House Discovery Meeting

Do what works for your group. This involves personal sharing. The answer will vary from group to group and can change within the same group over time.

The purpose of this meeting is to hold space for multiple view points, opinions and experiences of a moment.

There are no decisions to be made, nothing to agree or disagree with.

It is about discovering where each person is.

----- Roles:

Facilitator – person who guides the process

Expressor – person expressing

Listeners – people listening for the Expressor is experiencing

---- Process:

There is a moment of silence.

Then people proposes things to Discover. This could be current proposal or former decisions or an incident that happened.

Facilitator chooses one or there could be a vote, which ever one gets the most votes is the one.

Each person has X minutes to share

After everyone shares or passes, have a moment of silence to take everything in.

---- About length of time:

This is about each person having space to share where he/she/they are at around the chosen thing in the moment. In particular, what is helpful for people to know around sharing housing.

People views / experiences change over time. Where are you now ?

People have only so much time. How will it take if everyone has X minutes to complete.

---- When in Listener role please consider your:

- Presence

Are you in the now, the moment ?

Are you thinking about what was said a few minutes ago or what might be said next ?

- Focus

Are you focusing on the Expressor’s experience, feelings, needs, etc. ?

Are you focusing on your judgments, reactions, other people’s reactions ?

- Intention

Are you listening to help sharing go more smoothly for everyone (yourself and others) ?

Are you listening to gather information to get something, manipulate the situation or spread hurtful gossip ?

--- Additional option

role of Asker. The Asker can ask the Expressor questions to help everyone have clarity around what is going on for the expressor. This may work best for a group that has fewer people. And, the people agree on which communication style to use and already trust each other..

Have a Discovery meeting before the Business meetings.

Alternate between Business and Discovery meetings.