How to deal with issues of confidentiality?
Different approaches,
what is heard in the circle, stays in the circle
everyone is free to speak about anything they wish too.
hold what is said in the circle with empathy.
Empathy thrives in openness. The more open I can be and share my feelings the more authentic I am. Authentic meaning sharing the real lived feelings moving through my body. This however does open me up to possible painful criticisms, judgments, analysis, manipulation, etc by others. I can constrict my body, hide the various feelings as a way of protecting myself.
By being open, I make a statement to the world around me that this is what i value and stand for. Not only that, I would like a more open world.
In groups the issue of confidentiality comes up. Some people feel safer with an agreement that what is said in the group will not be shared with others.
It seems to me that authoritarian governments are based on fear of people authentically speaking out. People hide their feelings, because of fear of being punished. People become isolated and alone. The overthrow of these governments usually starts with people coming together to share their real feelings and seeing they are not alone.
Says: Confidentiality comes up a lot in circles and NVC. He references Dominic
Barter, says rather than creating a space that has confidentially, we actually want something that is not confidential. We want the opposite because this is a community process and what is learned may have benefit to the community. We want the learnings to be shared with the community. etc.
Empathy Team 1 Discussion
after reviewing the video and realizing that it is in Youtube without any cut, I must say that I would much prefer that it is not released in public like that, but just kept for our records. We are talking openly about our dark sides and start to outline what are possibly business plans to raise venues.
On both grounds, I see no advantage in people peeking into all details of our processes in these integral version. I hope you will understand. M.
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Confidentiality is an issue that comes up all the time in empathy circles and most groups like this.
It could be a topic to discuss in an empathy circle itself and write up some sort of an article/report about this. The question could be ‘what does the most to foster empathic connection Confidentiality/or Openness?’
On one hand people may feel safer to express themselves in a closed group.
However, sometimes I notice going down this path makes groups more insular.
Then again, being public is a barrier for many people to take part.
On the other hand empathy thrives in openness and transparency. So it’s nice to demonstrate or model that. Somehow I feel a greater openness with it being public.
People who miss a meeting can easily go back and view it and there are other benefits.
The video can be used for educational or promotional purposes. Ie.. people can view an empathy circle and see what it’s like before taking part.
I’ve done a lot of these circle online and recorded them. So I feel comfortable with them being public. I also know that hardly anyone watches them. Most people don’t have time to watch the whole thing. I like to record them in case we want to go back and transcribe any of the comments. However I hardly ever go back and review the recordings.
So I’m not really attached one way or the other.
I’m more interested in the underlying meaning of being open or closed and how that fosters empathic connection. Seems to me that as the world moves more towards authoritarianism, this worldview tries to scare people to close off and isolate from each other. It makes people feel more fearful and closed off and want to protect themselves.
In terms of permissions to view Youtube videos. There are 3 settings
1. Public –anyone can view and it’s indexed in the search engines
2. Link Only – You need to know the link to get to view it and it’s not publically indexed.
3. Private – Only those with a private link can view it or I think with Google+ account permissions.
4. Not Recorded
Just some initial thoughts.
* How do we come to a shared agreement in an empathy circle?
* Do we empathically talk about it until there is a consensus?
* Does the facilitator of the meeting decide?
* Do we take a vote and majority rules?
* How about gradient agreements?
edwin
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with regard to the content,
-for myself, I know that I can go deeper in a situation where it's not going to be public.
and it seems like you already have lots of examples of empathy circles to show people.
however, I can relate to wanting to have an outcome that can be shared with others.
For me, the note-taking fulfills that purpose. R
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