Shifting Circle

and the chaos of possibilities

Your circle is often defined as one of deep connection and collaboration.  But that doesn’t have to be the only natural state of a circle of community.

Sometimes your circle fills with something other than harmony and people. Sometimes, the circle fills with elephants of which we do not speak. Other times, the circle fills with chaos with possibilities to weaken or strengthen it. These forces move people in unexpected ways within the circle, either in tragedy or in play.

Gathering to explore power and privilege using Deep Democracy recently revealed to us that unlearning can still emerge through reflection, even if one person is talking at someone.  We also learned through our latest interviews, that the circle always shifts.  Sometimes the shift includes someone stepping down from a role or choosing a new way to interact in the circle due to lack of alignment.  These represent other forms of mobility.

Moments that showed up in the last week reminded us of another characteristic of these challenging forces.  When a member of the circle is critically injured, how you hold space is not about what you want to do. It’s about what they need. Sometimes, that is breath.  You being in care of their needs is that breath.

Our kids express that effortlessly in their mobility. Drawing at a soccer game while cheering on a brother.  Deciding that they wanted to color in their creations using the nature around them.  Found a dandelion!  Pluck a blade of grass!  Look, a stick!  Coloring with objects in the moment.

The lack of constraints, or having limited constraints, bridges into multiple possibilities.  As we finished a workshop on remote facilitation, we drafted our lightest script so far.  Almost everything was in the moment as we sensed where the students needed to go and honored the topics we needed to cover.   We released constraints for possibility, where most would over-design for what might go wrong. You can experience how with our “Holding Space with Empathy and Mobility” training in June.

But what about a larger gathering? One that is global? Last year, it was discovered that a graphic recorder for Future of Work 24 Hours shifted to scribing, and how that was appreciated.  Feedback indicated others would have been invited if people knew a real-time scribe was present.  It brought more breath to the space.  It provided more inclusion for non-native English speakers.  This year, every circle will have a scribe AND a graphic recorder to support more people. Adapting to embrace the learning.

As the last part of this newsletter, we wanted to share some of the agreements beyond the typical open space agreements that are supporting a global dialog for the Future of Work 24 Hours.

Practices to Ensure a Global Dialog:

• Be aware of translation process for non-native speakers

• Slow down & Include breath

• Simplify language with less elaborate words

• Use translation app to understand foreign language being spoken

• Add written context via chat and sticky notes

• Use visuals and gestures

• Ask open-ended questions by leading with How, Where, When, What, Why

The Flow of Global Dialog
Awareness that to support the principles of open space each of us are responsible for practices to ensure a global dialog

We hope this helps you and your circle.

Journeying in mobility,

Mark & April

P.S., We are sponsoring this year’s Future of Work 24 Hours and you can join us for a 25% discount using the code.