How great to be back in the room with a new team of Agents warming up to explore new territory. We got warmed up with a game of ‘Steal That Seat’/’Walk like a Penguin’. Liban quickly made his mark as a master tactician, encouraging people to hold their seat for longer, not give the game away. Zara called for collaboration. Each tactical announcement was met by Deanna Rodger (Agency Facilitator) with a casual explanation on the importance of each of these virtues (patience, teamwork, collaboration, decisive action), pinning lessons from the game onto key aspects of the Agency methodology.
From this warm start we moved onto paired navigational tasks. Agents had to ask each other Yes/No Questions to seek directions round the territory and navigate a route from one place to another, testing their knowledge of the area and their ability to solicit information effectively.
Honing in on the primary point of the Faustini Compass D (Deanna) focussed in on desires. Kibia was talking about his desire for personal satisfaction, Daisy wants to run a successful fashion campaign, Shaniqua was the first to put her hand up and state her dedication to acquiring some money, a house and a car and other things so she could live comfortably. Desires ranged from the material to the abstract (wanting happiness) and from the general to the specific.
After this we talked about what was happening in the area, the property development, the socio-economic change in and around the territory and also the ‘desire for change’ that the Agents had.
Post-lunch we were breaking off into cluster groups revisiting the desires that had been written down and exploring their relationship to ideas for projects people had, and questioning them. Questioning their motive, their form, exploring them and opening them up. I was sitting with Shamar (one to watch!) who was interested in social housing and developments that benefitted local people, which led to us having a little conversation about the Wandsworth council plans to redevelop Winstanley and what that might mean in theory and in practice. Along the way he educated me about some property co-investment schemes he knew about, or tried to anyway. Kibz was dropping pearls of wisdom and showing me images of his ‘Maze’ project, as well as the sources of his inspiration and moodboards. After that I went to join another group as we discussed the benefits of The Agency process and what they were gaining from it already.
This discussion and feedback segued into the finale, a circle-one-word-round-up of the session. And then it was Halloween…