Facilitator Development
Four Steps to Elegant Meeting Design
Recently I have been thinking a lot about designing. For months, I’ve been designing a three-part series for people who want to learn the essence of elegant meeting facilitation. There is nothing more satisfying to me than designing an agenda, or a curriculum. It is a creative and logical process that uses every once (gram!)…
When You and the Group Are in the “Abyss”: What to Do About It
Otto Scharmer and his team have been exploring a model called Theory U for several decades. More and more I find myself drawn to it as a metaphor for the journey I go on with a group. The Theory U team speak of a great divide, a chasm which we must cross with a group…
Little or BIG Impact – Which do you want?
Everything is in place. Your client has chosen you as the facilitator because your style and experience appeal to them. Jointly, you have collaborated on the agenda and activities to use and the pre-work information participants will receive. Are you intentional about what your impact will be or is has it been left to chance?…
Are Learning Styles Really Going Out of Style?
It all started when I read an article re-posted by my Australian colleague that was titled, “The concept of different “learning styles” is one of the greatest neuroscience myths”. Like many of my colleagues, I have been a proponent of using a variety of participation formats in all my meetings. And, I have no doubt…
I’ve Been Electrified Into a New Level of Competency!
I got this idea to write a blog about a thrilling (electrifying!) insight I got about facilitator competency from a recent cycling class! The reason I wanted to write about the difference between the four stages of learning competency is the experience I had last week.I have been taking these spin (i.e., a term for…
Time – The Ultimate Asset in Meetings
Today’s blog is about a topic I have never written about but it is SO important, I do not know why it has taken me 75 blogs to get to it. It also is extremely difficult to give you a really good tool for what I want to convey to you. I don’t know of…
People Dozing in Your Meetings? 7 Ways to Get Their Attention
There are some interesting statistics about meetings that I’ve been coming across while creating two new simpler levels of Meetings that Rock online course that are going to be launched in the next few months. For example, one statistic said that 91% admit to daydreaming in meetings and 39% admit to dozing off! Here is…
Keeping the Faith – The Last 2 Stages of the Facilitator Journey
There is an old song by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, called “Keeping the Faith”. I have always liked that song. A few blogs ago, I wrote about the seven stages of the facilitator (See link in Resources below) hinting that there were more stages to come. Well, here are my “musings” or “ponderings” on the…
5 Big Differences Between Training and Facilitation
Why this topic? The reason I’m addressing the topic is that many of us think that training done interactively is very close to or even the same as facilitation. It can feel like that but there is an essential and critical difference. This blog will cover those differences, talk about the benefits and when to…
The Facilitator’s Best Friends – ToP Methods and Sticky Walls
Today is ToP tribute day. ToP® stands for the Technology of Participation. I am designating it ToP tribute day because exactly 21 years ago, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in December I took my first ToP class. ToP has officially reached adulthood in my life. Over the last 21 years, it has revolutionized my life, my…
