In the last year, hundreds of leaders have gathered in CircleSpace to engage in powerful conversations that elevate teams. The Circles framework and conversation library have improved team health and productivity, while developing dozens of participants into facilitative leaders.
Whether it’s leadership or team development, here are four use cases highlighting the best of CircleSpace 2023.
Developing Teams at KLog.co
When Janan Knust, CEO of logistics company KLog, suggested that a Circl.es facilitated program be incorporated into his executive team’s offsite, KLog CFO and Chief Strategist Igal Meirovich knew it was the right move. “In professional dynamic environments, getting personal can look weak. So you have to be intentional about opening up with each other. That’s when you realize authenticity is a strength, not a weakness.”
Together with the Circles team, Igal put a plan in place for the executives to step away from the grind and go deep, using Circles’ Foundations program. Foundations teaches teams how to listen to each other, through equitable conversations honoring each person. Using a three pillar framework of openness, accountability and shared purpose, a facilitator guides teams to establish norms while prompting deeper questions, both of which invite teams to open up in ways they typically haven’t before.
KLog’s executive team experienced significant breakthroughs over the course of the sessions.
After completing Foundations, CTO Alvaro Serrano says Circles will scale their core company values and give them a competitive edge in the field of logistics. “I think what differentiates us in the logistics industry is our empathy, authenticity and transparency. We want those values to be reflected in sales, operations, and customer service and success. We need to translate the Circles experience to the rest of KLog.”
Changing the Culture at Lloyd’s Register
While the homogenous white male maritime industry of the late 18th century has evolved, Lloyd’s Register continues to pursue gender equality for their globally dispersed workforce consisting of 70% men and 30% women. Through a partnership with Circles, LR recently created and implemented Safe Harbor Circles to help bridge the gender gap.
Safe Harbor reached people who don’t always feel comfortable sharing in other spaces, and they often reported feeling less lonely. For example: two female naval architects who had both been with LR for over ten years never crossed paths until they met in a Safe Harbor Circle. One reflected, “It would have been so helpful to know each other when we were starting our careers at LR.”
Another participant appreciated the space to recognize commonalities with global colleagues. “I’m in Japan, and I never knew I could reflect like this with someone across the world in the UK.” The sessions raised her awareness of global gender gap realities while providing a community with a shared sense of purpose
Developing Facilitative Leaders at Merakey
Ali Bolick leads Merakey’s enterprise-wide learning team, and was the first at Merakey to discover CircleSpace. In the midst of rolling out a new manager training program, she joined a one-off session, immediately noticing the psychological safety. “People can be themselves in CircleSpace–they are not afraid to share.” Captivated by her experience, she shifted the remaining new manager program sessions into CircleSpace. The completely redesigned Merakey New Manager Training now incorporates peer circles, providing space to practice, apply and sustain concepts and behaviors.
Merakey sent five of their own team members through a three-session facilitation training. One of them, Kristen Smith, is now a Certified Guide, empowered to design and deliver Circles sessions independently. Kristen felt the main takeaways of her CircleLeader training included personal growth, enhanced leadership abilities, and empowerment to help build healthy communities. “I walked away from my cohort having experienced firsthand that truly authentic human connection is achievable in a virtual hybrid workplace.”
Connecting ERG Leaders in CircleSpace
Dumebi Egbuna and Toby Egbuna co-founded Chezie, a diversity, equity, and inclusion company that helps people find belonging in the workplace. They host an online community of 700 ERG leaders who collaborate on events and ideas, share best practices, and access valuable resources. To create inclusive spaces for the community’s monthly small group connections, Chezie began developing a partnership with Circles early this year.
When they turned to Circles to host a Black History Month round table in February, 25 black ERG leaders joined the Heritage Month Circle. Participants scored it 9.7 out of 10 and came away praising the intimacy of the session, provided by breakout rooms and other unique platform features. Dumebi reflected on the session’s success: “Circles’ unique design provides a space for people to share their voice and be celebrated for their inputs to a conversation.”
The Chezie team went on to host monthly ERG round tables in Circles all year, allowing leaders across organizations to collaborate and lean on each other. “I can’t even tell you how many people come to us, asking to be connected to other ERG leaders so they can learn from others.” CirclesSpace’s unique, inclusive design is helping Chezie unite and develop a community of 6000-7000 ERG leaders.
Takeaways
CircleSpace is paving the way for high-performing, healthy team culture that scales. Together with our partners, we’ve designed an interface that creates a refreshing experience and offers the transformative capability to take team conversations to another level.
We’ve built Foundations right into our latest product The Team Table as a result of the KLog case study. The Team Table offers continuous, powerful conversation templates for managers to use with their teams.
Ready to elevate your team? Experience CircleSpace for yourself: book your complimentary session in The Team Table here!