The Magic of Holding a Council Process

Nestled squarely at the nexus of structure and freedom lies the council process. This is a group process derived from ancient native tradition in which participants sit in a circle (a U-shaped conference room will do) and share their thoughts one at a time. I’m going to tell you — to the best of my ability because it sometimes feels inexplicable — why the council process can create “magic” in a team.

There are several components that build together to foster synergy, where the whole of the conversation becomes more than the sum of its parts. Let’s start with something that seems simple, but can actually be challenging in teams.

Turn-Taking

Getting at the heart of our perceived sense of fairness, beginning in preschool, turn-taking just makes sense to team or group members’ inner justice-gaugers. And, I can’t emphasize this enough: it brings down anxiety levels.

There is inherent equity in the idea that, if there are eight of us in the room, there are going to be eight turns to speak in council process. After that, the team may switch to a more free-flowing dialogue, or it may keep going around in order, or any other myriad process options (make them conscious choices!).

The basic idea here is that all voices get put into the “pool of shared meaning,” to quote Peter Senge, before any dominant personality swoops the group down a rabbit hole on their favorite point. In council, there is space for the quiet ones, the slow-to-speak ones, and the ones who need time to choose the right words.

Patience

I once heard a powerful definition of patience - that it’s not about your ability to wait, but rather your ability to sit in discomfort. In council, especially those geared toward a difficult or controversial topic, there’s an increased ability to tolerate the discomfort that comes (for some) with multiple perspectives and opinions being put on the table. (Granted, you do, as the leader, need to give the dialogue ample time to unfold).

Part of the patience comes from the relaxed attentiveness present in members of the team. And why does this exist? Thanks to the simple structure, team members trust they’ll have their chance to speak, so they don’t need to anxiously vie for a chance to jump in. Then, they do the thing that really creates the magic — LISTEN.

Listening

When everything described above takes place, true, deep listening can occur. That is in contrast to the status quo, where listening is overshadowed in team members’ minds by their own thoughts. Then, what is intended to be a “put our heads together dialogue” devolves into a “who has the best idea” discussion.

When deep listening occurs, new ideas are integrated with old ones. Minds are changed. The team literally think and learns in real time together.

Connection, Belonging, and thus Cohesion

There is a sense when one experiences council that everyone in the room is a voice of the system (because of course they are, but in the status quo it doesn’t always feel that way.) Everyone gets a chance to speak, and everyone is heard, so it easily follows that the message is clear that everyone who is here belongs here.

There’s a sense of real community in council. The process is so simple and clear, yet structured enough to feel like “we are having this conversation together as a group.” The simple structure provides much more psychological safety than would be present in an “open discussion” (more on that here).

Are you ready for the most mind-blowing part? Everything above is true even for virtual meetings. Maybe you only get to 80% magic instead of 95%, but you will still see a huge difference in the energy in the room and the sense of connectedness and collective intelligence in your team.

If you’d like more guidance on implementing council in your team, reach out to us.