Circle Way

Facilitating remote Meetings and Workshops

Inspired by the lyrics of Mark Knopfler's song "Before Gas and TV" I am sharing the Circle Way as formate to facilitate meetings and events and especially if they are remote in times of near- and offshoring, high gas prices, and overall restrictions for in-person meetings.
 
The Goal
Having facilitation formate where each team member has the time and space to speak up, where personality traits like introversion or extroversion lose significance, and where listening is deeply embedded. And for the remote or hybrid meetings the annoying question “Who is next” is already answered.

What is it all about?
Since we walked through the savannah we gathered around campfires in a circle. Sitting in circles is therefore deeply embedded in our human heritage. To bring this ancient heritage of a remote meeting with Miro, Mural or Conceptboard is quite easy. 

• 1st – Set the stage. Regarding the goal of the meeting or event, I choose an appropriate picture. I observed that this has a great impact on the conversations. For exploration and letting thoughts and ideas flow I choose a wide image like the sea or sunrise. For focussed conversations, I choose a flower or bonfire. For solving conflicts I choose a peaceful image and for activating teams an energetic image like a sports team cheering itself up
• 2nd – Drawing a circle on the picture, ensuring that the power and intention of the picture still are able to unfold
• 3rd – Provide the names of the participants on sticky notes next to the picture and the circle
• 4th – Introducing the Circle Way and asking the participants to pull their stickies into to circle. So everybody is able to “sit” where they prefer to and everybody's autonomy is respected
• 5th – Within the meetings and events we go at a certain point “into the circle”. Whoever would like to start will start and afterward, we go clockwise. You see, no more asking “Who is next?” 

Everybody has their word and we listen with the intent to understand not to answer. The person who does not like to speak just says “next”. To remember who started the circle I use a symbol like a star and put it next to the name. That’s basically it on a surface level. For a deep dive, thecircleway.net is very valuable.

The Circle Way is especially great for Scrum Events like a Sprint Retrospective or the Daily.

Remember: We stick around this old planet for way more than 100’000 years and our current way of global live-collaboration is hardly a decade old.