Notes I. Leaders’ Groups
There are many ways to organize leaders’ groups in Re-evaluation Counseling (RC). The Wygelian[179] leaders’ group is one effective form. It is designed to encourage thinking, help individuals take initiative, and rapidly develop new leadership. It has been widely used in the RC Community and elsewhere. It helps us handle many of the difficulties that can arise among leaders.
A Wygelian leaders’ group is formed by people of a particular constituency who are operating as leaders or are willing to learn to do so. The constituency may be the Co-Counselors in a particular RC Community or people who share an occupation, interest, concern, or experience of oppression.
Two roles within a Wygelian leaders’ group are (1) a convenor and (2) a consultant. The convenor keeps up-to-date contact information for the members and organizes a meeting “as needed.” (The Wygelian leaders’ group does not meet regularly but only “when there is something to meet about.”)
The consultant may or may not be a member of the Community or constituency and is the most skillful and best-informed Co-Counseling leader available. The Regional Reference Person (RRP) often plays this role. The consultant serves as leader for the first four items of the agenda and as counselor for the fifth item.
Here is a typical Wygelian leaders’ group agenda:
- Each members shares something new and good in their life.
- Members report on what they have been doing as leaders of the constituency and listen to each other without comment.
- Members share their views of the current situation facing the group: what is favorable, what is difficult, what opportunities are waiting to be seized, and what challenges need to be met.
- Members each report on what they plan to do as leaders in the next period.
- The consultant counsels each person on “what’s getting in the way of my leading well.” Other members make commitments to continue such counseling.
- Members share what they valued most about the meeting.
Wygelian leaders’ groups do not create overall plans. They do not monitor the performances of the group members. They do not meet unless the consultant or the members decide there is a need for a meeting.
If more than eight to ten participants attend the meeting, it has worked well to divide into two or more groups.
[179] Wygelian is an RC-invented term for any of the many constituencies—Native and Indigenous people, Global Majority people, women, LGBTQ+ people, young people, elders, people with disabilities, and so on.