Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani and Tenneson Woolf share anecdotes from their recent circle work.
English captions are available on the video
Video transcript:
Tenneson Woolf:
Hi everyone, I am here. This is Tenneson Wolf and I'm here with my colleague and friend, and co-Circle host also, Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani. And we are happy to be able to share a couple of Circle stories today. We are both longtime Circle practitioners, particularly from The Circle Way tradition. And we're both also very happy to be part of a much broader community of Circle practitioners, and some that are leading and guiding education events, things like that. And then others who are just practicing Circle, trying to do good work in many spheres.
We both have some of that in our lives and we realize in contributing to this video, or making this video, that we want to contribute to the broader field of practice people, who are also using Circle. And that means sometimes working in the details, the granular of things, and sometimes it's rocking the bigger spirit, and sometimes it's just trying to illuminate Circle with a few stories of practice and a few stories of application, or a few stories of experimenting. So we get to do some of that today. Glad to be longtime practitioner and now in cahoots together a little bit, Rangineh, for what we get to do. I wonder if there are particular words of hello that you want to say that help with context. And then, you and I have been talking about places and spaces where Circle happens, or where we're inspired to carry Circle. Want to welcome a few stories between us. You can start there.
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
Thank you so much for that beautiful invitation and that context, Tenneson. So nice to be here and to share with our Circle keeping community. This really feels like its own full circle moment, just getting to be here with you as the person who really welcomed me into The Circle Way tradition. I've learned so much from you, both in proximity and then also from a distance, and it's just really beautiful to get to be in conversation with you, and then in collaboration with you later this year.
So I, you know, to your point, I think I appreciate that this is really an opportunity to share some of the places and spaces where we've both engaged in Circle, been a part of, maybe even a guided or lead Circle. And one of the things you had asked me before we jumped into this conversation was the purpose. And I really appreciate the opportunity to share some of the spaces that I know for me when I first started with Circle Practice, I would've maybe not imagined Circle being invited into, or being even welcomed into, and have been so pleasantly surprised and continue to be really grateful that there are some specific spaces where Circle has been really impactful, and has landed in ways that I hadn't imagined it would, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it did.
So one of those spaces I had shared with you a little bit earlier was a local government experience that I had. This was a few years back. And in full transparency, the local government space was really one of the spaces that I imagined as a young Circle practitioner would be sort of the final frontier. One day I'll make my way to local government, but that's probably a ways off. I think it'll have to take quite a bit to be able to find myself in that space and Circle being welcomed. And what I found was actually ended up being one of the first places, and this had a lot to do with the leadership of this particular department, somebody who was familiar with Circle, who was really, really very intentionally seeking sort of counter-cultural, very equity centered approaches to facilitation, to group process, to relationship building, culture building.
And when we connected around this, she was so welcoming of bring it in the fullest way you can, we don't need to temper this. My team is ready. And so, her team was absolutely ready. And so, we leaned in, we did some work initially using Circle methodology to do some of the kind of more planning technical pieces for the department, and then eventually moved into actually training some of the folks in the department.
And there was one particular person who I hope will eventually make it on a video and/or in a blog post, who really, really just took it, embraced it, lived it, owned it, breathed into it in such a beautiful way. And he's no longer with that particular department, but still working in local government and using The Circle Way as part of the way that he approaches his work, much of which engages very much with the community. So that has been a very poignant and memorable experience. Just I recall sitting literally in Circle with our beautiful center, and just having this moment of we're sitting in a local government office, holding Circle, this is actually happening, this is real, this is happening in real time. And it was just a very profound moment of aha and appreciation. Anyways, I'll pause there.
Tenneson Woolf:
Yeah, well I'll ask a question then first too. Without being ridiculously reductive, what do you think changed with that group also? So before Circle it was blah, after Circle, it was what?
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
I think that this particular department, because they do a lot of work with the community, are generally coming in as highly relational folks. And I think that what's really tough, particularly in certain settings like government, it's kind of like you get to be relational when you're out in the community doing the work, but when you come into the office, there's sort of an expectation that, I don't know, that we sort of have to be disconnected from the humanity of it or the relational side of it. We kind of switch gears and I'm not sure why it's been set up that way.
Well, I mean, I shouldn't say that. I do know why it's been set up that way. It's been intentionally set up that way. But what I think and I hope that bringing some Circle practice and approach into that space did was that it allowed, it kind of gave permission for people to bring their full humanity, to be able to really sit into space and be with one another in this fuller way than we oftentimes have time to or feel like we can do, when we're in these rushed meetings or we're in these department wide spaces, where it's like here's our five point agenda, and there's no time to even say, "How are you coming in today," right? My favorite check-in question is just how are you arriving, right? People will tell you so much just in that simple question. So I think that was the biggest thing that I noticed.
Tenneson Woolf:
I love it. Well, I'm drawn to the Circle brings humanity, and for me there's always something that goes with that. I'm content with it, it just brings more humanity. But sometimes when I'm translating into places where I'm trying to bring Circle or encouraged further Circle, it seems like we're bringing wisdom and we're bringing more kindness, and we're bringing more relational field or more intelligence together. So I'll play a lot of those. But I think what's rooted in all of that to me and what you're saying, Rangineh, and the stories that I'm thinking of is that we're trying to create more connection, and with that more connection than some other things are possible.
Maybe more is possible, or maybe something different is possible, or maybe something restoring is possible also. So I think of all of those things, the bridge that I think I'll make from the story that you've shared to one that's on my mind as I was thinking about our time together today, also includes a key inner leader, interior leader from a corporate group, in this case a group that I've worked with fair amount over the last three or four years. But it's a friend of mine who is pretty senior in his leadership position within the organization, and he invited me to come in and create a leadership development program, excuse me.
And we did. So we created a cohort program, and the short of that is it's a six-month thing and we have a face-to-face, three-day meeting on the front and on the end, and then a few interesting smaller things that are in the middle. But this is a group that doesn't... So let's see, I'm trying to think what's accurate here, because my friend, my colleague that's within the system, even though I don't like the phrase, he's kind of a stealth Circler. He's doing a bunch of Circle without calling it Circle, he's doing a bunch of connection without sort of overplaying it. And I love it that he has that skill. I think it ties into your story, in the way that when you are internal to a system government, corporate in this case, you kind of have to work the system a little bit, in that language I don't like. You have to be wise about how much the system can receive or how much you can invite. And then sometimes it's just like, I don't know, let's just go for it, because we're bringing in something that people are actually pretty hungry for.
Maybe that's the bridge also, because I've found with this cohort program, and thinking back to the opening retreat that we had a couple of months ago now, and in this case it's a group of 16 I guess that are in the program, 18 of us in the room. And we started on the first day with a few relational purpose building things. We did use a world cafe and a couple of other partner conversation things, and then went into a big teaching thing that was part of their system in particular. It's a personality typing system and they needed some information on all of that. We did all of that and then for the evening we came back to Circle. And so, we are 18 of us corporate. We're in a hotel setting for this one, but you know corporate and there's a little, I don't know what to call it, like an uneasiness or an edginess around Circle, the touchy-feely jokes that are often made and what are we going to do here?
There's a little bit of a nervousness in the room, and what I loved for this particular Circle is we're not trying to do anything super-duper heavy, invited really basic things. We did invite people to bring an object, something that matters to them in their leadership. And everybody brought one, and this is over the course of maybe it was 75 minutes I think is what we had. We invited people to do just what you were talking about. How are you, who are you, and how are you as you're arriving? Now that we've been in a half a day together, we're coming back to this deeper center that is Circle. So inviting people to tell why they brought their object and then place it into the center, all of that is kind of really rare experience for these folks or first time experience. But my colleague and I, we just held it as a, of course we're going to connect, of course we're going to start to tell stories.
And the thing that I loved, without being too grand and teachy around Circle, just inviting people to show up and tell their stories, is those aha's started showing up, the authenticity shows up, or a few tears show up, and this is not a place that cries together, that kind of thing. And I love it when people just see some of that and then begin to wonder like, "Whoa, something more is going on here."
That was happening. And I'm so glad whenever that happens, that I think people start to feel the honesty that is welcomed and expected really within Circle. So it changes the communication pattern and it changes the emotional field, how we feel with one another. And I think we're restoring something important there. So in my context of this corporate leadership development program, we're deliberately inviting something that has a different kind of authenticity to it, and maybe a more whole or a more rounded thing. I know they're not going to talk that way all of the time, but when they get genuine about their, "Wow, I think something is happening. We don't normally talk to each other this way. This feels good." That's Circle doing something pretty important I think. Let me pause there.
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
So beautiful, so powerful, Tenneson, so many thoughts and ways I'd love to just respond to that. I mean, as you're talking about that nervous energy of just that initial sitting in the physical form of a circle, I think that even there is so important as a start point to think about what shifts in our body, what shifts in our hearts when we are physically sitting in a circle with people and we're not shielded, we're not hiding, we're not able to be behind a device, or a desk, or a table and we're just really, really openly proximate with one another. That in of itself shifts just the energy of how we come in physically into this space. And then as we're starting to share or be invited to speak to story or experiences, and I've oftentimes heard people like this is a workplace. We're not here to divulge our deepest darkest secrets, and depends on the workplace, right? But if that is the case, it doesn't mean that we can't still know one another, right? How do you build trust with somebody you don't know?
And how do you do really good work, and how do you get through really difficult times, and conversations, and challenges with no trust? And so, all of this feels like building toward and coming back to in sort of simultaneous ways, that sense of connection that you were talking about. I was at a conference in April and I was listening to Dr. john a powell, and he is over at the Othering and Belonging Institute at the Haas Center. And he talks about the importance of connection between humans. And he mentions we are all born physically connected to another human being and we forget that. We are born physically connected to another human being. And there's something so powerful about that. And yet all the places and spaces that we exist in society are oftentimes feels like we are being pulled away from one another rather than pulled toward one another. And that is one of the gifts I think that Circle gives us, is that it really helps to invite us back into proximity with one another, relationship with one another, connection with one another.
So thank you for sharing that. That's so beautiful. I also want to just offer a deep acknowledgement of the deep indigenous wisdom that informs and guides, and is a foundation for Circle practice, whatever type of Circle practice that we're engaging in. You and I are practitioners The Circle Way. But that sort of recalling that, remembering that, re-centering indigenous wisdom has such a big part of us to helping to guide us toward that. Remembering, recalling, re-centering the collective, the wholeness, the humanity, and just really want to take a moment to honor that, because that is such a big part of the work that we do, and the fact that we're even able to do that.
Tenneson Woolf:
I appreciate that kind of naming and all of that is just such good languaging, I think, Rangineh, about some of the stuff that to me lives underneath methodology. So I think most of us, many of us are trying to restore some ways of being, that try to bring us into more relationship, including with our natural environment, and including with just some of the deeper story of who we are as human beings. Sometimes I feel like I'm contrasting such a dominant story, and yet also a piece that you and I have shared a little bit, it's remembering as Circle practitioners as we are, or hosts and facilitators as we are, and so many others, we're actually calling people back into something that they're pretty hungry for. I don't, even with the corporate group, there's sort of nervous energy and nervous language around it. But the feeling of that evening and of that Circle of wow, I don't even know what this is exactly, but it sure feels good or it sure feels honest, this feels healthy.
I think people are hungry for that. And Circle gives us such a good space to, I think in the most simple of ways, create the most lasting of experiences, where we dip our toes or maybe we even jump in up waist high into some of this humanity that we have been born with, and sometimes lose in the prevailing systems of the day.
So all of those things feel great. I know that you and I have practiced in a lot of places. For me, I've got faith community stories and there's also just the everyday informal circling that we talk about, where we're not calling out methodology, but boy, we sort of live the rhythm. Like, let's have a little time to check in, however we want to say that with one another. And on the other side of it, a little time to check out also. I love those kind of things and it just seems to me that Circles so often is creating the connection that we need, so that we can be in some of the other different shapes also, because there is the shape of the triangle, or there is the shape of the list of things. But I find myself thinking so much lately that when we have Circle, it gives us different capacity in those other shapes also.
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
Absolutely.
Tenneson Woolf:
You and I do have an event coming up. I feel like we have a lot more stories to share, but that might be for our continued conversation or maybe some other recordings. You and I do have an event coming up. Do you want to say just a little bit about what that is and how it's sparking in you right now?
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
Yeah, so there's so many parts of it that are giving me life. So breath and belonging, a Circle Way intensive. We are going to be in Salt Lake City this October. In addition to the workshop itself, I'm actually very much excited to be in Salt Lake City in the fall. I've heard it's absolutely beautiful and it's my favorite season, and feels like both an appropriate and good time to be, not just in conversation and in proximity, but really intentionally leaning into conversations around what it means to return to center, what it means to return to breath, what it means to co-create spaces of deep belonging as we're talking about being in these spaces of connection and connectivity. We can't do that if we don't feel like we belong somewhere. So as practitioners, facilitators, how can we really help co-create those spaces with our participants is one part of it.
And I think the other part of it that is really grounding me and I'm so looking forward to is the conversation, and just really diving into this conversation around how do we take this work? How do we take this work of Circle, and how do we be responsive to what we see on the horizon for our society? We obviously in the United States, there is a big election coming up. We know that there's a lot of other things happening in the world that are incredibly heavy and hard right now. How do we as Circle practitioners take the gift this work and position ourselves to be responsive, and support humanity as we're moving into some of these really big moments?
Tenneson Woolf:
That is so well put. Thank you for naming it that way. I'm excited about our gathering for all of the reasons that you just said. I think we as human beings are trying to do good things in the world and we all have things that we care about, and sometimes it's jobs, and sometimes it's communities, and sometimes it's traumatic struggles, and sometimes it's delightful joys also.
I think I have so appreciated in the years of learning and practice here, that Circle is such a gift. You use some of that language also. It's such a gift to bring us into relationship, not just with each other, but with ourselves and with our circumstances of the time. And I feel like Circle is something that you come back to over and over again. So I'm glad to welcome folks showing up that are a little newer into Circle and just have a hunch to follow that. And then also, others that have been in Circle practice for years, that know we continue to strengthen and grow the community together, and where we get to use it and be with one another in such ways. So thanks for naming it. We'll have something in the notes that can go with that. Is there anything else that you want to share, just by way of us checking out of this little call?
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
I think just my gratitude for the ability to have this conversation at all. I mean, I think anytime where we get to be in Circle conversations, I'm always walking away feeling affirmed, and nourished, and nurtured. And when we talk about those spaces of belonging, it's like this is, I feel a sense of belonging when I get to be in Circle conversations. So grateful for that. What about you?
Tenneson Woolf:
Me too. And to be amidst such a community of people that are learning and relearning, and imagining and reimagining such things. Glad to be able to contribute and glad to be able to keep hearing other people's stories too. Thanks for the journey today.
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani:
Thank you. Looking forward to continued conversation, and to welcoming others into the conversation as well.
Join Rangineh and Tenneson at their upcoming Breath and Belonging: A Circle Way Intensive held October 23rd to 26th, 20204. More information available here.
Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani is the daughter of Mohammad and Anna Azimzadeh Tehrani. Her earliest years were rooted in Tehran where she lived with her parents and brother during the Iran/Iraq war, an experience that ultimately set the foundation for her commitment to peace and conflict transformation work. Rangineh received her B.A. in Communications Studies from Portland State University, and her M.A. in International Conflict Resolution from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. As part of her academic work and commitment to integration of a broader worldview, Rangineh studied Spanish, Italian, and Arabic. She also completed academic programs in Italy, Cyprus, Thailand, and Cambodia, as well as professional development programs in Palestine, Czech Republic, and Turkey.
Today, Rangineh is a Circle Practitioner, Certified Professional Facilitator©, and the Principal and Founder of Solh Resolutions International. She has over 15 years of experience facilitating deeply human spaces that center connection and community, and has worked with cross-sector organizations (domestically and internationally) ranging from community-based organizations to local governments. Rangineh lives into her core values of empathy and self-awareness through her work with The Circle Way (TCW), a circle methodology that offers a counter-cultural, equity-centered approach to working with groups while shifting organizations from transactional places into relational spaces. Rangineh also continues to draw from her early experiences in Iran to inform her unique approach to conflict. Her Conflict Consciousness Workshop Series creates a carefully curated container for groups to take a deeply introspective view of how and why they show up in conflict as the first steps to cultivating true transformation. She also understands the need for, and value of healing in the face of the compounding effects of systematic oppression. To this end, Rangineh curates spaces intentionally designed for healing and restoration.
To learn more or for contact information, please visit www.solhresolutionsinternational.com
Tenneson Woolf (www.tennesonwoolf.com) I’m a Poet, a Coach, and a Group Process Facilitator. My work is convening learning events. It is improving collaboration, imagination, and wisdom in groups, teams, individuals and organizations. Circle has been goto for me since the late 1990s. I guide and teach ways of being with ways of doing. Lately this is within contexts of corporate leadership development, faith community cohort curriculum, university senior leadership programs, and a medical education community of practice.
My poetry books are available online — Most Mornings is my most recent. I post a daily blog, Human to Human, on my website, in which I offer reflection on varied aspects of participative leadership practices, insights, and human to human depth. I’m currently writing a collection of essays on Circle for October 2024 publication.
My work lineages include The Berkana Institute (Margaret Wheatley), The Circle Way (Ann Linnea, Christina Baldwin), and The Art of Hosting (Toke Moeller, Monica Nissen). Originally from the plains of central Alberta, Canada, I now live in South Jordan, Utah, in a high desert valley at the foot of the Oquirrh and Wasatch Mountains.