The CIRCLE Process

You have a business case. Now comes the hardest part: making it happen. Many good plans never move beyond paper, not because the idea is wrong, but because the people needed to deliver it never come together in the right way.

This chapter is about action. We start with a way of working together called the CIRCLE process: six stages that a community moves through as it turns an idea into a working enterprise, and keeps it growing.

Why a circle

Most project plans are drawn as straight lines: start, middle, finish. Community enterprises rarely work that way. You learn as you go, conditions change, new people join, and each success opens the door to the next opportunity.

A circle reflects this. Each time around, the community knows more, has more capacity and can take on more. The circle also reflects a way of working, common in many Indigenous traditions, where everyone has a place, every voice is heard and decisions are made together.

The six stages

1. Clarify Context. Understand where you are. This is the work you did in the first three chapters: the abundance you have, the dependences you face, the patterns in place and your readiness. In this stage, the community develops a shared understanding of its situation.

2. Inspire Vision. Imagine what could be. Bring people together to describe the future they want, in their own words. A shared vision gives everyone a reason to take part and a way to judge whether a project fits.

3. Rally the Team. Bring together the people who will make it happen: leaders, champions, community members, partners, advisers and the people who’ll do the work. Agree on roles, responsibilities and how decisions will be made.

4. Create Solutions. Design the enterprise. This is the work of Chapters 4, 5 and 6: applying the principles, choosing the business model and ownership, and building the business case. Solutions are strongest when they are designed with the people who’ll use them and be affected by them.

5. Launch and Learn. Start small, deliver, and learn from what happens. Run the pilot, measure what works and what doesn’t, and adjust. Treat problems as information, not failure.

6. Expand and Evolve. Build on success. Grow the enterprise, add products or streams, share what you’ve learned and start the next opportunity. This stage leads back to the first, as the community clarifies its new context and begins again.

Bringing people together

Each stage needs different people and different kinds of conversation.

• Clarify Context needs broad input: elders, knowledge keepers, residents, local businesses and staff who know the data.
• Inspire Vision needs open, creative conversations where everyone feels able to speak, including young people.
• Rally the Team needs people with the commitment and skills to deliver, and clear agreements between them.
• Create Solutions needs technical, financial and practical expertise, combined with community voice.
• Launch and Learn needs a focused delivery team, honest feedback and regular check-ins.
• Expand and Evolve needs leadership, partners and the confidence to take on something bigger.

A common mistake is to skip the early stages and jump straight to creating solutions. Projects that skip Clarify Context and Inspire Vision often struggle later, because the community doesn’t feel ownership of them.

Keeping the circle turning

A few practices help keep the circle moving.

• Meet regularly. A short, regular meeting of the core team keeps momentum.
• Report back. Tell the community what’s happening at every stage, including problems.
• Celebrate progress. Mark milestones, however small. Celebration builds energy and support.
• Make space for new people. Each time around the circle, invite new voices in, especially young people who will carry the work forward.
• Reflect and adjust. At the end of each stage, ask what worked, what didn’t and what to change.

Honest limits

The CIRCLE process is a guide, not a rule. Real projects move back and forth between stages, and some stages take far longer than others. Rallying the team, in particular, can take months. Don’t rush it. A project built on weak relationships will struggle no matter how good the plan is.