Hi Justin,
Congratulations to a productive meeting! Part of why people reacted in this
way, is, I believe, the confusion between the traditional meeting leadership
which is mainly about control and the facilitation type of leadership which
is about letting go of control and giving the participants both freedom and
responsibility. This has been called Freedom shock on this list. I believe
that your group is confused about your role. This could be an excellent
opportunity to have a meeting about leadership, structure and participation
and how different approaches impact the results of the meeting and the
energy of the participants. This is seldom discussed in work groups, since
the topics, "what", are soooo important, that one never takes the time to
talk about the "how"; procedures, tools and agreements about behaviour in
the group. In my toolbox för better meetings I have a meeting analysis that
you are welcome to use, as a basis for such dialogues. I will work on it and
send it next week.
Best wishes from a rainy Sweden.
(we always talk about the weather in this country)
Agneta Falk
Skaparlust, Joy of creating
+46 176 525 90, www.skaparlust.nu
----- Original Message -----
From: "Justin T. Sampson" <jus...@krasama.com>
To: <osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu>
Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2006 9:05 AM
Subject: My first time
Howdy,
So I held my first Open Space today, as I mentioned earlier. It
was the regular monthly meeting of the Libertarian Party of San
Francisco, which I serve as Chair. It felt great! There was lots
of energy all the way through, people seemed engaged more than
usual, and some really important things were discussed that had
only been grumbled about before. Folks jumped right up when I
invited them to offer topics in the opening. The physical space
was really too cramped, but the group managed to split and
recombine and morph and move around the room over the course of
the meeting. I sensed a much greater commitment to action
following the meeting than this group usually has. And the energy
just kept going -- we usually meet formally 3-5pm and have a
social hour 5-6pm that actually fizzles out by 5:30, but this time
when I left at 6pm almost all of the 15+ attendees were still
there talking. In almost every respect that I care about as a
facilitator, this meeting was a great success...
EXCEPT -- no one liked the process! There were no kind words, and
a few nasty ones -- "we need more structure and leadership", "the
format was horrible", "this was a bad idea."
What's going on?
Cheers,
Justin
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