N-strategic Conversation - Process Flow

Subject: Strategic Conversation Workshop Host: n (an applied research Creativity Community) Date: December 6, 2008

1. Context a. Location The event was held in the Queen of the Colonies ballroom at the Crowne Plaza, Beirut. The place was arranged in a café setting with small Facilitated by: Hala Makarem Hala Fleihan Graphic Recording by: Rami Mouallem

square and round tables, flipcharts for table covers, crayons and color markers for expressing, candles for light and flowers for nature living.

The extension of the room with the reception and the coffee table area was a breathing space for welcoming, refreshing and personal networking.

b. Participants A diverse number of participants attended the session. As part of the welcoming process, the unique personal talent and areas of expertise of the individuals were captured, highlighting the potential available in the group. The outcome was then captured using “wordle.net” and projected visually for the whole group to see.

2. Process Development The designed path for the day looked as follows:

a. Group Dynamics End of Day: Check-out

Hosting people to arrive

Deeper Inquiry: Issues that matter Building our connections: Check-in

What do I care about? Sharing my vision

Thinking Together: Connecting to our

www.nnow.org _ p.o.box 13-5274 _ beirut, lebanon _ t+ 961 3 20 07 16

One of the major stepping stones of the event is establishing a group connection at the start. The purpose is to develop a sense of knowing and trust as the conversation and relationships get further established during the day. To that effect, the group was invited to a large circle with an introduction to the overall context and the n hosts – Hala Makarem and Hala Fleihan. The group then formed their own inner circles based on their initial name commonalities as they introduced themselves to everyone else. Once the sub-groups were shaped, the participants witnessed how a common guiding framework that was connecting them became multiple smaller groups yet the space still held them together. To get into action, the participants were then invited to experience “forward movement” physically. They were guided to take steps in the hall, conscious of their actions: walk, turn to change direction, and greet when you come face-toface with another. The 7-10 minutes exercise resulted in a beautiful “community walk”,. The attendees reflected on the impact of the activity, and some of the awareness through experiencing and learning

shared thoughts can be summarized as follows: “people returned to where they started”, “two groups emerged”, “I was coming face-to-face with the same people”, “made me acknowledge others, by looking into their eyes”.

b. Creative Arts The impact of the creative arts as a means of building connections was then explored and experienced. As the participants found the table they wanted to join, the concept of the talking object was introduced; an object whose purpose is to guide the listening process during the conversations. Clay, popsicle sticks were placed in the center of the table, as each individual created his/her own part before they collectively put it all together into one piece. An observation by the host shows that each group co-created something special and beautiful: One group formed a house setting, maintaining a base with a chair, sculpting several small delicate objects from clay material symbolic to the Christmas spirit, such as presents and a colorful tree. But the collective object that brought them together was a beautiful sculpted red rose that remained mobile as their talking piece. Some individuals in that group were doubtful of their creative potential, yet the outcome demonstrated that each individual can provide his/her contribution to what will then blend into a more coherent group production. A second group built a lighthouse using the natural flower leaves on a solid clay base, with a platform for a boat carrying the Lebanese flag as a symbol for connection and mobility. A third group designed a Lebanese bird, a tree, a skeleton that joins them, a representation of color, connection and life. The artistic piece beautiful yet not functional as a talking object, demonstrated how we sometimes lose focus on the ultimate aim. A fourth group produced a Lebanese flag in their own way. It was symbolic of creativity within what binds us together.

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A fifth group, molded three independent pieces into a joint story which starts at a chaotic place, before moving on a clear path that leads to an ultimate positive thinking state. A sixth group worked independently, each with his/her clay material with no prior coordination and then found their common ground in a charming abstract sculpture.

c.

Dialogue Once the check-in process was completed, the group was introduced to the theme of the day. Prior to engaging in conversations, the participants were given a brief on the methodology that they will be following based on the World café practice. Once the world café etiquette and guidelines were shared and understood, the group delved into their first round question .After twenty minutes, a host remained at the table to welcome the participants and present what was captured. The same question was further explored in the second round. After the

awareness through inquiry, exploration, and connection

next twenty minutes round was completed, the group was invited to return to their original tables to answer the question which synergizes the identified answers. The choice of question was a result of two pre-event stakeholder interviews where both Alumni members posed that same question, as the inquiry needed to make a difference in the situation being explored. The groups Source: Brown, Isaacs et. al

worked together, and were then asked to harvest three ideas that they would like to work further on. As the post-it ideas were being clustered with similar ones from other tables, they were being recorded graphically on a large white flex board by

architect student, Rami Mouallem.

d. Acknowledgement and Sensing The morning activities were concluded with a touch of appreciation and acknowledgement, to a member of the organization. Lunch was served; while initial general feedback was being captured, the room was rearranged for the next session, and newcomers were welcomed.

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e. Co-Creation: Open Space – Passion and Responsibility: The group resumed the next session with the host reframing the context and summarizing the outcome of the morning session, culminated with the graphic recording image of all the harvested ideas. The afternoon session’s purpose was to dive into a deeper inquiry, further exploring issues that are identified by the participants themselves: issues that they have a personal passion about and will take responsibility to see it through. The methodology followed is based on Open Space Technology. The session was divided into two 45 minutes time slots, and 5 places were chosen to host the enact your creativity, contribute collectively and sustain the growth

dialogue. Eight areas of interest – issues, opportunities, questions – were selected by eight individuals and posted on the space/time matrix for action. Miss Hala Fleihan, n co-host, posted the fifth session - as a space for relaxation and energizing running across the two time intervals. It was a station for participants to stop, relax and energize until they felt the readiness to resume the dialogue. Participants had the freedom to flow in and out of this station with ease. The corner was filled with group massages, sharing problems/experiences about life in general, and learning breathing techniques, engaging in energizer games, silent mirroring movement and salsa dancing guided by some of the participants. At the same time, a free space for creative expressing was set outside the room, called Our Community Garden, with lots of art material and a white paper roll for anyone interested to leave their mark. A snapshot of the Think Tank Community Garden shows a multi-media expression of a common purpose.

The influence of having creative stations throughout the day was inspiring to many participants

f.

Check-out

With the closure of the day, the group was invited to reflect on the process, the impact of the process on the quality of the outcome, and to share a personal thought that sums up the day for them.

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