the dark side of circle practices -- and related themes

[Therese Fitzpatrick]

Regarding:  Christina Baldwin's circle methodology, Meg Wheatley's embrace
of Christina's approach and 'facilitator control'.

I participated in a From the Four Directions circle for two years.  Our
'facilitator' had been trained by Christina and Meg.  We all read both
Christina's and Meg's books.  Most of us were facilitators and OD types.

There was no facilitator control of any kind and I never got the impression
that the methodology had any intention in its design to have facilitator
control in its design.  The facilitator held space for our first meeting and
then we quickly self managed for the next two years.  The facilitator
continued to feel responsible, I know, and she was in dialogue with
Christina.  But the facilitator exerted no control. The group actually
brought Christina to Michigan to do a circle practicum but that took place
after I had moved to Seattle.

There was no 'dark side' in any circle practice in our Four Directions group
and I feel quite confident that we were closelyl aligned with both Christina
and Meg.  Two of our members, Carol and Dave Schwinn are long time partners
with Meg. Carol still works for and with Meg.  I am a savvy gal and if there
was a dark side to Christina or Meg's approach to circle, I would have
discerned it.




>From: WINSTON KINCH <kinch at rogers.com>
>Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>Subject: the dark side of circle practices -- and related themes
>Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 08:21:36 -0400
>
>Hi all.
>I know this is a somewhat extended string at this point (I just returned
>from some time away and tuned in) but the "circle practices"
referred to
>early on in the discussion sound a lot like Christina Baldwin's
"Calling
>the Circle" which Meg Wheatley has supported in her recent work...
I recall
>having some concerns about the "facilitator control" aspects
of the process
>when I first read about it and wonder if that is not what is underlying
>what I have been reading in the string?
>Winston
>
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