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Notes from Board Meeting February 2006

OSI: Feb. 24, 2006, 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time Present: Gabriel, Peggy, Doug, Karen, Tree Notes: Tree

A long, deep silence to begin, with almost no check in verbalized.

Agenda: 1. Annual letter 2. Sponsoring OSonOS US 3. How to make OS stories more visible 4. Field guide (Doug, Lisa)

SUMMARY OF MEETING:

Energy was low for each item on the agenda. We realized there was low energy for the entire agenda and we spent out time together catching up on each other’s lives, which, as it happens, is an excellent way to renew energy. So, while it might have looked like we did nothing, we did.

1. Annual letter Is Lisa’s the latest versions and what are thoughts on that? First, send a report, second letter, please send money.

PH: just getting one letter out is challenging, given her time constraints. Lisa right to move bylaws further down the list. And, spelling things out further down the list.

PH: I have some questions about what we want to do in 2006, don’t think we’ve had a conversation about it. Such as: extend formal inks between institutes around world? Does someone have passion for doing this? Karen has energy for this. Such as: support formation of new institutes. Such as: continue extension of POP events. Karen knows HO is doing a number of POPs, plus a number of PoP? events across the world. PH: I am not aware of OSI having direct involvement. Karen, OSI involved because I used OSI federal ID. . . we will be doing it again. Would you consider tithing something from the PoP? to the OSI to have the benefit of calling it a nonprofit? Karen, we’ve been lucky to have a couple hundred bucks. . . whoever wants to be there, we let them in. Question is, is this something as OSI that we want to be on record with? Karen says yes.

PH: Is there someone on the board who has the passion to pursue it? If there is, then it is something will likely get done. If not. . . . it is unlikely to get done.

Tree has energy to do PoP? with intention of conflict. Karen willing to be identified.

Encourage & invite more active marketplace for project funding, listing of resources: it’s in the letter, are we actually involved as OSI at this point?

GS: does this require action before Michael comes back? Does it belong in annual letter? Doug: inclined to say probably not in the letter. . . we are not really promising to do this. K: probably does not go in the letter, I’m willing to ask John if he willing to follow up.

Do we need to do some sensing into. . . are there other activities in addition to or instead of that is on this list that there is passion for? I am listening to a healthy amount of silence, I’m struggling with my own energy and focus around OSI energy at the moment, my energy elsewhere right now, not much has a lot of relevance to me at the moment beyond my book deadline. And I honor the sense of commitment I hear from Karen for her participating.

Doug: I think there is also fair amount going on for others, I know at my end. Ditto for everyone.

GS: is it right to be sending out this letter from this kind of energetic space? My proposal is to not worry too much. Is there major consequence in letting it slide, other than it is not tradition?

We decided to do nothing. At least right now.

2.OSonOS US: sponsoring thoughts?

Is this HO’s OSonOS by the sea? No. Doug has energy behind OSonOS in US but has not done anything yet. Contact Gaia Tree Erlandsen, same stream as OSonOS in US last year. If HO doing a N. American one in September. . . HO’s has a limited number, might not be OSonOS in a traditional sense. If there is energy for N. Carolina, I’d say pursue it. On the same token, the two previous ones had twenty five one year, HO’s meeting will have thirty which would tend to draw from same pool of people. . . so unless we were to do one on the W. Coast. Hmmm. . . Doug will follow up with Gaia Tree Erlandsen and see if there is energy. . . otherwise, maybe decide to do it next year.

3.How to make OS stories more visible?

Which was a topic with lots of energy at one point. . . reflect on dialogue on appreciative interviewing questions. Lisa sent some sample questions to stimulate our thinking.

4. Field guide Doug, there is still energy, no report.

5. What do we want to talk about? What about John Engle’s baby? What are people up to?

PH the thing consuming is the new edition of The Change Handbook to publisher by March 10th. This deadline is a race. Book has 58 processes in it, it will probably be 700 to 800 pages, lot of good new material. Karen: is there anything in the book that draws on indigenous traditions? Drumming in the book, Ehama (earth in Cheyenne. . . their website being reconstructed. . . trying to bring some indigenous traditons into non-indigenous cultures, including organizations.)

Other thing occupying my time and energy is an emerging grandchild of OS, the evolutionary salons, which are attracting an incredible amount of energy. Basically open space as an evolutionary process, a process that engages people at their emergent, growing edge in the framework of consciously evolving social systems, essentially the next stage of evolution we are currently in. We had one conference last year, which spawned a second, now a third, soon a fourth and a series of salons with other interests.

GS (PH asked him what he had to say about evo salon): I left feeling that while what happened in OS happened there (conflicts that needed to come up came up, etc), there was a certain amount of contexting that I felt was missing, I left with the question, I feel, in my guts, having a certain amount of surface level of contexting would allow content to emerge at a deeper level.

Many people with GS’s frustration, in spite of this, the energy is still huge.

GS: what I appreciated, somehow I had an assumption that you say ‘evo salons’ that it would attract like-minded people but that was not the case at all. Fascinating.

Karen: was Tom Atlee involved? And it sounds like IONS. . .

GS: just got back from Colorado, is, I am overbooked because I am catching up. But I attended a conference there that was very interesting in light of my exp at PoP?, SW and evo salons. . . it was a community of people where, maybe, forty percent were new, coming in the door and the rest had been there before. There was a huge, tangible sense that a group had already formed, I walking in new. . . it reminded me of people walking into SW for first time, experiencing it on the other side. . . also great reminder of all of the work that happened over six years of SW for creating more and more of a context. . . while ES is different animal, in some ways it has the same opportunity.

Tree: The evolutionary salons is where my energy is going these days..

Karen: A board I’m on is in process of merging, trying to make it a real merger of health care orgs, consuming lots of time, energy and frustration. Last month, we did PoP? with facilitators part at the end. Phenomenal energy, small but diverse and wonderful group of people. It’s over but the energy is still there.

Doug: so many things going on. One: very preliminary discussions with Stone Soup Community, which is in service, to and for the hungry in our community. The concept of Stone Soup is people have amongst themselves the resources the whole needs, it is a question of being able to pool such resources. Also, in process of putting together new computer system in my office, go Linux, trying to figure out the networking issues, software issues, spending lots of late hours working on this.

GS observed that Doug is aging well. Also, it sounds like Doug is doing great stuff.

PH: know that you have people willing to be sounding boards if you are looking to bring more OS

GS: I did something radical for me this past couple months. I committed myself to being on a ski bus every Tuesday in Jan. and February. The skiing every Tuesday has been wonderful.

Karen: reminds me that I had wonderful time snowshoeing through the streets and I’d love to do more of it. The silence of the blizzards in the city is an added phenomenon, opens up all kinds of space.

PH reads John’s email with his regrets that he cannot attend today’s meeting.

Silence then: once we named what was really going on for us, that’s when this meeting had some life. We realized there was low energy for the entire agenda and we spent out time together catching up on each other’s lives, which, as it happens, is an excellent way to renew energy. So, while it might have looked like we did nothing, we did.

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Next meeting: March ___, 2006

Agenda Items for next meeting: 1. Annual Letter 2. OSonOS in US 3. How to make OS stories more visible 4. Field guide