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The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups By Starhawk New Society Press, 2011; Paperback, 288 pages
A "comprehensive manual for groups seeking to organize with shared power and bottom-up leadership to foster vision, trust, accountability, and responsibility," this book covers such essential topics as understanding group dynamics, facilitating communication and collective decisionmaking, and dealing effectively with difficult people. It also includes exercises and a facilitator toolbox to help groups establish necessary structures, ground rules, and healthy norms.
Published just before the Occupy movement broke out in the US, The Empowerment Manual is valuable to anyone exposed to its remarkable large-group decision-making process used in the General Assemblies. Those gatherings quickly encompassed all the structural and interpersonal/cultural differences of urban America, which are also found in smaller scale in intentional communities and community organizing work.
Starhawk lays out a vision of how collaborative organizations can harness peoples ideals, passions, skills, and knowledge toward many ends - if their members learn to work together effectively.
Starhawk has put in the "10,000 hours" of practice, making her a well-seasoned process facilitator among activist groups and collectives. Her observations ring true with rich insights and practical advice. She highlights issues and methods for working with folks traumatized/sensitized to issues of abuse and misuse...