This is a curious structure; one of those that didn’t land when I first read the instructions. I had to experience it to understand why it’s constructed like it is. There’s a reason for the spiral!

In practice

As I became more intentional in recent years to build a facilitation style that’s more aligned to my natural self, I’ve leaned into the quiet power of holding space for reflection and intimacy. It didn’t happen overnight. There was a certain amount of maturing needed to build up the confidence to do it in high-pressure corporate environments.

Spiral journal has its role to play there. It’s a solid in-between activity (punctuation) to quiet our lizard minds and hone in on what’s going on inside. It’s also a great standalone journaling activity outside the context of workshops.

Facilitation notes

I think it’s important that the facilitator also does the activity for themself, modeling the mood and intent. Participants will inevitably look up to see what others are doing, like a pre-schooler peeking during nap time to see if the other kids are actually asleep. In this moment, they should see the top of the facilitator’s head and not the facilitator looking back at them. We are not the teacher.

Always clarify up-front if the content of the journal will be shared with others or not. My preference is to keep the journaling as a self-contained solo activity and use post-its or canvases for content that’s meant to be shared. Assigning meaning to material in this matter can be used to design non-verbal signals for our workshops.

See instructions

This entry is part of an ongoing series of Field notes from my Liberating Structures practice.

LS under development
- Aug 16, 2020 Tiny monsters
- Aug 13, 2020 Narrative reauthoring
- Aug 12, 2020 Spiral journal
- Aug 9, 2020 Mad Tea Party
Microstructures
- Feb 24, 2021 Helping Heuristics
- Oct 4, 2020 Nine Whys
- Oct 4, 2020 Appreciative interviews
- Sep 24, 2020 Ecocycle planning
- Sep 20, 2020 Celebrity interview
- Aug 22, 2020 25/10 Crowdsourcing
- Aug 22, 2020 Open space technology
- Aug 22, 2020 Wise crowds
- Aug 14, 2020 Wicked questions
- Aug 13, 2020 Heard, seen, respected
- Aug 13, 2020 15% Solution
- Aug 13, 2020 Triz
- Aug 13, 2020 Min specs
- Aug 12, 2020 User experience fishbowl
- Aug 11, 2020 Conversation cafe
- Aug 11, 2020 Troika Consulting
- Aug 11, 2020 Impromptu networking
- Aug 10, 2020 1-2-4-All