I have been working lately with friends and fellows Brenda Chaddock, Tennson Wolf and Teresa Posakony to co-create another Art of Hosting training. We will be gathering on Bowen Island here in British Columbia from September 24-28 in a practice retreat to deeply investigate these questions:
- What could my leadership also be?
- What if I would practice using collective intelligence and learning in my organisation and network?
- What could strategic conversations also be if I host them with wisdom and courage?
- How do I create authentic involvement that leads to real implementation?
The practice retreat is structured along the following principles:
- Our learning will grow out of participant contributions and presence – we will support each other as co-learners
- We will learn by observation, experience and practice, using interactive processes to build a safe and inspiring learning environment – we will explore Open Space Technology, Appreciative Inquiry, Circle Council, reflective practices, World Cafe, and other participatory methodologies
- Taking a chance to explore – and experiment with – applying these tools to your own projects-in-progress will help you to apply your skills, as well as develop and continue a new practice that will last well beyond this training
And through a variety of processes and conversations, we will investigate:
- Hosting conversations as a core leadership practice and competence for leading change
- How the Art of Hosting is an organising pattern/culture that invites new ways of living and working
- The conditions needed to create space for meaningful conversations
- Specific interactive processes through which learning and creation can emerge
- Sensing and shaping the conditions and timing for using particular methods and tools
- How the practice of hosting can be applied to key strategic change projects in our lives and work
This is a powerful training, and we invite you to join us. For more information, or to register, visit the Art of Hosting page or contact me by email.
[tags]facilitation+training, art+of+hosting[/tags]
From whiskey river:
No Knowing
Do not follow the path I say
for it does not exist
you cannot find enlightenment
contained within a list
do not follow leaders
they cannot set you free
and perhaps now most importantly
listen not to me.
– Ikkyu
I’m in the middle of a period of teaching at the moment, having just come off a two day Open Space practice workshop with college students and a three day Art of Hosting with Aboriginal youth leaders and coming up to a three day OST practice retreat.
I can’t think of better advice for my students!
My friend Toke Moeller and I are running an Art of Hosting training this week with 12 Aboriginal youth here in British Columbia. We are having a marvelous time so far with one day behind us and two ahead. There have been some good insights as we head deeper into the essences and practicesof hosting conversations that matter. Today we spent time in a natural circle of trees in Cathedral Grove near Port Alberni, which is a pokect of nearyl 1000 year old douglas-fir and cedar on the Cameron River. These old ones make good teachers, especially when we bring them questions about confronting our fears.
I had one or two insights myself today about the essence of effective conversation. Both arose in an appreciative conversation with Toke. For me, a powerful one was that effective conversation creates in the spaces in which true offerings of the heart can be made. The results of the best conversations include having the participants in that conversation able to give gifts of their time, attention and commitment to the result. All good action arises as a result of this kind of free, heart-based offering.
And we also noticed that good conversations contain the seeds of stories which are repeated for years afterwards. It is, in fact, nearly impossible to know these seeds untila later time, when we pull them out of a bag and tell them as stories. But for sure, an effective conversation is one that conceives these seeds that later brith in the momentof telling. Who is to know what any of these seeds will become?
What can you add to this list?
I am proud and lucky to count Toke Moeller as a friend, colleague and teacher. The other day, as I was checking his site for some information for some upcoming Art of Hosting trainings we are doing, I stumbled over his page of principles and assumptions for his work. They are worth reprinting here
Some of our assumptions
- Organisations have more to do with living organic systems than machines
- Learning is a core competence in the network society
- Learning, change and transformation involve a degree of chaos
- The world is too complex to be led by individuals
- Sustainable solutions emerge through conversation and collaborative endeavour
- Conversation and dialogue opens the collective intelligence, wisdom and action
- Diversity is a gift – not a problem!
- New insights and understanding are at the heart of reflective living and wise acting
Some of our design principles
- What is meaningful must always be at the center
- The combination of good theory, methods and bold practice creates learning
- Engaging many of our intelligences brings about learning of a higher quality
- Going from participation to contribution enhances learning
- Plan for emergence
- Conscious choice is a precondition for learning
- Clear context and purpose brings clarity and focus
- “Less is more!”
Toke is a remarkable host. Seeing these principles in practice is a treat.
Some upcoming learning opportunities in the British Columbia and Washington state areas…
News from my dear friend Peggy Holman that she and Steve Cato are offering their Appreiciative Inquiry facilitation training on February 1-3, and it’s not too late to register.
Toke Moeller is hosting a FlowGame at Aldermarsh on Whidbey Island in the middle of March, after which we are penciling in an Art of Hosting primarily with Aboriginal youth, but open to the public as well on Vancouver Island.
Michael Herman and I will be offering a retreat to support practices for Open Space faiclitation in April, during the week of April 17th here on Bowen Island. We’re almost ready to make a formal announcement and invitation, but if you’d like more details leve a comment or send me and email.
And tonight, Christina Baldwin is reading from her new book Storycatcher: Making Sense of our Lives Through the Power and Practice of Story at Ayurveda in Vancouver at 3636 West 4th Ave. from 6-8pm. That event is free, so if you’re in the area you shouldn’t miss the chance to hear Christina read. I might get down to that if I get a chance.
So with all this good hosting learning going on, here is a great hosting song to add to the playlist: