The Circle Way Governance Council is a group of voluntary stewards committed to growing and evolving applied practice of The Circle Way throughout the world. This group works in friendship to foster support and connection among people interested in applied circle.
The Governance Council fulfills the mandate to sustain legal and fiduciary responsibility of a 501c3 (USA) not-for-profit entity to receive and send resources.
The board does not manage nor represent the network of practitioners. It does not certify practitioners. It does not seek to control direction, but rather encourages people everywhere to animate learning, extend reach, and to give life to and further the use of circle.
If you would like to be considered as governance council steward at next opening, please contact one of the current governance council members.
Current Governance Council
Diane S Jordan has more than 20 years of executive leadership and management consulting experience in nonprofit, profit, and healthcare sectors. She is an award-winning leader in organization and professional development, change management, executive coaching, employee relations, diversity and inclusion. As a facilitator, she designs and delivers content and techniques to engage small and large groups in problem solving, decision-making, promoting and creating energy. She inspires individuals and teams to lead from aspiration, increase accountability and decision-making, and deliver sustainable results.
Diane’s desire to make a difference in the world took her on a journey that led her to historic and culturally rich Liberia West Africa. There she owned a business, served as midwife, volunteered with World Health Organization, and witnessed the coup d'état.
Sarah MacDougall, Ed.D., is an elder in The Circle Way community. It has been her privilege to serve on The Circle Way board since its inception in 1998. One characteristic of this board has been and is an openness to spirit, a willingness to listen for what needs to happen next and then act! This is a working board. It fills Sarah’s heart with joy to witness and be involved in the transition of The Circle Way to the next generation(s).
Nancy Fritsche Eagan (www.peoplepotential.org) is founder and President of People Potential and has provided consultation and training services to public and social sector organizations for over 20 years. She applies her direct services and management experiences in government and the social sector to her work. She is a specialist in change strategies, relationship and community building, leadership development and project management. Nancy designs meetings to foster meaningful conversations in support of collaborative and inclusive processes. Nancy is known for her ability to create and customize services and interventions that are suited to the needs of each organization.
Amanda Fenton (amandafenton.com) worked in the co-operative sector for nearly seventeen years with thirteen of them in Human Resources, including HR consulting, leadership and organizational development, change projects and collaborative strategic planning processes. She is a co-teacher of The Art of Hosting and The Circle Way, and is skilled in designing participatory gatherings using circle-based methods such as The Circle Way, Open Space Technology, World Cafe, Collective Story Harvest and others to host and harvest conversations for thoughtful change, working with non-profits, churches, schools, other organizations and networks.
Board Principles & Values:
We embrace abundance and generosity.
We radically work in right relationship from a place of wholeness, diversity and human goodness, trusting this will evolve the conversation into action.
We care for one another and all beings.
We live The Circle Way.
We live in ambiguity and complexity, trusting in spirit.
We tend to the balance of the sacred covenant and the economic flow.
We work in mutual reciprocity.
We use the “advice process” (Frederic Laloux, Re-inventing Organizations) and work in interconnected/interdependent autonomy.
We follow our energy and appetite.
We radically practice “ask for what you need and offer what you can.”
We seek succession and sit in relationship with those coming to support the future of The Circle Way
We learn as we go, exercising bold leadership to keep us moving forward.
We share responsibility for inflows and outflows (sacred economy).
We commit to represent and actively invite all forms of diversity in the work of The Circle Way and as it grows into the next generation of teaching and practice (so people can find their people in what we do).
We are a board for the purpose of 501c not-for-profit status, and a working community for the purpose of moving The Circle Way forward in the world.