THE PROCESS IS AN ALTERNATING TURN OF TEAM AND TELLER, OF TELLING AND LISTENING.

When you arrive, you will be welcomed and the process will be briefly explained to you. Then you are invited to tell your story of choice for about 3 minutes and no more than 5 minutes. Then the team will check back with you that they have heard the story correctly in terms on what its core intention is.

When you are happy that the story has been properly heard and only then, you are asked for your permission for the team to look at the story as a story, separate from its teller. When the team does this for about 10 minutes, you are asked to sit back and observe, as if you are a reflecting team to what your own story has inspired in the panel.

You are asked to take notes if you find it helpful, and to simply listen focussing on what you hear that is of interest, not what is right or wrong.

At the end of this time, you rejoin the discussion and share your comments on the teams' comments. It is not a time to tell another story, or to clarify for team members what they didn't get, but rather to reflect on the reflections and to share your own reactions now to the first story. Did any questions that the team asked arouse your curiosity?

Then, the team will ask you to proceed to the final step of the process which is to look at the story from a broader perspective, to explore what other stories it might relate to, and to play with it. When this is complete after another 10 minutes, you are again invited to share your thoughts and to express what you might be taking away from the process.

When we as team members have experienced this ourselves, we have found that at the end we have so many ideas and thoughts buzzing around in our heads that we need time to go away and think about it all. For that reason, to ensure that no thoughts are lost, with your permission, we usually tape the session, so that later we can supply you with a transcript. You may also want a copy of the tape to re-listen to it.