Blogging live from an Open Space at the University of British Columbia. It’s a beautiful day here on Point Grey in Vancouver and most of the groups are working outside. With a garden and a view like that, who could blame them? More photos here.
Rare that I completely reproduce a full post from someone else’s blog, but Doug Germann did a masterful job today of capturing the terror of dialogue: There is deadly risk in dialogue. We are imperiled. If we are born in conversation, we die there, too. We die when we leave it; we die when we meet another, for we cannot long remain other, and yet we must. Both people must be willing to let shields down, the shields which keep us inside our images of ourselves. Our plans may not be accepted, they might be tossed aside, worthless. We might …
Many of the circles I travel in instersect in many intimate ways. People I meet here on the west coast of Canada months apart turn out to be co-authors of papers and books. Folks I hear about from others turn out to be partners in crome later on. The Art of Hosting world is a little like that, touching as it does on many many different networks. And through these serendipitous connections, it turns out that I am personally acquainted with two of the three authors of a great little free e-book called Mapping Dialogue. I met Zaid Hassan last …
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 …
Having a weblog in addition to having a regular website means that there are two front doors to my online home. There have been a lot of searches here lately for facilitation and Open Space resources, so I thought I would highlight the collections that I maintain through two pages here. Open Space Technology resources Facilitation resources I hope you find these useful. Let me know how they are for you.