FAQs
What is a BL Circle?
A Bridging Leadership Circle, or BL Circle, is a small group of people that meet regularly, study Bridging Leadership and community development principles together, share their reflections with each other, and are accountable to each other, all in the pursuit of advancing growth as a leader and social equity in the community. The BL Circle serves as a Community of Practice for BL practitioners ranging from novices to experts.
Who may join a BL Circle?
Anyone who wants to know more about leadership and community development, make new friends, deepen their civic engagement or community volunteer work, or sharpen their professional skills may join a BL Circle.
Why should you join a BL Circle?
COMMUNITY — It fosters fellowship and is a safe space to share lives with each other.
CARE — It is can be a second family where people support, encourage, and learn with each other.
CHARACTER — It helps build character through mutual accountability and building each other up.
COLLABORATION — It is a group where we can team up to do projects, or get inputs and advice from each other.
May I start a BL Circle?
Yes. See guidelines on starting a BL Circle (click here)
Does a BL Circle meetings have to be in-person or may it be online?
A BL Circle may be organized in-person, purely online, or a combination of in-person and online meetings. See guidelines on starting a BL Circle (click here)
How do I get promoted from BL White Belt to Yellow Belt?
All BL learners start with White Belt. Many individuals may already have leadership competencies that they learned from prior leadership roles, and can progress from white to yellow belt faster.
Promotion to higher BL color belt levels is based on a combination of competencies/behaviors and knowledge. Advanced BL practitioners are authorized to certify that learners have achieved these competency levels. A certified BL Trainer will have to observe you deploying your BL techniques in-person or live online. Some techniques can be demonstrated and submitted as online videos, blogs, or other online assignments.
What is the sequence of BL color belts/competency levels?
Level 1 - white
Level 2 - yellow (low/high)
Level 3 - blue (low/high)
See details below:
Level 4 - red (low/high)
Level 5 - brown (low/high)
Level 6 - black
Do I need to join a BL Circle in order to get promoted to a higher BL Belt?
No. You may join the online BL White Belt course and learn alone or with peers online. Completion of a course does not automatically translate into promotion to the next BL belt. You will have to undergo a promotion exam to move to the next level.
Cultivating Other Leaders (Questions as a BL Circle Leader)
How do I handle a member who is attending several BL Circles?
Clarify their intentions by asking them why they are doing this. It may be possible that the person simply wants to have many mentors. You can remind them that the goal of a BL Circle is leadership development, which involves commitment and accountability. If this is the case, it is best that they select one BL Circle to commit to.
How do I handle members who are active with their downline but not with their upline BL Circle?
Talk to them about the importance of continuing with BL learning their need to be accountable to a BL Coach. Remind him or her that the practice of BL is sharpened by cultivating leadership maturity in others, as well as learning to be accountable to other BL practitioners.
If a member expressed the desire to join but rarely joins BL Circle meetings or has never been present for a long time, do we remove them from the BL Circle list? How about members who do not respond anymore?
Don’t be discouraged — sometimes people are in certain seasons in their lives that cause them to act this way, make them busy, or affects their schedules. You cannot control the person’s response, but continue to make them feel welcome and communicate openness to their participation. If possible, speak to them heart to heart and ask why they’re having a hard time attending. Be patient with them and treat your members like your family members. We simply don’t remove our kids from our family — perhaps the only time you remove them from the list is when they indicate that they want to transfer or leave your group.
How do I handle members who are constantly promising to attend our BL Circle meeting but are not showing up?
Talk to them. If the person feels that they cannot commit to attend, then it’s okay to let the person go. You can help them find another BL Circle more suitable for them as well.
I have a BL Circle member who is having suicidal thoughts every day. How can I approach them effectively?
If people share suicidal thoughts, we need to take it seriously. If you feel it is difficult to deal with, you can ask help from your upline/BL Circle leader and refer to the nearby health center, church, or support group.
This video on psychological first aid provides useful approaches. https://youtu.be/QHQzpDU55oE
How do I deal with a BL Circle leader who is critical, discouraging, and thinks they are always right?
It is best to talk to them directly and inform them that some members are already being hurt by his actions. If the matter needs to be elevated, refer the matter to BL Faculty who is overseeing the program.
Can BL Circles meetings be used to undergo training sessions under the BL Institute?
Yes. BL Circles are excellent platforms for discussing BL concepts and practicing techniques. BL Circles may choose to undertake BL Institute courses as a group, and the course becomes their topic during BL Circle meetings.
Can BL White, Yellow, and Blue belters be together in a BL Circle?
Yes. People have different levels of leadership maturity and it can be productive for them to learn with each other. However, BL practitioners who are advanced will also benefit from working with peers with advanced skills.
What should I NOT DO in BL Circle meetings?
While we encourage entrepreneurship among BL Circle members, the BL Circle meetings should not be used as a venue to sell products, services, or MLM packages to each other. Members should also not borrow money from each other because this introduces unintended stresses to BL Circle relationships. The friendships and professional contacts built in the BL Circles pave the way for entrepreneurial activities, but these business conversations should be held outside of the BL Circle meetings. The only exception to this rule is initiatives under the co-creation labs that the BL Circle members might be working on.
How are BL Circles related to Co-creation Labs?
Bridging Leaders influence social outcomes by co-creating new programs, policies, relationships, or enterprises. Co-creation Labs are platforms for diving deep into specific problems alongside others who are working on the same problems. Through the co-creation labs, you may find teammates, advisers, funders, problem-owners and co-design solutions with them.
What's the difference between activities in BL Circles and other courses at the BL Institute?
The pandemic has blurred the lines between classroom and online learning, and synchronous and asynchronous. The Bridging Leadership Institute provides various spaces for learning.
BL Circles - free, open, volunteer-driven, group-based learning teams that function as Communities of Practice. BL Circles may use the free BL Institute courses as learning materials.
BL Institute Online Courses - These are BL courses that may be free or paid, which can be taken individually or as teams. In general, leadership is better learned within teams. However, in extreme cases and for highly motivated learners, BL may be learned solo.
BL Institute in-person or hybrid courses - Most BL Institute courses require a practicum project, and are monitored remotely or through field partners. Certified BL Faculty will teach courses in-person or online. Many BL Institute learning materials are recorded and may be accessed anytime.
Co-creation Labs - Since co-creation is a key methodology of BL, the BL Institute works with co-creation labs as vehicles for co-innovating with partners across the different sectors. Co-creation labs include networks of partners across different localities, and therefore include a lot of online collaboration.
BL Institute Certifications and BL Color Belts - Bridging Leadership is composed of a wide set of tools, techniques, and concepts that can be mastered over time. The BL Color Belt pathways provide a balanced progression of BL competencies to learners, preferably through BL Circles, and sometimes through independent online learning. The BL Institute Certificate courses provided training on specific sets of BL tools, usually to address sector-based social inequities or Sustainable Development Goals.
For more tips on facilitating small groups, go to Peer to Peer University
Adapted from:
http://communitylearningpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Ganz-Marrakesh-training-guide-.pdf
https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/help-others-grow/leading-small-groups/launching-and-leading-a-small-group.html