Group Participation, Facilitator tools, meeting dynamics,
How to Find Out if You Have Enough Tools
At every course I teach, I hear participants say, “I want more tools for my facilitation toolkit or meetings.” Even if you are an experienced facilitator, you may be surprised at what you learn in this article. Do you know what type of tools you need? Do you have enough of each type of tool?…
Three Ways to Get the Team on the Same Page
Everyone belongs to a group. Sometimes those groups are meant to be long term teams. Other times you are just meeting for a few times but you still could benefit from the feeling of being a team! Ah… What will transform your group into the feeling of a well functioning, high-powered, unstoppable team? Over the…
Values Drive Behavior, So Shouldn’t You Know What They Are?
Values. We use the word all the time, Brene Brown says in her new online course called, Daring Greatly. We says things like: “That’s great value. How much do you value this? What value would you place on this? How dare he not value me. I feel like I’ve been devalued. Our currency just lost…
Mistrust: It Doesn’t Get Any Worse Than This – But You CAN Change It
This blog is about trust. How to build it with the groups you are leading and how to help others regain trust when all seems hopeless. Trust is a word we toss around lightly. Joe Cocker, Billy Joel, Amanda Marshall all wrote songs about trust. Most of their titles were like, “Trust Me”, yet it…
The Motherload (Ultimate) of All Interview Techniques
Last week, I co-faciltiated a large group event where I did not use any of my usual tools. We designed something that was completely different from anything I’ve done in my last 20 years. It was so much fun. I think it is a good practice every once in a while to challenge yourself to try different…
Mind Mapping Made Easy
During a recent conference session, all my fellow participants wanted to take photos of my mind mapping notes! I did not think I was doing anything unusual since I have been using this technique regularly to take notes, design sessions, and to think about a specific topic for almost two decades. With groups, I occasionally use…
Raise the Bar on Meeting Participation – The Art of Visuals
No one remembers what went on in your meeting. No one knows what to do. People look blank when you ask them a question in your meeting. People repeat themselves over and over in the same meeting or from meeting to meeting. People are literally falling asleep in the meeting. These may be signs that…
Creating Group Guidelines for Terrific Teamwork
Getting teamwork off to a solid start is critical to the success of the project and to the team. Here are some tips for how to set customized team guidelines (also known as ground rules) as well as offer them typical guidelines from which they could pick and choose. Both activities take from 15 to…
Wake Them Up! Raising Energy in Meetings
Low energy, boring, waste of time. What do these 3 words conjure up for you? Likely most of you answered – meetings! What if we could get all of our meetings off to a positive, high-energy, anything but boring start? Today, we’ll focus on the benefits of perking your group up right from the start…
“Please Do Not Ask Me to Be Creative!”
Participants will often express this sentiment, “Please do not ask me to do anything “touchy, feely”, creative, or silly (these are often all lumped together as similar by your participants) . Thus, when we as facilitators suggest something creative, we are often met with resistance, sighs, and “deer in the headlights” (i.e., scared) looks. Interestingly,…
