Rhizome Blog
Here you’ll find stories of successful organising, training and facilitation, what’s new in these areas already helping us build the world we want, news of Rhizome’s activities, and news of upcoming events. Have a browse or use the search for interesting topics we’ve written on. Please do feel free to comment and leave your own reflections – we feel that we’re on this learning journey, together.
A new approach to deciding difficult issues: Convergent Facilitation
Last month, I went to the idyllic Abbey, in Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire, to attend a training on Convergent Facilitation, led by the woman who devised this method, Miki Kashtan. Her background is in Non-Violent Communication (NVC), and many of the forty-plus people there also had an NVC background. They came from at least a […]
From Burnout to Balance: Creating Cultures of Care
Where? Forest of Dean (just north of Bristol) When? 6pm 28th October – 4pm 30th October 2016 FROM BURNOUT TO BALANCE: CO-CREATING CULTURES OF COLLECTIVE AND SELF CARE SLIDING SCALE £25 – £150 When we think of our escalating refugee/hospitality crisis, mounting inequalities, eco-systemic collapse and runaway climate change – the challenges we face can […]
Difference and disagreement
Craig Freshley’s Good Group Tips pop into my inbox regularly and have done for several years. I have to admit I don’t always read every one. Some I skim, some I bin. A few even get the attention they deserve, like the most recent one on “Different views”. It’s well worth the few minutes it’ll […]
The EU referendum – surprise, surprise
In Rhizome’s occasional series sharing thoughts and perspectives following the EU Referendum, polarisation is a key issue that we need to learn from and deal with now, both in the wider Brexit world and in our social change groups. What are your thoughts? Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised at the desperate polarisation that occurred […]
The Diamond of Participation is forever OR Get your diamonds into shape
I think the diagram to the left, the Diamond of Participation, is by far the most helpful diagram for anyone interested in running better meetings that come to better decisions. I’m very grateful to the “Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision-making” i for providing it. I’m writing this blog both to explain it and also to […]
How to use conversation kits to get across info about complex topics
In a blog on June 6th, I described the Wee Play conversation kit that I helped develop and use for the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. In this blog, I’m going to explore how the Democs conversation kits, of which Wee Play was one example, get across information about complex topics. Each kit supports a […]
Book your place on a co-op skills training course, delivered by experts
The Hive runs a series of one-day co-op skills training sessions, delivered by experts, available to existing co-operatives looking to strengthen in key areas. Many of these training sessions were co-designed and run by Rhizome in previous years. Still to come this year, we are delivering the ‘Communication and Working with Conflict’ workshop in London […]
The EU referendum: “I’m right and you’re an idiot”
My title is taken from the title of a recent book by a Canadian author called James Hoggan. It sums up neatly what the attitude seemed to be of many people involved in the EU referendum debate, whether that debate was face to face or on social media. By accident, I and my colleagues in […]
Open Space: the Technology, approach, free resources and critiques
Here at Rhizome towers, we have facilitated many Open Space events and sessions over the years. Through our desire to share our experiences, and support healthy organisations and rewarding events, we developed a series of useful Open Space resources free for you to download and use. Here are some reflections, questions and hints too… […]
Calling anyone with facilitation, working with conflict or Community Development skills
Though we know nothing about this initiative beyond their blog post, we’re re-posting this because in these post-Brexit times – now more than ever we need to get together and think about what we can do to work with and across communities, and to struggle against the rise in racist attacks and the possible slide […]
Co-operation in the UK: from start to finish, developing a support package for Co-ops UK
We are excited when we get asked to design whole programmes of support to organisations and networks. It’s possible in a one-off workshop to spark and see transformational change, given the right conditions, and we aim for ‘catalytic interventions’. A whole package of support gives us and our client the time and relationship to develop […]
helping you make up your mind for the EU referendum
Rhizome co-op members are involved in a range of activities alongside what we might see as core Rhizome work. This post describes one such initiative and how games can be useful to create both a participative process and a safer space in an often polarised debate. This is particularly timely in light of the upcoming […]
Taking risks for personal transformation: Education and Participation with Training for Change
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend the best part of ten days holed up in a room at Friends House in London with 20 other grassroots trainers and facilitators. For once, we were participants on a training course – not the ones running it! If the trainer-cum-participant role sounds like a […]
Rhizome's sixth birthday – walking, not running
Entering into our sixth year of existence, Rhizome wishes all our readers a happy year of learning and action. You may like us be on a journey, destination unknown, clutching your ‘values compass’ firmly in hand – we’ve blogged previously to share our attempts at an evolutionary process. On the other hand, you may be […]
Bonnington Square – inspiring community empowerment & collective action
Bonnington Square – c’est si bon Everyone in Rhizome who can – every six months or so – meets up to do all the things that are best done face-to-face. For a team that’s scattered across the UK, regular calls help us run the co-op, and working together whenever possible builds relationships and is great […]
upcoming events: bottom-up political and community action and toppling tyranny
How To Do It – Creating Bottom up Political Participation 9-10th April 2016, London From citizen engagement to radical collective action, the focus of the event is how ‘ordinary’ people can come together to collectively act upon and change their environment. The challenge is to create determined and conscious collective action, which can be effective, […]
Skilling Up trainings April 2016
In April 2016, one of the world’s leading activist training groups, Training for Change, will be visiting London and offering a 10-day programme made of two powerful workshops for trainers and facilitators. About these trainings The three-day ‘Training for Social Action Trainers’ is an intensive training designed for experienced facilitators wanting to revitalise their work; […]
Sustaining Resistance in the UK
Sustaining our Activism: Building Resilient Communities Workshops in the UK in 2016 To sustain our work for social change we need to feel empowered, nourished and creative. In these workshops we will explore tools and strategies for finding inspiration, hope, and ways forward through the ups and downs, to keep going for the long […]
next years' Co-operative UK training programme
Rhizome is happy to be supporting the new Co-operatives UK programme, for which we will design & deliver training to existing and new co-ops across Britain. Co-operatives UK and The Co-operative Bank have agreed a £1 million three-year partnership to support the development and growth of the UK’s dynamic co‑operative and social enterprise sector. The […]
Capitalism Is Just a Story – Rise Up and Create a New One
If you didn’t see this earlier in the year, fired up by the symbolism of Bonfire Night*, and you’re more than ready for the weekend after a long week, give this a watch: How many of us have a sneaking suspicion that something pretty fundamental is going wrong in the world? We keep hearing about […]
turn the tide – get stuck in to (AKA co-ordinate) non-violent training & education
Just missed out on joining a small and mighty team of people passionate about using nonviolent power to turn the tide of injustice in society? Then how about applying for a job co-ordinating Turning the Tide’s programme? It’ll be based in London, and the deadline is 20th November – see here for more info. Good […]
Stealing the Future
Utopian and dystopian writings often have a great appeal to those of us who consider ourselves to be working towards a better world. If that chimes with you, then you might want to know about Stealing the Future, written by a good friend of Rhizome, Max Hertzberg. In Max’s own words: There are quite a […]
resilience! Festival of Solidarity
This just in from our friends at the Edge Fund: In November of 2014 members of Migrant Artists Mutual Aid, Lesbian Immigration Support Group and Action for Trans* Health met at Edge Fund’s Radical Sharing Forum and hatched a plan to make their groups more sustainable through a unique community fundraising event. They’ve worked really […]
Democracy starts the day after the election…..Days like today can seem
There’ll be a lot of people in the community activist groups, the campaigning organisations, and the co-operatives that we work with who will be feeling the anger, frustration, disbelief, despondency, resignation, powerlessness and more that an election result like the one we’ve just had here in the UK can bring about. So much time, energy, […]
Sustainable Activism Weekend Workshop
Where? Claverham, near Bristol Cost? Sliding scale of £15 – £100 When? Fri 19 (pm) – Sunday 21 June 2015 Why? When we think of mounting inequalities, eco-systemic collapse, runaway climate change, and the rise of the Right – the problems we face can seem insurmountable. No matter what we do, it never seems to […]
Sustaining Resistance, Empowering Renewal: Tools for Effective and Sustainable Activism
A 12 day residential workshop in rural Devon 11th – 22nd May 2015 This workshop offers personal and collective tools to help make our activism more effective. Theworkshop aims to help us stay inspired, nourished, empowered and creative. It offers space to reflect and analyse, helping us to stay involved for the long haul, create […]
Call it democracy
Just been listening to this as I have on and off for the last 26 years, thought you might like to as well. Lyrics below as well as a few comments from The Cockburn Project website. Back in the day it was a song about “the third world”. Nowadays could apply much closer to home… […]
Organise resistance not compliance. Build mutual support
Occasionally you come across an inspirational resource. Today @IzzyKoksal tweeted the link to London Coalition Against Poverty’s “Building mutual support and organising in our communities” pamphlet. If you’ve ever struggled to organise in an effective and inclusive way, there’s something here for you. Full of stories from independent community groups. Read it! Then share it […]
Experienced unhealthy group dynamics in your group, organisation or community?
In Rhizome, we ourselves certainly have lots of experience of groups ‘going wrong’, whether through our personal, activist or professional lives. Sometimes this is with groups, organisations and communities we do work for, and other times that we are part of ourselves (hard though it is to believe, I know!). How’s about yourselves? What does […]
A qualm about consensus
In my last blog, I spelled out some of the plusses and minuses of consensus, as I see them. I ended by saying that none of the minuses that I have come across in my reading quite hit the mark, in relation to my experience with Mandorla Cohousing. In this blog, I’d like to explain […]
The plusses and minuses of consensus
I belong to a cohousing group based in Herefordshire called Mandorla Cohousing. You can find out more about us at http://www.cohousing.org.uk/herefordshire-mandorla-cohousing. We try and take decisions by consensus, both formally and informally. My experience there has made me question the value of and need for consensus, especially in formal consensus procedures. This is the first […]
Co-op culture and conversation
I’m typing this during #coopshour (Wednesdays 2pm-3pm GMT on twitter). Kate at Co-operantics has just tweeted the link to an article on their website about building co-operative culture and not just structures. And (shows how much attention I’ve been paying of late) I noticed a series of great co-op conversations they undertook for Co-operatives Fortnight. […]
Liberation facilitation
In the facilitator and trainers’ circles we inhabit here in the UK there’s an ongoing conversation on facilitating diversity in groups and movements and supporting those same groups and movements with training to help them deal with difference in all it’s forms. Fortunately it’s more than just a conversation – it’s a living experiment with […]
71% activist burnout rate!
71%. Let’s say that again: 71% of activists surveyed by Plan To Thrive report having experienced or currently experiencing burnout. Read the Burnout: Experiences & Advice post for both personal and organisational strategies to stay sustainable. For grassroots activists, consider going to Sustaining Resistance which we help facilitate – next dates are in October in the Catalan […]
Building your cultural capacity for capacity building
A couple of weeks ago we co-facilitated the first of the Co-ops UK ‘Working with Conflict’ workshops in Manchester, part of an innovative and responsive training programme commissioned by Co-ops UK and being provided by experienced training co-ops across the country. Rhizome is leading on the working with conflict workshops and we’d opted to pitch […]
Facilitating in a hierarchy
For many of us that work in grassroots networks or co-operatives, facilitating in a formal hierarchy doesn’t appear to be much of an issue – unlike co-ops or informal networks, the power relations and decision-making responsibilities are clear. But for many of our social change colleagues working in NGOs, facilitating meetings certainly can be an […]
Middle class standard time and meeting facilitation
I finally plucked up the courage to update all the feeds in my feed reader. Of the 1000 or so new posts (it’s been a while), most are destined to gather dust or be deleted unread. Andrew Willis Garcés happens to be near the top of the pile, but don’t let that fact deter you […]
working with conflict taster/freebie
Hello to the multitudes that read our blog. I am running a taster session for Talk Action on the afternoon of 7th May, in central London, near Old Street tube. The taster will cover elements of a working with conflict programme I’m developing for them. In the taster, specifically, we will explore states of mind, […]
Consensus decision-making in crisis
Consensus decision-making is in crisis. I suspect it always has been and possibly always will be simply because it’s a process used by human beings. Wherever you look groups, coops and networks are struggling with consensus. Moreover they’re often having to adopt or invent mechanisms to deal with a breakdown in the process. And many […]
Time and money – the impossible balance
I recently did a short unpaid session on “team-building” or “how to be a good coop member” type of thing for a small animal rescue charity. I’d been asked by a friend who volunteers there to help with some staff issues, and she felt that a day spending time on their working relationships would be […]
Co-operatives skills training: meetings, management, conflict and change
Over the last year or so Rhizome’s been working with Co-operatives UK to assess the training needs of co-ops, bring on board other training co-ops, and agree and design a package of 5 seminars all around co-operation. For too long co-op training has focused on business start-up, legal structures, financial management. All necessary stuff, but […]
Our Tottenham – community democracy at work
“Since about 2009 my activism has focused on trying to build towards a better way of running society from the bottom up with full participation and real direct democracy and on a human scale. The first step seemed to be to get everyone who was active in a variety of ways in a local community […]
democracy
An interesting take on the word, from the erudite Cunning Hired Knaves. See http://hiredknaves.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/whatever-happened-to-the-irish-democracy/ As a collective of people with a plethora of principles guiding us, we embrace the edges, the radical and the thought provoking. We are not in a dogmatic ditch. British Knave of the Week – George ‘Give the peoples’ wealth to the […]
No Right Turn – resources to resist the far right
Our community development friends Sostenga have created some free session plans and resources to support community development responses to far right groups mobilising in our communities. They’re asking folk to share and contribute. Here’s what they say: “The emergence of the EDL (English Defence League) and various splinter groups in the last few years, and […]
How to – get on a training about working with conflict
We’re offering, with Co-ops UK, a course called Communication and working with conflict. A bit of a gob full, but nonetheless it’s been tested and evaluated by worker co-ops in the last year or so; and elements of the programme have been used with community and campaign groups for the last 15 years. We will […]
Consensus case study: Helpline
Matthew and I prepared a case study of Helpline for a workshop. We never got to use it, so we thought we’d describe it in case anyone else would like to have a go. ‘Helpline’ was the pseudonym given to a project in Boston, USA, called Project Place when it was studied in the 1970s […]
Skills building with the London Cycling Campaign
A few weeks ago Matthew and I facilitated a one day workshop for the London Cycling Campaign. It was for their newly recruited group of volunteer Campaign Organisers and local group members who will be working hard on the Space4Cycling campaign in the run up to the local elections in May. This aims to get local candidates […]
the challenge of democratic co-operative governance
The words ‘co-operative’ and ‘governance’ have rarely been written together in the same sentence, let alone in a headline. But now our democratic organisations are facing scrutiny. Rhizome’s even been asked to help facilitate an open space about it in London on February 8th 2014. So what makes co-operative governance different? Of course there are […]
facing the facts
Rhizome’s on facebook! We’ve engaged with facebook with a speed that makes some glaciers look positively nippy. Odd given that we decided when we started that social media would be our main voice (and ears). We started this blog right at the beginning and finally got around to tweeting a while back. Speaking for myself […]
Zombie, dinosaurs and crocodiles
It’s that time of year when everyone seems to review the past year and plan for the next one. Seems an appropriate time for me to blow the dust off a draft post I started near the beginning of 2013 but never quite completed. Why appropriate? Because it’s about looking back and looking forward. Zombies, […]