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
square and round tables, flipcharts for table covers, crayons and
Facilitated by:
Hala Makarem color markers for expressing, candles for light and flowers for
Hala Fleihan
nature living.
Graphic Recording by:
Rami Mouallem
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:
Hosting Check-out
people to
arrive

Deeper
Inquiry:
Issues that
matter

Building our
connections:
Check-in
Thinking
What do I
Together:
care about?
Connecting
Sharing my
vision
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-to-
face 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 shared thoughts can be summarized as follows: “people returned to where they
learning 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.

2
 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 next twenty minutes round was completed, the group was invited to return to their
through original tables to answer the question which synergizes the identified answers.
inquiry,
exploration, The choice of question was a result of two pre-event stakeholder interviews
and where both Alumni members posed that same question, as the inquiry needed to
connection
make a difference in the situation being explored. The groups
Source:
Brown,
worked together, and were then asked to harvest three ideas
Isaacs
et. al 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.

3
 e. Co-Creation: Open Space – Passion and Responsibility:
enact your creativity,
contribute collectively
and sustain the growth
The influence of having creative stations throughout the day was
inspiring to many participants
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
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.
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.