The Art of Harvesting

The Art of Harvesting is a way to bring the Art of Hosting into its fruition.

1. Preparing the field

The quality of the field – determines the quality of the yield.

In preparing the field – sending out the call, giving the context, inviting etc.– you set the tone of the whole process – the seriousness and quality with which you determine the quality of what you reap.

In other words – you start to think about the harvest from the very beginning – not as an afterthought.

2. Planning the harvest

Planning the harvest starts with and follows the design process.

A clear purpose and some success-criteria for the process or the harvest itself – will add clarity and direction.

What you harvest is determined by what you sow.

In sowing the seeds – identifying and asking the strategic and meaningful questions – that will drive the inquiry – you determine the out-put.
So in planning the harvest – ask yourself – what is it that this process needs to yield – what is the information, the ideas or the out-put that will benefit you here and now – or  what may  take you to the next level of inquiry.

Even though the process of harvesting starts with preparing the field and the planning – the process itself is an on-going process.

With each part of the process you harvest something. – Some of it you need to use right away - to help lead you into the next process. – Some of the harvest you will need later.

So part of planning the harvest – is also to know for whom, when and how you need to use it.
Another part of the planning is asking yourself in which format will the harvest serve you the best? – Are there templates – sheets – colors - drawings etc. that can be used as aids in the harvesting.

3. Picking the fruits: Recording – or creating a collective memory

The simplest way to harvest is to record – what is being said, done, the out-put of the conversations etc.

This creates a record or collective memory.
Recording can be done in words.
* your notes – which will be subjective
* transcripts of out-put produced in conversations – or from tapes etc.
which will be objective.

Recording can also be done with pictures / photographs.
* Pictures “remember” or “recall” feelings, atmospheres, situations.

It is helpful to give some thought in the planning phase to how you want to harvest – what kind of records, templates etc. will help you gather the relevant information or knowledge

4. Preparing and processing the fruits: Creating collective meaning and value

Creating a memory is the first step.

Making collective sense and meaning is the second step. – This is like adding value – or making the data useful.

There are many ways of making sense and meaning – the general idea is to go from loads of bits of information to “holons” or from bubbles to dots.
There are several ways to help in this process:.

* Harvest in a “systemic way” – ask collectively – “what did you notice, what gave sense and meaning to you? – what triggered you? etc. – Notice the patterns! – The patterns indicate what is emerging!

* Metaphors – are ways of making complex issues simple

* So are Mental models

* Story

* Graphic renderings – drawings –  make complex issues manageable – visible

5. Planning the next harvest: Feeding forward

Most of the harvest is done to bring closure or bring us to the next level of understanding – and more importantly – knowing it collectively – seeing the same picture and sharing the same understanding together.

These are the fruits of the harvest.

So as you harvest – you may look back and ask – what did we learn? – what did we understand? – where are we now in the journey?

You may also look forward – look for the issues or questions that you know will feed the next inquiry – and feed them back into the system.

A few comments.

The above is mostly reflecting on the collective harvesting.

Individual reflection and harvest – will raise the level of the collective harvest.
In learning-processes this can be done intentionally – by using a journal as a learning tool.

Web based tools open up a whole world of possibilities that are not dealt with here.

Harvesting the “soft” is much more subtle and subjective than dealing with the “cognitive” or more hard core parts.

A qualitative inquiry into what we have noticed, what has shifted – or changed in our relationships, in the culture or atmosphere etc. may give us some information about the softer part of the harvest.