The Rhythms and Rituals (our Being and Doing)

WORK IN PROGRESS

Rhythms

Over the first few months of its existence, Samara created rhythm of:

Wednesdays: Roots call (governance, funding, remuneration, etc)

Thursdays: Trunk call (overlap and alignment of Roots and Branches

Fridays: Branches call (regional pilots, outreach, engagement, etc)

Plus various pod calls and ad hoc calls, often but not always between noon and 5pm UTC.

 

The coterie faces the challenges of reconciling many interconnected variables:

- Time zones (from New Zealand to California)

- Tolerance for keeping unusual hours

- Commitments to family, self-care, other projects, etc.

- The necessity of paid work outside of Samara pending remuneration within Samara

- Varying needs for forward planning ("let's have a meeting now!" / "I can fit you in a week on Tuesday")

- Varying needs for yang-time and yin-time ("I'm available for action whenever needed" / "I can be active for a while, but then need time to consolidate and/or do deep work")

Like Seeds, Samara recognizes the waxing moon for expansion/activity/yang, waning moon for reflection/consolidating/yin and hopes to start to align with this Rhythm in some ways, but to plan projects on a longer cycle. This is part of our efforts to discover the rhythm that will emerge to best facilitate our higher calling. 

There is also a recognition of having a dynamic pulse check using some sensing and metrics which allow Samara to check when the threat response is starting to increase in the group. This is not simply a case of reducing the threat felt by changing the factors external to the individual, but having clear pathways to respond in the right way at the right time. We are taking inspiration from the SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) to create processes which mimic how to prevent a threat response in an individual in a group setting.

Pulse checking people in a similar way to how Hypha does an org scan will be a powerful way to channel rhythms to create safety regardless of external factors and in the presence of high cognitive load or project sprints/deadlines. This dynamic way of adjusting rhythm still provides structure and direction while allowing a sense-and-respond process.