Why it's worth betting on the circle! The Circle Way in times of change

"You need not only moral imagination, but also social skills. And you have to practice those."
Götz Werner, founder of the dm stores

Since ancient times, people have formed a circle around the fire to share knowledge, experiences, and stories, and to organize themselves. The circle thus became a place where people listened, were heard, and thought and organized together.

Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea discovered in their observations in the early 1990s, that transformation occurred simply through the structure of the circle, and that people were transformed. They became collective learners and self-leaders. A new art of listening and speaking emerged from the form of the circle. These early experiences led Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea to translate the ancient social container into modern language and apply it within organizations.

The Circle Way thus became a concept rooted in humanity's shared heritage. Circle work exists as a primal form in all cultures and can be used across cultures with great impact at the organizational and societal levels. The Circle Way is about presence, participation, and taking responsibility. Self-governance, quality of communication, and effective leadership are fostered and strengthened.

Three principles shape the thinking and working within the circle:

Rotating line
Each person in the group contributes by taking on the role of facilitator, note-taker, or process monitor at various times. The monitor's role is to provide short breaks for refocusing, for example, if the meeting's objective is lost or if respectful interaction is lacking.

Sharing responsibility
Each person in the group is also responsible for the results and for supporting the process to the best of their ability and with their cooperative skills. In this way, everyone shares responsibility for quality.

Relying on the whole
This principle recognizes the synergistic potential that arises when everyone contributes to a common goal. When everyone is more focused on achieving the shared objective than on personal success, wisdom, creativity, and entirely new possibilities emerge within the group.

The principles and the associated practices and agreements are key to creating an organization that challenges and supports people – but never overwhelms them.
For those who would like to delve deeper into the meta-method The Circle Way, our cooperation partner, the Communication Guides, offers a training course on this topic.

The Basic Bundle

In collaboration with Neuland, the Communication Guides have developed the "Basic Bundle" of guide cards. This bundle consists of a beautifully designed card set with fundamental wisdom and knowledge for people in consulting, leadership, and mentoring roles. It is wrapped in a printed cotton cloth, which is suitable as a centerpiece for circle work. If you are hosting a meaningful dialogue as part of a gathering and are acting as a facilitator or host, then a circle of chairs or chairs might seem like a suitable format. The circle expresses community and shared responsibility. The center, with its small cloth, perhaps a candle, and other useful tools (talking sticks, cymbals), and/or symbols, holds the circle together.

You can use the 16 inspiration cards in a variety of ways.
For example, it is advisable to…
a) to lay out the cards and have them drawn one by one, in order to then use them as a starting point for the introductory or presentation round (check-in).
b) to select a card for a specific topic in advance, to read it aloud, in order to then, for example, use it as a starting point to jointly delve into the topic.
c) to spontaneously use the cards as a tool when you encounter a challenge in the process, either in the circle or in the group.
d) to discuss one card in more depth on a monthly basis or in accordance with the rhythm of your meetings, and to understand the time until the next meeting as practice time.