Dialogue
Decision Making Authority: When You Have It and When You Don’t
If you search on the phrase “ladder of decision making” on the internet, you find some great graphics. The graphic overview handout we provide you today (free download link is below) is only one version. You can find ones that apply to schools, citizen involvement, leaders in a corporate setting and so on. Our version…
People Who Talk Too Much in Meetings – Respectfully Dealing with Dominance
When I looked up the phrase “dominant behavior” on the internet, I found a lot of articles on dominance in animals – the alpha male phenomenon etc. In fact, one definition of dominant behaviour said it was “initially established by fighting, threatening displays or interchanges. AND, once established, usually maintained by competitive behaviours…” I realized quickly…
Treat Your Groups to 6 Energizers From Our Menu
Here are a few really cool meeting energizers from colleagues whom I deeply respect or whose processes I have used and found to work extremely well. Please read also our earlier blog on why I normally disapprove of energizers just to energize or have fun! These energizers are relevant, fun and produce an outcome. The…
Finding the Silver Lining… for that Facilitated Event Gone Wrong!
What do you do when you have a facilitated an event that has gone badly? It might just be one moment in the whole event that you keep dwelling on after the fact. You realize you made a mistake. And you don’t exactly know what you could’ve done differently. This blog is about many stories…
A Simple Design to Facilitate Climate Change Action
This blog is going to focus on a climate change action workshop in Hong Kong I was co-leading in the midst of a super typhoon coming towards Hong Kong. Hong Kong had never experienced this high level (9) typhoon in its history. Here is a photo of a tiny sample of the after math in…
Energizer: Positively Connecting the Group
True to my word, we are keeping the blog very short and sweet for the next little while. Here is a quick energizer I’ve used in various formats for many years. I learned and adapted it from my Portland colleague Paula Manley! It is also based on the “flow” concept of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It works…
Making Your Job Easier as Facilitator – The Art of Preparation
Today, we’re going to talk about how our team usually prepares for a facilitation event. It is a little bit like preparing a picnic! You want to get all of your dishes figured out ahead of time, know which dishes go together and decide how you are going to arrange them in the agenda. We’re…
What Can A Facilitator Do to Honour Life’s Milestones?
Since 1995, when I first learned the Technology of Participation methods from The Institute of Cultural Affairs, I have been impressed with the tool I have heard them use on staff and collegial special events, good-byes and birthdays. However, the way I’ve been using it over the decades, is to conduct a conversation with my…
Facilitating From the Side – There’s Hope for Bad Meetings
I worry a lot about people who attend meetings. I worry because many tell me how bad they are. I am totally spoiled. I simply don’t attend others’ meetings unless I know they will be well run. Most of the time, I am facilitating them or facilitating from the side without permission. What about those…
Tinkering with Open Space!
A number of colleagues and I occasionally debate whether it’s ok to modify a well known, well established, outstanding framework. In the course of a recent conversation, a few of us came up with a modification to one of the steps in the Open Space Technology (OST) framework. For me, OST has always been a…
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