Day two has come and gone and the ‘free and open’ dialogue that participants wanted is starting haltingly – a move of a few inches. The progress was recognized by the same person who mentioned it missing yesterday – “I was a little holding back myself,” she admitted today. An amazing remark from one of the more senior people in the room.
If they acknowledged yesterday that inspiring was their weak point, today they started to see how one can inspire – how energy gets produced when people create together a picture of the future they would like to create. Together they had dreamed and talked about that until we had five sheets of drawings with tons of information. I took it all back to the hotel. I got up early this morning to pull out major themes from the mass of data. Last night I was too pooped to do that and unable to see any patterns. This morning they danced off the page. We verified the words against the pictures they drew and it was right on, no energy lost in the process. Pfffh!
We compared this vision (albeit it with a slightly different focus) with the one that was in the formal strategic plan, probably produced by a consultant – and everyone could see and feel the difference. It was a demo of what a shared vision does, not what it is. QED.
The rest of the day went fast as the participants tackled a variety of tasks, all aimed at helping them be more systematic and intentional in their behaviors and actions toward their vision. We had to do with one facilitator less who was pulled away to deal with a very serious family crisis. If ever one needed a team it was today, and we pulled together, weaving in and out of each others’ sessions as if we were twins, thinking nearly alike. It was a great experience.
We are also working closely with another USAID project and trying to produce a strong piece of fabric, they the warp and we the weft.
Sylvia's Journal 
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