Synopses & Reviews
All modern group processes that are open to collaboration or to flattening the hierarchy are based in some way on circle practices. As organizations of all kinds move increasingly toward shared and rotating leadership, they are calling on the circle model to form sustainable teams and adopt circle-driven group processes such as World Café, Open Space, and Art of Hosting. Meetings in the round have become the preferred tool for moving individual commitment into group action.
This book lays out the structure of circle conversation, based on the original work of the co-authors who have studied and standardized the essential elements that constitute circle practice. It takes readers through a circle visual (the Components of Circle) and presents both structure and story so that readers understand how these elements come into play and how they interrelate and interact. It also embeds circle process experience in stories and examples drawing on the authors’ 15 years of experience as global thought leaders and originators of this form, and it presents detailed instructions and suggestions for getting started, setting goals, and solving conflicts.
Review
“A perfect travel guide for all who are committed to making the world a better place. The circle deserves to become an independent field of study, and this book gets that going. Read it.’
—Peter Block, author of Stewardship, Flawless Consulting, and Community
Synopsis
Collaboration and group cohesion are vital to any healthy enterprise. In collaborative environments, good ideas can come from everywhere. Today's thoughtful leaders support interpersonal experiences that ensure clear speaking, open-minded listening, and well-grounded decision making. Reintroducing our most ancient social process, the circle, welcomes everyone to equal participation. Here, two international leaders of circle as a modern methodology offer a comprehensive guide to this foundational human interaction.
The Circle Way lays out the basics of circle conversation based on the authors' nearly two decades of experience implementing circle practice in organizations. Through illustrative stories that show the circle in action and delve into its deepest aspects, Baldwin and Linnea provide detailed instructions for getting started, setting intention, and resolving conflicts. Their work illuminates the profound impact of circle on people who participate in it.
Synopsis
This book lays out the structure of circle conversation, based on the original work of the co-authors who have studied and standardized the essential elements that constitute circle practice. It takes readers through a circle visual (the Components of Circle) and presents both structure and story so that readers understand how these elements come into play and how they interrelate and interact. It also embeds circle process experience in stories and examples drawing on the authors’ 15 years of experience as global thought leaders and originators of this form, and it presents detailed instructions and suggestions for getting started, setting goals, and solving conflicts. Meetings in the round have become the preferred tool for moving individual commitment into group action.
Synopsis
Creating the Social Environment for the World We Need
Collaboration and group cohesion are vital to any healthy enterprise. In collaborative environments, good ideas can come from everywhere. Today’s thoughtful leaders support interpersonal experiences that ensure clear speaking, open-minded listening, and well-grounded decision making. Reintroducing our most ancient social process, the circle, welcomes everyone to equal participation. Here, two international leaders of circle as a modern methodology offer a comprehensive guide to this foundational human interaction.
The Circle Way lays out the basics of circle conversation based on the authors’ nearly two decades of experience implementing circle practice in organizations. Through illustrative stories that show the circle in action and delve into its deepest aspects, Baldwin and Linnea provide detailed instructions for getting started, setting intention, and resolving conflicts. Their work illuminates the profound impact of circle on people who participate in it.
Synopsis
Christina Baldwin is a writer and seminar presenter of 30+ years experience. She is the author of Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice, revised and reissued in 2007 after 100,000 original sales as well as Calling the Circle: The First and Future Culture, The Seven Whispers: Spiritual Practice for Times Like These, and Storycatcher, Making Sense of our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story.
Ann Linnea is writer and educator with decades of experience serving the art of dialogue . Ann co-authored the award-winning Teaching Kids to Love the Earth, and Deep Water Passage: A Spiritual Journey at Mid-Life, which her self-imposed challenge to become the first woman to circumnavigate Lake Superior by sea kayak. In 1994, Ann and author/educator Christina Baldwin co-founded their educational company, PeerSpirit, Inc.
Foreword author Margaret Wheatley is a management consultant and author of bestselling Turning to One Another, and Leadership and The New Science, among others.
About the Author
Christina and Ann both currently live on Whidbey Island near Seattle, WA.
Table of Contents
Foreword: Margaret Wheatley
Chapter 1: Circle Process: The Foundational Pattern of Cooperation
Chapter 2: Components of Circle: The PeerSpirit Model and How It Works
Chapter 3: The Power of Intention and Center
Chapter 4: Rotating Positions of Leadership
Chapter 5: Creating a Social Safety Net: Agreements, Practices, and Principles
Chapter 6: Meeting in Motion: Start-Point, Check-in, Conversation, Action, & Check-out
Chapter 7: The Power of Story as the Core Communication in Circle
Chapter 8: Energetics—The Non-Verbal Aspects of the Social Container
Chapter 9: Healthy Conflict Resolution and Holding Diverse Perspectives
Chapter 10: How Circle Heals
Chapter 11: Circle as Cultural Shift Agent
Chapter 12: Circle as Personal Practice: the Incorporation of Collaboration as a Way of Life
Resources and Websites