“Through conversation we create an endless and fascinating human exchange.”
Circle Facilitation
“The Latin root conversatio means ‘living with, keeping company with, or having dealings with others.’ Thus we could regard conversation as part of the nature of existence. Language is like a river throughout society, the flow of human connectivity. It is the conduit of openheartedness and inexpressible spirit through which people touch each other. Through conversation we create an endless and fascinating human exchange.”
THE ART OF CONVERSATION, KRISTA TIPPETT
Dialogue is a process, not an event. The dialogue process serves as the foundation for authentic and humanizing interactions that can strengthen connection in meaningful and transformative ways. Dialogue is an inclusive and safe space that values deliberate, mindful and generous listening as well as honest and vulnerable sharing of stories, lived experiences, beliefs and ideas.
The Open Circle Methodology™ was designed to support the characteristics of circle conversations and effective dialogue. It also supports facilitators in creating a space in which people can feel safe enough to participate in challenging conversations. The focus is on listening and being heard. The methodology consists of nine steps that provide a structure that is simple enough to learn with ease, but also robust enough to hold challenging and sensitive conversations.
“I can speak without the fear of being judged.”
Conversation Starters
Every Circle has a conversation starter as an entry point for dialogue. For Circles to be effective, they need to feel both safe and stretching for the participants, and the conversation starters are designed and chosen to support that end. Conversation starters relate to various aspects of diversity and inclusion, including topics that are often avoided because they may feel too uncomfortable. Whatever the key issues are that are getting in the way of a more inclusive culture, we can design conversation-starters to stimulate dialogue, learning and change.
Conversation starters can be proactively selected based on themes that are relevant to the context, or reactively chosen in response to an emergent conversation topic that warrants sensitive or urgent engagement.
“It is a place where I get to voice my opinion and empower others to voice theirs.”
Facilitator Training & Certification
For Circles to play an effective role as a vehicle for long-term transformation, they need to become increasingly stretching with time and practice. To enable this process, we can train and equip Circle facilitators within your organisation. These facilitators will develop the skills, awareness and courage to notice the nuanced inter-personal dynamics at play, and to hold the space for these conversations with sensitivity and impartiality.
All facilitators are trained in the 9 step Open Circle Methodology™ as well as in the six key capabilities of inclusivity: unlocking empathy, growing courage, embracing curiosity, becoming aware, securing collaboration and staying the course.
Our vision is for Circles to become an embedded practice within the culture of any organisation and school we work with. For this reason, we continue to support the ongoing capability-building of certified facilitators through quarterly check-ins, coaching and the provision of other resources.
“What you see is not what you’re looking at but what you’re looking with.”
Rene August
Workshops & Coaching
The Open Circles approach to training is rooted in the same ideological and theoretical foundations as the Open Circle Methodology™, which is generative, participative, narrative and emergent in nature. This means that we do not view participants as “empty vessels” who need to be filled with knowledge by us, “the experts”), but that we approach people as the experts of “local knowledge” – their own lives, roles and organisational dynamics, as well as their own different ways of knowing. We believe that new knowledge, possibilities and insights will emerge as a result of quality conversation taking place in our learning spaces.
For Circle conversations to be effective long-term, participants need to be equipped with the language, awareness and skills to engage openly in increasingly stretching and vulnerable conversations.
We equip participants by:
Building language and awareness
Increased literacy and conceptual understanding of diversity and inclusion topics enables Circle participants to engage in the change process with deeper reflection and greater meaning.
Building skill
This is a practical, interactive learning space designed to equip leaders with the skills, mindfulness and presence to practice inclusivity in both the context of a Circle and in everyday life.
Examples of worskhops we offer
All workshops are tailored to the needs of the organisation and can take place online or in person
Leading with Inclusivity
We offer a range of modules focused on building the competencies and inter-personal skills required by business leaders to lead diverse teams. These include: unlocking empathy, growing courage, embracing curiosity, becoming aware, securing collaboration and staying the course. We also aim to raise awareness around systemic issues and build skills that can empower leaders to treat people more fairly, consistently and justly (such as unconscious bias, the role of power and privilege, systemic exclusion and intersectionality in our society and organisations).
Dare to LeadTM
Dare to Lead™ is a robust leadership programme based on the research of Dr Brené Brown, specifically aimed at developing braver leaders and more courageous cultures. This is powerful work that transforms and challenges people and systems. Creating safe and brave spaces for people to show up and be seen means both skill building around vulnerability, courage, shame and empathy, and working to dismantle the systems that devalue and dehumanise people.
Immersive Story Experiences
These sessions are built around either live or creative arts storytelling (such as a STORY Sessions™️ or Empatheatre™️ experiences). Alternatively, participants are immersed in fascinating city experiences which serve as conversation starters for dialogue, connection and exploration of important diversity and inclusion related competencies. These experiences are based on various themes such as urban economics, spatial justice and the lives of people in our city (including the homeless, refugees and migrant workers).