PeerSpirit Circling: Creating Change in the Spirit of Cooperation

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Circle is a social contract: All participants agree to principles of cooperation that set the

tone of conversation and govern how the group fulfills its intention.

The agreement to pause is activated by a group member who volunteers to serve as

“guardian.” This person, usually rotating session by session, has authority from the group to make

some agreed-upon signal that brings interaction to a halt. This is often a chime or small bell. To

initiate pause, the guardian rings the chime. To release pause, the guardian rings a second time

and speaks to the reason for calling a rest in action. “We were interrupting each other” or “It

seems timely to take a stretch break here.”

The circle begins with a round called check-in. Among the nursing leaders, everyone

responds to the question, “What led you to this organization and what renews your faith in

it?” The pagers and cell phones are off and workday details are far away. People pass a small

stone hand to hand to take turns talking. They lean in, speak with heartfelt intensity, and tell

a story that moves listeners to nods of recognition, laughter, and sometimes tears. Something

happens in this manner of speaking and listening that is a combination of the circle design

and the willingness of each person to risk exploring the dreams they have for the place they

work.

About halfway round the circle one administrator says, “This is what I’ve needed—the

sense that we are inspired by similar stories and want similar things. When we’re back at work, I

can imagine listening to each other in a whole different way. So here’s my story . . .”

Circle fosters a basis of trust built on honest self-disclosure received respectfully. When a

group knows the fundamental stories of its membership, they approach task, planning, and systemic change with confidence that they can think and work together.

As a result of this retreat, these nursing leaders set monthly and annual goals and designed

a process of accountability held in circle. They realized that their ability to function as a professional team was dependent on their ability to build trust through integrating story and dialogue

into agenda-based meetings.



The Basics

Circle History

Circle as a form has been with us since the dawn of human culture. Circle is a foundation

of human social heritage. PeerSpirit circling, a modern adaptation and innovation of this

ancient social and spiritual process, challenges dominant ideologies based on concepts of hierarchy and individualism.1 Coming into the circle is archetypal. People gather to share wisdom,

make collective decisions, and take action for renewal and progress. Circle is the mother of all

methodologies.

Circle Process

Prior to coming together in a PeerSpirit circle (figure 1), people intentionally prepare themselves by attending to personal needs. Circle begins by setting the circle space, including establish-



peerspirit circling



Start

Point



Check-Out



Setting

Center



Guardian



Agreements



Center

Three

Practices

Three

Principles



Check-In



Intention



Illustration by Harriet Peterson



Figure 1. The Components of the PeerSpirit Circle



ing a visual center. A check-in connects people, as they slow down and fully arrive. Circle participants then discuss and commit to abiding by PeerSpirit’s three principles—rotating leadership,

shared responsibility, and reliance on group synergy—and its three practices: intentional speaking,

attentive listening, and conscious self-monitoring. They also adopt group norms (agreements)

arrived at through consensus.

Someone volunteers to act as guardian of the group energy, paying close attention to group

process. The guardian uses some agreed-upon signal to call a stop action to group process, during

which everyone pauses and in a moment of silence seeks guidance for what the circle needs next.

Within this framework, circle members move into the business or intention of the meeting. Passing a talking piece, a tradition in PeerSpirit circles, ensures that everyone has a chance to speak

without interruption. There are times in the circle process when discussion without a talking

piece occurs, since some topics are more efficiently addressed using a free-flowing conversation.

Intentionally constructing a framework for personal interaction grounded in calling forth the

group’s collective wisdom or spirit facilitates clear communication. Circle is brought to closure

with checkout, a talking-piece round to reflect on what has happened.

Circle Today

The circle provides the basis for a culture of conversation in organizations. Principles, practices, agreements (group norms), and other structural components, such as setting intention,

using a guardian of the process, and check-in and checkout, comprise the theory that guides the

practice of PeerSpirit circling.



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The components of circle come alive through their interaction. A clear intention leads

to understanding what agreements need to be in place to fulfill group purpose. The center

allows diverse opinion, option, and creativity to be figuratively placed for all to consider. By

checking in and checking out, the whole group hears what is significant in the learning of

each individual. The principles lead to outcomes that cannot be imagined until the process for

discovering them is released. The practices develop a conversational culture, which fosters a

self-empowering team that can move in coordination within the demands of organizational

life.



Table of Uses

Typical Setting



Project Length



Events



Number of Participants



School District Board of Education

• Experienced and practiced

PeerSpirit circling

• Dialogued on critical issues

• Came to consensus on how

to approach community regarding contentious issues

• Established a timeline for

their action plan

• Committed to continuous,

systemic dialogue in PeerSpirit circle



3 days



Weekend retreat



10 board members



School District Teaching Staff

Met in PeerSpirit circles to:

• build collegiality across grade

levels and subject areas

• process information on current pedagogy

• reflect on implementation of

teaching strategies

• analyze state testing data

• develop and reflect on annual

goals to improve student

achievement



3 years



Met in small circle

groups of 6–8 teachers

during 6 half-day sessions each school year



36 K–12 teachers



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Typical Setting



Project Length



Events



Number of Participants



School District Leadership Council

Met in PeerSpirit circles to:

• plan staff development sessions

• process feedback from teachers and modify sessions accordingly



3 years



Met monthly during the

school year for 2–3hour sessions



7 teacher volunteer

leaders



Health Care Facility

Used PeerSpirit process to:

• improve communication, especially during emergencies

• build a culture of cooperation

among administration and

staff



6 months



Three 6-hour training

sessions



• 5 administrators

• 35 health-care workers



Religious Community

Learned PeerSpirit methodology to:

• create a collaborative culture

• renew and sustain current

members

• investigate ways to increase

membership



1 year



Three 3-day retreats



25 community members



About the Authors

Sarah MacDougall, Ed.D. (tenfold@scc.net), is a dedicated educator who investigated the capacity

of PeerSpirit circle methodology to transform individual lives and collective group process. Her

dissertation establishes a theoretical foundation for the efficacy of PeerSpirit circle process as a

means of fostering organizational change.

Christina Baldwin, M.S. (cbaldwin@peerspirit.com), is an innovative facilitator, teacher, and

writer. Her studies of group process methodology led to the concepts presented in Calling the

Circle: The First and Future Culture (Bantam, 1998). She has carried this work throughout North

America, Europe, and Africa. She works with organizations in health care, education, religious

administration, nonprofit, and association boards.



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Where to Go for More Information

References

Baldwin, C. Calling the Circle: The First and Future Culture. New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

Basic Guidelines for Calling a Circle—http://peerspirit.com/htmlpages/circlebasics.html.

MacDougall, S. N. Calling on Spirit: An Interpretive Ethnography of PeerSpirit Circles as

Transformative Process. Santa Barbara, CA: Fielding Graduate University, 2005. Dissertation

Abstracts International, A66/06, p. 2407 (UMI No. 3178997).

Wheatley, M. J. Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future. San

Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2002.

Organization

PeerSpirit—www.peerspirit.com

1. S. N. MacDougall, Calling on Spirit: An Interpretive Ethnography of PeerSpirit Circles as Transformative

Process. Santa Barbara, CA: Fielding Graduate University, 2005. Dissertation Abstracts International,

A66/06, p. 2407 (UMI No. 3178997).



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petra eickhoff and stephan g. geffers



Power of Imagination Studio

A Further Development of the

Future Workshop Concept

As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupery



A Fictional Weather Forecast

An atmosphere of suspense fills the air. We are a group of 80 participants with all of our attention

focused on four people in the middle, who are presenting their group results. We witness a fictional weather forecast sometime in the future. Using a picture by an expressionist painter, they

explain a satellite image. We learn of training eruptions and competence storms that pour forth

like lava. A media Atlantis rises up from the depths and with the help of “Aroma” Computers, Old

and New World become networked together, repairing themselves without any help.

One could have heard a needle drop at that moment. The applause for their imaginative,

utopian ideas goes on for a long time. Sighs of relief escape from the people who had stepped in

the middle of the “6S-4D” Studio (six senses, four dimensions), and they breathe in the lofty

atmosphere. Participants who would not have trusted themselves to say anything in front of a

large audience suddenly find the encouragement and motivation to do something completely off

the wall and ingenious, following their dreams and desires to their hearts’ content.

How will the facilitation team bridge the gap to the serious topic at hand? Having jotted

down every content-related remark, they now request “translation” of the ideas covering reams

of flip-chart paper, using them as a metaphor, describing their hidden meanings. Thus, “competence storms” becomes a mandate for a competence team in a company to track emerging trends.

A cardboard bridge is interpreted as creating a meeting place for teams to exchange ideas. A bee-



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tle is transformed into a community bus eating up money, demonstrating the idea of cost reduction . . . and the imagining continues.



Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Power of Imagination Studio?

The starting point for a Power of Imagination Studio—a unique style of Future Workshop—is a serious topic indeed. A studio moderation team acts as a midwife, responsible for the

process that shepherds the birth of something new. Participants create the content, the topics,

and categories that come into being during the process. Once these are born, the participants are

responsible for the ongoing life of the results.

The process works from the belief that the people affected have the capacities they need for

change. They are the experts responsible for finding a solution and changing their lives and work

environments. External consulting—even trendsetting technical lectures to “prep” participants—

is unnecessary. All are treated as equals regardless of position, age, or experience.

A space is provided for a wide spectrum of applications: bringing together different opinions

and strengths, awakening slumbering creativity, or supporting self-organization in social groups.

Participants mix in different groups and connections, working with questions that matter to them.

The Future Workshop (“Zukunftswerkstatt”) originated in the peace efforts of its inventor,

Robert Jungk. The Power of Imagination Studio builds on the Future Workshop concept by using

the individual and collective shifts that come through creativity.

How Does the Power of Imagination Studio Work?

The theme of the process is established beforehand with the specifics unfolding as participants travel through three phases.

In phase one, participants name their issues and problems, freeing themselves of this burden. The complaint and criticism phase brings worry, dissatisfaction, and fears into the foreground

so that they can be understood and form the basis for starting anew. This work generates appreciation for the way things are that can move a paralyzed situation symbolically toward the future.

The second phase is the imagination and metopia phase, in which “thought landscapes” and

ideals are formed. Metopia,1 derived from the Greek word for “implementable nonexistent place,”

is an idea about a near future falling under the participants’ influence, but not fitting within the

horizon of rational analytical thought. Artwork, games, and stories are invented and presented

through the use of theatre and the arts. The group selects the most unusual, incomprehensible,

and fanciful mental images for the most exciting step of all. The chosen ideas are carefully “translated” into ordinary language. Thus, a bridge fashioned from wood, yarn, and fragments of glass

symbolizes improved cooperation, a translation of their desire for greater collaboration as the

future they wish to create.

The third phase requires the best of participants’ thinking and negotiating skills. In the

implementation and practical phase, parallel groups work through the chosen themes, clarifying