Leadership and Empowerment Lessons from the Ovambanderu Women’s Council: How we used Circle Practice and Open Space Technology to gain insights from the wisdom of indigenous women.

December 8, 2022

What is Circle Practice? Is Open Space Technology useful to learn about leadership? How might we use these methods and set of related tools to understand and gain insights from the wisdom of local indigenous women?  How do we venture into the unknown while helping people acknowledge their own sources of knowledge and solutions to the leadership challenges of today? These were the questions I was trying to find answers to when the Accelerator Lab received a request to conduct Leadership training for the newly established Ovambanderu Women’s Council.  

I’ve been in the learning and development space for a good portion of my career. While I am comfortable with experimenting with various learning methodologies, responding to, and developing a learning programme with a unique cultural dimension I was not familiar with, was quite challenging.  It was a simple enough request  along the lines of “…we need leadership training, could UNDP kindly assist?”

For one, the context of the request from the Ovambanderu Women’s Council was difficult for me to understand. I knew very little about their culture, routines, lifestyle and aspirations. It was an entirely different world which has so many social and  cultural nuances which have to be understood in ways I could only begin to imagine. Secondly, as a learning lab, we didn’t have a ready-made service or training to offer.  Quite the opposite: I asked myself, how might we use this request to learn more about indigenous local knowledge and add value to what the women already know?   

Instead of focussing on the traditional leadership theories, I experimented with designing a  learning experience built on Circle Practice and the methodologies used in Open Space Technology Exploring this new approach and methodology was a deliberate part of the design inspired by restorative justice (RJ) frameworks. It is useful to note that these approaches are fast becoming mainstream among learning and development practitioners and the development world.  It  draws on personal responsibility, collaboration, strengthening conversations and building relationships. Circle practice may equally be utilized to focus on injustices, conflicts and challenges in a given community.

Instead of running a classroom-style seating which is usually optimized for traditional lectures, we arranged the room by putting all thirty chairs in a circle.  In this regard, the circle was arranged  in close proximity to foster intimacy which allowed people an opportunity to speak and listen to one another in an atmosphere of safety, decorum and equality.

In the centre, I placed a rainstick, a gift of fate a Mexican friend had given me a decade ago,  when we were both attending a Gender and Training Programme in Kitakyushu, Japan.   A rainstick is a long, hollow  bamboo stick partly filled with small stones.  The bamboo has smaller sticks arranged vertically along its inside surface. Whenever a person picks up the stick, the stones fall to the other end of the bamboo, creating a wonderful sound mimicking  rain falling. This was the talking piece that acted as a physical signifier indicating that the person holding the stick was the one everyone had to listen to.

Put simply, we opened the meeting with participants (including the UNDP team) sitting around a circle shape around a specific purpose in the centre. The idea behind this seating arrangement is that each person has a voice and everyone can see and hear one another and  serves as an aid in holding meaningful and thought provoking  conversations.

I began by describing the purpose of the meeting and highlighted both the limitations and expectations.  It was also important to explain the overarching purpose of the circle, which was to emulate a community gathered around a focal point, reminiscent of  earth-based, practices that enabled us to sit around a fire to tell stories. Intuitively,  sitting in a circle denotes equality while  creating a shared space of focus and attention.  symbolizing the open lines of communication, which is also important to risk-taking and openness.

After this general setup, I acknowledged my biases and expressed my need to be culturally sensitive. This was appreciated, and also set the tone for the two days. From the initial volunteers who chose to speak, I quickly realized that the intention for the circle was firstly to build relationships and to explore how the Ovambanderu Women’s Council might play a meaningful role in the economic upliftment and empowerment of their communities.

We moved to the next part and put groups of three women together and encouraged them to talk to each other. They quickly began asking each other about their experiences and challenges as women and what they were challenged with in the community, almost ignoring me and my colleagues. All we had to do was listen to these conversations. One of the more interesting things we learned was how much culture and gender roles define who they are and what they might be capable of if they continued to have conversations. The approach provided a way for the women to express what they wanted to do as leaders and how they were going work together to realize their collective projects. It turned out that this approach to conversations tapped into some of the deep frustrations they felt as women in a male-dominated culture.  We learned a lot more than simply whether they would be good leaders according to leadership theories designed for western cultures.

The use of these methodologies were ideal to engage the women in conversations that matter at various levels. In addition to creating synergies between heart, mind and hands, the circle gave everyone the opportunity to share  many ideas, insights and stories to emerge and converge. During the first day, there were several group work activities, moments of reflection, sharing experiences and plenary discussions which left room for the following day. 

One of the side benefits of using circle practice and Open space technology is that they give people an opportunity to be listened to and to have their experiences acknowledged by others. Our take-aways for this experience are three-fold: Firstly, when you can create a safe place for people, wonderful things happen; you will gain much deeper insights into the lived experiences of people. Secondly, never underestimate the importance of norms, culture and belief systems when working with people. Finally, the importance of symbolism and tradition is to be upheld.  For example, the cow was raised as central to the economic and spiritual life of  the Ovambanderu community. With the meat serving as sustenance, milk (omaere), and fat (ongondivi) to make otjize[4], which is added to ochre, and aromatic resin, the cow is seen to be a link to the ancestors while extending the value chain to encourage emerging entrepreneurs in the community.

These ideas helped the participants move from reluctant attendees, who may not necessarily have as much time (since they are all working professionals with full time jobs) and are geographically dispersed  to forthright communicators who are likely to take on responsibilities for the Women’s Council.

 

What is Circle Practice? Is Open Space Technology useful to learn about leadership? How might we use these methods and set of related tools to understand and gain insights from the wisdom of local indigenous women?  How do we venture into the unknown while helping people acknowledge their own sources of knowledge and solutions to the leadership challenges of today? These were the questions I was trying to find answers to when the Accelerator Lab received a request to conduct Leadership training for the newly established Ovambanderu Women’s Council.  

I’ve been in the learning and development space for a good portion of my career. While I am comfortable with experimenting with various learning methodologies, responding to, and developing a learning programme with a unique cultural dimension I was not familiar with, was quite challenging.  It was a simple enough request  along the lines of “…we need leadership training, could UNDP kindly assist?”

For one, the context of the request from the Ovambanderu Women’s Council was difficult for me to understand. I knew very little about their culture, routines, lifestyle and aspirations. It was an entirely different world which has so many social and  cultural nuances which have to be understood in ways I could only begin to imagine. Secondly, as a learning lab, we didn’t have a ready-made service or training to offer.  Quite the opposite: I asked myself, how might we use this request to learn more about indigenous local knowledge and add value to what the women already know?   

Instead of focusing on the traditional leadership theories, I experimented with designing a  learning experience built on Circle Practice and the methodologies used in Open Space Technology . Exploring this new approach and methodology was a deliberate part of the design inspired by restorative justice (RJ) frameworks. It is useful to note that these approaches are fast becoming mainstream among learning and development practitioners and the development world.  It  draws on personal responsibility, collaboration, strengthening conversations and building relationships. Circle practice may equally be utilized to focus on injustices, conflicts and challenges in a given community.

Instead of running a classroom-style seating which is usually optimized for traditional lectures, we arranged the room by putting all thirty chairs in a circle.  In this regard, the circle was arranged  in close proximity to foster intimacy which allowed people an opportunity to speak and listen to one another in an atmosphere of safety, decorum and equality.

In the centre, I placed a rainstick, a gift of fate a Mexican friend had given me a decade ago,  when we were both attending a Gender and Training Programme in Kitakyushu, Japan.   A rainstick is a long, hollow  bamboo stick partly filled with small stones.  The bamboo has smaller sticks arranged vertically along its inside surface. Whenever a person picks up the stick, the stones fall to the other end of the bamboo, creating a wonderful sound mimicking  rain falling. This was the talking piece that acted as a physical signifier indicating that the person holding the stick was the one everyone had to listen to.

Put simply, we opened the meeting with participants (including the UNDP team) sitting around a circle shape around a specific purpose in the centre. The idea behind this seating arrangement is that each person has a voice and everyone can see and hear one another and  serves as an aid in holding meaningful and thought provoking  conversations.

I began by describing the purpose of the meeting and highlighted both the limitations and expectations.  It was also important to explain the overarching purpose of the circle, which was to emulate a community gathered around a focal point, reminiscent of  earth-based, practices that enabled us to sit around a fire to tell stories. Intuitively,  sitting in a circle denotes equality while  creating a shared space of focus and attention.  symbolizing the open lines of communication, which is also important to risk-taking and openness.

After this general setup, I acknowledged my biases and expressed my need to be culturally sensitive. This was appreciated, and also set the tone for the two days. From the initial volunteers who chose to speak, I quickly realized that the intention for the circle was firstly to build relationships and to explore how the Ovambanderu Women’s Council might play a meaningful role in the economic upliftment and empowerment of their communities.

We moved to the next part and put groups of three women together and encouraged them to talk to each other. They quickly began asking each other about their experiences and challenges as women and what they were challenged with in the community, almost ignoring me and my colleagues. All we had to do was listen to these conversations. One of the more interesting things we learned was how much culture and gender roles define who they are and what they might be capable of if they continued to have conversations. The approach provided a way for the women to express what they wanted to do as leaders and how they were going work together to realize their collective projects. It turned out that this approach to conversations tapped into some of the deep frustrations they felt as women in a male-dominated culture.  We learned a lot more than simply whether they would be good leaders according to leadership theories designed for western cultures.

The use of these methodologies were ideal to engage the women in conversations that matter at various levels. In addition to creating synergies between heart, mind and hands, the circle gave everyone the opportunity to share  many ideas, insights and stories to emerge and converge. During the first day, there were several group work activities, moments of reflection, sharing experiences and plenary discussions which left room for the following day. 

One of the side benefits of using circle practice and Open space technology is that they give people an opportunity to be listened to and to have their experiences acknowledged by others. Our take-aways for this experience are three-fold: Firstly, when you can create a safe place for people, wonderful things happen; you will gain much deeper insights into the lived experiences of people. Secondly, never underestimate the importance of norms, culture and belief systems when working with people. Finally, the importance of symbolism and tradition is to be upheld.  For example, the cow was raised as central to the economic and spiritual life of  the Ovambanderu community. With the meat serving as sustenance, milk (omaere), and fat (ongondivi) to make otjize, which is added to ochre, and aromatic resin, the cow is seen to be a link to the ancestors while extending the value chain to encourage emerging entrepreneurs in the community.

 

These ideas helped the participants move from reluctant attendees, who may not necessarily have as much time (since they are all working professionals with full time jobs) and are geographically dispersed  to forthright communicators who are likely to take on responsibilities for the Women’s Council.