circle: group processes, etc

[john engle]

raffi, what a great story! what a privilege to have the opportunity to work
with circle.

a number of your questions pulled at me to respond. for the moment, i will
respond to these:

. To those who do peace work, conflict resolution work, and work in
sister fields: What other tools, training, (spiritual) practices have been
helpful in making you a better facilitator and trainer?

I recognize this is a big question. The more group work I do, the more
I return to the question of the quality of my presence.

Also, I see that I would like to develop further in how I design
workshops (to learn how to design better). And to understand adult
education principles better.

8. Anybody out there trained in processwork? Familiar with it?
I'd be curious to learn what this kind of work has done for you and
others. Your doubts about this kind of work would also interest me.

raffi, i have been practicing leading "touchstones" discussion for four or
five years. here in haiti, many open space practitioners are also
touchstones discussion leaders. in fact, in haiti we call this process wonn
refleksyon which translates to reflection circles. thus, on our website, we
use reflection circle term instead of touchstones.

to learn more about touchstones, go to: touchstones.org

early on in our experiments with open space here in haiti (eight or nine
years ago) we discovered that the traditional role of authority in haiti is
so strong, that very frequently, the person who proposed the subject--thus,
was in a position of authority because people came to "hear" him or
her--would engage in a monologue for the entire time.

we also discovered that people who engaged in these monologues would be
frustrated afterwards with others because they refused to participate. yet
some among the others would be frustrated because they didn't feel there was
an opportunity for them to share.

plus, people who were illiterate, street kids, children in servitude  and
others who are marginalized might not have the "presence" or confidence to
ever propose a subject or ever say anything in a public setting.

while i believe that continued opportunities in open space might allow a
group to become adequately aware of what was happening and begin making
necessary adjustments, i am too aware of limits in patience. if someone
feels uncomfortable and does not see results inspite of efforts over and
over again, s/he may cease to invest in continuing.

we have found that touchstones discussions are perfect. it is an exercise
intended to be done with a group perhaps once a week for 45 minutes to one
and a half hours each session. over time, the group becomes highly skilled
in group process; aware of who is talking and who is not, who is listening
and who is not. people become better at getting their point across more
quickly, thus not dominating time which does not allow others to share.
identifying what is not clear to them and asking effective questions, etc.

through this practice, a group develops habits which help its members to
continue to evolve individually and collectively. and, people who are
practiced in touchstones are in a good position to really make use of their
time in open space meetings, in the sense that they might be able to see
tangible results more quickly. i do need to add that i buy the argument that
says, "if a group has time and space, just because they don't feel that they
are moving forward (whatever that may mean), does not mean that they are
not." again, because of habits and traditions, sometimes we lack patience
and need to see changes more quickly. i also should add that a discussion
leader with touchstones becomes very aware of his/her power. one who might
observe a group that is evolved in touchstones discussions will not, during
the majority of the time that the group is together, be able to determine
who the discussion leader is.

thank you for taking the time to share your rich experience and for inviting
us to share our thoughts and experiences.

john


http://www.beyondborders.net/experiment.htm

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