LS User Group In Seattle

User Groups

• Public Groups• Within Organizations

• Purposes– Help advance practice– Invent new LS– Focus attention on

shared challenges– Spread LS up & out

1st Meeting Purpose-to-Practice(20 people, 75 minutes)

PurposeWhy this work is important to you and the larger community

We exist to invent and enliven a new form of organizing

by pondering, practicing, playing, and pouncing

together

PrinciplesThe must do and must not do rules we must obey to achieve our purpose

• Users must share ownership of and responsibility for the group

• Users must expect surprise, adapting to opportunities and discoveries as they emerge

• Users must maintain transparency and honor Creative Commons principles

• Users must maintain a practical “solutions focus” to group activities

• Users must not over-organize activities• Users must continuously invite and welcome

new users and novices into the group

ParticipantsWho must be included to achieve our purpose

• Core group members (those to take responsibility for organizing activities)

• A larger community of LS users (local, regional, national, international users that participate in activities)

• Novices and new users (people invited to join activities by LS users)

• Influential experts and celebrity leaders not actively using LS

StructureHow will we organize (both macro- and microstructures) and distribute control in pursuit of purpose?

• For now, Fisher and Keith will coordinate development activities and support infrastructure

• Leadership of meetings will rotate among user group members.

PracticeWhat are we going to do? What will we offer to our users/clients and how will we do it?

• Four trial balloons are afloat:– A monthly face-to-face evening together in

Seattle featuring use of LS to advance learning;

– Occasional virtual confabs that include international users and special projects;

– An annual Chautauqua/Open Space shindig;– And, a LS twist on the Community Consulting

model () to help new users get direct experience with complex challenges (low or no cost services are provided to organizations via an experienced LS consultant and a team of less-experienced people that want to learn

Face to Face Meetings3-Part, 90-Minute Meta DesignThird Thursday of Each Month

1. Networking & ReconnectingUse LS to welcome new users, uncover opportunities, and share developments

2. Giving + Receiving HelpUse LS to give and get help from other users

3. Expanding the Repertoire Debut a nascent or use an unfamiliar LS

Design Group (90 minutes)

• Volunteers from the last meeting + Fisher &/or Keith

• Over strong beverages, we chat until a theme emerges

• We select LS for each segment of the meeting

• Facilitators volunteer (people who want more experience)

Networking & Reconnecting

30 minutes

Giving & Getting Help

30 minutes

Expanding Repertoire30 minutes

Often, we create a simple storyboard

Exploring Invitations ~ Inviting Exploration

Agenda Item

Goal LS Micro-Structure

Why this LS? Steps / Timing

Facilitator / Participants

Welcome + Networking

Intro our inviting theme & build new connections

Impromptu Networking + AI

Invites users to discover what works & what doesn’t through their own stories

3 rounds in pairs, 4 minutes each

Marina

Storytellingre: exploring & leading LS

Reveal challenges of leading an exploration

Dramatic reading, fast 1-2-4-All

1-4-All draws out the lessons with self discovery… hand-in-hand with group discovery

Story 10 min1-4-All 5 min

Kav, Marjean are readers

Inviting Discovery & Exploration

Define and sharpen LS offers to leaders 15%, Improv

Prototyping

Reveals better ways to invite discovery via LS and focuses on what can be done now

2 rounds of improv (2 mins each) & 2 rounds of re-playsa. Disinterested

amusementb. A door opens…!

Set up Keith,Marina & Marjean players, Fisher as observer

New LS Shift away from a negative cycle Positive Gossip

Flips the negative pattern and gives people a chance to practice

Three 2-minute rounds + quick W3 debrief

Fisher, all to evaluate PG

Drawing Together mashed up with Impromptu Networking for the first time!

Additional Practices

Seattle CenterLS Community Consulting

• ½ day session for ALL employees

• Facilitation offered pro bono by 4 LS users

• Focus on weaving LS into their Uplifting Service initiative

• Three ongoing initiatives emerged and are owned by frontline groups

Annual LS GatheringWhere do we go from here?

• 90 participants from Microsoft, Nordstrom, Boeing, City of Seattle, hospitals, NGOs, UW

• Facilitated by 8 skilled LS users• Focus: LS design skills