Harvesting 2016

What happens during Harvesting workshops?

How does a Harvesting workshop look like in concrete terms? Designed, developed and carried out by the education team of Hermann Gmeiner Academy, the Harvesting workshop programme consists of the following parts:
 

• Learning and practising the Harvesting methodology: Appreciative Inquiry (AI) forms the bedrock of Harvesting. "It is a process of search and discovery designed to value, prize, and honour. It assumes that organizations are networks of relatedness and that these networks are 'alive'. The objective of AI is to touch the 'positive core' of organizational life. This core is accessed by asking positive questions." (Cooperrider, Sekerka 2003:228). In Harvesting we guide participants to focus on their circle of influence during the process cycle of AI. We combine the AI approach with methods that foster open dialogue like Storytelling, Circle of Influence, World Café and World Kitchen.

• Knowledge sharing: In Harvesting, knowledge sharing refers to the exploring and sharing of tacit knowledge. This can be seen as the body of intuitive knowledge rooted in context and facilitating action. To explore and share tacit knowledge, presupposes a conducive culture of attitude and atmosphere. During the workshops we provide space for social interaction and teaching sessions (e.g. World Café).

• Capacity building: We foster a process of equipping Harvesting participants with the understanding, skills and access to knowledge that enable them to perform effectively. During this intensive group process, participants learn and discover their strengths. This helps them find identity, meaning, and purpose in (work-) life through connections to the bigger picture: SOS Children's Villages active in 133 countries worldwide.  We also support ex-participants, and offer them virtual exchange on a regular basis.

• Incentive: Harvesting is one way to increase overall employee performance, to reduce turnover, boost morale and loyalty, improve employee wellness and increase retention. Harvesting offers participants the opportunity to get to know the origins of the SOS Children's Villages idea during a topic-guided city tour through Innsbruck explaining the roots and history of SOS Children's Villages. Furthermore we offer a visit of the first SOS Children's Village in Imst. Harvesting workshops allow participants to share their experiences with others and thereby reinforce the spirit of reciprocity and solidarity

• Networking: Relationships are the catalyst for success. Networking is about making connections, building enduring and mutually beneficial relationships. It is about meeting the "right" people at the right time. Continually connecting new people by linking yearly emerging Harvesting groups with one another we leverage the network and cultivate emerging relationships. 

We also offer a "Post-Harvesting Workshop" at the International Office of SOS Children's Villages International in Vienna to network with even more colleagues.