Art of Hosting Southern Shoalhaven
8-10 February 2023
Willinga Park
This was the second Art of Hosting training for the Shoalhaven area in NSW, which emerged from local efforts to support grassroots not-for-profit organisations to strengthen their organisations and also to support community-led bushfire recovery efforts.
The training was called by emerging local Art of Hosting practitioners and followed the Northern Shoalhaven training a couple of months earlier in November 2022. Together we explored this question: What grows when we explore the future
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REFLECTIONS
What did we learn from the training as a whole? Here are some insights from the Harvest team, a reflection of all of our voices and contributions:
Personal insightsThanks Liz and Sharlene for the interviews, and Clara, Pete, Alice and Greg for offering their personal insights
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Closing circle: What promise will you make to yourself from your learning?We can start at the end where we checked out with the commitments we were making to ourselves as we completed our time together:
Here is a selection of the rich responses everyone spoke in our closing circle: |
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Meta harvestOur Metaharvesters Larri, Cate and Beth created a large artwork with the words ‘Art of Hosting and Harvesting’ written in large letters. Everyone was invited to draw an outline of their hand and place the name of their Country on the paper. The paper represented a communal ecology over the three days. This communal art work was cut up at the end and a piece of the harvest shared with each person as a keepsake.
Gems
These gems were fossicked from this training by Lil, Sheree and Miffy
Key themes from our check in The key themes from all of the responses to the check-in question What makes my heart sing? on the opening day (from the collective sensemaking team):
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Over three days we were immersed in an experience for deepening competency and confidence in hosting participatory group processes, and our own personal leadership. Everyone was invited to step up to practice hosting and harvesting for the training, with the support of the hosting team. Here’s an overview of the ground we covered.
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PRACTICESThe Art of Hosting is more than a suite of processes or methods – it’s also a practice field for hosting conversations that matter and our learning comes from practice.
We were introduced and invited into these foundational practices: |
The Four Fold PracticeThe Four Fold Practice forms the basis of all good hosting and you can practice these any time. It is known as the ‘DNA’ of the Art of Hosting and is foundational to all that we do and how we show up in any situation.
Video Circle |
Circle is both a foundational form and practice in Art of Hosting and a key process. The particular pattern we use in AoH is that of the Circle Way - described as a way of being in the world, a structure for deep conversation and wise outcomes, a methodology founded by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea and a growing movement of global practice.
The Circle Way gathers people into a circular shape with participants at the rim and the purpose in the centre. Each person has a voice and can see and hear every other person. Social agreements and practices help the practice of respectful conversation. Circle helps us move from social space into a reverent space of purposeful being and doing together. HarvestingWhat if we’re not planning for a meeting, but we’re planning for a harvest?
We design our conversations around the ‘harvest’ we want to produce. The results we are seeking help to determine what processes we use and how. Harvesting is a practice that begins well before the event, during the event and also continues afterwards.
Invitation |
Invitation is more than just how we invite people into conversations or work that matters. It’s a practice and attitude all of its own. The quality of the outcomes from participatory work is directly related to the quality, intention and active nature of invitation.
We learned the useful mnemonic ‘VALUE’ which represents a set of principles for invitation practice. The VALUE of Invitation |
PATTERNSConversations that begin from the perspective of worldview exploration are a way to invite people into dialogue. It is also important to understand some of the underlying patterns, or worldviews, that support the Art of Hosting and participatory leadership. These patterns can be useful to know where you are coming from and where you may be going.
We saw them show up throughout the week, and were introduced to design processes based on some of these patterns. Living systemsWe are beginning to understand and treat organisations and communities more like living systems than static machines. We explored this core pattern, also known as complex adaptive systems, and how it intersects with another, mainstream worldview - that of the mechanistic system or top down hierarchy.
The Chaordic PathA pattern that identifies a way to respond to complex issues and wicked challenges, with an adaptive approach, made visible by Dee Hock, founder of Visa International. Hosting is a practice of walking this chaordic path - between chaos and order - holding space and processes to allow emergence and innovation to happen.
Nicole invited us into creating a soundscape representing the Chaordic Path. The sounds of chaos (or perhaps chamos) resonated when we took no care or attention to others or togetherness - a cacophony ensued. Then, with a gentle invitation to listen and notice, the group took care in creating a soundscape that brought individual voices and sounds into a collective emergent experience. Video recording of Chaordic Path in action Breath PatternEvery group meeting or larger initiative follows a repeating pattern. This pattern was named by Sam Kaner and his colleagues as The Diamond of Participation. It's as natural as breathing, which is why it is known in the Art of Hosting community as "the Breath Pattern". As a host, it pays to know this pattern and how to navigate through it with your group for more meaningful results.
Cynefin frameworkCynefin, developed by Complexity scientist Dave Snowden, is very useful for identifying appropriate decision making and responses to problems. The Art of Hosting practices and processes are used to address challenges in the complex domain.
We looked at these patterns through our own experiences in work and life, exploring the grounds at Willinga Park as we embodied the experience of Cynefin. |
PROCESSES
We learned, experienced and reflected on some of the best known participatory processes that are part of Art of Hosting practice (and a few more).
The Circle WayThe Circle Way is the core process of the Art of Hosting, re-discovered by Anne Linnea and Christina Baldwin. It helps us remember ancient ways of meeting and making wise decisions together. We experienced circles in a number of different ways (and sizes!). We checked in and out of each day in circle, we held smaller circles to practice hosting this way of being in dialogue together. The circle is a deep practice and also shows up in all of the other methodologies. A leader in every chair.
Circle spans the three layers of Art of Hosting — practice, pattern and process. It helps us remember indigenous ways of meeting and making wise decisions together. We were introduced to The Circle Way and its agreements, practices, principles, roles and more, and experienced circles in a number of different ways (and sizes!). We checked in and out of each day in circle, we held smaller circles to practice hosting this way of being in dialogue together. The circle also shows up in all of the other processes. A leader in every chair. The Circle Way website The Circle Way guidelines The Circle Way video Taking The Circle Way and making it easier to bring into new contexts, we practiced with Percolab's adaptation of this practice . A question in the centre
2 roles
4 principles
Rounds
We gathered in 8 small circles hosted by participants. We spoke to the question in the centre: what has been bubbling inside you? Here are some of the powerful questions that we offered as part of our circle experiences:
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Appreciative Inquiry: storytelling triosAn introduction to Appreciative Inquiry as an approach to engaging stakeholders in self-determined change, and to trios as a method of storytelling, deepening connection and harvesting insights.
Sharing the roles of storyteller, listener and witness, we all had a chance to share a story of a time you were part of a conversation that really mattered to you. Listeners harvested the elements that supported conversations that matter, collectively creating our own recipe for good conversations, summarised here:
The World CafeWe participated in a World Cafe, a powerful conversation process for digging beneath and move beyond opinion and position and moving to new and shared understanding. We explored the following questions over 3 rounds:
We spent each round experiencing and practising deeper dialogue, harvesting our key insights at the end of each round, and sharing our final insights at the end. We were invited to a process of collective sensemaking, a powerful way for people to see patterns in their own contributions, rather than outsiders doing it for them. This themed ‘data’ was taken by a group of us to make more sense of the patterns. This is what was offered back to the group on our responses to the third round World Cafe question - What are you most called to explore right now?
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Listen For...We played Listen for…, exploring storytelling and listening lenses to deepen connection and learn a little more about each other.
Reflection:
Levels of Speaking and Listening After experiencing the Listen For… game Ronan introduced the 4 levels of listening and speaking from The Presencing Institute (Theory U, U Lab) to ground our practice. Here’s a diagram with more information about them.
Powerful questionsA powerful question invites people in with their different perspectives and ideas, will express the purpose of the meeting and will keep the meeting focused on that shared purpose.
Asking a powerful question is an effective way of opening up a conversation, keeping it engaging, and making it useful. Each of the processes used as part of the Art of Hosting has a powerful question at its core. We learned about powerful questions and their importance in working in complexity. How can we learn to ask more and better questions rather than focussing on having all of the answers? For more, see page 57 in the digital practice guide, or read the following: Open Space TechnologyI want to talk about… Sam and Monique invited us to think about conversations that we wanted to have with others, and some ways to have them - light structures
We were introduced to Open Space Technology, a powerful process to support conversations and work to happen, especially when there is diversity and great need. We created our own agenda, and self-organised in Open Space to consider the question: What are the conversations we need to have now? Claire and Lisa hosted us, creating a space for agency and self responsibility and the opportunity to participate in a wide range of conversations over two rounds. We were invited to the following conversations: |
The Wicked Question gameWe explored our own questions by playing the Wicked Question Game, inviting people to respond to our question with a question, as a way of helping us get more clarity. Judging by the responses, many found this an invaluable exercise.
Reflections on the game
PROCESS DESIGNChaordic Stepping StonesWe stepped through the Chaordic Stepping Stones, a simple participatory design tool. It helps us walk the chaordic path, creating the minimal structure needed to co-design an initiative or project, large or small, when working in complexity.
Some reflections:
Other design tools and processes useful for working in complex spaces include:
Designing for Wiser ActionDesigning for Wiser Action (DFWA) was co-created (in Australia!) to give practitioners the chance to ask for help and the rest of us an opportunity to practice both design and generosity.
10 of us brought our own projects to practice collaborative design, using the DFWA process. It gave us all a chance to practice designing, and using our collaboration skills. We also got to help Matt, Monica, Lisa, Todd, Fiona, Bree & Leah, Lill, Sheree, Christine and Al to move their projects forward. Here are some of the projects we collaborated on: |
Art of Hosting Aboriginal WayWe bought intention and attention to being in acknowledgement of Indigenous practices and wisdom. We sought guidance and conversations to help us show up in ways that were inclusive and emergent, that would nourish the possibilities of being in relationship with Country and Community.
Some of the ways we brought more consciousness and learning to our practice and inquiry were through
This inquiry into the ways Art of Hosting and culture interact is emergent and long term and we are grateful for the insights and practice in this training and for ongoing inquiry. It enriches the practice of AoH and the work we do in the world. |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our gratitude to all of the following people and organisations who helped make this training happen and enriched it with their support:
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