Process Support and Process Led Work

The way of "not knowing"

Process-led work means: the process itself shows the next step.

Process support means: holding space, resonating, sensing, mediating between individual, the group, and moment.

Questions that often come up.

In which situations might process led work be appropriate and helpful?
Mainly in situations where "conventional" approaches have not led to the desired result. Examples for these kinds of situations might be crises, really stubborn or wicked problems, or situations where "more of the same" has already led to condensing a problem rather than solving it. However, process-led work is also helpful for people who have chosen to follow a holistic path and are at a point where no method, no world view, no "school", and no tradition can provide them with answers to the questions at hand.

What is the difference between process led work and classical facilitation?
Neither the process supporter, nor the group, nor the individual know in advance what the next step will be. The next step reveals itself anew in every moment and can only be experienced through resonance. The task of a process supporter is to experience the information about the upcoming step as a resonating body and to make it available to the group or individual.

Is process led work a certain method or technique?
No, quite the opposite. Methods and techniques are based on certain assumptions and usually define the procedure. This is helpful in many situations. However, when situations resist conventional ways of solving them, it is precisely about approaching these situations completely openly and without pre-assumption. And that also applies to the process itself, of course.

Is there any guarantee, that this approach will work?
The simple answer is: no. Process led work means accepting a situation exactly as it is and letting it be – without judging it and without looking for solutions. Often this way of approaching a situation reveals aspects of it that could not be seen before. But there is no guarantee. And: quite often the more unpleasant aspects of a situation also become apparent. But this is precisely the point at which something new can emerge.

What are the qualities that a process worker should have?
An important prerequisite is that you have mastered the classic methods and techniques of coaching and facilitation, as they all usually appear at some point in processes. Experience in working with these "classic" methods is essential in order to avoid disrupting the process itself through methodological uncertainty. Even more important is the ability to not only endure uncertainty, silence, emptiness and "not knowing", but to be able to hold the space for this. Especially for the group or the person whose process is in focus at the moment. Another group of abilities is sensing, resonance and intuition - sensory systems that can and must be trained in the same way as the classical senses. Finally, an ongoing practice of self-search and self-exploration is the basis of working as a process facilitator – as nothing disturbs the process of a group or an individual as sustainably and unnoticed as unconscious parts and dynamics of the process supporter that are triggered in the process. These will emerge anyway – but the important thing is to recognize them and distinguish the information that is individual to the process supporter from that which comes from the process itself. And last but not least there is always the will to fail and the radical openness to this. In process led work, not wanting to fail already is failure.