Freedom and Fairness:
Facilitating Wisdom in Times of Crisis
An Online Mastermind
A Time of Crisis
- A Clarion Call for Wisdom -
Crisis
In times of crisis we often fend for ourselves, lean on known habits and execute decisions that are familiar to us. We attempt to secure ourselves and the people we most love.
While self-preservation is key, we often “double down” on what we think we know. We impose a "status quo" bias on a situation that is anything but status quo, which leads us to perpetuate suffering because we are not dealing with things as they are. And, in the face of fear, anxiety, and the unknown we take actions that are filled with unexamined biases or projections that often cost us and foster even greater risks down the road.
Crisis can quickly devolve individuals and groups into group think, breakdowns in coordination and response, and rapid degradation of trust. Unfortunately, history is littered with examples of what these well trodden paths lead to.
While deeply challenging times often necessitate re-investing in our foundations, we are wise to re-imagine the most basic ways we live. To secure our old patterns is often to deny the change that’s already here.
Wisdom
Crisis can be our invitation into transformations we cannot fathom until we go through them with our eyes, hearts and hands wide open.
Whether we accept it or not, our deep challenges are calling us to access wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to see a situation clearly, without distortion from our biases and projections. Much is born from the clear "seeing" that wisdom provides - a galvanizing vision of who we can be, greater discernment, and action that relieves suffering, heals, and builds resilience. Through the cultivation of wisdom we can put bold possibilities into motion within ourselves, relationships, and communities.
Answering the call of crisis with wisdom and skill requires radical forms of facilitative leadership.
This is what this Mastermind seeks to cultivate in its participants.
Our larger potentials demand that we, as facilitators and leaders, support our groups and communities in coordinating and collaborating in ways our past lives denied.
To meet this call requires an unwavering courage, interpersonal and emotional sophistication, and vision for us to support those we serve in touching the precious opportunity of inner transformation in service of radical cooperation.
"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, humankind will have discovered fire."
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Curriculum
Each topic will be covered over the span of two weeks
They will likely be sequenced in this order, but is dependent on participants' organic learning cycles
Integral Praxis
Somatics of Conversation
Adult Development
Strong Emotions in Groups
Shadow in Conversation
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this mastermind you will come away with the following meta-learning outcomes
Wisdom
Sovereignty
Belonging
Answering the Call
This Training is For You:
This Training May Not Be For You:
Master Mind Structure
Facilitating Wisdom in Times of Crisis
Kicks off with a 6 hour immersion (+1 hour for lunch)
Followed by 10 sessions over 10 weeks
Every week there will be a live 120 minute zoom session; sessions will be recorded
Limited to 16 participants
Required Reading:
Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart
Immersion
We will set the groundwork for our time together by connecting to purpose, fostering intimacy, and laying down foundational teaching:
Week 1 - 9
Teaching
Sessions 1 - 9 will deepen the foundations covered in the immersion and introduce remaining topics
(see Curriculum Section)
Facilitation Practice
Also, these sessions will focus on participants having and facilitating generative dialogue.
This mastermind is designed based on action learning - meaning you learn by doing in a feedback rich environment.
As such, the trainings are highly experiential and engage the group in dialogue and exercises intended to awaken understanding and capabilities of working with power dynamics, “us versus them” dynamics, emotional and relational dimensions, fear and unconscious biases, and techniques to support individual and group transformation.
Week 10
Integration session
Lead Instructor
Gabriel Menegale Wilson
Gabe, founder of Developmental Design, is a leadership coach and organizational consultant, with a specialty in diversity and inclusion efforts. He is the co-author of Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart. His work takes us to the intersection of social justice and purpose driven enterprises, design thinking, human psychology and group dynamics.
Freedom and Fairness is an initiative within Gabe's work to apply Integral Theory, zen training, and adult developmental psychology to the theory and practice of group facilitation in the context of DEI and intergroup conflict.
Gabe studied adult developmental psychology and leadership through Stanford’s Masters program in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS). He was a lecturer at Stanford University for the innovative program, Designing Your Life, where he taught undergraduate and graduate students the principles of design thinking as applied to personal and professional development. He is a certified Integral Facilitator and an associate at Delta Developmental, a leadership and organizational development consultancy. He is a practitioner of meditation in the Soto Zen lineage at the Two Arrows Zen Center.
Dates & COST
Date
June 25 - August 27
Weekly on Thursdays
10 - 11:30 am PST / 1:00 - 2:30 pm EST
Cost
$1,000
(Scholarship available due to COVID-19)
© 2016