Gracious Space is a tool for change and collective leadership.

Defined as a spirit and setting where we invite the stranger and learn in public, it combines these four elements to create a powerful relational field and learning environment for holding the dynamics of change and collective leadership.  In this space people can suspend judgment, listen deeply, develop deep relationships, work across boundaries, share diverse perspectives and ideas, develop shared purpose, work through conflict, discover transformative solutions, carry out emerging ideas for change, and adapt as needed throughout the process.

Through the process of creating Gracious Space, participants are asked to bring their best spirit and intentions and establish ways of working together that allow the group to go to their most meaningful level of work.  It makes explicit the group’s commitments to welcoming diverse perspectives and to learning together.  It can be established quickly, but the true test of its strength comes when it is called on to help the group stick together during difficult conversations about difference and misunderstanding. Gracious Space invites the group and each member to open up to transformation.

The Center for Ethical Leadership has helped created and use Gracious Space in many sectors over the past seven years including health care, business, government, community, nonprofit, and schools to create spaces where people judge less, listen more and open up to new understandings, increased creativity and productivity.

We offer a 3-day intensive training on Creating Gracious Space twice a year in the Seattle area.  Please check the Seminar & Workshop schedule for the next training date.

It only takes a small opening to create the space for profound transformation.