Harvesting 2015

Focus on what works well

Systems and human beings grow in the direction of their focus. In HARVESTING we focus on what works well in achieving our mission: We build families for children in need, we help them shape their own futures and we share in the development of their communities.

What happens during Harvesting workshops?

The Harvesting workshop programme comprise the following parts.

• Generating and sharing knowledge (see “What inspires us in our work”)
• Networking
  Building enduring, mutually beneficial relationships that are the catalyst for success. We foster continually connecting new people by linking yearly emerging Harvesting networks with one another. We cultivate evolving relations and leverage the network.
• Incentive
  Harvesting allows participants to share their experiences with others and reinforces the reward and the behaviour that led to the giving of the reward. The workshops are one way to increase employee motivation, to reduce turnover, boost morale and loyalty, improve employee wellness and increase retention.
• Capacity building
  We foster a process of equipping Harvesting participants with the understanding, skills and access to knowledge that strengthens them in effective performance. During Harvesting we usually visit the first SOS Children's Village located in the town of Imst and enjoy a topic-guided city tour through the old town of Innsbruck related to the roots of SOS Children’s Villages.

Generating and sharing knowledge

Knowledge sharing takes place within and beyond the workshop participants group. Harvesting participants tell their stories in a variety of settings. In the workshop process we aim at extracting the tacit knowledge[1] of participants embedded in their individual experiences.

“People carry knowledge within them that involves such intangible factors as personal beliefs, perspective, instinct and values (…) It is more of an ‘unspoken understanding’ about something, knowledge that is more difficult to write down in a database.” (Roumiana Iordanova, Knowledge Management Toolkit, 2014). Are you curious about what it is, that works well? Find it out here. Please have a look at the story trailers first and realize which story you want to start with.

Participants of the 2015 Workshop and the Harvesting Team wish you a happy reading experience.

Trailer to the stories

More about the attitude of harvesting

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is the basis of Harvesting. "It's a search and discovery process that expresses appreciation, recognition, and appreciation. It is assumed that organizations are relationship networks that "live". The goal of AI is to touch the "positive core" of organizational life. "(Cooperrider, Sekerka 2003).

Access to this core is by means of a positive survey. We combine the AI approach with methods that promote open dialogue such as storytelling, Circle of Influence, World Café, Open Books, World Kitchen.

Information material

Read all about the Harvesting Workshop 2015 and the inspiring stories of the Harvesting participants:

• Booklet Harvesting Workshop 2015
• Harvesting World Map
• What is harvesting