Culture Circle: Address the Past Before Building the Future
If you are unwilling to confront the past, you will be hampered in your ability to build for the future.
There is a group called the Zen Peacemaker Order that is so committed to coming face to face with the harsh realities of the past, that it orchestrates retreats and events at sites of horrific human-inflicted atrocities such as Auschwitz and Native American communities in South Dakota.
With the willingness to confront human atrocities can healing and moving forward begin. And the same is true in workplace cultures. Secrets, even corporate or workplace secrets, become part of the culture. The shame, the absence of consequences, the hushed whispers of bad behavior all become the culture.
But if you are a leader who is willing to name the secrets, to deal with them thoughtfully, they can be released so as not to build toxicity within the organization.
The Zen Peacemaker Order utilizes a framework for their healing that is much like the framework for handling workplace culture issues and effectuating change:
Not knowing
Bearing witness
Taking action
It is the responsibility and the bravery of confronting the workplace wounds – the conscious and subconscious harm that has afflicted past and current members of the organization that the entity can reimagine how to improve for the future to be more inclusive, more profitable, more efficient.
Otherwise the baggage of the past will hold the organization and its transformational leader back, like an anchor.
What Is a Culture Circle?
A culture circle is a gathering of employees from all levels of the company. There is no limit to the size of the group, however, the larger the group, the more time will be necessary to hear the workplace stories that each has to share. The attendees of the circle should also receive instruction in advance to consider what work wounds they have experienced and what they have heard from others about their work wounds. Notice should be given that some of the stories shared may be difficult to hear and attendees will be supported in learning this information from their colleagues.
A culture circle will begin with an opening exercise to open attendees’ heart and mind. Typically, the opening exercise will be conducted in silence and attendees will be asked to enter the space without introductions to prevent the employees from sharing their titles and labels. The goal is to encourage everyone to show as they are, not as their label, title, paygrade or tenure at the company.
The best opening exercise to cleanse and ground is a Hypnobreathwork session facilitated by a certified guide. Conducted as one of three Hypnobreathwork sessions to be led throughout the journey – one for opening, two for releasing and three for expanding. After the Hypnobreathwork session is complete, attendees of the Culture Circle may begin to introduce themselves not as they are at work, but who they are as a human. They should also acknowledge what they do not know about the workplace culture and its harms.
The second phase of the culture circle is to begin sharing stories in order to bring forward “what is” the current culture. Ample space and time should be given for reflection and honesty and transparency. As each story is shared, fellow attendees should take care to build a figurative bridge between the speaker and themselves. To see the pain or shame or guilt or feelings of unworthiness as it is.
It is not uncommon for stories of workplace sexual assault, sexual harassment, discrimination, unlawful or unethical behavior to surface during these discussions. In part, this is the goal. Because we, collectively, aren’t talking about the harm and the work wounds that employees bring with them to work every single day.
