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BD Giving Notes #57 – Through the Looking Glass 

Going forwards, I want to make sure that I am more present in decision-making processes

In our latest BDG Note, Programme Officer Sophie Miles looks back on her Deep Democracy training and how she is utilising it in her work.

I went into the training with a bit of an understanding about facilitation and Deep Democracy, after observing some facilitation carried about by colleagues who have done Deep Democracy training. I came out of the three days feeling like I had learned so much, not just about facilitation but also about myself, group dynamics and decision-making. 

In addition to the five of us from BD Giving, we had ten others also doing the training with us. They were a variety of ages, with different careers and life stories. Despite the large number of strangers, I felt a sense of trust in our group and in our teacher Payam. There was an openness, lack of judgement and a safety to share difficult feelings and emotions.  

Payam guided us through the origins, concept and methods of Deep Democracy. I found the Iceberg method which explores how the unconscious (part of the iceberg beneath the water line) is present in all decision-making processes and how we as facilitators are there to help lower the waterline, to bring the unconscious to the conscious. While it can often be easy to ignore the unconscious in decision-making, there is always a wisdom in the unconscious which can be brought to the surface.

 

Understanding your role

I also found Role Theory really interesting, particularly the idea that everything exists in an energy field, but, in a given moment of time, we are only conscious of part of that energy. This energy can be termed as a role and can be archetypes (such as the leader), emotions, thoughts and symptoms. So when we don’t recognise that all roles are part of us during a decision-making process, we project particular roles onto others, referred to as scapegoating in Deep Democracy. In facilitation, growth happens when there is role fluidity and people are able to get more in touch with other parts of themselves. 

We learned some of the key facilitation methods which help with lowering the waterline and were able to practise some of these including, spreading the no, soft shoe shuffle, and Debate and Argument for when there are two clear polarities. Our decisions ranged from deciding how long to take for lunch to debating more contentious topics such as whether a facilitator can ever be truly neutral. This was particularly interesting for me as I got to see how powerful these methods can be and the potential challenges that can emerge and be resolved in the process. 

During all of this, I was able to reflect on the decision-making processes I have been involved in and the roles I normally take. Going forwards, I want to make sure that I am more present in decision-making processes, particularly when facilitating, working out how to bring the unconscious to the surface. 

I am going to be putting some of what I learned into practice for the launch of our new Small Grants Fund, where we will be facilitating a group of residents in the co-designing of the fund as well as the grantmaking decisions. I am also going to try to use these methods for group decisions in other parts of my life: in the office and in my day to day life with friends and family. Exciting times ahead! 

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Going forwards, I want to make sure that I am more present in decision-making processes

In our latest BDG Note, Programme Officer Sophie Miles looks back on her Deep Democracy training and how she is utilising it in her work.

I went into the training with a bit of an understanding about facilitation and Deep Democracy, after observing some facilitation carried about by colleagues who have done Deep Democracy training. I came out of the three days feeling like I had learned so much, not just about facilitation but also about myself, group dynamics and decision-making. 

In addition to the five of us from BD Giving, we had ten others also doing the training with us. They were a variety of ages, with different careers and life stories. Despite the large number of strangers, I felt a sense of trust in our group and in our teacher Payam. There was an openness, lack of judgement and a safety to share difficult feelings and emotions.  

Payam guided us through the origins, concept and methods of Deep Democracy. I found the Iceberg method which explores how the unconscious (part of the iceberg beneath the water line) is present in all decision-making processes and how we as facilitators are there to help lower the waterline, to bring the unconscious to the conscious. While it can often be easy to ignore the unconscious in decision-making, there is always a wisdom in the unconscious which can be brought to the surface.

 

Understanding your role

I also found Role Theory really interesting, particularly the idea that everything exists in an energy field, but, in a given moment of time, we are only conscious of part of that energy. This energy can be termed as a role and can be archetypes (such as the leader), emotions, thoughts and symptoms. So when we don’t recognise that all roles are part of us during a decision-making process, we project particular roles onto others, referred to as scapegoating in Deep Democracy. In facilitation, growth happens when there is role fluidity and people are able to get more in touch with other parts of themselves. 

We learned some of the key facilitation methods which help with lowering the waterline and were able to practise some of these including, spreading the no, soft shoe shuffle, and Debate and Argument for when there are two clear polarities. Our decisions ranged from deciding how long to take for lunch to debating more contentious topics such as whether a facilitator can ever be truly neutral. This was particularly interesting for me as I got to see how powerful these methods can be and the potential challenges that can emerge and be resolved in the process. 

During all of this, I was able to reflect on the decision-making processes I have been involved in and the roles I normally take. Going forwards, I want to make sure that I am more present in decision-making processes, particularly when facilitating, working out how to bring the unconscious to the surface. 

I am going to be putting some of what I learned into practice for the launch of our new Small Grants Fund, where we will be facilitating a group of residents in the co-designing of the fund as well as the grantmaking decisions. I am also going to try to use these methods for group decisions in other parts of my life: in the office and in my day to day life with friends and family. Exciting times ahead!