explore · Personal Development, Reflection, Problem Solving · 120–180 min · A focus person plus 4-6 committee members · low energy

Clearness Committee

A person facing a decision or dilemma (the focus person) meets with a small committee for two to three hours. Committee members may only ask honest, open questions: no advice, no stories about themselves, no suggestions. Near the end, if the focus person agrees, members can mirror back what they heard. Everything said stays confidential.

When to use Clearness Committee

Use when someone faces a personal or professional decision that only they can make, and advice from others is getting in the way.

What it solves

People asking for help with a hard decision get buried in well-meant advice that is about the advisers, not them.

How to run Clearness Committee, step by step

  1. The focus person writes up the issue and sends it to the committee in advance (prep).
  2. Open in silence. The focus person breaks it with a short summary of the issue (10 min).
  3. Members ask honest, open questions one at a time, leaving silence between them. The focus person may answer or pass (90-120 min).
  4. About 15 minutes before the end, the clerk asks whether the focus person wants mirroring. If so, members reflect back words and patterns they noticed (15 min).
  5. Close with thanks. Agree that nobody raises the topic with the focus person afterwards unless invited (5 min).

Materials needed

  • A quiet private room
  • The focus person's written statement
  • Notebook for the recorder

Facilitator tips

  • A good test of an honest, open question: you could not possibly predict the answer.
  • Keep questions short and drop the preamble about why you are asking.
  • Name a clerk to keep the rules and a recorder whose notes go only to the focus person.

Common pitfalls

  • Advice dressed as a question: 'Have you considered...?'
  • Members fill silences out of discomfort instead of letting the focus person think.

Variations

  • A shorter, 60-90 minute version for workplace coaching circles, keeping the questions-only rule.

Running it online or hybrid

Possible by video with cameras on and a clerk managing turns. Silence feels longer online; say in advance that it is expected.

What it produces

The focus person's own clarity, and optionally the recorder's notes of the questions and answers.

Origin

A Quaker discernment practice, adapted for wider use by Parker J. Palmer and the Center for Courage & Renewal. — source

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