As human beings, we each embody the combined energies of masculine and feminine, often referred to as "primal energies." When in balance, the dance between the masculine and feminine is poetry in motion. Learning to balance these energies is part of our journey toward mastery as group leaders and as human beings.

While facilitation may be seen by many as a largely "feminine" oriented skill set - meaning the facilitator seeks to create and manage the space necessary for others to do their work--it's important to look at how both masculine and feminine energies can be employed in a balanced fashion for effective and comprehensive group facilitation.

In his book, "Primal Leadership," Daniel Goleman identifies the four domains of emotional intelligence - self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management - and how the development of these four competencies spawns different leadership styles. The best leaders maintain a style repertoire, switching easily between "visionary," "coaching," "affiliative," and "democratic."

Bert Parlee, of the Integral Institute proposes a blending of Goleman's four domains with dynamic and static primal energies. I believe this model relates and informs not only leadership styles, but facilitative styles as well. These domains and their associated qualities are summarized in the table below:

Just as attachment to any one of these styles limits our leadership capacity, imbalance between masculine and feminine energies can cause problems too. Sharon Shane, in her book, "In the Garden of the Goddess," tells us how masculine and feminine show up in the world both in and out of balance:

"If there is an over emphasis of [static] feminine energy everything remains in passivity, lying dormant, and our creative potential is unable to be expressed in the world. Imagine the daydreamers who can never quite actualize their dreams. Their creativity is stillborn.

The energy of the masculine will take action to bring the feminine imagination into materialization. Masculine energy is interested in the form of creation and what shape it takes. Without this strong, dynamic will everything would rest in inertia and nothing would be made concrete. It is the state of doing. When there is an overemphasis of too much masculine energy, the Spirit expresses itself in the form of willful domination. Even though they may be extremely active in their daily routine, a person with an imbalance of too much masculine energy will be out of touch with their intuition and usually lacking in imagination and nurturing qualities.

Whereas the feminine is conceptual and perceptual, the masculine is generative and productive. The will of the masculine aspect moves in a direct line, while the feminine bends and curves. In our current civilization, both the male and female genders of the mass, collective consciousness have swung into an overbalance of masculine energy and not enough feminine. The pendulum is slowly shifting back towards the center, as each individual participates in reclaiming the feminine within. In order to balance the scales, the soft curving energy of the feminine needs to help the strong, dynamic masculine will to become more flexible. To attack a situation straight on is not always the best solution, but to weave and arch around and in between can create the space to generate the energy of cooperation."

Which element of the Masculine and Feminine needs work to bring you more into balance in your work as a facilitator? Make this work the theme of your coming week and practice bringing out this side of your primal nature. Please send us your questions and comments.

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