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 Waylays 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.Foreword by Margaret J. Wheatley Preface
PART I: The Circle Way Chapter 1: Where Circle Comes From, and Where It Can Take Us Chapter 2: The Components of Circle
PART II: Circles at Work in the World Chapter 3: The Power of Preparation, Invitation, Intention, and Center Chapter 4: Rotating Positions of Leadership in the Circle Chapter 5: Accountability through Agreements, Practices, and Principles Chapter 6: Circle Step-by-Step
PART III: The Art of Presence in Circle Chapter 7: Story as a Core Communication Chapter 8: Activating and Responding in Social Container Chapter 9: Why Circle Takes Us to the Shadow Chapter 10: Circle as Support for Collective Healing
PART IV: The Circle as Paradigm Shift Chapter 11: Organizational Experiments in Circle Governance Chapter 12: Circle as a Way of Life