A few weeks ago (I’ll look up when) in a Barn Raising session, I heard again an oft-repeated refrain that we were having trouble focusing and getting things done. I’ve been trying to balance focus on a path I have in my mind with the exploration of what naturally comes up that is of interest to session participants.

So I proposed an experiment: that each BR regular (or at least those in that particular session) be given an opportunity to take a particular Saturday, and do 2 things:

1. Bring a topic that s/he wants the group to focus on
2. Take on moderation responsibility for that session, and utilize whatever techniques, practices, guidelines, tools, etc. that the person believes can assist in bringing that focus

This would be the first part of these Saturday experiments. The close of the session (30-45 min) I would lead a “reflection” or “retrospective” on how that session went. In particular, my interest was

1. Did the group feel focus was achieved?
2. Did the moderator effectively utilize experience, techniques, etc. in order to achieve that focus?
3. Did the group effectively collaborate / cocreate around that focus?

Either in updates to this post, or in later posts, I’ll post reflections on the sessions that have already been held.

Next 2 sessions:

1. Saturday May 2: Eric Rangell
2. Saturday May 9: Phalan Morelife