A resource for the guide
The open
space.
It is the seventh block of the session. Its first use is whatever is urgent and important that has come up for one of the women. If nobody brings anything urgent, it is used to learn together.
And that is where it falls apart: the block exists, but nothing says what belongs inside it. A group with no format ends up talking about anything, or going back to advice.
There are three formats, and each has its own rules. They are not interchangeable: choosing the wrong one is the most common way to lose the block.
The three formats
Which one to choose
Topic discussion
When there is a subject everyone cares about and what each woman brings is her own experience.
Idea storm
When one woman needs options, not experiences: she is stuck on what to do.
Invited expert
When what is missing is information that someone has and the others do not.
The rule that holds for all three
Urgent wins. If a woman arrives with something important that has just happened to her, the planned format falls away and the block is hers. You plan it knowing it can fall away.
Where it comes from
The three formats come from the practice of peer groups, where they have been used for decades under similar names. MQHD adapted them to its own block and set the rules above. They have no single documented author.