Wow!
Thank you for sharing!!!
Anna Caroline
Anna Caroline Türk
+ 49 (0) 176 248 72254
Skype: AnnaCarolineTuerk
www.TruthCircles.com
> On 18. May 2018, at 09:54, Jeff Aitken via OSList
> <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> Thank you. Very rich. Lots to appreciate here.
>
> One initial question stands out: how do billabongs act in open space?
>
> (We know about the butterflies and bees.) With thanks
>
> Jeff
> San Francisco
>
>
>> On Fri, May 18, 2018, 12:38 AM Brendan McKeague via OSList
>> <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi folks
>>
>> Here is a story (Irish style) of a recent Open Space meeting 'in disguise'.
>> I hope it adds something to our ongoing learning and collective wisdom.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Brendan
>>
>>
>> Open Space as Yarning Space - an Australian story
>>
>> Context
>> A group of five different ‘language/family groups’ wishing to pursue their
>> intention of working together to submit a claim for native title over a
>> certain area of land that their families had continuous connection with for
>> many years. There was a history of disagreement, division and destructive
>> conflict between some of the group during the past 10 years, illustrated by
>> separate, competing claims over parts of the area in question. They had
>> arrived at a place where most of the elders had decided it was time to work
>> together otherwise their chances of achieving a successful claim in the
>> national Native Title Court would be unlikely. In order to prepare
>> themselves for the next steps in submitting a formal legal claim over the
>> region, they suggested it would be appropriate to spend a couple of days
>> together so that ‘they could sit and yarn' about the issues that divided
>> them in the past, about how they might reconcile with each other and how
>> they might work together in the future. The sponsor, a representative of
>> the regional Land Council that would be responsible for resourcing the
>> meeting, wondered if an Open Space style meeting would be appropriate.
>>
>>
>> Naming the Process
>> Another part of the context was that the sponsoring body did not have a
>> favourable disposition towards Open Space. I’m not sure of the details,
>> although it sounded like someone in senior management had previously
>> experienced some sort of Open Space meeting and wasn’t impressed. My contact
>> within the system asked that we not call it an Open Space meeting. I was
>> happy to oblige and we came up with the loosely described notion of creating
>> Yarning Circles ('yarning circle' is frequently used in indigenous
>> vocabulary in Australia to describe a group, often referred to as 'a mob’,
>> sitting in a circle discussing/having a yarn about whatever mattered to
>> them. So the underlying concept was similar, without the structure of an OST
>> meeting).
>>
>> From an introductory meeting with the family leaders, we formulated an
>> invitation that asked the questions: ‘how will we work together AND respect
>> our individual differences and identities?’
>>
>> In describing the process, I simply renamed the main circle as the group
>> Yarning Circle, and the break-out spaces as Yarning Places…everything else
>> pretty much the usual set-up. I shortened the principles on the posters to
>> read: Right People; Right Time; Right Place; Right Yarning…the Law of Two
>> Feet; Butterflies, Bees and Billabongs; Be Prepared to Be Surprised…and
>> linked my introduction to each of these.
>>
>>
>> The Event
>> There was a lot of anticipation about what might happen. The complexity of
>> longstanding inter-familial, inter-generational disputes is well known in
>> the world of native title in Australia. Security guards were hired for the
>> meeting so that only those who were entitled to be there (another
>> interpretation of 'the right people') were admitted. This was to do with the
>> requirement that only those who are directly descended from the original
>> ‘traditional owners’ of the particular areas are entitled to be part of the
>> discussions and eventual decision-making process. There are strict protocols
>> around anthropologist 'connection research’ to ensure that this is the case
>> and these reports often generate additional conflicts among family groups.
>>
>> On the first morning of the two-day event, while people were beginning to
>> gather in the meeting space, there was a very animated and highly charged
>> interaction between two rather large men (I subsequently discovered these
>> were two brothers who had not spoken directly to each other for nearly ten
>> years) and this generated a burst of high tension energy. A security guard
>> intervened, in a very professional, low-key way, creating a pause between
>> the men and providing an opportunity for some of their mutual relatives
>> (mostly the older women) to exert a calming influence on them…fortunately,
>> they seemed to be well practiced at such interventions!
>>
>> I was certainly wide awake now! Too soon for a nap…and I wondered, rather
>> nervously, how the rest of the meeting might go
>>
>> The men calmed, the senior elder (one of the women) gave a ‘welcome to
>> country’ asking that everyone in the room (about 60 participants) respect
>> the ancestors, and each other, during this very important time together. I
>> was then invited into the circle…I did my usual intro, with slight
>> variations of language, verbal and body, to adapt to my environment. A the
>> end of my introduction, as I usually do, I wished them well for the work of
>> the day, handed the space over to them and exited the circle….
>>
>> As I was heading towards the edge of the meeting area, I noticed a couple of
>> people dive straight in the centre for their paper and pen…and to my
>> surprise, the first topic announced was from one of the family members of
>> the feuding brothers who invited the whole family to meet in the first
>> session to sort out the issues that had been dividing them for the past
>> decade. And it was an amazing ‘yarning place’…for much of an hour, there
>> were loud voices, quiet voices, shouting, tears, hugs, reconciliation,
>> laughter, resolve and agreement to disagree on what had caused their
>> disturbances and, beyond that, agreement to work together in the future so
>> that they could contribute constructively to the collective claim for Native
>> Title….amazing to witness.
>>
>> For the remainder of the first day, people wandered, sat, stood and lounged
>> around the room, energy and passion flitting and flowing in their own time,
>> with differing degrees of high intensity, laughter and lightness.
>>
>> And for good measure, we also had a ‘space invasion’ in the afternoon, when
>> another group that had been seeking to prevent this combined claim going
>> ahead, and had convened a separate meeting in another part of the conference
>> venue, entered the space uninvited. Some of the leaders in the room stood up
>> and started towards the exit saying they would not stay while this new group
>> was there. In the pause of surprise and wonder, I could only think of asking
>> a question: ‘I don’t really know what’s happening here, would someone please
>> explain?’ That led to the incoming group, some of whom were related to the
>> meeting group, requesting to read out a short prepared statement to the
>> meeting group and then to leave. The meeting group agreed to listen. The
>> statement was delivered, there was silence and no return comments, the
>> incoming group left the room and the existing group spent the rest of the
>> afternoon discussing how they would respond to the information in the
>> statement…a new agenda emerged for Day Two.
>>
>> The second day of the meeting saw the group working together in the Yarning
>> Circle, as an extension of ‘morning news’, for the first part of the
>> morning, then breaking out into yarning places in response to new issues
>> that were emerging. After a stretched-out lunch, the group converged to feed
>> back the Action Plans before a very emotional, enthusiastic and energised
>> closing circle (that included a short impromptu dance of celebration…)
>>
>>
>> The Outcome
>> On the next day, following the two day Yarning Circle, there was a formal
>> meeting with their legal representatives to ratify agreements made and
>> provide instructions to be taken forward into the due process for native
>> title claimants. Needless to say, this meeting was nothing like an Open
>> Space meeting. However, the group on the previous afternoon had decided how
>> they wanted the room to be set up for the formal meeting and, guess what,
>> they chose to have five different circles for each of the five family groups
>> and one centre circle for the elders from each group to enter when it came
>> to delivering decisions to the legal representatives…creating a very
>> different environment from the usual 'top table and rows'. That’s another
>> story!
>>
>>
>> Concluding Reflections
>> A few thoughts: the presenting context seemed suitable for Open Space; the
>> meeting methodology was renamed, the underlying structure was retained; the
>> conflictual energy that appeared prior to the meeting provided a catalyst
>> for release of built-up tension and the courage to address what had caused
>> it by those who lived within it; the stunning significance of self
>> organisation at work, developing resilience to cope with a potential
>> distracting/de-railing invasion; the use of the opportunity (the space
>> invasion) to generate new agenda, to strategise and commit for the follow-up
>> formal legal meeting (a complex adaptive system at work?); the presenting
>> signs of relationship building, collective commitment and deeper levels of
>> trust.
>>
>>
>> Sponsor feedback
>>
>> 1) Why did you chose to use Open Space?
>> We held a two day OS community consultation followed by a native title
>> authorisation meeting.
>> For the community consultation we needed an approach that allowed for a
>> general theme, linked to progressing a native title claim, that allowed for
>> the native title group to work out for themselves the best way to work
>> together on a native title claim and beyond. OS provided the environment
>> for this to occur.
>>
>> 2) What did you notice about the process, the engagement and the
>> outcomes in this particular context?
>> The OS approach to the meeting allowed for the attendees to take ownership
>> of the direction of the two day meeting and, as a result, the
>> outcomes/undertakings that were generated. In turn, the outcomes provided a
>> roadmap for how the different traditional factions within the larger native
>> title group could effectively cooperate while acknowledging and respecting
>> differences. The outcomes will feed into the rule book and policy manual
>> for the corporation earmarked to be the PBC.
>> We used some OS concepts to good effect in the authorisation meeting.
>>
>> 3) What did you learn from this experience?
>> That our clients can truly benefit from an OS meeting and that certain
>> elements of OS can be introduced even into meetings with an agenda
>> prescribed by legislation.
>> I am convinced that an OS meeting should be convened early in the process of
>> working with a native title group, particularly if there are internal
>> divisions.
>> If used properly, I consider OS could also be useful in some overlapping
>> claims.
>>
>>
>> Who knows what will happen next…indeed, that's not ours to know in the
>> complex and mysterious world of emergence!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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