Hosting a hub session
This chapter is about the u.lab hub meetings themselves. How you want to host your event, is entirely up to you, but the process is best co-designed and co-created with participants. We included some ideas, methods and tips, for your inspiration.
How to design the process
Principles
Start with describing the intention(s) of the gathering, and use that as a guide for designing of the process.
Be prepared to be surprised : Don't plan too tight, leave some space for conversation and emergence. Prepare & plan well and then be prepared to let go of your plan.
Think about the flow of the gathering: if you use different steps/methods, potentially even facilitated by different people: how do they connect, how does one piece lead into the next? Explain how every step fits into the process (what is the intention, what is the outcome...).
Create possibility to practice the tools offered in the course and to experience the essence of the material.
Some patterns
Like every story, a gathering has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Here are some patterns that you might want to integrate. We know from experience that this enhances the quality of the process.
Beginning
Welcome
Framing:
who are your hosts?
where are we in our journey, what happened before?
what is the intention of today, what is the agenda?
Check-in: The intention of a check-in is to bring everyone's attention and intention into the room and to the purpose of the meeting. It allows people to arrive and leave behind what happened before (traffic, stress and so on). It helps to use a 'guiding question' for the check-in, it will deepen the place where people speak from. "How do you arrive today?", "What has changed for you since we last met?", "What is your intention for today?" In a small group, you can sit in circle and invite every participant to speak. In large group, you can invite them to check-in in groups of 3 or 5 and then speak one sentence in the whole group.
Middle
You may want to loosely structure your time based on the three movements in the U:
Observe, observe, observe: what are we learning/noticing/seeing? For example with a world café-style dialogue, incorporating Theory U practices.
Retreat and reflect– perhaps with some reflective journaling or mindfulness practice;
Act in an instance or prototype– what do you want to do next? Design Thinking processes or Open space can be a useful method here.
End
Whatever the process of the meeting is, make sure that there is a moment to close together. Ingredients:
Check-out: a practice that aims at sharing individual and collective learning. Create a moment where every or some of the participants can speak their insights/impression of the meeting, or their next steps.
Some news and updates
Next steps
(see Tools for more info)
How to design a session for u.lab by Julie Arts: https://vimeo.com/232806423
Creating a safe space:
Cultivate an atmosphere of non-judgment and curiosity: Each person’s experience & exploration is valid.
Build trust and confidence: make an agreement in the first session to respect confidentiality, so that people can safely engage with the learning environment.
Encourage co-ownership, for people to feel responsible for the space, and for their own learning experience. This might include sharing practical tasks, such as setting up the room or providing refreshments, as well as ensuring that you don't find yourself unwittingly responsible for fulfilling every unmet need or being seen as the hub's 'teacher'.
Practical tips:
Live sessions: When you want to watch the live session together, we strongly advise to do a technology-check before the session starts: does the beamer projector? work, is computer well connected, does the Wifi work...? It is also good to think about a plan B. Just in case something unexpectedly breaks down. A plan B will help you to not stress too much, and simply put technology aside and step into a dialogue/process with the hub participants.
A bell: Remember to bring a 'soundmaker', like a bell, or chimes. It helps to bring the attention of people back to the plenary when they are engaged in small group dialogue. Another ‘gentle option’ is to make the agreement that if you see the host raising his/her hand, you also raise yours until everyone does so. This gesture means: ‘please silence’ so something plenary can be shared.
Timekeeping: Assign one member of the team to do timekeeping. (And again, change roles!)
Informal conversation: some hubs open their doors for example 30 minutes before the meetings and invite people to bring some snacks/drinks. It allows for some informal social time to connect and to get to know each other better/in a different way. Or you can create that opportunity after the meeting.
Facilitation resources: Chris Corrigan collected all his resources in one place:http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/facilitation-resources/
For inspiration: some sample session outlines
You can find even more information and inspiration in the chapters: Tools and methods & Stories
Sample 3-hour kick-off/co-initiating session
[5 min] Word of welcome & outline of the evening
[30 min] Icebreaker: For instance, 'Who is in the room?' (according to background, sector, country, language, age, etc.) and/or 'Question trading' (see explanation that follows).
Ask participants to write down a burning question they have at the moment on a piece of paper. Then ask them to find someone they don't know and deeply listen to each other's question, have a short conversation (5 min. each) and then exchange papers. After 10 minutes, everyone goes on to a find a second person they don't know, and tell about the question of their previous partner. After 10 minutes, the bell sounds and there is a plenary wrap-up: What was the quality of the questions? What was the quality of your listening? What else did you notice? Transfer to basic intro to u.lab,
[5 min] Watch intro video u.lab
[15 min] Have the participants gather in groups of 3 and share:
·What is your impression of the intro video?
·What draws you here? (setting intention)
[10 min] In plenary, harvest some impressions and motivations, and answer any questions that come up.
[15 min] Break
[10 min] World Café introduction/explanation
[45 min] Three 15-minute rounds of World Café:
·Round 1: In your surroundings what disruption do you see? What is ending and dying?
·Round 2: What do you feel is wanting to be born?
·Round 3: What do you wish for the future of [insert location, organization, or theme relevant to your hub]?
Set up tables with sheets of paper, allocate one wall per question/round, and at the end of each round take the sheets of paper from the tables with the harvest of the discussions and hang up on the allocated wall.
[15 min] Browsing the wall harvest gallery and mingling
[15 min] Wrap-up in plenary: What did you notice? How was the experience?
[15 min] Closing circle (possibly standing): What feeling and intention am I leaving with? (no more than 1 feeling and 1 sentence for the intention per person, with or without a physical gesture)
Sample 2-hour session
[5 min] Word of welcome & outline of the meeting
[5 min] Guided mindfulness practice: sitting in a circle, someone guiding the group to sit in an upright position with a stretched spine, being made aware of the downward connection to the ground and the chair, the sensation of breathing, perhaps the energy at the heart center/chest area - the 'horizontal connection', then the connection upward via the crown - the 'vertical connection', then leaving some stillness for each individual to connect to whatever energy is present for them at that time.
(10 min) Short recap of core concepts and theories from the week’s learning
[15 min] Sharing in groups of 3
·What was your experience of this week's material?
·What questions or doubts do you have?
[15 min] Pop-up harvest & central discussion of the main questions/doubts concerning the material. Be mindful that hosts are not necessarily the ones to answer questions, participants will have answers among themselves as well. This is about collective sense-making.
[10 min] Break
[5 min] Introduction to practice, e.g. Dialogue Walk
[40 min] Break out into pairs/groups for practice - 20 minutes per person
[15 min] Come back to share & harvest experience in plenary:
·What did it feel like to listen for 20 minutes? What did you notice?
·What did it feel like to be listened to for 20 minutes? What did you notice?
[10 min] Closing circle sharing what sparked your curiosity, compassion and/or courage today (1 word or sentence for each point).
Tami Tuanfang Liu about regular meetings for impact:
