Deep Democracy and Group Facilitation: Group Process as a Path to Sustainable Communities and teams
We are faced with many world changes. The old ways of organizing the world and our communities are no longer working and we are called to find new sustainable ways of living. Politics, economics, race, religion, social marginalization and access to resources are some of the issues that are continuously troubling our world and our communities. In order to create resolutions to the problems we face in our organization and the world and bring sustainable change we need to negotiate with the real issues and create institutional changes, as well as work with our deepest experiences. This supports us to gain access to the inner wisdom and skills that are needed to bring Deep Democracy to life.
Deep Democracy has many meanings. In our personal lives, it means openness to all of our inner voices, feelings and experiences. Not only the ones we are familiar with and support, but also the ones we fear and not know well. In relationships, deep democracy means having ongoing awareness of our highest ideals and worst moods, how our differences are also our similarities. In group life it is a willingness to listen and create space for all parts to be expressed and stories to be unfolded.
In this seminar we will explore: levels of experience, the group as a field, the group’s atmosphere, the structure of a group process, roles, ghost roles, edges, hot spots and cool spots, levels of interaction, metaskills etc. We will use innerwork, individual work in the middle of the group, dyad work and group process to explore Deep Democracy and how it affects our perception of the world and ourselves.