fields emerge. "Control Rods" -- OS-trained community members who explicitly hold time/space -- structure the distribution of energy and stabilize the energy field by absorbing and slowly re-releasing energy spikes ---- spikes which would otherwise consume the participants, destroy the integrity ("safety") of the containment vessel, and collapse the field --- a.k.a., a "runaway reaction" or "meltdown". When the integrity ("safety") of the container has been compromised, and the field has collapsed -- then I deem the "Convening" as having failed to meet its objectives -- the Practice of Peace in Transforming Despair into Hope and Action. (But I also deem it to be a "Great Learning") IN my experience, a 1:8 ratio of "control rods" to "participants" seems optimal. Well that is my two hay-pennies worth . . . Please keep me briefed on your experiments and experiences around this. Mark R. Jones Chief Executive Officer The Sunyata Group ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PO Box 58788 Renton, Washington USA 98058-1788 Phone: 425-413-6000 e-Mail: <mailto:suny...@att.net> suny...@att.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _____ _____ -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Chris Corrigan Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 8:17 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Conflict in community Hi Folks: An inquiry for you. I've had a couple of conversations this week with people involved with local school boards in the United States. The common themes in these conversations include high degrees of local conflict, positional politics, an extreme lack of resources over which no one locally has any control and labour relations that are best described as toxic. IN a conversation today, one man said that he wanted to try Open Space simply as a way to have all the parts of the system understand each other. I suggested that this might not bring the peace he was looking for, as people who would come to that kind of meeting hoping to convince others of their righteousness would feel at the end of the day that they were either winners or losers. I thought that result wouldn't necessarily be transformational. When I asked him if instead we couldn't issue an invitation to invite people essentially to answer the question "how can we BE together differently in this system" he balked a little at the notion of a smaller group of "like minded" individuals. Of course I don;t see this as starkly black and white, but nevertheless, he thought an "airing of the issues and a shared understanding" were most important. So my question goes to people who have worked in this situation, with groups that are highly wedded to positions. What are the kinds of invitations that allow for "airing," generated shared understanding, and perhaps lead to transformative relationships? By the way, I told him I would do this for less than 1.5 days. Thoughts and reflections welcome. Chris -- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com Open Space Resources: <http://tinyurl.com/r94tj> http://tinyurl.com/r94tj * * ========================================================== 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 * * ========================================================== 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