Because of today

Because of today... HiSL (hear, see and love each other) and the signs of NOT being heard or seen, I'll be able to ask better questions… to listen, see and love rather than judge.

Because of today… leading is my duty — and I must do with courage, humility and passion!

Because of today… my heart is encouraged to listen more deeply to the disturbances that persist and hold them in compassion.

Because of today… be more mindful — what's the deepest longing in our hearts?

Because of today… I have new actions and connections that will help me toward enacting my personal vision and quest.

Because of today… my heart and soul are warmed and encouraged, left hopeful to hold to do the work of healing the planet.

Because of today… I am going to engage with more heart, passion and purpose!

— from the closing session of the third annual conference, Saturday, June 28, 2008

Annual conference documents for downloading and links

Conference program including handouts from Peggy Holman's plenary sessions, conference-program.pdf, 996kb

Achieving higher performance through communities of practice and social networks with Clayton Gridley, David Kleweno and Iris Lemmer, communities-of-practice.pdf, 1.1mb

Crucial conversations with a cross-cultural twist with Richard Wilkinson, crucial-conversations.pdf, 264kb

The end of leadership and consultancy as we know it with Joelle Lyons Everett and Keith McCandless, end-of-leadership.pdf, 1.5mb

Leading change with head and heart with Lismary deLemos and Brit Poulson, leading-head-heart.pdf, 520kb

Radical change at the “speed of trust” with Mary Allison, Dan Oestreich, Sandra Sault Poulson, change-at-speed-of-trust.pdf, 1.1mb

Steven Wright's graphic facilitation of the day. All six murals, osrconf08-graphicfacil.pdf, 5.6MB
Plenary session: Change in 4 movements, osrconf08-01-Change-in-4.pdf, 984KB
Plenary session: Q&A, Ethics, osrconf08-02-QandA-Ethics.pdf, 1.1MB
Plenary session: Reflections on seating arrangements, osrconf08-03-Reflections-on-seating.pdf, 648KB
After lunch: Proximity games, osrconf08-04-proximity-games.pdf, 712KB
Afternoon harvest, osrconf08-05-afternoon-harvest.pdf, 836KB
Closing mural, osrconf08-06-closing-mural.pdf, 1.5MB

Related links

Attendees

Event description, schedule, workshop descriptions

Matt Smith joins the team of conference hosts

Matt Smith, OSR's visiting presenter in kinesthetic learning, replaces improvisation artist Randy Dixon on the Annual Conference program for Saturday, June 28. Randy was unexpectedly called out of town to assist TheaterSports Toronto.

Matt, who has been teaching with OSR since 1995, founded Seatle Improv in 1985 and Stark/RavingTheatre (including the award-winning Here/There) with Ed Sampson in 1988. He uses improvisational theatre theory to facilitate trainings in teambuilding, creative brainstorming, stress management, managing change and conflict resolution.

Matt joins improvisation artist Michael Bils and graphic facilitator Steven Wright for Peggy Holman's morning plenary session, An experiment in four movements.

Map where you are changing the world

Hi Fellow Change Agents!
Let everyone know how you are changing your own corner of the world. As part of the conference on How is Change Changing? Exploring New Patterns of Practice, you are invited to show everyone where you are doing this work. Here is a link to a GoogleMap. Follow the pattern and put in the change project you are involved in, where it is located, and your name. Even if you are not the sole leader, please let us know what you are doing, so long as you are actively involved and it is a current project (planning phase is okay too). Please enter only one location for each project. Each person can put in their own balloon to announce what they are doing.

Larry West OSR 9

View Larger Map

Scholarships available for Saturday's conference

A limited number of complimentary admissions for those who can't afford to come are now available for the OSR Annual Conference, Saturday, June 28. Contact Paula Brekke at 206-296-5898 no later than Wednesday, June 25.

Conference design team greeting

Hi Everyone!
My name is Larry West, an OSR 9 Master's graduate. I am an OSR Alumni Association board member and one of the hosts of the June conference, "How is change changing? Exploring new patterns of practice."  Our design team meeting today was very electric and promises an exciting conference day on Saturday, June 28th. Peggy Holman, one of the authors of the The Change Handbook and our keynote speaker, joined us. As did Michael Bils, an improv artist with Unexpected Productions, and Steven Wright, our graphic facilitator for the event.

If you have not signed up yet, may I offer a suggestion? Call up someone you know in OSR and find out if they plan to attend. Whenever I attend a conference or seminar, I get at least twice as much out of the experience if I have friend with whom I can share the experience and compare notes. In any case, greetings on behalf of your 2008 annual conference design team — Dee Endelman, John Curry, John Wilson, Nalani Linder and Steve Byers.

Larry West

Greg Williamson: Improving achievement through student engagement

Young people can work with adults to create positive change in fundamentally different ways. Northwest Education, the magazine from the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, describes projects in several states that show some of the results including work by OSR 13 grad, Greg Williamson.

In the current issue, Greg talks about the role of student engagement to improve learning.

Even a simple thing — such as like how a parents might talk to their student when the state assessment results come in the mail — can be a vehicle for student engagement. At Washington's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) we asked students to write a guide for this conversation, and to help redesign the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) report card so students could explain it in their own language. All of these examples, and many more, become clear once we begin seeing students as partners, as resources, and as people who are learning ‘on the job.’ The results are useful products that help schools meet their improvement targets while helping students make ‘what we are asking you to learn’ relevant to their lives. Students can find a way to connect to their own strengths — especially if they don't think they have any — and teach one important thing to one other person. The feeling of success that comes from that is irrepressible.”

Read the full article.

Greg Williamson and students from Black Hills High School present a workshop on youth participation in change at the OSR Annual Conference, Saturday, June 28.

On the edge of my curiosity

Peggy Holman shares her change-is-changing insights with Lucy Garrick (OSR 12). Peggy is co-author of The Change Handbook, now in its second edition, and is the keynote speaker for the OSR Annual Conference on Saturday, June 28.

LG: What brought you to change work?

PH: I come out of the world of software. During the early days of the cellular phone industry, my company brought in a quality expert to help us with a project that was in trouble. I’d never seen a professional facilitator before and as I watched what he was doing I thought, “If I knew more about that we’d be better at delivering software systems.” I spent the next three years engaged in a company-wide adoption of Total Quality that made us the best in the industry by virtually every measure.

Thinking I understood change, I started to do some work and instantly fell flat on my face. That’s when I actually started to learn what change work was about. By then, our vice president of quality had hired me to find out what was on the leading edge of change and learning organizations. It was shortly after The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge came out. I ran into new practices like dialogue, appreciative inquiry, open space technology and future search. I looked for places inside the company where we could experiment.

Three artists join the annual conference line-up

A Seattle native gets hooked on the high-wire nature of improvisation after taking a class. A theologian develops his undeniable penchant for improvisation during a vision quest. And a graphic artist tames the unpredictable virtual meeting landscape with a tablet PC and web-based technology.

These talented gentlemen, Randy Dixon, Michael Bils and Steven Wright, join Peggy Holman at the OSR Annual Conference, Saturday, June 28. Dixon and Bils bring their improvised theatrics from Unexpected Productions at Pike Place Market. Wright is a graphic facilitator working virtually world-wide. He'll illustrate the conference live and in person.

When these four come together with you and a hundred others it's destined to be "much-more-than-a conversation" about how change is changing. Reserve your place today.

What’s on tap at the annual conference

Eight workshops examining emerging practices, sampling self-awareness tools and probing fascinating case studies are on the docket for this year's annual conference, Saturday, June 28. You'll have the chance to attend two of the eight offered — a workshop in the morning and the afternoon.

Here is a taste of what's coming:

• Finding the magic: When groups achieve extraordinary results with Kathy Ryan,
• The way we travel will change the world with Glenda Chaffin, Will Hewett, Elaine Jessen and Bob Woodruff,
• Radical change at the "speed of trust" with Mary Allison, Dan Oestreich and Sandra Sault Poulson,
• The end of leadership and consultancy as we know it with Joelle Lyons Everett and Keith McCandless.

Plus our keynote speaker and host, Peggy Holman, co-author of The Change Handbook. Check the OSR Web site for schedule and workshop details.

Admission for the day-long event is $95. Look for a special offer for alumni and friends in the mail. Or reserve your place today.

Find reunion and renewal with kindred spirits at the annual conference. Presented by the OSR Alumni Association.

Peggy Holman to keynote third annual conference

Effective, sustainable change requires organizations and communities to engage in “whole system” approaches. How we engage systems is shifting.

“When talking about the need for changing the way we change… we’ve honed in on some particular patterns/trends that exert tremendous forces screaming for changes in the way we work together... The need for organized group events [is] an imperative for any leader – at any level – who is seeking improvements in his or her organization or community.” — The Change Handbook, page 3

Peggy Holman,  co-author of The Change Handbook: The definitive resource on today’s best methods for engaging whole systems, will keynote the conference.

Come explore the evolving attributes of change intervention. Investigate the emerging nature of consultative work. Probe the current and emerging ethical issues concerning change.

OSR Annual Conference • Saturday, June 28 — find reunion and renewal at the annual conference, presented by the OSR Alumni Association.

Workshop proposals requested for June conference

How do you see change changing? What are the new patterns of practice?

“When talking about the need for changing the way we change… we’ve honed in on some particular patterns/trends that exert tremendous forces screaming for changes in the way we work together... The need for organized group events [is] an imperative for any leader — at any level — who is seeking improvements in his or her organization or community.” — The Change Handbook, page 3

The OSR Annual Conference design team is seeking presenters interested in developing  90-minute interactive and experiential workshops that explore the nuances of effective and sustainable change in complex human environments. Workshop proposals are now being accepted through Sunday, March 30, 2008.

Learning intentions for the conference cover the three main questions below. Successful proposals will demonstrate how the workshop attendee would develop a specific skill set or gain specific insights related to the conference theme and intentions.

How are global patterns and current trends impacting change intervention methods? Possible topics:

• Global dissemination of communication technology
• Increased global participation
• Increase of conflicting demands of multiple stakeholders
• The potential impact of the social networking phenomenon

What are the emerging possibilities in consulting practices? Possible topics:

• People discovering wisdom within themselves
• Connection to one another and respect for peoples’ differences
• Emergence of inspired organizations and enlightened communities
• The art of hosting conversations

What ethical issues and skills are necessary in helping organizations and communities adapt to change and lasting solutions rather than quick fixes? Possible topics:

• The whole person-community; Head, heart, and spirit
• Analysis of power and dominant cultures in organizations and communities
• Leadership roles and responsibilities
• Depth of intervention in an age of geographically-dispersed teams

Download the workshop proposal application, conf-workshop-application-2008.pdf.

For additional information, contact Nalani Linder at +1-206-625-0527, or any conference design team member.

Related links

Peggy Holman keynotes third annual conference — “How is change changing?” Co-author of The Change Handbook is featured speaker on the topic.

Design team forming for June 28 conference — New features highlight annual conference

Design team forming for June 28 conference

by Lucy Garrick (OSR-12), OSR Alumni Association board co-chair

Each year's Annual Conference (this is our 3rd) has included some experimentation with new themes and/or design ideas (aka renewal). Some renewals have been better than others, but that's how we learn, right?

This year's conference has the following experimental elements which should be fun and challenging:

• The conference falls on the June OSR Masters weekend and will play a role (details to be determined) in the weekend design for OSR 14.
• The cohort learning topic is Change and Ethical Interventions.
• The conference will focus on advanced issues related to those leering themes, but you will notice that is pretty broad and how that will take shape is up to the design team.
• Design work will begin in earnest in January.
• How the conference is structured, who else presents, whether there will be concurrent sessions and other details are all yet to be determined.

Volunteers needed

Alumni Association board members Dee Endleman (OSR-7) and Larry West (OSR-9) are the board co-sponsors for the conference. They would like to hear from interested parties by Mon, Dec 31, if possible and estimate a time commitment for volunteer on average of 6-10 hours a week. It will probably depend on what you decide to do. Sharing a role, like Dee and Larry can be fun and a way to control your time.

Ways to be involved include, but are not limited to one or more of the following:

• Collaboration as part of the design team (design of the event);
• Facilitating for the conference design team or other conference teams;
• Project management;
• Helping with conference logistics, marketing, registration, greeting, decorations, etc.

Interested? Email Dee Endleman or Larry West.