Worldwork terms, concepts and
skills
Some Basic Concepts for Teamwork and Worldwork
(Worldwork is constantly being developed, check with
process work web sites, also see Arny’s “Sitting in the Fire”, and “The Deep
Democracy of Open Forums”)
Deep Democracy
Deep democracy is the elder’s multidimensional
metaskill (feeling attitude) towards life which recognizes the basically
equal importance of
: consensus reality issues and concerns (facts, issues, problems, people)
dreamland figures (roles, ghosts), and the essence (common ground) that connects
everyone.
Universal Metaskill
=“Elderskill” comes from your deepest self and its direction.
This skill involves Deep D. plus the sense the world is your child – interweaving
the sense of the equal importance of individual viewpoints and the grand
mystery behind it all.
Worldwork (WW)
Worldwork (WW) is a small and large group processwork method that uses Deep Democracy to address the issues of groups and organizations of all kinds. To resolve reality problems and enrich community experience, worldwork methods focus on finding and employing the power of an organization’s or city’s dreamlike background (e.g. projections, gossip, roles, and creative fantasy). Worldwork facilitators listen to the land, do innerwork, practice outer communication skills involving role consciousness, signal and rank awareness to enrich organizational life. WW has been successfully applied to the analysis of, and work with multicultural, multileveled, Aboriginal communities, universities, small and large international organizations, city hot spots and world conflict zones.
Participant Facilitator
In WW, the concept of leader and facilitator is understood
basically as a shared role. Therefore the old concept of participant changed,
we call
the new participant or “citizen” a “participant facilitator.” (just
as the leader/facilitator is leader-follower etc.)
Filtering
The facilitator “filters” or “sorts” by
gathering issues or feelings that are important to members of the group
and which they
would like to see addressed. The facilitator can help by repeating back and
clarifying what each speaker has said, combine issues that are similar in
nature, and write the various themes on the board. Process Filtering begins
with a very general topic and watches for secondary processes and group consensus
to go further.
Consensus
The facilitator can help gain consensus by discovering what direction the
group would like to go first, knowing that all of the issues and feelings
are important and need to be discussed at some point. Whatever theme is chosen,
it is a large umbrella topic that has many sub-themes within it, some of
which may include other topics mentioned by the group during the filtering
process.
Roles
The concept of roles belongs to the dreamland aspect
of group process. While each role such as “boss”, “underling”, “patient”, “helper” seems
to be located with a given individual or group, it is actually a “timespirit” that
needs to be filled by many of us. In other words, each role is much great
than any one individual or group. And, each of us is bigger than any one
role. In other words, people are not roles.
Role Switching
There is a natural tendency to role switch. That is,
we find that we may identify with a particular role but then at a given
point notice that we
feel pulled to represent another role, or that we are in another role. For
example, someone in a social service organization who is identified as a
helper for others who are suffering and in need of care, may begin to speak
about her or his own suffering. At that moment, she or he has switched roles
into the “others” who need care. Noticing and allowing yourself
to switch roles is an awareness practice; sensing when you are in one role
and when you begin to move to another. This is another aspect of dreamland
in which we share roles.
Ghost Roles
Ghosts are a part of dreamland. They refer to those things
that are spoken about but not directly represented by anyone in a given
group. Some typical
ghosts are ancestors who are spoken about but who are no longer present,
the “bad” person who is not in the room, the environment, etc.
Getting into, representing, +expressing the views + thoughts of ghosts can
be important keys to the process. And it is important to know that everyone
shares these ghost roles.
Edges
An edge refers to a moment when someone speaks but is unable to complete
what she or he is saying due to personal reasons or because of actual or
felt group restrictions. It can be very helpful to ask the person why it
is so difficult to speak and, if circumstances allow, to help the person
go over that edge and complete what she or he is trying to say. Alternately,
the facilitator can help the person by imagining and going over that edge
for her or him.
Hot Spots
An intense moment in which there is a strong emotional clash between individuals
or the whole group or when something forbidden or intense happens that causes
everyone to become silent or frozen. When hot spots are not focused on, they
are the source of future escalations. Therefore, it is helpful to notice
hot spots, to slow down, and go deeper into the feelings of each side of
the conflict. Hot spots can be the doorway to deepening the process.
Double Signals
A double signal means that someone is conveying one message that they are
identifying with or intending in a given moment, while simultaneously expressing
something else with their words or body that is further away from their awareness.
For example, I might say verbally that I want to relate to you. That is my
intention. However, at the same time I look down and do not look at you.
This is a double signal. It can be very helpful to focus on double signals,
to give the person time to investigate what that signal is expressing and
to bring that information into the conversation.
Framing and Levels
The facilitator can frame a discussion by remarking about the different
levels or dimensions people are speaking about. E.g. one person may speak
about (consensus reality) issues and outer action while someone else is speaking
about feelings (dreamland). Then, someone else might speak about a common
ground (essence) that unites us. This clash of levels can be the source of
conflict itself! The facilitator can frame things by saying that there are
many levels arising simultaneously; one person is talking about outer action
while another is speaking about her feelings. Ask which direction to focus
on while remembering the others.
The Big U
The big You is a system-mind concept. U stands for Universe,
or the biggest part of a group or of a person. A system can be the whole
world, or a group
or an individual or even a particle. IN any and all cases, the U connects
to the piloting-guiding function of the system’s mind (or more exactly,
its quantum mind). It is experiences as a kind of dreamlike organizer of
the system and includes all of the parts, people and situations involved.
Zigzagging
The Big U is kind of detached state of mind which allows
us to process situations by flowing between the various experiences occurring.
We can be here and
there, “zigzagging” so that all parts feel appreciated and notice
they are all important aspects of the flow of a given situation.
TeamWork
A team is a group of “beasts of burden” (Webster). Teamwork
is a team process where everyone knows the team’s Big U.
Susan and Sam on Roles
During our recent facilitator training seminars, Amy
enjoyed presenting the concepts of roles, ghost roles, and role switching
in a new and simple
way. Here she recreates that presentation in the form of a fun comic strip
called, “A Brief Lesson about Roles, Role Switching, and Ghost Roles”.
 Download
the presentation .... (1.4MB PDF document)
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