Prince George, BC
Four years ago less a month I was running a huge Open Space event here in Prince George, in fact in the building that right outside my hotel room window. Called “Seeds of Change” the event was a kick off for the urban Aboriginal Strategy, a community driven and led process intended to begin and seed projects that would make a difference in the lives of the urban Aboriginal community in this northern city of 80,000 people.
One of the participants at that event was Ben Berland, who was at the time working with the Prince George school district as an Aboriginal coordinator. Ben had a vision of doing something really different within the education system here in PG. He built upon a long standing recommendation to start a different kind of school. He attracted a number of interested folks at the Open Space and moved his project idea forward.
A couple of years later, a task force was struck to study options for systemic change in the school system and one of their recommendations was to establish a primary Aboriginal Choice School within the school district.
The choice school idea is based on some very successful models in Edmonton and Winnipeg. Getting it rolling has been a lot of work for many people here in Prince George, but tonight was the first of four consultation cafes we are running with four inner city school communities to find out what it would take to make a choice school successful in this city.
Ben, who is now working with the local Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council showed up tonight to hold some space with us and help run some small group conversations. When he saw me the first thing he did was to remind me that this whole idea – four years in germination – had started at the Seeds of Change event.
This whole choice school initiative is a huge undertaking and it feels like in many ways the community here is just beginning its work, starting to engage in earnest with the complexities of finally implementing the idea that gained momentum across the street four years ago.
Things take time. It’s interesting that we know that and we forget it at the same time. We crave immediate results for our ideas. When we forget that things take time, we forget everything that has gone on to take us to the point where we are finally able to start something and we forget the people that laid the groundwork for things. So tonight I am sitting here grateful for Ben’s reminder about where things come from, and what it takes for big shifts to happen. It takes hard work, and a firm conviction and most of all, it takes time.
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From my dear friend Peggy Holman:
A few weeks ago, I spontaneously created a new form of convergence with a group of about 20. I think it can work well with groups of 60 or less, and perhaps with groups up to 100 or so.
I was intending to do what I always do these days – follow the energy and re-open the space for what has heart and meaning for taking a next step. Instead, because the meeting was intended to both give the group a chance to bond as well as set priorities for their work, something else emerged in the moment.This was a first meeting of a diverse group that was dealing with a challenging subject: the transformation of the field of corrections throughout the USA. They had spent an evening sharing stories about their work and a day in Open Space, exploring, “How can corrections, in collaboration with other human services, help cultivate a strong and healthy society?”. The last morning, we began with a conversation about their work together as a prelude to opening the space to identify their priorities (as established by the sessions that were called).One participant was very concerned whether this “arbitrary” approach of following the energy would lead to the best priorities. I suggested that we see what emerged and then determine whether a more rational approach should be employed. Given the culture of the group, I sensed in that moment that the people in the room needed to know where each other stood – what each of them would choose as a priority. And since bonding was part of the purpose of the gathering, I asked each of them to write on a sheet of paper the inquiry they felt was more important to pursue, the subject they personally felt most passionate about. No one hesitated.Once they were done writing, each read his or her topic aloud. Then they physically got up and moved to join with others who had said something related to their topic. The landed in 2 groups, split about 1/3 and 2/3rds. This degree of coherence was quite stunning for them. They went off to talk about their topics. When they returned, we checked in, as promised, on whether these were the best priorities. The group was almost giddy with excitement. No question. They were clear they had the right priorities.another great day (or two) in Open Space,
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I was just putting together some materials for an Open Space training workshop I’m doing in Prince Rupert, BC on Friday and I compiled three useful approaches to facilitating action planning in Open Space. The first is my own version of moving to action, the second is Diana Larsen’s approach to prioritizing ideas by impact and energy and the third approach is Jack Martin Leith’s approach to project planning, which he blogged here.
The three are in an easy to download .pdf. Enjoy.
UPDATE: I would be remiss not to point to Lisa Heft’s site, where she dilligently collected dozens of variations on convergence and action planning.
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My friend Carmen Pirie writes from Halifax about an Open Space event he facilitated in Newfoundland last week. To harvest proceedings, they used ning and a short video clip from each host.
I like what I see here.
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Raffi Aftendelian has released the final version of Living Peace: the open space of our lives. It features contributions from all over the world, including a piece from my life and business partner Caitlin Frost about parenting in Open Space.
Another free book from the Open Space community. Thanks Raffi and everyne who contributed!