the dark side of circle practices -- and related themes

Winston Kinch kinch at rogers.com
Wed Aug 4 17:41:05 PDT 2004


Thanks again Therese.

I appreciate your clarification, in turn, of the way in which your
circle evolved. Sounds wonderful. And I completely agree that
it is a subtle task to hold space.

I honour your credentials as a steward of SW, an enterprise
I have followed at a distance for several years (it is far from
my home base in Toronto) and for which I have the greatest
respect and admiration - not least in regard to it's
acknowledgement of the work of Tom Berry, one of my heroes.

I also respect your assertion that you "...feel free, in just about
any setting, to ask for a pause if things feel off balance to me."

With respect to your question: "what kind of facilitation would feel
right to you if one member of a group felt that the energy of the
group had gotten a bit off. . . if ringing a bell for a few moments of
silence does not feel right, what, if anything, would feel right to you?"
As you might expect from an Open Space facilitator of ten years
experience, my view is that (your assertion) can at least potentially
imply imposing one's own values/perspective on the group and
as such could be considered as "controlling". I would try my
dammednest to allow the law of two feet to do its work, "do"
absolutely nothing and trust the group to take care of the emerging
moment...

With respect and caring,
Winston


----- Original Message -----
From: "Therese Fitzpatrick" <theresefitz at hotmail.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: the dark side of circle practices -- and related themes


thank you, Winston, for your clarification.

In my peerspirit/four directions circle,  we decided at our first meeting
that everyone was a "guardian" and anyone could ring the bell to call for a
moment of silence.  To tell the truth, I didn't remember the word guardian
ever being used, although I suppose it must have been.   I believe in the
'peerspirit' design, this 'guardian' role would rotate, which would
diminish
any potential for facilitator control.  I am certain that the 'guardian'
role described in the book was absolutely not intended to be a facilitator,
actually.  It reminds me of the role of process observer in a concensus
model.  The role of process observer reminds me of the role of an open
space
practitioner holding space.  It is really an inner role,undertaken, IMHO,
on
behalf of the whole.

It is a subtle task, to hold space. I see a need for human collectives to
trust individual human beings to hold space on behalf of the whole.
Indeed,
I think much of the success of OS comes from the power of having
individuals
(OS practitioners) inwardly holding the space of OS meetings.  I'd actually
like to see the inner work of holding space (and, in other contexts,
holding
the organization and its goals) become more explicit.

Maybe my peerspirit circle did things all wrong. . . you mention, Winston,
that when the bell rings, the group waits for further instruction.  In our
group, we all assumed, without ever having discussed it, that those further
instructions would come silently. . . and they always did.

I may be projecting a lot onto your post, Winston, and if I misinterpret
you, I apologize . . . what kind of facilitation would feel right to you if
one member of a group felt that the energy of the group had gotten a bit
off. . . if ringing a bell for a few moments of silence does not feel
right,
what, if anything, would feel right to you?

I belong to an OS collective called Spirited Work.  And I am a steward for
SW, which we like to think of as SW Advanced Course.  We have developed a
practice at our stewards meetings similar to this guardian role.  If any
person at a meeting feels like things are off balance, they can remind the
group to breath.   We don't use a bell.  No further instructions are given.
It is a way to re-member that it is our aspiration to be aligned with one
another.  And to tell you the truth, we are not exactly rigid about calling
for a breath.  At the last stewards' meeting, people were excited and
jumping onto each other's sentences and I started to feel like I had to
look
for openings to interrupt someone if I was going to get to say anything. .
.
I am a big talker and there I was feeling like I couldn't get a word in.
It would have been a perfect time to ask the group to take and remember to
breath. . . or a perfect time to ring a bell for a moment of silence. . .
but what I actually did was that I said "I feel like I have to interrupt
someone if I want to say anything."  My colleagues paused instantly in
silence, just for a moment. . . we collectively caught our breath, I guess.
And then the meeting went on, at a slower pace.

I apologize for taking up so much airtime in a post on this listserv.  And
I am mindful that I may be talking about something unrelated to your
intentions, Winston.  I feel free, in just about any setting, to undertake
the role of 'guardian' or the holder of space.  I feel free, in just about
any setting, to ask for a pause if things feel off balance to me.  I do not
think this means I am controlling any group I am in. .. I think it means I
am tuned in to the collective's energy. . . if I feel the need to ring a
bell for a moment of silent or I feel the need to ask a group to stop and
breath for a moment. . . is that facilitator 'control'?  I think it is
holding space on behalf of the whole.

*
*
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