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A project of John Engle and associates in Haiti
Encouraging Servant Leadership
Transforming Education
Building Democracy
“An experience like we have lived today in Open Space helps us to think better, to better understand others as well as ourselves. These are the type of activities we need to turn our ideas into concrete actions.” Edwidge Marcelin, 9th grade student, The Louverture Cleary School in Santo, Haiti
Our vision is for Open Space and Reflection Circle practices to become as common in meetings, seminars, conferences, and classrooms as the use of podiums, flip charts, and chalkboards.
Our core strategy is to develop and nurture communities of Reflection Circle and Open Space practitioners who use these methods effectively with groups and institutions throughout Haiti.
The forms of leadership we are all most familiar with can stifle creativity, motivation, and initiative. Even worse, they can fuel conflict. Traditionally, any position of power is a license to talk and not listen, to tell and not ask, to demand and not serve. Challenging these tendencies is a responsibility of all of us who long for a better world. Unfortunately, the command-and-control style of leader-ship plagues the field of international development with the predictable result of conflict.
Haiti, sometimes called the graveyard of development projects and known for political instability, is no exception.
When people cannot exercise their creativity—and worse, when they feel a lack of respect from their leaders—the price we all pay is suffering, untapped human potential, and waste.
Gandhi viewed cultural self-determination and freedom as the most significant needs of developing nations. He and other development experts since have seen that outside help can stunt what is most needed, the emergence of homegrown leadership—a result of dedication, nurturing, and time.
The underlying assumption of The Experiment in Alternative Leadership is that the command-and-control philosophy—in the classroom, in for-profit and nonprofit institutions, in grassroots organizations, and in government agencies—can inhibit the healthy evolution of individuals, groups, and society as a whole.
The Experiment is a quest to discover and create conditions that allow the human spirit to flourish. This involves developing and trying out practices and organizational structures that foster:
Eleven years ago, two organizations were formed: Limye Lavi, a Port-au-Prince-based Haitian foundation, and Beyond Borders, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization. Central to their founding principles was a commitment to a nonhierarchical, liberating structure at the staff level. It was determined from the outset that responsibility would be tied to interest and commitment rather than to job titles, and that decisions would be reached by consensus, not imposed. From the beginning, Limye Lavi used a form of Open Space for their meetings.
The Reflection Circle Project (called “Touchstones” in the U.S.) began in Haiti in 1997 as a strategy for nurturing discussion-based education in classrooms of all types. Through reading and discussing carefully selected texts in Haitian Creole, students develop skills in reading comprehension, critical thinking, dialogue, and group dynamics. Teachers grow to trust their students’ ability both to learn without coercion and to take responsibility for their own education. The strategy for increasing the number of institutions, groups, and classrooms that use Reflection Circles mirrors the underlying philosophy of the method’s approach in the classroom. Just as the students learn to mold their own futures, Reflection Circle practitioners take strategic responsibility for increasing the number of teachers and students who will have access to this innovative method. Presently, more than three thousand adults and children participate in weekly Reflection Circle sessions in various regions of Haiti.
Open Space is an approach that helps all kinds of people in any type of organization to create effective, even inspiring, meetings and events. The facilitation method assumes great things happen when people who genuinely care about an issue and are willing to take responsibility are provided the opportunity to do so. Devised 15 years ago, Open Space helps ordinary people and organizations to achieve extraordinary results.
Open Space and Reflection Circles are two concrete ways to cultivate mutual respect, servant leadership, and meaningful dialogue between people of different backgrounds. These are essential components for fostering peace and self-determination: a culture of democracy.
Peace and Self-Determination: These concepts are broadly conceived—from the inner peace of an individual, for example, to world peace; similarly, self-determination may describe an individual, a group, or a nation.
Servant Leadership: The leader exists to serve the needs of the group, which may include helping them to identify their goals.
Open Space: A method for meeting and organizing that opens up space for new ideas, concerns, and questions to emerge, giving participants both individual and group responsibility. The participant group can be of any size, from seven to a thousand or more and a typical gathering is held during 1-3 days.
Reflection Circles: A strategy for promoting discussion-based education in classrooms and for building trust in organizations.
Community of Learning and Practice: A group of people committed to improvement who are engaged in an ongoing process of reflection and action. They are intentional about cultivating and sharing their individual and combined talents, skills, wisdom, and passions.
Entrepreneurial: Taking initiative and assuming personal responsibility for realizing one’s dreams.
Reflection Circles are being used with children throughout schools in the U.S. and among executives in corporations as well. Learn more at http://.touchstones.org.
Pledges from Core Partners cover The Experiment’s Coordinator’s stipend, health insurance and travel expenses. This ongoing commitment by those who best know The Experiment’s work assures new people that their contributions go directly toward spreading the application of Open Space and Reflection Circles.
John Engle is cofounder of Beyond Borders, Limye Lavi Foundation, the Reflection Circle Project, and Rotalpha. He serves on the board of directors of the Open Space Institute (USA) and is a reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams.
For more information or to receive the 20-minute documentary (VHS), “Circles of Change,” contact John Engle: 717-433-0059 or mailto:john@theexperiment.info or visit the traditional website: http://www.TheExperiment.info.