Guiding Groups

Facilitator dilemma and opportunity: How much effort is needed?

All my life, I have watched how the level of effort varies in my life and work practices. “How much energy, time and effort do I have to devote to this task?” I would wonder. “Oh dear, this client job is taking a lot more energy that I had not planned for“; “oops, I put…

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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…

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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,…

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Finally – Your Very Own Complete Professional Facilitator Development Library

We did it. We worked for years to make facilitator user-friendly content. Now we hope you will benefit from it in some new ways. This blog shares a bit of a story about my journey (and my collaboration with Eileen) and where I am now. Sorry – not much on technique today.  BUT rich on…

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Light Up Your Group’s Thinking Power

Let’s focus today on online versions of three of my absolute favorite tried and true creative thinking frameworks/techniques.  I have used these for the most complex problem solving sessions that require people to fire up their brains in different ways. We describe the what, when and how of each: Six Thinking Hats, Reverse Problem Solving…

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The Facilitator: Sage on the Stage or Guide on the Side?

In one of our recent public courses to teach facilitation skills, someone used the phrase “sage on the stage or guide on the side”. I think they were having an aha moment about the job of the process facilitator. It is not to be a lecturer or the wise knowledgeable expert, but a person who…

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Can you stand the silence? Why it happens in meetings and what to do

A participant in a recent course asked us this question, “How do you handle ‘dead air’ in meetings?” My immediate inner response was, what is ‘dead air’ in meetings? I imagined the person meant that there was not as much participation or engagement by the meeting participants as they had hoped for. The silence felt…

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From simple to sophisticated… virtual facilitation tools and tips you must try!

Contributors: Dr. Manal Alnaimi, Saudi Arabia Mireille Beumer, Netherlands Grace Tan, Singapore Today’s blog is going to have a lot of links. My purpose is to inspire you to get outside of your comfort zone and try new things. If you are “stuck” in this in-between world of in-person and virtual, perhaps you need some…

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Using ORID to Make a Positive Difference During COVID

Sometimes you want to have complex conversations with people you don’t know. Facilitators become masters at this. We help groups have engaging and fascinating discussions even when they don’t know each other and are talking about something that’s controversial. So, we wanted to show you this using the Focused Conversation Method. We talked with a…

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Dealing with Conflict During COVID (or any other time)

Featuring guest blogger: Gabriel Begin (our son) Last week, our son led part of our family in a structured discussion so that we could have some quality sharing together. We haven’t seen each other in almost a year. The older adults present had all been vaccinated. I did not realize until today, that he was…

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