Stories from Hosting Experiences - The Art of Hosting2024-03-29T10:30:59Zhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/categories/stories-from-hosting/listForCategory?feed=yes&xn_auth=noTwo Loops Activity Notestag:artofhosting.ning.com,2014-04-25:4134568:Topic:925672014-04-25T05:21:27.251ZAmanda Fentonhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/AmandaFenton
<div class="gmail_default">**copied from my email to the email list**</div>
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<div class="gmail_default">Hello friends,</div>
<div class="gmail_default"></div>
<div class="gmail_default">Back in September there was a great conversation on this email list about the Two Loops activity. Many people chimed in with perspectives, tips, questions and more. I recently used the activity with a group as a context setting piece and made some notes (harvesting from…</div>
<div class="gmail_default">**copied from my email to the email list**</div>
<div class="gmail_default"></div>
<div class="gmail_default">Hello friends,</div>
<div class="gmail_default"></div>
<div class="gmail_default">Back in September there was a great conversation on this email list about the Two Loops activity. Many people chimed in with perspectives, tips, questions and more. I recently used the activity with a group as a context setting piece and made some notes (harvesting from everyone's wisdom, and watching Chris' videos and taking copious notes!) and wanted to share them back here in case they are of use to others.</div>
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<div class="gmail_default"><i>Note that I didn't share the whole list of hosting and leadership challenges that Chris had articulated or additional conversations you can invite people into when they are on the map as I had a limited amount of time (40 mins total).</i></div>
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<div class="gmail_default">Here you go...</div>
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<div class="gmail_default"><h1>Exploring How Living Systems Change</h1>
<div><p></p>
<p><a href="http://amandafenton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Two-loops.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Two loops" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/689kNqfFxAn60NxG3DiEkGMP5rbtZK71jEzPiRFNcSYndlWueZIpstXCVR18kOSqIgBuYvRUUTrjlUK082x62CkawWieLT-bBEsORZ71FgonLJcYt4Q=s0-d-e1-ft#http://amandafenton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Two-loops.png" width="900" height="586"/></a></p>
<p>This is a context-setting piece, not a roadmap of ‘change management’. I’ll touch on some of the core skeleton and not all the flesh and bones and as we walk through it think about the systems you are connected to.</p>
<p>Today, we are living with strong remnants of the Newtonian world view – the mechanistic view. Where the prevailing view of change was to separate the system into its parts, analyze them, find the ‘faulty part’ and switch it out for a new better one. Except that rarely resulted in the kind of changed leaders hoped for. Instead, they were confronted by eight new problems caused by their initial solution (and the original problem might be back, only bigger this time). We can never do sufficient planning to avoid these unintended consequences, because we can’t possibly see all the connections that are truly there. When we take a step or make a decision, we are tugging at webs of relationships that are seldom visible but always present.</p>
<p>The irony is that our struggles for how to create change – change in our organizations, communities and personal lives – takes place in a world that changes constantly and is quite adept at change. In the last 100 years we have learned different ways about how the world works, and that living things operate differently than mechanical things. It isn’t that Newton was wrong, but that the story didn’t end there.</p>
<p>A map or model that is helpful in describing a living systems view of change comes from the work of Margaret Wheatley and the Berkana Institute. Margaret suggested our metaphors for organizing and leadership are outdated, and if we treat humans like machines we are in big trouble. She looked to the new science of chaos, quantum physics and living systems, and began applying those metaphors to ways of working in the world.</p>
<p>This map – or model – is called the Two Loops. It tells the story of how systems die and new systems emerge. It happens at every scale – can easily be a map of ideas, a map of life, of a family, of a community, and organization or large systems like the fossil fuel economy. It works on all kinds of levels.</p>
<p>It has two lines – but it isn’t a linear timeline. More like a top map. Here is the story of the two loops….</p>
<p>As systems ascend and become the dominant system, they become more powerful and more entrenched. At the top of their game – life is great! Using fossil fuel economy as an example… oil was discovered, we found we could use it as an energy source, and then over time all of our world economy was structured around fossil fuels as an energy source.</p>
<p>The system begins to teeter… starts to lose its significance and influence over time… it peeters out. But right around when it’s at it’s peak, there are some people that drop out – or walk out – and the new system starts being born. They can see that the system curves down! (Oil is a non-renewable resource!) People drop out and walk out, innovating something new. The look at the way things are – those deeply held beliefs that underpin the current system and see that something else might be possible. This is a radical act – stepping out. Not everyone walks out of the current system, not everyone can. Some are needed to stay behind and <b>maintain </b>as best as they can because the new system isn’t ready yet.</p>
<p>The leadership action here is to <strong>name</strong> what is going on with the walk outs – what they are doing… so they can find each other (then they can Google each other!). What are you working on? Green economy… hey I know someone else who is looking into that! This generates energy. It can be very lonely as an innovator. They might be working on their idea and be unaware that there are others working on the same thing.</p>
<p>The next leadership role in nurturing the emergence of the new system is to <strong>connect</strong>; to network and build social capital. What we have learned from living systems is to create a healthier community, connect it to more of itself. To make a system stronger, we need to create stronger relationships. So once we’ve named the walk-outs, they can find each other (or be connected) and begin to learn from each other in networks.</p>
<p>So the leadership move here is to help the walk-outs, the innovators find each other – help those connections happen. This may mean creating gathering spaces—both real and virtual—so that people can meet, exchange ideas and resources, and develop relationships. These gatherings are a rich source of ideas, inspiration, consolation and confidence. They infuse pathfinders with clarity and motivation to keep experimenting and discovering solutions to their most pressing issues.</p>
<p>Next comes the role of communities of practice, of experiments and rapid learning. Failing forward and upwards as the new system continues to emerge. The leadership role here is to <strong>nourish.</strong> If pathfinders are to persevere and be successful, they need to be nourished with many different kinds of resources<i> –</i>things like<i> </i>time, space, money, expertise, skill building, mentorship. It’s also about weaving loose connections – not spend two years trying to nail down terms of reference. There is a time and place for that kind of structure, and its not here.</p>
<p>To help turn the corner and begin the upward journey as the new system, the leadership role is to illuminate, to make visible and share the stories. Illuminate what is possible, illuminate what you are learning. Tell the story – this is useful! You can come over here… there is a bridge that is created. It is Compelling enough they are willing to jump and go there.</p>
<p>Many times, efforts that are based on new ways of thinking are either ignored, misperceived or even invisible. When they are noticed, they are often labeled as inspiring anomalies that do not cause people to change their basic beliefs, worldviews and practices. It takes time, attention and a consistent focus for people to see them for what they are: examples of what’s possible, of what our new world could be like.</p>
<p>There is also a leadership role here of protecting what is emerging so the current system doesn’t oust it; like antibodies forcing out a perceived threat – an autoimmune reaction. When, how, and to whom to illuminate is a careful dance. Sometimes when illumination might be TOO early and instead what is needed is a cloak of invisibility.</p>
<p>The old is dying, the new is struggling… a leadership move up here is the graceful use of power. Are you hanging on to the old in a way that is completely toxic? Or might you be able to support both the people trying to maintain the current system with duct tape and bandaids long enough until the new system is ready, and be funnelling some resources, connections, support and more to the innovators below?</p>
<p>Naming fear and shadow is also important work here. What are we afraid of? Leaving these unspoken does incredible damage. And we will cart these fears into the new system and build our structures from them.</p>
<p>There is also the important work of hospicing the dying system. And grieving, letting go of the old. It’s a leadership role to host both the hospice and the grieving. The old system dies a dispersive death, and all parts of the system get recycled (we aren’t starting from scratch every time!). This is the compost heap: decomposed, restructured material and energy that is released into the environment for the new system to build from.</p>
<p>This is a powerful skill – not to just walk away, but to harvest what we have learned, relationships, people; what do we want to remember? Everything is used. What is still needed in the new that will serve us well?</p>
<p>As both systems are on the down-ward direction, can host a conversation between those in with power and resources in the old system and those innovating the new – where might resources be freed up? What’s needed?</p>
<p>It’s important to note that we absolutely need people who are working on different parts of the two loops. The work of creating the new is absolutely dependent on someone being willing to hold together the existing. Bridges are built in both directions from the old to the new and from the new back to the old.</p>
<p>When I was preparing this for us today, I thought about another important leadership move – less of a move and more of a capacity: to sit in uncertainty. To be able to sit in the swamp of uncertainty for a LONG time – maybe far longer than you ever imagined. How to stay there, gracefully, on that edge…. Using your personal leadership practices to work with your fears and limiting beliefs around uncertainty, of not knowing, of attaching to outcomes, of not be able to control.</p>
<p>…….</p>
<p><em>So think about your system and come and stand where your work is on these two loops.<br/></em></p>
<p><em>Make a little constellation with some folks around you and talk about what it is like for you on this part of the loop. <b> </b></em></p>
<p><a href="http://amandafenton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/photo-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="photo 2" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/2e1vQ8A4iaagly0PBcJApAOLBqWNTxAaZQscLVDFjJGTwHYq9GRIj768h4-x1ve1DrPnfLYtN-aBoWc3dGQVicfjoqzu9FesSnlpYkkFjF_VIBYBA-jDvvY3GTFs=s0-d-e1-ft#http://amandafenton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/photo-2-1024x768.jpg" width="410" height="307"/></a></p>
<p>……</p>
<p>Some wise words from <a href="http://shapeshiftstrategies.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/innovators-and-pioneers-in-systems-change/" target="_blank">Kathy Jourdain</a> to close: Some of the frustration in being innovators inside of systems is that the systems begin to push back on the work in small and large ways, leading to the exhaustion, frustration and disillusionment. This can start to feel like the old narrative, the old conversation, when we focus so much on the second loop, or the new system. What to do? Remember who you are - pioneers and innovators working under the first loop – in the in-between spaces – championing the new or being championed.</p>
<p>We can begin to focus in on and explore new questions: Where are the edges of <strong>my</strong> work? What is the new territory I could begin to walk when I go home? How can I draw on the resources in the room to expand my thinking, even turn it upside down and on its head?</p>
<p><em>.......</em></p>
<p><em>With thanks to Chris Corrigan for his video teachings (<a href="http://vimeo.com/36162067" target="_blank">part one</a> and <a href="http://vimeo.com/36165153" target="_blank">two</a>) on the Two Loops which helped me create this activity, and to others in the Art of Hosting community that have shared their thoughts on working with the Two Loops. Also, here is the article from Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze <a href="http://berkana.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Emergence.pdf" target="_blank">Using Emergence to take Social Innovations to Scale</a>.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
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</div> Different harvesting techniques?tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-04-29:4134568:Topic:780512013-04-29T06:34:27.998ZPaul Waitehttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/PaulWaite
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I've hosted a number of World Cafes - however none of them have involved more than 40 people. In terms of harvesting so far I've experimented with the following approaches:</p>
<p>1. creating a collective story harvest. the approach I have experienced and subsequently used involves asking someone from a table to share a key insight/idea/theme/insight, and then inviting others to share any of their ideas/insights which connect with this theme. The process continues until the…</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I've hosted a number of World Cafes - however none of them have involved more than 40 people. In terms of harvesting so far I've experimented with the following approaches:</p>
<p>1. creating a collective story harvest. the approach I have experienced and subsequently used involves asking someone from a table to share a key insight/idea/theme/insight, and then inviting others to share any of their ideas/insights which connect with this theme. The process continues until the core essence of the conversations is visually represented on a whiteboard/butchers paper. works really well for a smaller group, but I imagine it may be unworkable for larger groups.</p>
<p>2. inviting participants to write down two insights/ideas/questions on separate index cards. These were collected, transcribed, and then shared with a sub-group of participants to draw out the main themes. The raw data as well as the sub-group's analysis was then shared with all original participants. Unfortunately however, there was no process during the World Cafe itself of collective meaning making.</p>
<p>3. I have been thinking about providing participants with 1-2 large sticky notes to record their key insights/ideas/questions, and then inviting each to successively stick them on a wall and briefly explain them to the wider group. We could then reorder/cluster them as we go to identify emerging themes. </p>
<p>4. I read about Chris Corrigan's use of SMS/text messaging straight into Wordle which he used at a <a href="http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=3629" target="_blank">conference of nearly 1000 delegates</a>. </p>
<p></p>
<p>I'd be really interested to hear about your experience of harvesting. What approaches have you used, and what have you learned? I'm particularly interested in your thoughts on harvesting the conversations of larger groups (e.g say 50+).</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Paul</p> Stories from the University of Minnesotatag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-03-24:4134568:Topic:760262013-03-24T22:45:04.438ZAmanda Fentonhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/AmandaFenton
<p>Cross-posting these two recent stories under this conversation (originals are posted under Harvest Documents):</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topics/world-cafe-in-7-simultaneous-locations" target="_self">World Cafe</a></p>
<p><a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topics/open-space-at-the-university-of-minnesota" target="_self">Open Space</a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Cross-posting these two recent stories under this conversation (originals are posted under Harvest Documents):</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topics/world-cafe-in-7-simultaneous-locations" target="_self">World Cafe</a></p>
<p><a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topics/open-space-at-the-university-of-minnesota" target="_self">Open Space</a></p>
<p></p> The Art of Practicing Peace - Cote d'Ivoiretag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-03-24:4134568:Topic:758112013-03-24T02:39:00.119ZAmanda Fentonhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/AmandaFenton
<p>From the email list January 2013...</p>
<p><font color="#621977">Hello there AoH friends,</font></p>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">As some of you may know, Toke has spent the past several days in the Cote d'Ivoire with a group of folks who are interested in finding peace together after many years of civil war. A two day "Art of Practicing Peace" gathering was followed by a 1/2 day "intro" day which was hosted by the newly gathered practitioners in…</font></div>
<p>From the email list January 2013...</p>
<p><font color="#621977">Hello there AoH friends,</font></p>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">As some of you may know, Toke has spent the past several days in the Cote d'Ivoire with a group of folks who are interested in finding peace together after many years of civil war. A two day "Art of Practicing Peace" gathering was followed by a 1/2 day "intro" day which was hosted by the newly gathered practitioners in their own community. It seems the days have been unfolding beautifully with much love and courage and practice! </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">Toke's been sending along "harvest texts" to a few of us as the days have progressed and asked that we share them to this listserv as he doesn't have access to the internet right now. </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">Below is a sample of what he's sent along...I hope it conveys some of the power of what's happening there.</font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">Tuesday</font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><br/><div><u>Harvest after Art of Practicing Peace Gathering</u></div>
<div>It is like a silent peace bomb has exploded as the wise blending of Prem Rawa's message of practicing peace now - and the Art of Hosting and Harvesting - blends into a new dance of the practice of peace for our world. </div>
<div>The story of the wise blending of personal and collective practice peace for Cote D'ivoire unfolds. </div>
<div>It is, in fact, great fun!</div>
<div><u>Introduction to Practicing Peace Harvest</u></div>
<div>The AoH practices are so deeply accepted and appreciated by the people here, they call AoH "The Art of Practicing Peace", and we have already been invited to do another dojo here and in Ghana. </div>
<div>Africa rocks. </div>
<div>Through our appreciative inquiry trios this morning with 50 humans...one of our dreams is to recreate together a... </div>
<div>Land of hope</div>
<div>Land of hospitality</div>
<div>Land of freedom and of dignity</div>
<div>We can dream and practice bringing back peace for everyone.</div>
<div>The open meeting for practicing peace and reconciliation just ended in simplicity, a collective experience of peace, and clarity of the dream and commitment to practice peace for ourselves, each other, for the grandchildren of this country and beyond...Our hearts have been touched, connections made, courage awoken, and hunger for making living in peace together the norm.</div>
<div>The meeting was completely organized, hosted, harvested by 20 new practitioners who 3 days ago knew nothing about hosting (or that is what they thought). We were 50 humans in the circle of all ages, political and religious convictions, and professions and all that did not matter. We met in our hunger for more peace and the simple practices that allow us to share and harmonize as humans. </div>
<div>After this I trust living in peace with all humans on the planet will be eventually possible sooner rather than later...I am grateful to witness and take part in this adventure. Something new has begun today...A bow to life in the peace practice lane.</div>
<div>Most kindly,</div>
<div>Toke</div>
<div>--------------------</div>
<div><font color="#621977">Hello again friends,</font><div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">Thanks for your kind words of appreciation. Toke asked me to share just a final bit more of harvest from his time in Cote d'Ivoire. It's been great fun to get his texts and hear how he has been moved, and I'm glad to share it with this list.</font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">Toke's texts/harvest below...</font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977">Tuesday</font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div><font color="#621977"> </font></div>
<div>Day 4 Story of Practicing Peace for Cote d'Ivoire unfolding...</div>
<div>The practicing design process with four callers preparing with their teams, four more practicing peace meetings of 1/2 days is just concluding</div>
<div><ul>
<li>A mayor of a city 200 km from Abidjan who will invite former enemies - politicians - citizens together to practice peace </li>
<li>A singer/artist in his suburban village with young middle aged and elders</li>
<li>An officer in the navy calling for help to host such practicing peace gatherings for 200 folks from civic organizations and tenants in his city neighborhood</li>
<li>The caller of this whole project, an elder wisdom holder of 75 years, calling for another gathering like this with citizens and decision makers.</li>
</ul>
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<div>All these things to happen within the next 3 months. Wow!</div>
<div>Profound gratitude and a question...What could intentionally practicing peace together for our world also be? This is what I'm sitting with now. Another way of living as humans is for sure afoot!</div>
<div>Sending love and strength to you all from Abidjan,</div>
<div>Toke</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div><div>Hi practitoner mates<div>Thank you for caring, preparing, showing interest, holding space sharing and supporting </div>
<div>Marc and I and the wonderful and bold 30 folks in Abidjan in making this first step happen</div>
<div>…..very much appreciated<br/><div>We offer some harvest 1.0 from practicing peace in Cote D'ivoire….<br/><div>Here is a wee story and link to photos and the design of our first practicing peace 1.0 for a country</div>
<div>for you inspiration…....</div>
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<div><div>may it inspire and be useful for your practicing ……..</div>
<div>kindly<div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font color="#3423FF">Marc & Toke</font></font></div>
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</div> Vancouver Speaks - Connection Community Cafetag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-03-24:4134568:Topic:759022013-03-24T02:14:13.201ZAmanda Fentonhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/AmandaFenton
<p>From the email list January 2013...</p>
<p></p>
<p>hello all,</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>I was very moved recently by my friend and colleague Heather Tischbein’s story about a recent community conversation in Vancouver, Washington. Called as a response to the recent Sandy Hook massacre, participants were invited to explore the following questions at their café tables:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>First round: What concerns you about isolation contributing to acts of violence, despair or…</p>
<p>From the email list January 2013...</p>
<p></p>
<p>hello all,</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>I was very moved recently by my friend and colleague Heather Tischbein’s story about a recent community conversation in Vancouver, Washington. Called as a response to the recent Sandy Hook massacre, participants were invited to explore the following questions at their café tables:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>First round: What concerns you about isolation contributing to acts of violence, despair or suicide?</p>
<p>Second round: What does connection mean to you? What are the beliefs, values, and principles that will cause a renewing of connection in our community?</p>
<p>Third round: What can I do personally, in my own world (family, organization, community) to reduce isolation and to promote a life of community? What are the barriers to you connecting deeply with another?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After the three rounds, participants shared the main themes of their small-group conversations in a large-group format. Then, as a closing question, participants were invited to respond to the question: What are you personally willing to do, to create more connection in your community?</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Heather described how the framing of the questions invited participants to explore the root causes of violence in our society, and to thoughtfully consider the forces that may have contributed to the tragic actions taken by Adam Lanza. She also mentioned how during the second round, participants explored many aspects of the "connection" question: their desire for greater connection, the fear of vulnerability that connection engenders, as well as the dynamics and trade-offs involved in our myths of frontier independence and common good/in-it-all-together interdependence. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Heather also spoke about finding this experience particularly moving, as she had originally brought the World Café format to this community, as part of the Ft. Vancouver Regional Library’s Make Democracy Work project (2004-2006). It was especially affirming to her to see how the practice has spread over the years. She learned about this gathering through a friend’s Facebook post and felt very nourished to be able to attend this meaningful event as a participant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A more detailed harvest will soon be available from the organizer Kevin Heibert. If people are interested I can post it here when it becomes available.</p>
<div>with all best wishes,</div>
<div>Rosa</div>
<div>---------------</div>
<div><span>Hello,</span><div>Here is the harvest of our last Vancouver Speaks Community Conversation (Vancouver, WA - the Vancouver in the south). This was a really wonderful conversation. The theme of isolation and connection is very real not only with the events in Newtown, but our community here has had an increase in youth suicides. </div>
<div>At the end we had everyone set an intention of what connection would look like to everyone as individuals. We had people offer their homes for potlucks, ideas of international themed breakfasts, inviting neighbors over for dinner and a variety of more heartfelt intentions.</div>
<div>The quote I loved was "I will connect with other by taking up the cause of others". Such a beautiful other centered view of walking in the world. To more great conversations...</div>
<div>Kevin Hiebert</div>
</div> Sharing the story of a two-day offsite with Collective Story Harvest, World Cafe and OSTtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2012-09-13:4134568:Topic:625792012-09-13T04:10:41.706ZAmanda Fentonhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/AmandaFenton
<div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></br>This past June I had the opportunity to work with a team designing a two-day off-site for a group of leaders. This is not a group familiar with the Art of Hosting patterns - at most some of them have been in World Cafes with me in different gatherings and contexts. Their normal mode of meeting (which isn't usually the whole group) is a one-to-many format: all presentations, very little time for connection and conversation.</div>
<div>As…</div>
<div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"/>This past June I had the opportunity to work with a team designing a two-day off-site for a group of leaders. This is not a group familiar with the Art of Hosting patterns - at most some of them have been in World Cafes with me in different gatherings and contexts. Their normal mode of meeting (which isn't usually the whole group) is a one-to-many format: all presentations, very little time for connection and conversation.</div>
<div>As the principles of the off-site came into clarity some of the core methods emerged as good possibilities for the design. So I went for it! A chance to open a crack of possibility in how they meet. You'll notice a little bit of language tweaks where the team better understood different descriptors than typically used. This is a little harvest of the day - a small gift back and a big thanks to this community for continually inspiring my practice. I've posted it on my blog and will add it to the ning; copied below for you.... </div>
<h2><a href="http://amandafenton.com/2012/09/designing-for-turn-towards-each-other/" title="Permalink to Designing for Turn-Towards-Each-Other" rel="bookmark" target="_blank"><font size="4">Designing for Turn-Towards-Each-Other</font></a></h2>
<div><p>One of the principles of a two-day offsite meeting for 50+ leaders was to create space to connect with each other, share knowledge, challenges and ideas. It was a lovely opportunity to use the Collective Story Harvest process to connect and learn from each other, as well as an Open Space Technology session to raise challenges and further the connections and ideas.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The leaders all held the same role but were distributed geographically and the last time they had all been together in one room was over seven years ago. The Collective Story Harvest and Open Space were held on the second day of their gathering, with the first day a full agenda of updates and presentations.</p>
<p></p>
<p>In the organizing team’s invitation and outreach work they had surfaced a number of topics that the group was hungry to learn more about. And in many instances ‘the wisdom was in the room, it just needed to be connected’. They selected six broad topics that had resonance with the group and supported the theme of the off-site: W<em>hat do we need to know as we journey on in 2012? How can we equip ourselves as leaders for the next leg of the journey to move our business forward?</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p>Next was to think about the storytellers and the arcs that we wanted to harvest. The invitation here for the organizing team to think about what do we most want to learn from the stories? Where do we want to focus our learning? From these we created arcs that would be listened for during each story. Volunteers will become “wisdom catchers”, listening for these particular arcs.</p>
<p></p>
<p>With the storytellers invited into the fold we held a conference call to welcome them into their role and explained the process, what the story arcs were and the flow of the process on the day. We also talked about what happens in their circle after they shared their story, and a bit about the World Café after the storytellers, hosts and circles came back together.</p>
<p></p>
<p>We talked about how they might prepare to tell their stories, and I drew from Christina Baldwin’s work in <a href="http://peerspirit.com/storycatcher.html" target="_blank">Storycatcher</a>. We explored what a story is, how some reflective journaling might help them to write their story using the elements of story: chronology (it begins and ends), character (it happens to somebody), scene (it happens some place), and insight (it offers a point/lesson). We emphasized that this wasn’t about sharing only a positive story – pains and failures were important to talk about as well. And it did not need to be a success story.</p>
<p></p>
<p>During the process there would be a host with each of the storytellers. This was an opportunity for some of the other leaders in the room to step into more of a hosting role, holding space and process instead of being ‘the one with all the answers’. They were equipped with a little process guide on how to support their storyteller and host their circle well, and we huddled-up at the start of the day to go over the flow and talk it through (the last minute “touch the ticket” as Chris would say).</p>
<p></p>
<p>I introduced the context and process to the group and shared the arcs:</p>
<ol start="1">
<li>Pivotal Moments & Breakthroughs: What are the pivotal moments or breakthrough moments in this story? What can we learn from them?</li>
<li>Resources & Resourcefulness: What can we learn from this story about the skillful finding and use of resources or about how to be resourceful from this story?</li>
<li>Relationships – Working Collaboratively and Effectively: What can we learn from this story about the importance and tending of relationships, and how we can work effectively as partners or step into partnership?</li>
<li>Overcoming Barriers: What barriers were encountered in this story and what can we learn from them?</li>
<li>Employee and Customer Experience: What does our story tell us about how we can make a difference in our employee and customer experience?</li>
<li>Being a Leader: What is the thread of leadership in this story? What was needed in our leadership?</li>
<li>Questions: What big questions arise for me from this story that I can apply to our/my work?</li>
</ol>
<p></p>
<p>Then each storyteller gave a little descriptor of their story. Around the room we had large posters with the story theme and storyteller names with circles of chairs waiting for them. In that moment of self-organization the room went ‘whoosh’ as people went to where they were called to be. And what you would have seen was about sixty people convened in six circles, all leaning in, giving the gift of their attention to listen and catch the story.</p>
<p></p>
<p>After the time in the smaller circles we flowed into a World Café that was creative to orchestrate as all the tables from the day before had been banished (on purpose) and our center seating was in the concentric circle format for the afternoon’s Open Space. I put little tent cards over some of the chair backs to mark sections for the storytellers to convene, each of the arc wisdom catchers, and the hosts (colour coordinated to the wisdom catcher sheets). After sharing the World Café principles, and the tweak that instead of using tablecloths and markers they would use a notepad where they would tear off their sheet to give to the host who stays behind to welcome the next group of travellers.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The question in the first round of the World Café was: “What did you learn from the lens of your arc that can help all of us lead our teams to success?” And for the Storytellers, “What did you learn from sharing your stories that can help all of us lead our teams to success?”</p>
<p></p>
<p>In the second round everyone intermingled and explored the question again, surfacing more wisdom, patterns and insights. In round three we asked “How might these learning’s and insights be translated into action? What can you take back with you?” We were very short on time due to some start-of-the-day activities that went much longer than anticipated so just did a little popcorn harvest of “What are you taking away from this session?” Then a thank you to the Storytellers, hosts, wisdom catchers and it was time to lunch. The vibe of connection and sharing carried through lunch; little circles and big circles everywhere.</p>
<p></p>
<p>After lunch we moved into an Open Space Technology session around the question: “What issues or questions are we facing as leaders, where we can co-create solutions for success in 2012 and beyond?” We had two very very short 35 minute sessions (way shorter than I would ever prefer!). 20 topics were posted very quickly and they got to work. There was a delightful moment when the second timeslot was to begin but a very intense conversation from the first round was still happening in space “B”. The group came to me “They won’t leave”. What do you want to do? They went and tried to interrupt and ask them to move. No movement. So they took the “B” off the wall and created a new place for “B” a little ways beside it!</p>
<p></p>
<p>No time for a newsroom but most of the session notes were provided to me and I scanned and emailed them out that same night. We did hold a closing circle and the group did a great job honouring the time-math as we had folks needing to leave to catch ferries and flights. The group left energized, with new ideas, new friends to call on, and new insights on what happens when we are invited to turn-towards-each-other instead of listening to the sages-on-the-stage. Sweetness.</p>
</div> Kids, teens, tweens in World Café?tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2012-05-17:4134568:Topic:555932012-05-17T00:20:42.854ZRia Baeckhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><em>again from the AoH emaillist:</em> </p>
<div class="gmail_extra">Mates,</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">You may have seen my question below with the questions our team is planning to ask in a church session. While we are offering child care for the <i>very</i> young, we'd love to include teens or tweens.</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="gmail_extra">Here's my question for those of you who know what it's like to do these sorts of activities with kids. <b>Looking at the questions below, how…</b></div>
<p><em>again from the AoH emaillist:</em> </p>
<div class="gmail_extra">Mates,</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">You may have seen my question below with the questions our team is planning to ask in a church session. While we are offering child care for the <i>very</i> young, we'd love to include teens or tweens.</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="gmail_extra">Here's my question for those of you who know what it's like to do these sorts of activities with kids. <b>Looking at the questions below, how young do you think we could go? </b> We are planning rounds of 20-25 minutes each in the World Cafe.</div>
<p> </p>
<p>-Amy Watson</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="gmail_extra"> <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 12:05 PM, Amy Watson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:amykaywat@gmail.com" target="_blank">amykaywat@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br/><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #cccccc; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div class="gmail_extra">Many thanks to all who contributed to this discussion! I took your suggestions to our host team for discussion, and we settled on these:</div>
<br />
<div class="gmail_extra"><div><b>Check-in</b>: What hunger brought you here tonight?</div>
<br />
<div><b>World-cafe Q1</b>: How does being in our church community nourish you?</div>
<br />
<div><b>World-cafe Q2:</b> What else could our church become if we all shared our best selves?</div>
<br />
<div><b>World-cafe Q3</b>: What would help you share your best self (who you are when you are at your best) with the church?</div>
<br />
<div><b>Check-out</b>: What seems possible now?</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">-------------------</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><div>I've used world cafe a lot intergenerarionally. Some of my deepest learnings have come from listening to a 13 year old talking about her life. You can probably trust that someone who wants to be there is old enough. It's more about appetite than about age. As I write, I also recall images of babies and toddlers or young children on their mom or dad's lap -- another kind of participation.</div>
<div>The core work of building healthy and resilient communities is intergenerarional work. We are all needed. Including all of community to create community is essenti!</div>
<div>Can you tell? I'm a bit of an advocate here! <grin></div>
<div>bob</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div><p>Amy,</p>
<p>I work with teens full-time here in Ontario, Canada. We have created an Art of Youth Engagement course for teens and social workers that has embedded World Café as a core process. In these courses, I work with teens as young as 13. Having materials like clay/play doh, pipe cleaners, markers and paper always makes a big difference. I also host the cafés in partnership with youth so they can help ensure the questions are framed in an accessible way. It has worked marvellously. The social workers listen more to the youth than to me. Youth have an ability to speak to the heart of the matter uncomplicated by bureaucratic constraints and academic knowledge. They are insightful and real. In these sessions, my café rounds last 20 minutes.</p>
<p>Working with teens is fun and rewarding. More recently, I did several arts-based discussion groups with latency-age kids 7 to 11 that worked brilliantly. The had much to talk about. The topics of our conversation was around client satisfaction measures for kids who are seeking counselling and skills to manage their anxiety and anger. The kids, mainly boys, were full of energy but also very thoughtful. In these groups I didn’t stay in a topic for longer than 10 minutes and I didn’t have adults and youth collaborating. I have to say that the 10 and 11 year olds participated more than the 7 year olds but with few words, the 7 year olds got their points across.</p>
<p>I hope that helps.</p>
<p>Best of luck,</p>
<p><b>Cathy Dyer</b></p>
</div>
</div> Learning - blindspots in AoHtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2011-12-27:4134568:Topic:478072011-12-27T15:16:38.348ZRia Baeckhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><em>Already just reading <a href="http://resilientcommunities.org/?p=652" target="_blank">Bob Stilger's blog post</a>, reflecting on his recent learning after hosting a workshop in Zimbabwe, is worthwhile (also useful comments there!) - let alone to read all the comments here (from the sharing on the AoH emaillist) that were triggered and went deeper into more learnings and naming some of our blindspots.</em></p>
<p><em>So, this is how Bob kicked it of:</em></p>
<p><em><br></br></em></p>
<p>Hi…</p>
<p><em>Already just reading <a href="http://resilientcommunities.org/?p=652" target="_blank">Bob Stilger's blog post</a>, reflecting on his recent learning after hosting a workshop in Zimbabwe, is worthwhile (also useful comments there!) - let alone to read all the comments here (from the sharing on the AoH emaillist) that were triggered and went deeper into more learnings and naming some of our blindspots.</em></p>
<p><em>So, this is how Bob kicked it of:</em></p>
<p><em><br/></em></p>
<p>Hi friends,</p>
<div>A week ago I shared some reflections about the Art of Participatory Leadership training Marianne Knuth, Simone Poutnik and I did in Zimbabwe in late September '11.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Well, I've continued to learn and reflect on what happened and have written a more critical analysis in a new blog at <a href="http://www.resilientcommunities.org/">www.resilientcommunities.org</a>.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>There's been some important learning here for me.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I think we got trapped in our own form in a way that made it difficult to really work with our principles. I talk a good line about <strong>working with what's present -- but what about when what's present doesn't fit into my pre-conceived form?</strong> How ready and able am I to listen deeply and make changes which might really deepen the learning possible?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Really interesting to take this question on.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>We're obviously in a time when we're invited to go deeper and to travel beyond what's become comfortable. I think I and we can do so. It ain't easy. It's just what's next.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>We had a great team and we did some good, solid work. And something else was possible as well.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>There will be another time.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>For those of you who have a chance, I'd love it if you would stop by and read this latest blog and offer your wisdom on these issues. Perhaps I should also invite a conversation on the AoH ning site. But for now, to bed!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Bob</div>
<div>----------------------</div>
<div><em>First comment by Helen, from Brussels:</em></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Dear Bob,<div> </div>
<div>Thank you so much for sharing your learning and observations with us. You have picked up some important and necessary patterns that can perhaps help to illuminate some blindspots in the AoH approach and increase our effectiveness as a community doing important work in the world.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It's breakfast time here in Brussels, and I should be preparing to head off for a 'day at the office' in the European Commission (where many of the challenges you describe are also present, almost identical!), but I want to get a few ideas down before I move on to other things...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>1. <b>a 'progression' of worldviews</b> - What I see between the lines of what you write - and that you very perceptively touch on in your blog - is informed by models I have learned in other places, in particular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Dynamics">Spiral Dynamics</a>. We all live within our particular world view - what we believe reality to be. What we don't often realise is that our individual world views are embedded in collective world view that is held by the society we live in, and is very much shaped by the life conditions we share. The life conditions in Zimbabwe are very different than the life conditions in Brussels, New York or Tokyo. Not only the cultural context and content, but also the complexity of the daily challenges that face us. The greater the poverty, the more simple the challenges, in many ways: our priority is survival and that's that. There's a lot more I could say to nuance this, but in a nutshell, the underlying parameters of these world views lie along a continuum of 'simple' to 'complex' depending on the interplay between our life conditions and the coping mechanisms we have to develop in order to thrive in them. These coping strategies in turn change the life conditions to bring forth more challenges, which we then have to learn to cope with - in ever increasing spirals of complexity. That's the basic dialectic of social development proposed by the Spiral Dynamics model, and there's certainly enough intuitive truth to it to help us gain some insights.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>An important point is that when we, who live in the complex post-modern society, with our challenges of what to where, where to go on holiday, what kind of health insurance to get, how to survive in a society where few people actually die of hunger, epidemic or war, look at this spiral of development, we can see where we have come from - the stages of pyscho-social development follow a similar trajectory for both individuals and collectives - but we <i>can't see where we're going.</i> As a child, you cannot know what it will be like to be an adult. As a member of an indigenous tribe, you cannot know what it is like to work in Wall Street (although I don't suppose most of us can really imagine what it means to live so close to nature and have the sensing skills it takes to survive there, either). The point I'm trying to make is that when a person is immersed in a world view (and we all are) - we don't think 'this is my world view'; we think - nay, we <i>know</i> - that 'this is how the world is'. Another important point is that there is a progression to these different world views. The order is not arbitrary, and stages cannot be skipped. We move from ancient, to traditional, to modern, to post-modern, to whatever it is we want to call the new view that is starting to emerge in our times in some parts of the world (often called 'integral'). So what is next for us is not what is next for a Somalian pirate or an orphan in South Africa, or an Imam in Iran.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The situation you describe, Bob, in your blog, shows different world views meeting without realising that that is what is happening. In Zimbabwe there are folks struggling to survive, and it is those people who are being served by the folks who participated in your workshop - who are embedded in quite traditional organisations (hierarchical bureaucracies) that are trying to improve the fall out from what happens when a predatory modern worldview driven by 'progress, profit and individualism' (think Ayn Rand) overruns an unsuspecting tribal culture. The AoH is a set of patterns that make sense to the post-modern mind ('60s onwards), although it incorporates patterns (like the circle) born in the dawn of the human age, if not before. Participatory leadership as we understand it is <i>not</i> something that the ancient, the traditional, or even the modern mind can grok in the way that we, the inhabitants of this list, do. And it isn't until we shift our own mind set towards an integral worldview that we are able to get our heads around the fact of this spiral of development and see it as a whole.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>So while it might be possible to work with participatory leadership methods with folks from all the way across the spectrum, it's not realistic to expect them to 'get it' as a pattern that they can then use strategically the way we do. What they need is what's next for them. There might be many stages in between where our clients are and where we are. And it's not 'elitist' to think that. It's simply an equation of life conditions and coping mechanisms.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>... so I strongly recommend an exploratory dive into a developmental model like Spiral Dynamics (which is the one I think is most accessible for our purposes) to add this layer of nuancing onto our approach when we work in systems and cultures we are unfamiliar with. There is a danger of 'labelling', but if we don't forget that the map is not the territory, we should be OK.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>2. <b>Serving what wants to happen</b>. Bob, I really admire how you have been able to take a critical distance from what happened for you as a hosting team, to see what you could have done differently. That is the hallmark of an Integral warrior. What I notice more and more, when I sit in hosting teams designing events and training seminars, is that it's actually not up to us to do the design. At least not in the 'constructivist' way we are used to. <strong>What I see us doing as hosting teams (especially experienced ones) is setting up a container in a field. We come together to sense deeply into the field that we are serving.</strong> These days, when we design Participatory Leadership trainings (each one is different) in the European Commission, we have the habit, when we have a constellator present, to start our sensing into the field with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_Constellations">a systemic constellation</a> that will illuminate the dynamics in the field we seek to serve: what is at play, and what needs to happen to move to greater wholeness. Once the field is present, we simply sense our way (through what feels right in our bodies) to a scaffolding that will help to move the system in the right direction. As we learn to sense in this way, we become much more comfortable playing with the design and the components in our AoH toolkit, shifting and morphing the design to stay congruent with what is emerging.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>When we work in this emergent way, we really see:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>1. The importance of having <b>at least one 'AoH steward/elder'</b> on the team - someone who deeply, deeply understands the DNA of the Art of Hosting.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>2. The importance of<b> </b>having a hosting team that is <b>big enough</b> and has enough real <b>diversity</b> to be able to serve the field it is operating in. It's really easy to think we should work with 'mates' that we find it easy to work with, that we get along with and enjoy working with. But that's a sure way of calling in huge blind spots. Much safer to invite diversity, and put in the time it takes, using the practices that serve to weld together a trusting and strong team with the vastest possible spread of perspectives. That way you will sense much more of the field.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>....</div>
<div> </div>
<div>and now I really do have to get on my bike and pedal into another day of juggling world-views and sensing the shifting field.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Deep bow to you, Bob - and love to all you other good people</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Helen</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>---------------------</div>
<div><em>Another comment, from New York, by Martin Siesta:</em></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thank you.<br/><br/>Yes. I also feel that it is working wit the present and what is now and what the world view is with who we are with. <strong>The essence of AoH, the DNA is not the same as the tools</strong> that may change in form.<br/><br/>Otto talks about tools in this way:<br/> "i just returned from some coaching and consulting work. i am struck by the similarity of experience that todays leaders face across companies, industries and even across sectors. as a leader today, you find yourself in NO-WHERE-LAND. on the one side you have all the tools that you learned from consultants, business schools and other sources of conventional management wisdom. on the other side you have a huge leadership challenge that you currently face. and inbetween these two things, there is a HUGE GAP. a NOWHERE-LAND. and you find yourself right in the middle of that NOWHERE-ZONE. alone.<br/><br/>the only thing that you can rely on in situations like this is your self-knowing. the deepening of your SELF-knowing. the deepening of your awareness. THAT is, what presencing is all about. to provide a method to collectively CREATE from that NOWHERE-ZONE.<br/><br/>but that technology does not work if you use it with a mindset that belongs to the old toolkit (“problemsolving”). it requires a new mindset. a mindset that is acutely aware of that NOWHERE-ZONE right in front of us, right within us. the awareness of that GAP right NOW right HERE provides a crack where the window to an heightened awareness opens up. without that window open, we cannot cross the distance from self to Self—from no-where to now-here."<br/>–otto scharmer<br/><br/>Deep listening, in empathy and awareness of our own limiting beliefs and world view are essential.<br/><br/>Spiral Dynamics is a model that speaks to this.<br/><br/>I would also recommend a recent book by David Brooks called <em>The Social Animal</em>. It resonates with this thread and I find it to be both powerful and accessable.<br/><br/>A quote from it:<br/>"People are born into relationships --- with parents and ancestors---- and those relationships create people. Or to put it a different way a brain is something contained in a single skull. A mind only exists within a network, It is the result of the interaction between brains, and it is important not to confuse brains with minds."<br/><br/>Martin Siesta</div>
<div>------------------</div>
<div><em>some gratitude...</em></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Appreciating this thread -- thank you all.<div> </div>
<div>And appreciating this learning Bob. As always, your openness opens me. Offering to check in a bit on occasion.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://berkana.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/AoH_Pembroke_2011.pdf">In November, one of the events I'm co-hosting has a deep dive feel. An AoH in Pembroke, Ontario</a> with people I've worked with now for three years. Together we are asking questions about what is underneath -- in creating container, activating energy, etc.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It speaks to some of what is here in this thread.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Greetings from Utah.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Tenneson</div>
<div>-------------------</div>
<div><em>Sharing learning and more thoughts from Australia:</em></div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div><p>Hi Bob,</p>
<p>Thank you so much for sharing your reflections - such powerful learning.</p>
<p>Interestingly we recently had a related experience in a strategic conversation we facilitated with a regional family services provider. The day was regarded a success by our client, and by ourselves. However an evaluation of the participants exposed some serious dissatisfaction. We are so used to receiving extremely positive feedback that the slightly negative feedback of some participants was deeply confronting. After we were able to let go of our defensive ego reaction we were ready to learn. <strong>Our key learnings</strong>were:</p>
<ul>
<li>the invitation is critical - we were dealing with a wide variety of expectations, some of which we were completely unaware of.</li>
<li>We were wrapped up in using the methodologies, and were not nearly as flexible as we needed to be.</li>
<li>We/I reacted to edge behaviour in a patronising way, rather than responding to and working with that energy.</li>
</ul>
<p>I really appreciate Helen's thoughts too. I too have found Spiral Dynamics to be a useful framework, despite the lack of peer review of the work and the extremely limited cohorts used to develop it (I was disallowed to use it for my doctorate for that reason). The same criticisms are valid for Freud, and his contribution to psychology has been extremely valuable. I wonder if it is most helpful to view the concepts as a powerful guide to understanding psychosocial behaviour and certainly not the "truth"?</p>
<p>Helen's thoughts on <strong>serving what wants to happen</strong>seem totally apposite for our experience. Had we used our energy to sense the field rather than stick to process we would have served so much better. Our container was simply not safe enough for everyone.</p>
<p>This conversation string has been extremely helpful for me and so I thank you very warmly and genuinely.</p>
<p>Kindest</p>
<p>Stephen</p>
<p>-----------------</p>
<p><em>and back to Helen:</em></p>
<p>Hello friends,</p>
<div> </div>
<div>I really feel that we are getting into useful territory with this inquiry. Oodles of thoughts popping into my brain that I'd like to share with you...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I remember once at an AoH training in Belgium (I can't quite remember which one - but I guess it's probably happened more than once), where the hosting team had to sit down and gain <b>clarity about what it was we were doing</b>: were we delivering an Art of Hosting training? Or were we trying to please all the participants, including those who are not willing/able to take responsibility for their own unexamined and unspoken expectations? If I remember rightly, we reminded ourselves that we were delivering an AoH training, and the clarity helped us to keep the container solid and invite participants into their own responsibility and passion.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Bearing in mind the <b>power of expectation</b>, I have learned that it is important to invite in participants' expectations at the outset. That way we all hear our own and each other's - once they are explicit, they are much easier to deal with. Having the stated purpose explicitly <b>in the centre</b> (which means not just the purpose of the gathering, whatever it might be, but also the deeper purpose(s) that gathering serves for the broader context, and the expectations of the participants and hosts explicitly <b>on the rim</b> can help to elucidate what we are jointly responsible for and what we take individual responsibility for.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Time and again, in hosting work and in daily life, I get scuppered by <b>unexamined assumptions</b> that I am on the 'same website' as the people I'm working/playing with. In the European Commission, the very first deep conversational practice we learned was <b>action learning</b>, a practice of questioning which precisely teaches us the power of assumptions and how to unpack them.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Stephen, I really honour your desire for rigour, and your natural wariness of embracing approaches that 'lack peer review' and are based on 'limited cohorts'. Many of us are working in contexts that fully embrace the 'scientific paradigm' where 'objectivity' and 'repeatability' and other such injunctions are held sacred, with the best of intentions. <i>And</i> that paradigm is based on the assumption that there is an 'external reality' out there that is separate from us and obeys predictable laws... even though that very science has outstripped that understanding. The established order is always last to catch up with the latest science...</div>
<div>The thinking underlying Spiral Dynamics was inspired by the powerful intuition of Clare Graves. And I think that he was tapping into an invisible realm of patterns that cannot be observed by science. The fact that these patterns are vulnerable to interpretation in ways that we find distasteful (particularly elitist 'us and them' thinking) is a separate issue, I think. I believe that the patterns that Spiral Dynamics seeks to articulate do operate in the cosmos. The reason I think that is because I can clearly discern them at work in myself. But the larger point at play here, I think, is that all of the phenomena we are working with in the Art of Hosting field (including the 'field' phenomenon itself) are out there on the evolutionary edge of what we as humans are learning to discern and start to articulate. So there <i>won't</i> be much in the way peer review to rely on. And the cohorts we try it out on - as we are learning now, from the experiences shared in this thread - respond in different ways, depending on... what? Worldview? Culture? Complexity of thinking? Social and emotional development? There are many ways to cut this, and many of them are 'cutting edge'. If they help us to discern a generative, compassionate and inclusive way forward, then let's use'em!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>And the truth is something else entirely! Our assertions about the truth say more about us than they do about the world.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>:-)</div>
<div> </div>
<div>helen</div>
<div>--------------------</div>
</div>
<div><em>and more from Steve Ryman:</em></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span style="color: #000099;">Thanks for those reflections, Bob. I really appreciate your honest self-examination and your willingness to be vulnerable in sharing. It reminds me a lot of an Art of Hosting that I did in Zim in 2009. When it was over, I felt more like crawling under a rock than in posting my reflections. Again, we did good work and there were some amazing experiences but <strong>it did not meet the participants' expectations</strong> (though those expectations were not clear at the outset) and <strong>it did not have the level of magic that I'd come to expect from an AoH</strong>. In fact the resistance and the feedback we got were very similar to what you describe.</span><br style="color: #000099;"/><br style="color: #000099;"/><span style="color: #000099;">I also appreciate your observations, Helen. Spiral Dynamics provides a great lens through which to view this experience as well as the one I had. And it makes me wonder what would be an appropriate goal and design for an AoH or APL event with a group of people who are largely living in pre-modern organizations or societies. <strong>How can our work help these systems to become healthier and more ready for transition without challenging them to take bigger steps than they are ready for? How can we be sensitive (and non-elitist) in recognizing and honoring the differences in levels of development and working with them rather than pretending that they don't exist? </strong> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000099;">This reflection also makes me even more appreciative of the development of Kufunda - both the development of the individuals and the development of the culture within the village. With the exception of Marianne, almost everyone at Kufunda came from a "pre-modern" background and most had far less education than many of the Zim nonprofit staff that I met. Maybe the exposure to "modern" education makes the transition even more difficult? I would be interested in further conversation about what made it possible for Kufundees to make the developmental leaps that they have. This whole inquiry feels very rich.</span><br style="color: #000099;"/><br style="color: #000099;"/><span style="color: #000099;">with gratitude,</span><br style="color: #000099;"/><span style="color: #000099;">Steve</span></div>
<p><br/>----------------------<br/><em>Then Christina Baldwin chimed in too:</em></p>
<p>Dear Bob and other Dear Ones,</p>
<div> </div>
<div>This is such a good thread. Thank you, Bob, for offering your learning for conversation in this community. It takes courage and strong sense of selfhood and service.</div>
<p><br/></p>
<div>I wanted to share the blog I just wrote on the circle hostings in Belgium and Germany to add to the thought here. See: <a href="http://story.peerspirit.com/">http://story.peerspirit.com/</a>.</div>
<p><br/></p>
<div>In all our training circles recently we have been very aware of what we call "the longing in the room." We find more and more that our role is to <strong>bring in the circle as a portal, a safe structure</strong> in which people can sit down and adjust to the sensation of stopping amongst each other, have some basic, essential learning and experience of what circle calls forth... and then support the self-determination that emerges. We are also finding, particularly in "training" environments, that people want to translate their learning immediately into experience of deep circle. We seek together for a meaningful question or issue and go there together.</div>
<p><br/></p>
<div>It's raw, dynamic, real. Our experiences are with groups of about 20-30, a goodly size for council of this nature. Last week, I had an experience with a national board retreat where we did mostly circle, with one World Cafe morning to surface the questions, and just kept taking the identified issues deeper and deeper. It was a profound act of trusting the listening process, putting stories and insights into the centre as the group sought new direction for this nonprofit. The third morning, I went to our circle room before dawn and two others were already there setting out the emerging patterns on flip-charts, getting ready for our morning session. Whew! - we got to the synergistic and the way forward became clear. As the facilitator, I experienced my role as space-holder, shaping thier councils with the next question, helping them keep faith with their own wisdom, and trusting, radically, that the wisdom was in the room, and in each of us.</div>
<div>This is truly a learning field with everyone engaged and no one outside. Everyone is in the soup, and everyone is also observing their own process and participation and commenting on the "cooking" we are doing.</div>
<p><br/></p>
<div>If others are noticing this as a shift in the pattern of hosting and what is arising out of the methodologies we are interacting within, I'd be very interested to hear more stories.</div>
<p><br/></p>
<div>Christina B.</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div><em>Gratitude from Bob who started this tread:</em></div>
<div>Dear Christina, Ann and other brothers and sisters.<div>Yes, this exchange has been rich and thoughtful indeed! Thanks Helen and Stephen and Simone and Steve and others for the insights in your writing.</div>
<div>Such an interesting time -- we're all in the soup together and in our togetherness we're often in radically different places as well. Visions of the protests around the world dance before me as I write those words.</div>
<div>It feels as if this year has been something akin to the eye of the needle. As I write those words I also know I suspect that we're not through the eye yet. I was talking with one of my close colleagues in Tokyo yesterday and we were remembering October, a year ago. 3.11, the revolutions in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, natural and human disasters around the world, massive protest in Greece, the machinations of the US from tea parties to occupy -- none of it was foreseeable (at least in the particulars). And I don't see any reason to believe that 2012 will be anything except more of the same.</div>
<div>So as people who host spaces in which discovery, creation and innovation is possible, more and more is being asked of us. Most of us have had rich lives of practice. And more is being asked of us that ever before.</div>
<div>So what you say, Christina, about working with the "longing in the room" seems particularly apt. Sometimes that longing may form a coherent field. Often it will be a discordant one where the lens of spiral dynamics or other tools of insight may help us better see what is happening and respond accordingly.</div>
<div>It is a precious time. </div>
<div>May we each and all go well.</div>
<div>Bob</div>
<div>------------------</div>
<div>ANd a final contribution by Mary Stacey:</div>
<div><p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Bob,</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Off to the Freeskool in Toronto’s St James Square, but in response to your ongoing inquiry about ‘tools of insight’ I offer you the slides we used in last year’s module at the ALIA Institute—Action Inquiry: Transforming Leadership in the Midst of Action.</font></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2653317879?profile=original"><font face="Calibri" size="3">100600 Action Inquiry Torbert Stacey Slides.pdf</font></a></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">You’ll find summaries of The Leadership Development Frameworks (meaning making structures from which we take action), reference to the Leadership Development Profile (the associated ‘tool of insight’ and intentional development) and the practice of Action Inquiry, which Chris Chapman so beautifully referenced in his recent note in this thread.</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Personally, I’ve chosen to bring the LDF/LDP/AI into my work because it weaves so well into our experience cultivating leadership that has the capacity to embrace complexity, ambiguity, and rapid change; to use mutually transforming power; to engage in double and triple loop learning; and to take timely and effective action across the four territories of personal, interpersonal, organizational, and systemic…. and much more</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">And, it does so in language that is accessible to the people I work with—always a blessing!</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Art Kleiner and I will be offering the LDP to participants in our workshop Designing Scenarios for Strategic Engagement at the June 2012 ALIA Summer Institute. We’re bringing together the research that demonstrates that if today’s leaders want to effectively embrace greater degrees of complexity, they must attend no only to the outer dimensions of it, but also to the inner dimensions of it with the ‘self in system’ capacities that are required to design and hold global systems scenarios. I appreciate all ways that participatory leaders, and hosts of AoH practice, can join together in this developmental practice.</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Enjoy, and would love to have a conversation with anyone interested in how developmental theory and practice this be supportive in the AoH context.</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Be well,</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri" size="3">Mary</font></p>
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<div> </div> A quick world cafetag:artofhosting.ning.com,2011-08-31:4134568:Topic:355172011-08-31T01:42:18.287ZGraeme Stuarthttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/GraemeStuart
<p>I recently was asked to do a world cafe as part of a small conference for Adolescent Family Counsellors. Originally we had planned for 90 minutes but, as sometimes happens, the time was cut and we ended up with only 30 minutes. While it was far from ideal, it still worked and I think the participants appreciated it. We used the time to explore what they were taking home from the conference. They had three rounds of seven minutes, before returning to their original table to find three pieces…</p>
<p>I recently was asked to do a world cafe as part of a small conference for Adolescent Family Counsellors. Originally we had planned for 90 minutes but, as sometimes happens, the time was cut and we ended up with only 30 minutes. While it was far from ideal, it still worked and I think the participants appreciated it. We used the time to explore what they were taking home from the conference. They had three rounds of seven minutes, before returning to their original table to find three pieces of gold. The first round was a bit like a brainstorm, but they had some more significant convesation in the next two rounds. While it was far from ideal, it still worked and I think the participants appreciated it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm not good at charging, so it was a freebie, and I suspect the time wouldn't have been cut by nearly as much if they had been paying for my time. But that's OK, I learnt from it. I wrote more about it in <a href="http://sustainingcommunity.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/world-cafe-on-steriods/" target="_blank">a blog post</a> if you are interested.</p> Objections to participation in conferencestag:artofhosting.ning.com,2011-08-05:4134568:Topic:319012011-08-05T10:24:52.229ZRia Baeckhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p>This is <a href="http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=3355" target="_blank">a blog post</a> by Chris Corrigan, Aug.2, 2011, languaging his view on conferences and the objections of conference organisers to (more) participation. (His blog gives a lot good insights in Art of Hosting related topics!)</p>
<div class="post-bodycopy clearfix"><p>I have great clients. Most of the people who end up working with me do so because they want to work in radically more participatory ways, opening up…</p>
</div>
<p>This is <a href="http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=3355" target="_blank">a blog post</a> by Chris Corrigan, Aug.2, 2011, languaging his view on conferences and the objections of conference organisers to (more) participation. (His blog gives a lot good insights in Art of Hosting related topics!)</p>
<div class="post-bodycopy clearfix"><p>I have great clients. Most of the people who end up working with me do so because they want to work in radically more participatory ways, opening up processes to more voices, more leadership. In conference settings this means scheduling much more dialogue or running the whole thing using Open Space Technology and dispensing with pre-loading content.</p>
<p>But there persists, especially in the corporate and government sectors, a underlying nervousness in doing this. common objections to making things more participatory include:</p>
<ul>
<li>It’s too risky</li>
<li>We’re not ready for it</li>
<li>I’m worried it won’t work</li>
<li>There won’t be enough structure</li>
<li>People need content</li>
<li>We need to know what the outcomes will be.</li>
</ul>
<p>It is worth exploring these issues in a compassionate and direct manner. What these issues are really about are trust and control and a sense that the responsibility for the experience lies with the organizers and not the participants.</p>
<p>This is not always the easiest thing to say to people, especially those that have hired you to deliver a conference or a conversation. But it is important to confront these issues face on, because no matter how well you run a participatory process, without confronting the edges of control and trust, you are going to get anywhere ultimately.</p>
<p>These setiments originate in a couple of assumptions that are worth challenging:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The responsibility for the experience rests with the organizers, not the participants.</strong> This is to some extent true although it does a great disservice to most conference design. Assuming that you as a planning committee have to deliver a great experience for everyone is neither possible nor productive. You are never going to make everyone happy, so leave that idea behind. And you aren’t going to get all the content right. The best traditional conferences meet some of the expectations of participants most of the time, meaning that there are large blocks of time that don’t meet people’s expectations. And so the default setting for most participants is to spend thousands of dollars on a passive experience, taking some interest in workshops or speeches and spending the rest of the time self-organizing dinners, coffee breaks and other chances to connect with friends old and new. Another word for a conference that takes thousands of your dollars and leaves you finding your own way is “a racket.”</li>
<li><strong>People need content and structure.</strong> Of course we do, but not in the way most conference organizers deliver it. On the content side, most conference planning consists of spending a year guessing what people want to learn about, or worse, putting out RFPs for workshops, which results in conferences becoming big commercials for people’s pet processes, or ideas, without any consideration for what folks want to learn. The conference is then marketed on the backs of these offerings. That isn’t to say that there can’t be value, but it does constrain learning. Similarly, with structure, conference organizers will often say to me that things like Open Space don’t have enough structure. Open Space has plenty of structure, but it is free of content until the gathering itself populates the agenda with the questions that are top of mind. I have worked at countless conferences where “structure” is everything. And what this typically means is that the conference runs behind schedule and people are herded here and there, shortshrifting almost every aspect of their experience, to the point where folks just plain don’t return from coffee breaks.</li>
<li><strong>People learn by passive listening.</strong> There is no question that a stirring keynote or a dynamic and powerful presentation can have the effect of galvanizing ideas and making people hungry for learning. But too often the passive experience of listing to experts is built into conferences such that a key note is followed by a panel, is followed by lecture-workshops, is followed by another keynote and so on. Participation is minimal.</li>
</ul>
<p>What I have discovered over the years is that people want to be in a conference setting that has a variety of experience. If there is a keynote, it is important to have that person act more as a provocateur, to set up questions that folks can dialogue around rather than proclaiming the truth from on high. Also building a conference in part or in whole around Open Space means that people can bring their own questions and expertise to the gathering, create a marketplace to exchange ideas and perhaps even create new ways of being together. I don’t think every conference needs to end in “action,” but I do think that many conferences could build in more explicit opportunities to start something.</p>
<p>the bottom line for people in understanding that giving up control is important. A conference planning committee should focus on building a container into which participants can pour their ideas. Creative, engaging, participatory conferences and gatherings have substantial participation undertaken by the participants themselves. They look at how passive a conference is and break open opportunities for people to connect, to go on a learning journey together, to create something new, or simply to sit in good conversation with each other catching up and sharing their work.</p>
<p>Trust your participants and invite them well. Invite them to come prepared to make contributions. Put responsibility for their experience solidly in their laps. Let them know that if they are taking to time and money to come to the gathering, they should also take the chance to create and contribute content to the gathering. Bring your questions, bring your stories, look for others and see what you can create. Challenge participants to show up to a co-creative gathering rich in conversations, connections and inspiration. Invite them, provide a good container with tools for them to do their work, and turn it over to them.</p>
<p>Fearless conference planning, accompanied by excellent invitation and skilful hosting for productive self-organization and emergence creates memorable experiences.</p>
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