Posts
What’s the Buzz with AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming quickly recognized by our field of facilitation. Some of my colleagues have been using one form of AI, ChatGPT to get good answers to facilitation design questions. They are also using it to learn how to apply different facilitation tools. Many are using to summarize meeting minute notes. There are…
The Power of Self Reflection
This month’s blog is super short. Let me share with you what our gifts to you are this month. I had the honour of presenting to IAF Indonesia Chapter. Lidia Rusvita, (she just completed her Endorsed Facilitator IAF designation – congratulations Lidia!) took the lead on this and is a member of our Gold Academy…
“Baby, you’re worth it!” Assessing Your Rate to Honour the Field
There is an old song by Fifth Harmony with the lyrics, “baby you’re worth it”. You can find it here. I like the opening lines (not sure of the rest of the song’s lyrics which are pretty suggestive). The title however sums up what I want to talk about today. I think most of us…
When the Stakes Are High – Facilitating Through Important Decision Making
Today’s blog comes from a question that somebody asked us in our Gold Academy membership cohort: What are ways to facilitate groups when the stakes feel high? Let’s define what we mean by this question. When stakes are high, the group has a lot to lose if things are not resolved. Harm could occur to…
Are you respecting your sacred facilitation tools?
I’ve had several conversations with colleagues about how and when to share various facilitation frameworks, techniques and tools. I was deeply moved also by the care and respect that I witnessed recently from an indigenous group of their own tools. For example, they were very intentional about ensuring they were emotionally and mentally aligned with…
Deepening Your Facilitation with Metaphors
As many of you know, I love to use metaphors in my facilitation events, workshops and social media. Recently, I was invited as a guest facilitator to present a workshop with Jorie Wu and Jackie Chang with the CP Yen Foundation, Taiwan on the power of metaphors in facilitation. They summarized nicely the key points…
Designing with Audacity – Focus on Big Picture and Finesse the Details
You probably know this already. Designing a facilitated session requires paying attention to both the bigger mission and vision of the session and paying attention to extremely fine details. Designing is, as many of us say, “an art and a science”. In this blog, we’ll talk briefly about some of the tricks that my colleagues…
Gratitude and Reflections on My Facilitation Career
I guess when one comes close to completing one’s career, for some there can be regrets and disappointments embedded or over shadowing the good aspects. For me, at least now, I have no strong regrets. I accept it as good enough – in fact better than good. A joy! A gift! And an awakening of…
Facilitation: Relax and Trust the Process
Many of you know my love for the environment and outdoor adventure, and pushing the edges of my physical and psychological limits. In our new Victoria, BC, Canada environment by the sea, I have decided to make the sea my friend and playmate. I am getting to know it as best as I can. Thus,…
The Art of Mixing and Matching Techniques – What to Do and Not Do
In a recent facilitation, my colleague, Rangineh Azimzadeh Tehrani of Solh Resolutions International and I discussed the design of something fairly complex in a short amount of time. It was a job for Mercy Corps and members temporarily called “Women’s Philanthropy Group”. We had several lofty objectives! In this blog, we talk about what makes a…
