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How can we facilitate ourselves?     by Eric Ballard

The CB circle is a gathering of individuals who are attracted by the possibility of consciously building community. According to Scott Peck, it is only necessary for participants to honestly move through the stages of pseudocommunity, chaos, emptiness and community to experience the powerful benefits of true community. We are apparently equipped with a map that, if we follow it honestly and completely, will lead us into community with each other. The key is honest and full participation.  Where, then, does facilitation come in?  To facilitate by definition is to “assist the progress of”. The clear delineation of a road to follow assists us to participate in the process. Participants are invited to a starting point and signposted to a destination. What is the role of the facilitator in that journey? I would suggest that the purpose of the facilitator in Community Building is to invite, encourage, ease and enable participation. The key question of any facilitative action should be “Does it invite, encourage, ease and enable participation?” If it does, it is facilitative. If it does not, it is not. Whilst this may be simply stated it is apparent that it requires considerable skill, experience and discernment to enact as a facilitator. How, then, can we facilitate ourselves?

If good facilitation results in increased participation, then facilitating ourselves must consist of doing whatever we need to do to fully and honestly participate in the community building process. In other words, facilitating ourselves is participating ourselves.. nothing more nor less! Simple to write not, by any means, simple to do! But for me, this highlights something special about the Facilitating Ourselves events: These are events for participants; individuals who are committed to taking part with full responsibility for their own participation.