Floating back into the fold
Joining Huddlecraft as Studio Projects Lead
I have been orbiting the Huddlecraft solar system for many years now, oscillating between various roles and engagements, never straying too far for too long. I have always felt at home within this particular community. Huddlecraft’s approach of peer-to-peer learning (P2PL) as a means to personal and professional development spoke to me from the get go. I hosted a peer group (also known as a ‘Huddle’) in 2019 with a group of Bristolians, all of whom held a learning question that lit them up in some way. Projects (and humans!) were birthed, careers were shaped and playfulness always sat at the heart. It was such a unique and expansive experience, I was hooked.
Since that first Bristol huddle I have been involved with Huddlecraft in a number of guises, from mentoring other huddle hosts, to delivering P2PL and coaching training, to assisting delivery of the annual retreat for folks across the community. And as the years have passed — as life and the world we live in has become evermore confusing, complex and chaotic — the approach of peer-led learning has become increasingly relevant and essential.
Humans are social creatures. We are designed to be in connection. Huddlecraft intentionally and meaningfully brings people together to identify, address and tackle the problems that affect them as individuals and society as a whole. Groups are consciously curated and exist as spaces where learning is collective, reflective and democratic. Each individual brings with them their own set of experiences, skills and curiosities and as a result of this, the group is cumulatively wiser and bolder. The shape of the curriculum is decided based on the needs and assets of the learners involved. Learning happens within the group and beyond the group, feeding not only each of the peers taking part, but also permeating their respective wider environments.
In these types of peer learning spaces, or “microclimates”, responsibility and power dynamics are equally distributed; agency and accountability for each participant builds; and changes in behaviour, mindsets and actions flourish.
The impact of these microclimates is not to be underestimated. To give one example, Huddlecraft and Friends of the Earth’s Money Movers is a powerful movement of women taking climate action with their finances. This project has a P2PL approach at its core. Hosts are trained in the methodology, small groups of women and non-binary folk come together and each individual takes climate action using their personal finances. This movement has seen 140 women move £1.2million for the planet to date. Seemingly small-scale interventions can generate mighty shifts.
There are many other examples of how Huddlecraft have used P2PL approaches to plug into new and existing projects, organisations and movements. Huddlecraft believes that, as humans living on this planet at this crucial moment in our history, we have a responsibility to pull focus on powering regenerative movements, such as Money Movers.
“By plugging into multiple movements, we [are] using P2PL as a tool to enhance efficacy, depth, impact, scale, spread, propagation, learning, etc. And by doing so we [are] leaving behind new or strengthened relationships, new mindsets and capacities, and often new behaviours, initiatives and projects.”
My role as Studio Projects Lead will span many of Huddlecraft’s programmes and will draw upon my experience working in the non-profit and education sector as a community builder, learning designer and project manager. The following are a selection of projects that we are offering out to our networks and beyond this year and that I am excited to be working on. I encourage you to check them out in more detail via the links below, if you haven’t already.
- Money Movers — this incredible project is building a movement of women who are taking climate action with their finances. We aim to move £1 billion for the planet by 2030 and there is a fresh programme launching in May! Currently keen to connect with women or non-binary folk who would like to host a Money Mover peer group.
- Huddlecraft 101 — this online training immersion sees six years of juicy peer-to-peer practice and wisdom distilled and bottled in one programme. This is for people whose work involves bringing people together, at any scale.
- Huddles — more is possible when you huddle! I am hyped to be helping to raise the profile of these peer learning groups, connecting individuals with Huddle Hosts who are responsible for skillfully curating and holding these peer groups.
- Studio — our Studio is always open to building and nurturing our partnerships — we are committed to the surge of peer power! If you have a project or idea that you feel would benefit from and / or align with a P2PL model, we’d love to hear from you.
So, as I climb aboard the Huddlecraft once more, this time as a member of the core team, I am reminded of why I want to be involved in this work.
The peer-to-peer learning model is simple, yet effective. Bring humans into connection… provide a clear container… set out shared agreements… learn together… let the magic unfold.
We need this kind of intervention, urgently. Collective, organised action is going to give us the best chance of our survival on this planet. There is no time to rest on our laurels.
The people coalescing around this work are change-makers. Curious folk with an insatiable appetite for learning, expanding and navigating us towards a better world. My kind of people.
“In order to make peace with complexity, we must surrender certainty. In practice, complexity means constant change, a continuous flow of inputs that can rarely be predicted. In these contexts, solutions from yesterday may not work today. There is no luxury of “knowing”, there is no certainty, except for change.”
The terrain ahead is complex and uncertain, indeed. I am committed to be-friending (or be-peering, rather) change, staying agile and bringing as many people as possible along for the Huddlecraft ride. If you’d like to discuss ways you can be part of this community, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to book a meeting with me or send me an email (anna@huddlecraft.com).
