A New Circle

Today I was treated to another chance to facilitate a drum circle with HealthRhythms.

A librarian colleague and two of her social worker friends and I got together at the high school where my wife works to drum and discuss the method. What a great place the school was! Nobody around to bother with our drumming and even the classroom we squatted had chairs set up in a circle.

Surprise, surprise...each time I do this with a group, I feel nervousness, anxiety, worry about "will I get it right?". Afterwards, of course, I feel good about the experience. The more I practice this method, the more confident I will be in explaining the background, running the protocol, and learning to facilitate the rhythm of the group. I'm in uncharted territory, here, but I am learning to be open to the experience of what will happen next.

Today's group (Monika, Deborah, and Chris) had some recreational drumming experience already, and were using drumming with their social service clients. This makes me think that Mankato would be a good base to explore HealthRhythms. It could be a helpful adjunct to social workers and social service agencies, long term care facilities, and other health care places in the area. I'm finding that there are plenty of people who march to the beat of their own drummer here in Mankato!

The flow of the session went surprisingly well. I didn't worry about sticking exactly to "the script", but went with basics--the wellness exercises (I love that part), the say your name and play your name, shaker share, the drumming entrainment, and the final wellness exercise. At times I felt like I was "losing control" of the group, as if I had to live up to some prescribed method. I realized that this was a learning session, and that the two social workers were teaching me a little bit what they know from doing drumming sessions with their clients. They are even going to incorporate the name and shaker games in their work, as well as use some of the research and protocol material from the manual.

Overall, they were very interested in this, and was even invited to their drum sessions with their clients with severe mental disabilities. I wish that I was still living in Mankato to be able to follow up with this more. It seems like they are trying to get a more long-lasting, coordinated drum group together, but no one has time to do it. Could I help them out with this in the future?

I really need to practice this more with people like Monika, Deborah, and Chris. We'll see, maybe I can set something up with them for a weekend when I'm in Mankato.

Define and Cultivate

I thought it might be important to at least provide a definition of Communities of Practice, and to highlight the suggestions for designing and developing an "alive" Community of Practice, from an accessible text on CoP's for organizational and community development--this is a good book to keep handy in the future:

Definition:

Communities of Practice are “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” (p. 4, Cultivating Communities of Practice, by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder, Harvard Business Press, 2002).

Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice*

• Design for Evolution
• Open a dialogue between inside and outside perspectives
• Invite different levels of participation
• Develop both public and private community spaces
• Focus on value
• Combine Familiarity and excitement
• Create a rhythm for the community (I love that one!!)

*(p. 51, Cultivating Communities of Practice, by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder, Harvard Business Press, 2002).

After the Circle

The first meeting of the Community of Practice went really well! (We didn't choose a name, though). After some setup and goodies--both food and drum kind-laid out, people came to the circle, and we began. I gave hearty thanks to everyone, introduced the purpose of the group, explained how I was working on an independent study project for graduate credit, and then went right into the HealthRhythms protocol.

This is where it was important for me note that I had only practiced once since the training (in our living room, the day before this meeting). Everyone knew I was a bit rusty, but that didn't stop me from going along as if I knew exactly what I was doing, and it didn't stop everyone else from giving me helpful comments, and even role-playing difficult group members!

During my run-through of the protocol, I felt safe and supported, even though I knew that I was probably messing some steps up. What a great way to learn this method, without having to fear that "train wreck" when a session doesn't go right. One person gave honest, and insightful comments--"you lost me at this point...". One person opened a great discussion on how to deal with participants who are disruptive or who are invasive with the way they are playing their drum. On the way home, I had to jot down people's comments and my learnings before I forgot them!

Overall, I am amazed at how well the Community of Practice meeting went; I felt we connected as a group again, especially during our free drum jam. We are currently trying to decide on our next meeting; evaluations were positive and still coming in. Also, I am looking forward to another friendly practice session this coming weekend with a librarian colleague and two social workers at a local park.

With this project, I saw even more how embodied, project-based learning (not just writing a paper, but actually doing something) is another great way for me to learn new skills, while also building up skills and abilities I already have (such as organizational and communication skills).

Ready for the Circle

I'm excited about tomorrow's drum circle meet-up. Things have been coming together nicely, and the weather should be nice enough--rain isn't forecast until the afternoon. So, maybe we'll get chased under the party tent by a thunderstorm!

I've created a bit more content for the wiki, which I hope might serve as place for information about the CoP in the future. I'm still investigating a colleague's interest in a practice session with her and a couple of her friends--they're social workers, which would be a great trial group to work with.

I began reflecting about my attitude and feelings about this group earlier this week. I noticed that I was a bit annoyed (?), or maybe just flustered, when another group member invited more people to the meeting (they are flautists interested in group drumming). It served as a "reality check" to me; I became too "close" to this meeting, and needed to back off, and just let things happen as they're meant to. I feel a lot more at ease, and I'm really happy that this meeting is coming to fruition! Despite my initial reaction, I'm really glad that more people are expected.

Here are some of the things I've been reading:

• A guide for a special facilitation method for schools: The Art of the Focused Conversation for Schools, by Jo Nelson
  
• I just had to read something about Project Management, to see what the buzz is about. Hopefully it will help me with future projects (group drumming related?), as well as my upcoming contract year at Southwest Minnesota State: Project Management: Techniques and Tips for Today's ILS Professional, by Barbara Allan
  

Getting It Together

The first meeting of the HR CoP is fast approaching this weekend, and my head and notebook are full of things to do...my plan is to use the blog to document the lead-up to the first meeting, so I can reflect on how it came together, how I feel about it (excited and a bit nervous about my skills using the protocol), and, after the last drum has stopped beating, how I think it went.

I decided to make a wiki to serve as an online version of a manual for the CoP. I'll send an invite to Scott, so he can see it too.

I have been bad...very bad.

It has been a very busy month. I can't believe I haven't posted anything here in more than a month!

Project update:

1. The Community of Practice is set to meet at French Regional Park in Plymouth, July 19th. There will be 6 particpants. Everyone in the group seems really excited about it, as am I.
2. Starting to get references together for my literature review; books, journal articles, and web sites. It seems Etienne Wenger is one of the main people writing about Communities of Practice.
3. I am going to set up a wiki to serve as an electronic manual for the CoP. Looking forward to that, as it will also serve as professional development for future positions.
4. Am organizing an informal group to practice the method again, after the first CoP meeting. Should help cement the process.

Ok, the computers about to run out of juice. More later!!