11/21/2008 Present: Peggy Holman, Gabriel Shirley, Karen Davis (notetaker)
Sharing a moment of silence together was followed by a brief checkin. Most bin items were postponed to the December meeting since the “champions” were not present. Thus, there was no action, only information sharing.
1. Karen reported that Harrison’s Wave Riders has been ordered by the bookstore and is now available.
2. Gabriel enthusiastically reported on his experience of the Girl Scouts Convention that was masterfully coordinated by Christine and the OS magically facilitated by Lisa. He shared some of the events/activities including story-telling (related to leadership and courage) by the membership and results being on a screen in real time (thanks to cell phone text messaging); stories were captured digitally thanks to 150 volunteers (girls and adults who were trained onsite) that resulted in 952 video clips (some of which are now on the web); World Café got squeezed out/down and not done with the big audience, although 150 had a meaningful experience; a wiki was set up with archives; and there was an invitation at the end to individually text top priority for GSUSA plus personal commitment.
Gabriel experienced people committed to the process and to the movement and they were engaged with heart. They had passion and he had the opportunity to work directly with the girls.
Challenges: Some think that Girl Scouts is leaning over the liberal edge and this experience fueled that. In business meeting resistance to some parts of the program came out by using Roberts Rules in asking for voices to be heard (resulting in their not getting heard.)
Learnings and relearnings through GS experience: -People know experiences they have had and don’t know experiences that haven’t had - until they have a chance to engage.
-Emergent design in programs can work together well with linear thinking if the right mix is figured out. We think of them often as either/or. (This learning was thanks to a micromoment with a woman who was an IT manager for the General in the Gulf War and who volunteered to work with Gabriel on the technology process. Her linear gift was important to doing the job well and all technology elements worked smoothly.) If Gabriel chose to start all over again, he would have a dedicated project manager who is a linear thinker and who can/will push back. People are more comfortable knowing boundaries
-The bigger the group the more obvious it is that no one person is in control. It’s less and less possible to create the same kind of container that can be created with smaller groups. It’s going to be what it’s going to be to influence.
And so the dance continues. . .
NEXT MEETING: Friday December 19, 2008, 10:30 am PDT / 11:30 am MDT / 12:30 pm CDT / 1:30 pm EDT / 9:30 pm GMT (third Fridays)
BIN for December 19, 2008 OSI-USA Board Meeting: 1. An Open Space DVD for the Corporate World (Elwin) 2. Funding to Send Trainers to Underserved Areas etc. (Doug, Elwin, Lisa) 3. Girl Scout Video (pricing-text-placement) on OSI-US Products List (Christine) 4. Improving the Design of the OSI-US Products Page (Doug) 5. Learning from the Experience with Chandi (All) 6. Frequently Absent Board Members - How Do We Feel About This? (Phelim) 7. . . .