Peacemaking Circles: Changing The Face Of Organizational Conflict 

Peacemaking Circles:  What are they?

Peacemaking circles are one process in the realm of Restorative Justice.  Although restorative justice is seen primarily in judicial and legal arenas, restorative practices—specifically circles—hold great promise for restoring or perhaps even creating community, particularly in higher education settings.  Two important principles form the foundation for restorative justice in a community:

Justice requires that we work to restore those who have been injured.

Those most directly involved and affected should have the opportunity to participate fully in the response if they wish.

The circle process is an ancient one; many indigenous peoples have used circles as a way of resolving conflict for centuries.  Contemporary principles and practices of consensus-building, dialogue, and dispute resolution have found their way into the modern practice of peacemaking circles, making them not only effective in conflict resolution, but in creating new opportunities for clearer communication and lasting connection among communities.  Communities in the United States and Canada successfully using peacemaking circles in some form include several counties and jurisdictions in the Minneapolis, MN area; Clayton County Juvenile Court in Georgia; and the Yukon Territory.  Kay Pranis, a national leader in restorative justice and peacemaking circles states that society needs “now, more than ever before, to find ways to connect with each other constructively, to understand and respect our differences, and to recognize the invaluable contribution each of us can make to creating community” (Pranis, K., Stuart, B.; & Wedge, M. (2003).  Peacemaking circles:  from crime to community. St. Paul, MN:  Living Justice Press).  Peacemaking circles provide the space where this type of connection can begin to happen; where conflict can be seen as an opportunity rather than something to be avoided; where relationships that may have been damaged can be restored, and new relationships formed with a common vision and purpose.

Peacemaking circles also offer alternatives to traditional judicial affairs processes utilized on college campuses.  Because of the strong community connections inherent in peacemaking circles, the college campus is a perfect place to implement this particular restorative model.  Indeed, Lowery and Dannells state that the current adversarial model used by many higher education institutions makes it “difficult to look beyond those primary participants to consider the impact of a student’s behavior on the larger campus community” (Lowery, J. W. and Dannells, M. (2004). in D. Karp and T. Allena. (Eds.) Restorative justice on the college campus (p. 21). Springfield, IL:  Charles C. Thomas. ).  By involving more members of the community in a judicial process, and, by making the process restorative rather than punitive, there is a stronger possibility for more specific and lasting change to occur not only for the offenders, but for all those involved in the peacemaking circle process.  It is conceivable that peacemaking circles could be used for a variety of campus offenses, including academic dishonesty, vandalism, theft, alcohol violations, and others.  Peacemaking circles would also provide a powerful complement to existing campus mediation programs, or perhaps even introduce such a concept on campuses where no such programs currently exist.   

Training process:

During the training, the consultant(s) will facilitate, (or, keep, in the parlance of peacemaking circles) a peacemaking circle for up to twenty-five participants.  Participants in this initial training will have the opportunity to take part in an actual peacemaking circle focused on creating connection and community on campus.  In addition, participants will also receive training on various aspects of the circle process, such as the talking piece, creating guidelines and values for the circle, consensus building, dialogue, and other important characteristics of the peacemaking circle. 

Because this initial group of participants will be trained to keep future circles, participants will ideally be members of the campus community who are participating in the training voluntarily and are interested in participating at future circles on campus, either as members of the circle or as circle keepers.  Suggestions for participants include, but are not limited to:  faculty, staff, administration, students, or any others who wish to be involved.  It is recommended that this training take place for at least three participants, and no more than twenty-five.  

Although the initial peacemaking circle training is a preferably a four-day process, it is unlikely that campus participants could afford to take that much time.  Thus, the training will take place ideally in a Friday evening-through-Saturday evening retreat format, or in a series of three consecutive evening sessions, in order for participants to maximize both the personal peacemaking circle process as well as the train-the-trainer portion of the process.  Participants would experience an actual circle for the entire length of the training process.  The circle may, and hopefully will, include several opportunities for participants to engage in real, from-the-heart communication regarding sensitive issues; this type of communication will be encouraged and honored.  In addition, a section of the training process will be devoted to logistical concerns regarding the creation and keeping of circles.  This type of emotional learning has much more lasting impact than cognitive learning alone, and will thereby have a deeper, more enduring impact on participants as well as the larger community.