The training helped me realise that this neutrality was not about me but about the space I am able to create for others so that tensions can be spoken about.
A few weeks ago, our Head of Learning & Participation finally finished their Level 4 training in Lewis Deep Democracy (LDD), marking the culmination of a development process that started in September 2020. Here, Cameron Bray, reflects on what they’ve learned and what this means for their work.
My colleague Jack wrote a previous Note about his experience with the foundational LDD training. I won’t repeat too much about the background of the method as he’s already done a great job of that. In brief, it’s a way of dealing with conflict by ensuring that all voices are heard and get to influence a decision. By doing this, we hope to maintain relationships rather than ending them. There are a range of tools that a facilitator uses to draw out conflict and find a way to move through it.
Level 4 is the furthest I can go without becoming a trainer myself. There are no new tools to learn and it’s a very introspective process. Over the course of three days, our cohort of six worked together to get to the heart of the work we are each doing. We were a very mixed bunch, the most diverse in terms of how we were using the tools that I have encountered during my training to date. Alongside a familiar face from our work with the Lankelly Chase Foundation, I also met a councillor and people using LDD within the private sector. This really helped me see the potential of what I do in terms of where it could be used effectively.
We dug deep into the history of LDD. In doing so, we had to engage with the very premise of the methodology and work out for ourselves how it connected with the tools we had all been using. It also forced us to dig into our own histories and subconscious thoughts and behaviours. In doing so, we reconnected with how it felt to be facilitated. This allowed us to familiarise ourselves with how the people we facilitate are likely to feel and recognise when we are not paying attention to it during conflict resolution.
As a methodology developed by psychologists, it’s not something that can be easily boiled down to a few training sessions. I was very aware of the gaps in my own knowledge and the dangers involved in facilitation. None of us in the room were psychologists yet we had all dealt with emotional and mental distress in our facilitation – these are things that LDD’s creators had the education and experience to handle.
Did that mean we should just give up and not bother trying to be facilitators, since we couldn’t give people counselling? After several years learning and using the Deep Democracy method, had we talked ourselves out of using it? That prospect felt scary.
