Dear Peggy,
I have never seen anybody in these parts do what Jon does.
That might have different reasons such as the many training events and
local OSonOS people have participated in...
What is done here a lot and I always do it, is to have a detailed
schedule posted on a large flipchart complete with a time arrow (a
little red cardboard arrow with the word "now" written on it). When
introducing the schedule to the group I also point out the function of
the arrow...me or another team member and often participants themselves
move the arrow as the event progresses. My line is: In case you lose
track of time or wonder what is next just walk up to the schedule and
have a look at the arrow.
Of course, sometimes people come up to me and ask about beginning times,
my response is to just point to the schedule...I would hate to add a
town crier to my repertoire seems it would be one more thing to do and
one chance for selforganisation and selfmanagement taken away.
Here is a few links to show examples of schedules with the time arrow
http://www.boscop.org/page/show/102
http://www.boscop.org/page/show/99
http://www.boscop.org/page/show/100
http://www.boscop.org/page/show/101
Have a great day in Seattle!
Greetings from Berlin
mmp
Peggy Holman wrote:
Has anyone noticed more milling about before people move into
sessions over the last few years? I'd been noticing enough of a
trend this way that I always intend to explicitly tell people that
there won't be anyone telling them when to move, that it is up to
them to follow their own rhythms and interests. I haven't quite
internalized this yet, so I usually forget. Anyway, I think I may
have figured out what is going on.
I just did an OS for a friend for a group of about 50. He uses OS a
lot but wanted to be able to really participate in this one. He
told me that he was a little surprised when the first round of
breakout sessions was starting that I didn't tell people it was time
to get started. He came to me when the first round after lunch were
scheduled to start and asked me wasn't I going to ring a bell and let
people know? I basically told him that I never did that. The
participants were adults and could figure it out for themselves. He
was floored and a little upset. He said he always lets people know.
And then it dawned on me: there are more and more people who have
experienced OS. Perhaps there are many practitioners doing what Jon
does - telling people when it is time to start the next session. I
realized that since most of these folks came at Jon's invitation,
they were probably enculturated to responding to a bell.
So I took what seemed a middle ground to me and rang a bell, saying,
"It's 1:30 and all's well." I figured a town crier was a minimalist
thing to do -- providing information without attachment to how people
used it.
I then spoke more with Jon because I wanted to understand his
perspective. He said that to him, what is posted, like the session
start times, are part of the commons and when he is holding the
space, that is part of his contract with the group, to give them the
information. He doesn't care what they do once they hear it. So, it
strikes me that Town Crier is a good description of what he does.
Given the trend I mentioned, I suspect Jon isn't the only one doing
something like this. I'd love to hear other thoughts on providing
information that marks the passage of time.
from sunny (for a change) Seattle, Peggy
________________________________ Peggy Holman The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place Bellevue, WA 98006 (425) 746-6274
www.opencirclecompany.com
For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook
"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get
burnt, is to become the fire". -- Drew Dellinger
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