Hello all! I would like to share what I know and believe to be helpful advice around the topic of structure in social groups. My name is Bethany. The angels have some interesting perspective to share on organizations and groups. Some of us have great expertise in using individuals in unified action to accomplish great change. This is something your species would find helpful right now, correct?
Let’s begin by identifying what is not needed by groups of people seeking to make change:
It is not necessary for people to agree on basic beliefs about what is real and true.
It is not necessary for people to like each other.
It is not necessary for people to share a common vision or end goal.
It is not necessary for people to talk much about details.
Here are the characteristics of individuals in a group committed to unified action.
People agree on the next step needed.
People agree to disagree on many things.
People recognize their mutual need for one another in order to make change.
What I’ve shared above may contradict some human wisdom and experience on how to create change with groups of people in action. But your world has never quite been as confused and divided as it is right now. Would you agree?
Maybe it is time for a new approach to making change.
What follows is a recipe of sorts for diverse peoples in groups seeking to make positive changes in a world adrift. Some of what I am about to suggest may seem counterintuitive, but I also trust there are those among you with a gift for leadership and group facilitation that will feel into the wisdom of these ideas. When those people begin to put these suggestions into action, I suspect they will prove effective.
First gather together a group of people interested in change. This can happen in person or through the use of technology.
Next identify the general area of discontent or problems.
(This is often the easy part!)
To begin, a small step must be identified. This is often the most difficult aspect of making change. How to discern the action to be taken?
We have several suggestions for identifying or selecting the next step for change of any kind.
Ask the people gathered to suggest as many possible next steps in the direction of improvement they can possibly imagine.
Once the ideas are gathered, ask the people participating to choose the next step that literally feels the easiest to complete.
Do not choose the step that seems the most important or immediate or necessary or most inspired. Choose the easiest next step.
Another good way to identify or select the next step for change is to ask a group of children to advise the group on what step seems like the next best action.
No, we are not saying this in jest.
Oftentimes children have a gift for seeing things in simple ways that can be very helpful in cutting through adult conversation and discussion that is not helpful.
A final suggestion for identifying or selecting the next step in change is to follow the excitement or energy of the people gathered. Desire is an excellent way to make decisions about next steps.
Once you have a next step identified, spend some time gathering energy around the actual action to be taken. This is very important and often neglected among groups of people working for change. Gathering energy probably sounds a bit abstract, but it’s actually a very concrete, measurable, grounded process.
One way to gather energy is through conversation. When people talk about taking action of any kind there is a shift in their way of being. We angels can actually see this. I would compare it to the potential energy of a compressed spring. The best gathering or spring loading takes place when people are focused on the specific tasks they will be undertaking to accomplish the small step towards change.
Another way to gather energy is through silence. (Surprising, right?) When people join in silence after identifying a next step towards change, angels perceive the same loading of positive energy among the people gathered. You folks really need to use silence more! It is a very powerful tool for unifying people into action.
A final suggestion for gathering energy is to bring everyone into a joining of hands. We know this is difficult for groups that are coming together through the use of technology, but we angels are working on ways to achieve the same effect using electricity. In the meantime, we would recommend doing everything in your power to join hands with as many people as you can at the same place and time while holding intentions for joining hands with those who cannot be physically present.
Although all of these methods of gathering energy work well, they are extremely powerful when used together. First, allow people to discuss the specifics of their unique contributions to the next step for change. Then spend some time in silence together, at least 15 minutes, but a half hour is even better. Finally, ask everyone to join hands.
Now that you have a small step of action identified and energy gathered, what is next?
The next thing we angels would recommend is a careful implementation of the small step. By careful, we mean attentive to the process of shared group activity. When people are actually in the process of making change, it is extremely helpful to bring an attitude of reverence (gratitude + respect) towards every person participating, and also an attitude of open mindedness regarding the outcome.
Here are some ideas we have for bringing these attitudes of reverence and open mindedness to change activity:
Before the activity begins, assign at least one person, and sometimes an entire team of people, to be cheerleaders, listeners and bringers of gratitude to everyone else. This is a crucially important aspect of a team. The efforts of these workers are indirect yes, but they are also very important to the success of the activity. When the activity is completed, these workers will report respectfully on the reactions of the group members. They are also important for the morale of the team members as the work is being done.
Before the activity begins, check in with each person taking part in the activity to make sure they know what specifically is expected of them and/or what they have agreed to do. Excellent communication is key to group action.
While the activity is taking place, ask everyone to withhold judgment about the outcome. Cultivate an attitude of open expectation and curiosity about what will happen.
After the activity has taken place, spend a generous amount of time sharing feelings about participation. Allow everyone time to share their experiences and feelings and ensure this sharing is offered to everyone.
Once the small step towards change has been implemented, we have several follow up recommendations:
Celebrate! Your people have a tendency to wait or put off celebration when in fact it is one of the best ways to build group cohesion, peace, joy and a deep sense of interconnection. These feelings can, in turn, support powerful change within and through your groups.
Allow people the opportunity to share their experiences and feelings. Like celebration, this will build positive feelings within the group. Make efforts to ensure people are allowed equal time and many avenues for expression (tools of technology can be very useful here!)
Gather information on the outcomes of the small step of action. What happened? Ask the question, “Where are we now?”
Spend additional time as a group in silence. Again, we would recommend a half hour.
Use technology to record your outcomes. Ensure transparency and equal participation of all involved.
Now, after the small step of action has been taken and outcomes identified, we would recommend something most of you will feel is bad advice.
Take a break.
Yes, the angels would recommend letting some time pass before you jump into choosing the next small step and repeating this process. Why? Because there are pieces of change that will only unfold through time.
We know your people have a tendency to use the emotional momentum of positive change to continue the process, but this is not the way of your world. Your world has seasons and in every corner of the globe there is a season for rest. The rest need not be long. Ten days might be sufficient, but two weeks or more would likely be even better. Use this time to completely focus on other things in your life. Ideally everyone would spend time in joyful activity until the next time the group gathers.
Now let’s look at a specific example of how this process of angel guided unified action for change might take place.
A group of people have begun talking about the pollution problem in a local river. Fish are regularly dying off, the water has a foul smell, invasive species are causing problems and people are concerned about the health of children playing near the water. The group consists of people from three different advocacy organizations and most of the early discussion is taking place via local media and online conversation.
Representatives of the three different advocacy groups gather to consider change. They post notices online and through local media asking others in the community to consider joining an effort to make change.
A meeting is held a month later. It is recorded and posted online so people unable to attend can participate later. During the meeting, the problem is briefly outlined. Everyone there already knows what the problem is.
The process of choosing a first small step is initiated. People are asked to share their ideas in a brainstorming session scheduled to take place a week later. Again, there are people meeting face to face; technology allows others to participate when they can. Children are polled and asked to identify small steps for change and their input is given priority.
When the result of the brainstorming and the children’s input is gathered, four suggestions for activity are identified as having the most support through voting.
The group then moves into a discussion of ease. Of the four suggestions, two are clearly more challenging. The first is to lobby for regulation aimed at the many polluting agents within the watershed. The second is to raise awareness of the problem through a media campaign. The two suggestions that seem easy or like “low hanging fruit” include hosting a “We Love Our River Day” with events that highlight the beauty and possibilities of a restored, healthy waterway, and to host a “River Clean Up Day” in which people come together to remove garbage from the river itself. The children suggested these last two ideas.
When people are again asked to consider ease and their own desire to participate, the idea of hosting a We Love Our River Day is selected and one of the identified activities of the day is a clean up of a local riverside park.
At the next week’s meeting, energy is gathered around creating We Love Our River Day. People are asked to join one of the smaller discussion groups based on specific activities that will need to be undertaken such as promotion, sponsorship, central planning, a gratitude team, food and fun, and technology.
Everyone is encouraged to brainstorm ideas about the specific ways they might contribute to a We Love Our River Day in the smaller discussion groups and all the suggestions are recorded. Again, people who are unable to attend can participate through technology. Following 90 minutes of sharing ideas about specifics, the entire group hosts a half hour of silence, followed by a joining of hands.
Weekly meetings follow over the next six weeks and online participation continues at a brisk pace over the same time period. Plans are firmed up, sponsors identified, promotion undertaken, supplies and people and technology readied. Careful communication is the focus of planning to ensure that everyone has a role they feel fits what they have to share.
Then the We Love Our River Day happens! Everyone is encouraged to be curious and open minded about the event about to unfold at the start-of-the-day team meeting.
Morning rain makes the activity of the riverside park clean up more challenging than it might have been. The gratitude team is on hand with warm muffins, tea and ponchos for the many volunteers. A warm up station is set up inside a tent with heaters and many of the volunteers use the space. The central planners are glad they considered this possibility!
The work is heavy. There are old tires and lots of heavy debris in the river but some small earth moving equipment and local college students in waders are able to work more than one small miracle. Once the debris and garbage is removed, several trees local to the area are planted at the river’s edge in that place. Small children pick up bits of trash and collect it for removal nearby.
Lunchtime brings clear skies and everyone lines up for sandwiches and salads in the big tent. Several speakers share their vision of a clean river and the many benefits of watershed restoration while people eat. Then a number of artists come together to share their gifts with the people. There is singing and dancing and participatory sculpture in clay, all with themes around the river. The history of the river is shared by the elders through storytelling and songs. As the day winds down there is lots of work to be done to return equipment and supplies and clean up.
As all of these activities take place, group members are contributing in many ways, giving their gifts of time and talent in many corners of the park where We Love Our River Day is being held. The gratitude team continues to support the group members and record their experiences in writing, audio and video when appropriate.
A week later, the people who planned, organized and implemented We Love Our River Day gather once again to celebrate their accomplishment. The experiences of the team members are shared via the written, audio and video recordings along with feedback gathered online. People are then asked to share what comes up for them as they look back on the day now that a week has past. Everyone is asked to share their experiences in small groups with additional opportunity for feedback provided online. A party atmosphere is cultivated by a potluck meal followed by an intergenerational game. The celebration ends with fifteen minutes of silence, followed by a joining of hands. The group agrees to come together again in two months time to consider the question of another next step at that time.
Hopefully this example of We Love Our River Day highlights the principles of unity building in action. These principles include taking time, communicating carefully and inclusively, using silence, celebration and the joining of hands.
Change is hard work. There is no question about it. Yet we angels know your species is uniquely gifted at creating change. You simply haven’t stepped fully into your gifts yet. We wish you well in so doing. Know that we will be with you each step of the way.
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