What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself below in a comment. This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome. For today's suggested topic lets consider Empathy Circles.
My Certificate of Completion of the Empathy Circle Facilitation Training course.
This series has been personal account of my experience taking a Empathy Circle Facilitation Training class. This will be the final installment in the series.
Last week I finished the 5 week training session to and I received my certificate of completion as you can see pictured to the right.
Please see my previous diaries in this series on my struggle with grassroots organizing at this link #1, #2, #3, #4, #5. And two additional diaries I did on Empathy Circles before I started this series: links #1 & #2
Jump the fold fold for more commentary on my transition Point. The ending of the class or something new.
I was attracted to the concept of Empathy Circles when Edwin Rutsch ran in the 2022 California congressional primaries against John Garamendi in the newly redistricted 3RD district. Edwin, founder of the Center for building a Culture of Empathy, ran on a platform of empathy. Garamendi ran on a platform of experience. Garamendi won but Edwin got 1,033 votes in Solano County, CA and 2,127 votes in Contra Costa County, CA. Garamendi got over 70,000 votes between the two counties.
I was looking for a way to build community that did not involve being physical present and the potential exposure to COVID. I started off this series by relating just how much I enjoyed setting up a voter registration table at the farmers market and how upon occasion I would set up a separate table to advocate for some candidate or community initiative.
I thought to myself could empathy circles be a substitute for grassroots political organizing similar to a farmers market? Well the answer to that question is complex and I’m still gathering data to make an assessment. But, I have learned a few things that I would like to share.
The most important thing I learned is the usefulness of reflective listening in communicating with others. I learned a structured process that introduces reflective listening into a community dialog process. This process is called a empathy circle.
Reflective listening is a communication strategy involving two key steps: seeking to understand a speaker's idea, then offering the idea back to the speaker, to confirm the idea has been understood correctly.
Wikipedia: Reflective listening
Like all processes there are difficulties with scale and focus. The process works best with 5 persons in the circle. The focus is a topic that is suggested by the facilitator. There is one other key factor in the process that serves as a catalyst to open conversation. The facilitator also states the topic can be anything on your mind. Thus inviting generative theme building. Thus, the difficulty of focus in the Empathy Circles. Empathy Circles tasked to produce results is an oxymoron.
I think the greatest strength of Empathy Circle is the healing and bonding experience of having the freedom to speak before an audience and having the direct feedback that someone is listening. This simply makes us feel good. I have deep reservations about using the process to spread an ideology.
Both of these issues are being actively addressed by Edwin currently. A empathy values training class is under development to assist with keeping on topic. (The meta topic of creating a culture of empathy.) And, another level of training beyond the facilitator training is available.
The scale issue is the real stumbling block. I watched over 30 individuals show up for the facilitator class and the process of dealing with scale was addressed by the six trainers that previously took the class. Edwin would open the training with a 15 to 20 minute presentation on the topic. And then group would split up into break out rooms with the trainers leading a leading smaller groups of 4 to 6 individuals. As you can see from my certificate it was attested to by the 6 trainers that ran the break out rooms.
The focus of the class was on point and the 6 trainers addressed the scale issue by leading small groups that kept on track teaching facilitation. So how does this work for the Empathy Circle Cafe outreach program? Or, how does this work for an political outreach platform?
The scale issue in the class I took is addressed by breakout rooms and having trained facilitators on hand. I assume now that I have my certificate I might be allowed to lead a break out room at an empathy cafe if the attendance is over 6 individuals. I have to note that trying to do a circle with more than 6 individuals falls short by not giving each individual enough time to talk, active listen, and witness the dialog.
Topic, Topic, Topic. This is the real stumbling block for community organizer like myself. By allowing individuals say what is on their mind the circles can quickly go off the meta topic or announced topic. The principle deviation from the announced topic is personal and socialization issues. Just the simple need for humans to share what is alive in them.
What are my plans? I have four plans under consideration.
- I’m planning to continue to attend the empathy cafes a few times a month, and if need step up and do a break out room. I’m in tune with the meta topic of just being “empathic” with individuals and I feel better after sharing and listening with group of individuals immersed in the process.
- I plan to volunteer a bit to work on a spreading the reflective listening ideas in schools. There is a specific group working on Empathy in Schools. See the Empathy Circle schedule at this link.
- I’m considering starting a local empathy circle group in my home town of Vallejo, CA called “Connected Vallejo.” Its initial focus would be support for caregivers.
- I’m considering starting a global podcast called “Resistance Words” that is about “naming the world.” The podcast would be supported by empathy circle meetups to discuss the word introduced in the podcast.
Could I say more? Yes, much more. But I will save that for future posts.
Regards,
Jonathan Gordon
