Table of Contents
What You Will Do
- Learn about hosting and team building frameworks.
- Build stronger self-awareness in groups of all sizes (roles, bias, privileges, power).
- Participate in the creation of stronger teams and partnerships where you may promote resilience, belonging, innovation and collective impact.
- Enhance your skills and abilities to work with complexity, uncertainty and change.
What is The Art of Hosting?
This section by Silvia DiBlasio
Social systems design includes how we host ourselves and others, how we face challenges, make decisions and govern ourselves in non-hierarchical, non-oppressive ways. It shares the systems’ view of life that is central to whole-systems design and includes ever-evolving practices, methodologies and ways of thinking that will stretch your edges and expand your sense of connection, compassion and belonging.
The Art of Hosting (AoH) is a series of practices, ways of thinking and methodologies to facilitate addressing challenges and decisions collectively
There are no leaders in the AoH, only hosts. As the name indicates, the AoH is an art that considers how each one of us host ourselves and how we host others. It covers how we show up, dress, behave, listen and respond, participate and contribute, and how we acknowledge, observe and respect the land, and the history and the peoples (human and non-human) who are hosting us.
What does the AoH have in common with ecological design, and why do we present this topic here?
If you have had the opportunity to engage in community work, group work in any type of organization or even be part of a permablitz, project or gathering, you may have noticed that things may not always go as you expect: people are always at the center of any decision-making process, design, communication and governance processes and those processes are what represent the challenge.
Although we may not lack the technology, skills, strategies, methods and resources to move forward, we need people on the same page if we want to achieve anything. This applies not only to community projects but to households, couples, groups and organizations of any kind.
In the introduction to the Art of Hosting, you will learn the roots, principles, best practices and tools, and will explore some of the methods used to deal with people. In these times, we need different tools, as the old have proven to be sustaining an oppressive system created to perpetuate the privileges of a few. The Art of Hosting is an evolving toolbox that explores these new tools in a compassionate, caring yet courageous and sometimes risky way: “stay with the fire” is one of the AoH mottos, you’ll learn this and more in this exciting introductory module.
The Art of Hosting emerged from the perception of a shift that involved both the breaking down of many systems and simultaneously something else emerging, giving way to lots of uncertainty and chaos of values, beliefs, governance processes and many other dynamics: what in ecological design is called an ecotone, or “edge zone”.
This shift was also sensed at all levels: from individual to collective consciousness, to how structures and organizations work, govern themselves, make decisions and connect to each other and the natural world.
Suddenly, hierarchies, dynamics and beliefs that have sustained an entire civilization started to crumble. New and complex challenges emerged and the old ways to view and solve problems no longer worked.
Groups of community leaders from all around the world started to connect, first through email, then through mailing lists, then the first gathering was organized.
But, what exactly is the Art of Hosting?
The AoH is defined as “an approach to leadership that scales up from the personal to the systemic using personal practice, dialogue, facilitation and the co-creation of innovation to address complex challenges.”
The aim is to harness the collective wisdom and self-organization capacity of groups, a complete detachment from top-down, hierarchical leadership and organization patterns. It is an invitation to explore and embrace the paradoxes of chaos and order, leading and following, confusion and clarity, sacred and irreverent, content and process, and many more.
The patterns of the AoH emerge from observing and understanding nature and specifically systems, as human systems are not different from those in nature.
The AoH starts with some assumptions:
- New solutions are needed, because the old responses are not working. The old organizational and governing patterns cannot create new solutions, and solutions are more comprehensive and owned if they are co-created, not imposed.
- New solutions are born between chaos and order: we need to be ready to step into not knowing. As in nature, all innovation happens at the edges of chaos.
- Meaningful conversations can lead to wise action: inviting and involving people to work together to take ownership and responsibility. As opposed to top-down decisions, these come from their shared needs and expectations.
- The world is not black and white: we are full of paradoxes, and we need to be able to operate within and hold them.
In the AoH, people come through an invitation, and they respond as co-hosts themselves: they bring their projects, challenges and concerns. While learning or practicing new techniques, ways of thinking and methodologies, they connect deeper to themselves, each other and nature.
We can say that the AoH is embedded in some of its principles and ethics: before we even start visioning, we need to observe and interact or be aware of not only who we are but also the land, the community and the systems we want to design for.
Old versus emerging paradigms
When we refer to “the old paradigm”, we are talking about a way of thinking and organizing that has roots in behaviors that humans developed more than ten thousand years ago during the Neolithic Revolution. This was when we started to domesticate nature, became sedentary, and started practicing agriculture and animal husbandry. These processes changed the way we see the world and ourselves, and influenced almost everything, from religion and philosophy, to how we treat each other. These changes saw the evolution of the concepts of ownership, centralized government, and class-based societies. These same processes gave would later lead to the development of hierarchical social structures, patriarchy, and imperialism. Many of our current beliefs and values around governance, leadership, decision making and who we pay attention to come from these long and ancient roots.
The most recent roots, however, come from the scientific revolution of Newton and Descartes, who created a mechanistic model of the world, where the foundational belief was that everything, including human behavior, behaves predictably, similarly to the way that a machine does This can be described as a mechanistic or rationalistic approach.
This model gave birth to science and allowed for an amazing growth in technology. However, this way of thinking can trap us: it is a reductionist way to see human beings and human dynamics.The new paradigm suggests that organizations, groups, and even individuals, are all but predictable and behave much more like living systems than like machines.
The Art of Hosting models natural, living systems, because it acknowledges that we humans are part of nature and all we do is also governed by its organic and pseudo-chaotic, mysterious ways.
In the old model, we lead by managing, using top-down and power-over strategies. It acts in silos, thinking that we can solve a problem in isolation and that our solutions won’t have consequences beyond the boundaries we are acting within. The old paradigm seeks answers and solutions and leads by giving instructions. It motivates people to act with the carrot and stick approach: you behave, you’ll get the prize, otherwise, you’ll be punished. The old model is results and action oriented and functions through formal meetings and reporting.
You might think that this no longer happens in “eco” communities or in similar initiatives such as the Transition movements or cooperative forms of farming, housing or business, but it does: we all carry the old paradigm because for us, it is like water to fish, we are not even aware that things are like that until we start waking up and noticing that things don’t feel right, and we start exploring.
You see it every day: patriarchal, hierarchical and top-down (many times with good intentions) ways to start or manage projects and designs. People being ignored, land and other beings being ignored, action and results-oriented people who jump into the land, create structures nobody needed or wanted and which will be abandoned or may create more problems than those they were supposed to solve!
The AoH approach is organic, leads by trust and by hosting (yourself and others, including the land and other beings). It works through networks and seeks questions and navigates challenges. It makes decisions through consultations, while knowing that no solution is perfect or forever, but always a trial: the best solution is that which works for now. It motivates through engagement and ownership, and follows purpose and caring. Action and results may come later.
This video provides a quick introduction to the Art of Hosting
Self-awareness in the AoH: the invisible knapsack
The “invisible knapsack” was first written about by Peggy McIntosh in 1989. It is a recount on all the ways many of us carry privilege, and the concept has now been extended to include not only white privilege, but any privilege we may have because of economic or social class, gender, sex, sexuality, age, ethnicity, religion, body or mental ability, etc.
Peggy wrote: “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks. “
Think about it for a moment: how many things can you do and take for granted just because of where you were born or how you look? How many of those things have been earned and how many just came with the package you carry? Are you aware of what you carry?
Not acknowledging our own privilege hurts others and hurts communications, decision-making and working together, because it perpetuates these unearned privileges for some and guarantees others will have to fight for them or be forever unprivileged. It hurts also because unchecked, unacknowledged privileges carry two unconscious things: 1) we tend to become self-righteous (because we perceive others who are not making similar “choices” as weak, stupid, lazy, or otherwise somewhat flawed) and 2) these prejudices translate in the way we behave and talk, even subtly, and impact others by further disempowering them.
What, then, is the solution?
Shaming and blaming others (from either side of the privilege) have been shown not to solve the problem: these approaches further the inequality and disempower people from either side. Taking the example of white privilege, feeling shame for being white (or being blamed for it) creates the perfect soil for white fragility: a defensive reaction where the person starts to share in how many ways they, too, are disempowered and unprivileged. Or how they cannot be considered privileged because they have poor origins, or were abused, or had a difficult life, or had dedicated many years to empower those in minority and vulnerable groups.
The issue becomes more complicated because privilege behaves in different ways, depending on where you were born and live. It is not the same everywhere.
The first thing to understand is that privilege is not earned, it is created and taught by the system: institutions and dynamics that have complex and historical roots. No individual is exempt of this and no one is guilty, so shame and blame need to be out of the question.
Because of the nature of this module, I will not go deeper, but I invite you to read and watch the resources listed at the end and reflect on the exercises.
You may also benefit from joining a local social justice group or taking some courses on the topic.
In all the cases and whatever path you choose to follow, be gentle with yourself and others. Use compassion and deep listening. Remember that power-with works much more naturally than power-over. Have a friend you trust watch you and let you know when you are using your privilege in ways that may affect and hurt others. When it is your turn to bring this up to others, be assertive but gentle, as many are just awakening and the big majority are not even aware.
AoH: the practice
As mentioned earlier, the Art of Hosting is a toolbox that collects different practices, tools and resources from around the world, tries them and perfects them, depending on the circumstance, goal and community involved.
Many of the practices that became part of the AoH have ancient roots, and many come from different cultures and have been adapted.
What you choose will depend on many factors, so in this portion of the module we will go through some foundations that will help you understand, and then select, the type of container and process you will use.
The four-fold practice was created in 1997 by a group of facilitators who decided to look back at what they were doing and why it was successful. They drew the process on a napkin to show the four factors that need to be present:
- Be present. Host yourself. This first piece is deeply connected to the self-awareness we saw before: understanding how we show up, what roles we assume, what our biases and privileges are and how we use power. It is also how we show up with our whole selves: body, spirit, emotions, thoughts. It invites us to learn and practice the discipline of being humble and also allow ourselves to go into discomfort and difficult situations with a learning attitude.
- Be hosted. Participate and practice conversation. We are present to listen deeply, to be curious and open, to contribute.
- Host others. This is our engaging roles, which asks us to be present for others, to ask questions, to invite others, and to design and harvest through the process.
- Co-create. Be part of a hosting community. We are here to get to something new, to let go of individual agendas and expectations, and be open to allow something new to emerge from everyone together.
The seven little helpers
The Art of Hosting proposes seven helpers that allow groups to be truly involved, effective and participative.
You can incorporate these tools to any meeting or gathering, they are:
- Be present in practical ways too. This means consciously incorporate practices that allow you and others to be present. It should permeate the planning, invitation and logistics, and how you start the process. For example, allowing people enough time to come and settle, having a process to welcome them, allowing them to introduce themselves and share part of their journey there. You could start with a song, a poem, a prayer or a breathing exercise. The idea is to allow everyone to be fully present. Your choices will depend on the nature of the meeting and the history, needs and culture of people involved.
- Have good questions prepared. Good questions allow people to focus on the purpose of the gathering. It helps if you put this question (or questions) in the centre of the circle, so they are not attached to a person. Good questions are usually simple and clear, thought-provoking and challenge assumptions. They may evoke more questions and focus the inquiry of the group.
- Use a talking device. It may be a stick, a stone or any other prop. Talking pieces allow everyone to participate and be heard without people speaking over others or taking longer times.
- Harvest. You can use an artifact or a process for how the group will harvest the ideas, decisions and general discussion. Harvesting is key for groups to see where they were and what they have accomplished. It also makes ideas and decisions visible for all to see. When you harvest, look at both the intentional as well as the emerging products. Harvesting can be done in the form of notes, collaborative posters, poems, infographics, etc.
- Make a wise decision. Not all AoH goals are decisions, but if this is part of your group’s reason for meeting, make decisions wise. One way to do this is using the three thumbs strategy: first, develop a proposal with all the information and details for everyone to see and make sure everyone can access it. Then, use consensus to decide: thumbs up means people are accepting the proposal as it is, thumbs to the side mean they need more clarity on certain aspects of the proposal or its implementation, and thumbs down means they oppose all or parts of the proposal. If the proposal was developed using an AoH technique, most people would have been part of it, but it may also come from one of the stakeholders. Start by asking the thumbs down: “what would it take for you to be able to support this proposal?” There may be a need to discuss some areas further, make changes or adjustments or even postpone or cancel the proposal altogether. Then continue with the thumbs to the side and clarify any doubts. When everyone is able to support the proposal, make a wise decision.
- Act. All that needed to be known, explored and clarified has now been done. The next step is to act. Many groups get stuck in the discussion and the lack of action drive many away.
- Stay together. This creates accountability and the opportunity to grow together and create a more sustainable culture wherever you are (family, group of friends, neighbours, etc.). When people drift away, call them and host a conversation. Keep them engaged.
Some notes on the above tools: consensus, contrary to what many think, is not a silver bullet. As with anything else, this is just a tool. There will be times when decisions need to be fast and top-down and not everyone may like them (an example of this is during emergencies or during conflicts or interventions that may escalate and harm people or ecosystems). If a community, group or any relationship has had enough conversations (i.e. hosting), and everyone knows the boundaries and goals, it will be easier to make an executive decision without hurting others.
The AoH core team
When you are planning an AoH event, there are many considerations. The main one is to decide who will do what, the roles of the core team who will hold the space, the container where the visioning, discussion, decision-making, planning and design will happen.
The core team suggested may have:
- Caller. The caller is the one who may have the highest stakes. The initiators of the meeting, gathering or, how it is called in the AoH, the conversation. This person or group may create the invitation.
- Logistics. This the one/s who registers and cares for all the practical details from transportation to communications, administrative, financial, etc. to make this conversation happen.
- Space host. This person or group takes care of the space on a physical, spiritual and aesthetic level. This person may also be responsible for accommodation, meals and making sure people will be comfortable and safe.
- Harvester. As the name indicates, this is the person who captures both the intentional and the emerging products of the conversation. They may use different methods and artifacts, depending on the group and goals.
- Process host. participates in the design of the conversation, introduces the process and procedures and explains how people can participate. It is the closest to a facilitator and there may be more than one.
- Strategists. These are the ones who understand the need for the initiative to happen and are connected to the power and resources for this conversation to happen.
Connected Techniques
The Art of Hosting is a lexicon of participatory methods dedicated to building connections and fostering teamwork in community.
The methods and group processes, activities and strategies that may fall under the Art of Hosting are almost endless and are ever-evolving as we learn and discover new ways to do things together. There is no one-size-fits-all in working with people. The decision of what to use will depend on various factors, including:
- Size of the group.
- History of the group and levels of trust.
- Type of process or goals that you want to achieve (i.e. visioning, discussing conflict, goal-setting, planning, designing, decision-making, etc.).
- Time, space and other resources you may have available.
- Needs of the land and other beings impacted by the process.
Here is an overview of techniques that could be combined with or used instead of AoH:
The Circle Way.
This is an alternative infrastructure for collaborative conversations. Created by Christina Baldwin, the circle has ancient roots in women and village circles from many cultures. The circle can be used as a tool in itself or as a checking in and/or checking out process. It is better for small groups of people who know each other well or share a goal or values, but can be used for almost any issues and time-frames.
It has some core components:
Three principles:
- Leadership rotates among all circle members.
- Responsibility is shared for the quality of the experience.
- Reliance is on wholeness rather than in any personal agenda.
Three practices:
- Speak with intention.
- Listen with attention.
- Tend to the well-being of the circle.
The circle way also shares some basic agreements that are always clarified at the beginning:
- We hold all stories of personal material in confidentiality.
- We listen to each other with compassion and curiosity.
- We ask for what we need and offer what we can.
- We agree to employ a group guardian to watch our need, timing and energy.
- We agree to pause when we feel the need for a pause.
World Cafe.
The world cafe is a process to foster interaction and dialogue with both large and small groups. It is better used for exploring possibilities, as a huge brain-storm that includes many layers of questions going deeper and deeper. It also fosters interaction and dialogue and helps to survey the collective wisdom of a group or community. It can be adapted to many formats and purposes such as information sharing, relationship building, deep exploration on a topic and action planning.
The World Cafe operating principles are summarized here:
- Creates hospitable space.
- Explores questions that matter.
- Encourages each person’s contribution.
- Connects diverse people and ideas.
- Everyone listens together for patterns, insights and deeper questions.
- Makes collective knowledge visible.
The general flow of a World Cafe includes:
- Seat 4-5 people at a cafe-style table or in conversation clusters.
- Arrange flowers in the center, provide big sheets of paper and markers or other form of expression.
- Set up a progressive round of conversation, usually 20-30 minutes each: have some good questions!
- Ask one person to stay on the table as a host while the rest rotate to separate tables as ambassadors of ideas and insights.
- Ask the table host to share the key insights, questions and ideas briefly with the new people.
- People may harvest and express their ideas by drawing and writing on poster-size sheets.
- After all the rounds have gone through all the layers of questions, give a moment for each final group to harvest and share.
Open Space Technology (OST).
OST is useful in many contexts, including strategic direction-setting, visioning, conflict resolution, morale building, consultation with stakeholders, community planning, etc.
The goal of OST is to create a space for people to engage deeply and creatively around issues that concern them. These issues may be challenging or involve diverse stakeholders, may involve complex elements, presence of passion (and potential for conflict). OST may be employed when there is a need for a quick decision.
Some of the principles present in OST include:
- Whoever comes are the right people.
- Whenever it starts is the right time.
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
- When it’s over it’s over.
The group usually convenes in a circle. The facilitator provides an overview of the process and explains how it works. The facilitator invites people with concern to come into the circle, write the issue on a piece of paper and announce it to the group. These people become the conveners. They place their papers on a wall and choose a time and place to meet. This process continues until there’s no more agenda items.
The group is then invited to break up and go to the agenda items they are more interested in discussing.
Once the items have been discussed in the different groups, everyone will move into convergence again: they would attach the different discussions to action plans that may happen outside of the space and time (next steps, committees and commitments).
Pro-Action cafe.
In the Pro-Action Cafe, participants are invited to bring their call, project, ideas or questions. It is a blend between World Cafe and Open Space Technology.
It is great as a cross-pollinator of ideas, projects, etc. and useful for garnering support for existing issues and projects.
Similar to the process in OST, people start in a circle. Those with ideas, questions or projects are invited to write them down and present them. They may want to have a pitch to engage people.
The group is usually divided by four (so, in the case of 40 participants, you can only have up to 10 callers of ideas/projects per session).
The principle is first come, first served: people go to the topics that interest them until the chairs or spaces are full and they need to choose a different topic/idea.
The participants will stay with the caller for 20-30 minutes at each table/space and then move to another one until everyone has sat at each table and contributed. This way, the caller can go deeper and deeper with each round and get ideas and feedback or support for her project from each round of diverse participants.
Collective Story Harvest.
This process was developed by Mary-Alice Arthur for the Art of Hosting processes. It invites active involvement of all the present and is usually shared as a story. The story holders tell a story and the members of the audience listen actively from the perspective of a specific question or focus. This is called targeted listening.
How it works:
First you need a story of a process or change that is happening in a community, group or relationship dynamic.
Then, try to have the voices and perspectives from more than one person involved in the story.
The average time is 90 minutes, but if you are doing this for the first time or with people who don’t have experience, you may want to keep the story-telling part no longer than 30 minutes.
Decide beforehand with the storytellers, what you want to get out of the process and what will happen with the harvest once it is done.
You’ll need at least one person harvesting each arch as this needs to happen simultaneously.
Some arcs to choose from:
- Narrative arc: the thread of the story, people, events, stages, facts, emotions and values.
- Process arc: what processes, applications, interventions or discoveries happened?
- Breakthrough arc: when did they occur? What was involved?
- Application arc: what can we learn from this story and apply to our own group, processes, systems?
- Questions: what questions arise from this story?
- Synchronicity and magic: what happened during this story that was magical or synchronistic?
- Any other arc you may want to use?
Theater of the Oppressed.
August Boal was a theater director who believed improvisational games could have a powerful influence on how deeply and quickly humans developed creative relationships. Together with people in workshops all around the world, he co-created hundreds of interactive games that can be done with any group of people. Here is a series of workshops to get you started down this amazing and empowering rabbit hole:
Homework
Questions for Review
- How have you approached projects, processes and designs until now? How do you see them changing now that you have learned about the AoH?
- In what aspects do you carry privilege and how does this show up in groups and decisions you make? In what ways do you carry a lack of privilege compared to other groups and how does this impact you? Why is this important in the AoH?
- Were any of the ideas in this module helpful to forming ideas around your project? Why or why not?
- Write a brief description of a group, relationship or community you belong to. Describe your role in it and how your invisible knapsack shows up, in what ways you carry more privilege and in which ones you are a target group, or a group that carries less privilege within that relationship, group or community. Describe one current challenge for this group, relationship or community (for example: food sovereignty, ecological footprint, disaster preparedness, etc.) Describe what type of conversation you would call for this particular issue: what method/s would you use and why? What main questions would you post as a conversation starter Who would you invite to be part of this conversation and why? In what ways would you make sure the land, the environment and other beings and elements are included and engaged in the process?
Recommended Hands-On
- Research more about the invisible knapsack and how that reflects in your life and choices, challenges and opportunities.
- Visit the website for the Art of Hosting and browse through the different sub-pages and resource areas to learn more about the different methodologies and techniques.
- Join a local A of H group and/or attend a training. If the cost is prohibitive, do a DIY study group!
- Host an Art of Hosting, World Cafe, or similar event in your home community.
