Human to Human

In Ottawa, I hosted an OS on “Harvesting – taking it out of the room” with CUPE. Really good hit for me with some great learning. And people were digging and joining in the artifacts.

Here’s a link to the harvest: http://web.mac.com/neagan/Site/CUPE_January.html#85. And all the other photos that Nancy posted there.

This was a session on taking it out, but included threads on “what happened in the last three days?” A bit of what stands out to me…

– a good artifact for someone who was not at the event is one that makes them curious enough to ask you to tell them more about it
– common ground is a harvest even without words (yup, they were feeling the field)
– be thoughtful about headlines (this is really a practice, eh)
– magic (a comment on what happened from one on the design team that was really skeptical)

And this funny one that was a strong awareness of how concretely we worked with speed – redesigned workshops in 75 minutes, etc. “You guys are like Quaker Oatmeal – instant.” It was so cool.

All born from the field, wisdom that becomes available because of open heart, engaged conversation, and enabled action, I feel.

To wrap up a recent project, a 2008 planning meeting for CUPE’s union developers, I met with colleagues and cohosts Nancy and Angela. We met in phone council — checking in, naming a question, listening, harvesting, choosing wise action, checking out. Though the specifics of this conversation mattered less, the three of us work in beautiful partnership, I learned a lot about how to shape and feel this issue.

The questions we asked of each other:

What are your needs?
What flow can we create with this money?
What is best right-relations sharing of this pot?
What gifting might we decide to offer to others to support this pattern?

I love the agreement we came to with such clarity, beauty, and swiftness.

Split the pot equally.
Give some right-relations amount extra to the project lead.
Always ask for what you need and offer what you can.

And these very cool learnings / principles…

Whereas the old model for these decisions is more transactional, the new model is energetic. It is not about who did what work. It is about how we collectively invite, create, hold a field to work in before, during, and after the event.
As with design, work on logistics with open heart, enaged conversation, and clarity of action — beautiful.
Agree to this as a conversation each time, not a formula, to listen with attention and act with love.

Welcome the “when” of working and creating together again.

harvest/found poem — conversation with tenneson 07.27.07

what does the next look like?

lean into it
ask
what is real?

stand with
the deepening edge
be willing

to pause

hold yourself with
that big energy
this time of turning

tap into the purpose
the experience
of being human

greet this as an invitation

to our next wide ocean

of beauty