Methods for Strategic Collaboration

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Comment by Raymond F. Peck on November 5, 2011 at 5:24am

Hello - I am Raymond - from Switzerland - Zurich

I intend to open a Virtual-Café-Tea-Bistro. The whole website shall serve as a meeting place of thoughtful people who seriously like to engage themselves to building - up conditions all over the world that allow people t live in peace. As a member of our group http://www.integrale-politik.ch/ which is already undertaking similar

things as the world cafe does, I was searching for your site and find it important to link with places where likeminded people gather, exchange and discuss ideas and support each other. Many new ideas that have transformed societies have been born in Coffee-Teahouses or Bars. Why not transmit it into the virtual world?

My experience with people through my long years travel around the world. Ever since my childhood I explored philosophical and spiritual topics.
Since 1995 I am Co-founder of the NovaTerra Project, and initiator and head of the NovaTerra-Chain that serves as a platform for global networkingof alternative communities.Since 1999 I manage my own Publishing Company "Blue River". I wrote the books Psycho-Terra (e.g. World-Soul - Welten-Seele), "Human Adventure"(Abenteuer-Mensch), "Blossom of the Heart"(Bluete des Herzens) and my newest book "Mind-Worlds" (Gedanken-Welten), will appear in 2012

 I hope we can exchange from time to time our experiences.

wishing you all a great Day.

Best regards, Raymond 

Comment by Christine Whitney Sanchez on August 30, 2011 at 11:18am

Dear Jung fans,

If you haven't seen this precious piece from the BBC's 1959 series, I hope you will find it as intimately enriching as I did. 

“Carl Gustav Jung was eighty-four years old when he was interviewed for the BBC series, Face-to-Face, in October of 1959.  At the time, he was the world’s greatest living psychologist.  Founder of Analytical Psychology and originator of the concept of the Collective Unconscious.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQNb23X8PRI&feature=related

 

Comment by Christine Whitney Sanchez on August 25, 2011 at 9:41pm

Hi all...I'm going to be on panel at the Arizona City of Leagues and Towns annual conference and have been able to grab 15 minutes of interactive time to give the city managers, mayors and staff an opportunity to experience the power of collective wisdom. 

 

The focus of the panel is the relationship between community engagement and economic development.  I would appreciate any and all thoughts about meaningful questions and what to do in those 15 minutes.

Warm wishes from sizzling Phoenix, Christine

Comment by juanita brown on March 28, 2011 at 6:09pm

Hi everyone....the following is a wonderful story by Susan Partnow about the combination of World Cafe and Open Space in a session she did in Monrovia, Liberia.....very exciting....and I'm sure she'd love your feedback and comments,

Warmly,

Juanita

Last Saturday my partners and I hosted over 120 community leaders at an Open Space Community Meeting here in Monrovia, Liberia.  My small non profit, Global Citizen Journey, in partnership with the Liberian organization, Population Caring Organization, are launching the Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative to help grow a network of leaders that cut across all of the many divides here:  traditional, Christian, Muslim; 16+ ethnic groups; men/women; youth/elders; educated/illiterate; ex-combatants; returning refugees.  We have recruited 35 leaders from the Interfaith Council of Churches, Tribal Elders Council, National Council of Tribal Governance, and several NGOs plus the Kofi Annan Graduate school of Peace Studies.  These 35 received a 5 day training in Compassionate Listening, Restorative Circles, Trauma Healing, Forgiveness & Reconciliation – and I will return in 2 months to continue this train-the-trainer program.  One of the components they will learn is how to facilitate Open Space and World Café, so they will have these powerful tools to share with their communities and bring their groups together in dialogue.  To introduce them to this practice, they were invited to attend with their invited guests to a Community Meeting last Saturday with the convening question,

“It’s up to us – you and me.  We have challenges and opportunities.

What can we do now to begin to create the Liberia that works for all of us”

 

For this first week, I was accompanied by a group of students and two professors from Salem State University (in Massachusetts) – led by Dr. Greg Carroll, chair of the Intercultural and Peace studies program there – and we offered a 3 day training to the Salem students plus students from the Kofi Annan School of Peace Studies at the University of Liberia. 

For the community meeting, we started the morning with a World Café – to help connect everyone across the diverse groups present in the room – and to begin giving them the experience and skill of dialogue, i.e. each person having a turn to have their voice heard, each person listening to one another, weaving together thoughts into a dialogue – vs. their usual habit of orating, with each speaker giving their own little speech without connection to the speaker before or after.  We had three rounds with these questions:

Round 1) What do you love about Liberia?

Round 2) What keeps us from making Liberia what we want it to be?

Round 3) How can we begin to work together to make these ‘better Liberia’ dreams come true?

 

Before we began the first round, we had everyone move around so they would be in a circle that included men  and women and people they didn’t know.  This took a while, but with help from the Salem students and PCO staff, we got them into the small groups of 4.  I introduced and explained the use of a talking object (we had stones picked up at their beautiful beaches).  After I explained in my US English, a local party translated into the local vernacular creole (“everybody talk small small time with ‘talking object-o’ and listen each other-o”).  Still, there was clear lack of understanding – this was out of everyone’s experience – so we went around to each group to help them get it:  so someone would actually pick up their talking object and begin – and pass it around, no cross talk…  It was fascinating to see how –by the third round—everyone in the room had caught on to the idea – and the groups were fully engaged, one round with the talking object, then really juicy and connected/coherent conversation…  We had a great debrief and discussion…  Then we moved into a large double circle and I introduced Open Space – so thrilled to tell them how it was really coming back home to them – since Harrison Owen learned so much from Liberia (where he was the head of Peace Corps) that he wove into the process…

They were very responsive to step right up and offer topics… After creating the market place, we had lunch with some fabulous Liberian drumming and dancing… and then moved into the first session. Again, it took a while  for them to really understand how they could move from session to session – and how they could choose a session to attend – not just their own topic!  But by ~15-20 minutes into it, everyone was fully engaged in a topic of their choice…

 

For the Open Space, 26 topics were generated:

1. How can we bring fair justice in Liberia to make peace
2. Living as an ambassador of genuine peace
3. How to resolve land dispute
4. Creating peace among learners
5. Conflict Resolution
6. How can we reconcile?
7. What is the future after 2011 elections?
8. How can we build peace in Liberia?
9. Peace begins with us
10. Culture into education
11. Improvement of education sector
12. Good working relationship
13. What you can do to bring above peace?
14. What it takes to be a community leader?
15. Peace brings unity
16. National reconciliation
17. Forgive one another
18. How to avoid bad governance
19. How can Salem State University help Liberia?
20. Methods of building peace
21. Promoting peacebuilding implementations @ workplaces/ schools & Universities/ communities/ churches/ government & institutions
22. Democracy & good governance, leadership with integrity to have a peaceful environment in Liberia
23. Peace in the family
24. Peace in 16 counties
25. How do we protect the peace we enjoy?
26. What Liberians stand to benefit should the peace process become successful?

 

Since there were no computers available and many people do not write, we had a helper in each group help create a flipchart with key points discussed and any action steps identified.  Our Liberian Partners will create a report that contains much of this information and will disseminate it to each of the key groups that sent participants.  I’ll keep you posted on outcomes we hear of.  Though already we heard there was quite a buzz about what a successful and engaging event it was – and how people are introducing the idea of circles and talking objects to their communities.

 

All for now,

Susan

Susan Partnow

Founding Director, Global Citizen Journey

4425 Baker Ave NW

Seattle, WA 98107

tel. 206-783-8561

fax 206-782-7786

www.globalcitizenjourney.org

join our mailing list

 

www.susanpartnow.com   Partnow Communications, Organizational Development, Consulting & Facilitation

www.conversationcafe.org   Co-Founder

www.compassionatelistening.org  Sr. Certified Facilitator

 

"When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness.  Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other."  --Margaret Wheatley

 

Comment by Adrian Pyle on March 20, 2011 at 9:39pm

Further to my blog entry below - some "flip videos" about the space we are trying to  create using theory U alongside world cafe and other space making processes...

Comment by Christine Whitney Sanchez on March 13, 2011 at 6:59pm

Dear World Cafe friends,

As you may have noticed, Arizona is getting a reputation for outrageous talk and diminished listening.  It's time for Arizonans to engage in Honest-to-Goodness Conversations!

Collaborative Spark is a group of Arizonans who are passionate about civil dialogue and civic action.  In the past few months, we partnered with Project Civil Discourse to host a Community Conversation on Immigration, using World Cafe and an Open Space on Civic Action as part of It's Up to Me, AZ.  

Whether you live in Arizona or are a friend of Arizona, I invite you to join Collaborative Spark for the Honest-to-Goodness Conversations workshop to increase your ability to make a difference in your business, your community and your life.

Honest-to-Goodness Conversations will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on April 13, 2011.   Please note that we are offering a discount for non-profit organizations and full-time students.

We are excited about this day of skill-building, practice and engagement in a strength-based approach to change.  Enrollment is limited to create a supportive learning environment, so register soon!

Please pass this along to others who might be interested in learning about the power of ordinary conversations to develop stronger relationships and communities.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Warm wishes from a beautiful spring day in Arizona,

Christine Whitney Sanchez

Partner

Innovation Partners International

www.innovationpartners.com

Co-Founder

Collaborative Spark

www.collaborativespark.com

Comment by Ria Baeck on March 6, 2011 at 6:05am

Message to Cath Cameron, in response to the email message to this group: Do you know that there are a lot of people in Australia that are trained in World Café and the wider Art of Hosting?

You probably find someone nearby who is doing similar work than you are doing. Check out Daikin University and Success Works - Stephen Duns knows probably more.

Comment by Adrian Pyle on February 24, 2011 at 9:53pm

A new blog at this World Cafe Ning about a "multi-method" experiment in community building...

 

http://www.theworldcafecommunity.org/profiles/blogs/an-experiment-i...

Comment by Christine Whitney Sanchez on February 14, 2011 at 6:18am

Dear Lovers,

Seven years ago, I spontaneously wrote the attached "Interview With My Valentine" for my husband.  We had such a profound experience, that it has become our Valentine tradition.

This year, as Reuben and I celebrate 33 years of Valentine's Days, we will be thinking of all you lovers out there, who might be having an interview with your Valentine.

Love,

Christine

Christine Whitney Sanchez

InterviewWithMyValentine.pdf

Comment by Christine Whitney Sanchez on January 27, 2011 at 6:27pm

Dearest  Juanita,

 

Thank you for holding those of us in Arizona in your heart and for holding the space for healing and the opportunities that are flowing out of this tragedy.

 

As I told Juan Luis yesterday, Gabby's healing is proceeding well.  She is leading the way for us to expand our sense of resilience and the profound possibilities of this time.  Much like the Chilean mine rescues, we can feel our connection to the global family.

 

Juanita, you have been an inspirational partner in this journey of community conversations and new forms of civil discourse.  Promise USA may not have taken flight but its spirit has taken new forms.

 

I am touched by the outpouring of love and support from members of the World Cafe, Open Space, Presencing, Appreciative Inquiry, NCDD, Girl Scouts, and Methods for Strategic Collaboration communities.  And I am grateful for the steady grounding of my partners in Collaborative Spark and Innovation Partners International.

 

With love and appreciation to all,

Christine

 

 

 

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