With Halloween just passed, I thought this a good time to look deeply into the fears we face as facilitators as well as those of our shivering subjects. In this week’s article, Feel the Fear and Facilitate Anyway, a host facilitators express their greatest fears in doing group work, fears most encountered by their participants, [...]
What is Facilitation?
October 25, 2011 By 4 Comments
It’s funny that while I’ve written nearly five hundred articles over the years about facilitation, somehow I’ve never written one that succinctly answers the question, What is Facilitation? I figured it was time, especially since I also often get emails with this question as well. While there’s no simple answer to this question, I’ll do [...]
Facilitating Mega-Groups
October 17, 2011 By 1 Comment
This week’s article, Facilitating Mega-Groups, offers some suggestions for working with very large groups. This scenario sometimes occurs with in the case of public meetings or in organizations proposing sweeping changes where all the players need to be involved. Most of the tips from this article came from Barbara J. MacKay, Principal for North Star [...]
The Triumph of a Joy Junky
October 10, 2011 By 5 Comments
This week’s article, while a bit long, tells a potent true to life story about how a friend, who asks to remain nameless, helped facilitate significant change from the inside of a very oppressive organization. You’ll want to share this article with friends, clients, and associates who might be up against similar challenges. Please read, [...]
Facilitate the Voices in Your Head
October 3, 2011 By 5 Comments
I once designed and led a teleclass entitled , “Not Just Another Meeting,” for a group of 10 UN/AIDS workers in Geneva and it didn’t go all that well. I had a difficult time teasing out their issues and challenges. I prepared a great guidebook with everything I knew and could find on meeting facilitation. [...]
Earthquake Trumps Kaddafi
September 26, 2011 By 3 Comments
In my experience, the more thoroughly I prepare for a group engagement, the smoother it usually goes. But in some arenas and job roles, we don’t have the luxury of extended preparation. Sometimes, we are called to be emergency facilitators, or at the very least, we are challenged to grapple with unexpected surprises. This week’s [...]
Embrace the Plateau
August 29, 2011 By 3 Comments
Society programs us for quick fixes. There’s the right answer or the right leader somewhere out there just beyond our grasp that will solve the social or economic problem of the day. Our “healthcare” system is a perfect reflection of this mentality now that there’s a pill available to mask the innumerable symptoms that arise [...]
Be a Facilitative Leader
August 22, 2011 By 3 Comments
Many readers have commented to me over the years how facilitation is simply one of many roles they play on their job from time to time. They exercise this role officially when asked to facilitate a meeting, workshop, or retreat. At other times, they may simply be facilitative in the way they show up in the [...]
Facilitation as a Leadership Style
August 15, 2011 By 2 Comments
Facilitation as a style of leadership is rapidly gaining ground. In an environment of rapid change, no single person can see all that is going on and that needs to be done. Command and control styles of leadership under these conditions break down. People on the front lines have the information they need to respond [...]
Is Charismatic Leadership Good for Groups?
August 9, 2011 By 4 Comments
This week’s article, Is Charismatic Leadership Good for Groups?, was inspired by a dialogue with my friend, Lynn Goldhammer, a Lieutenant Commander and Quality Performance Consultant in the Coast Guard. Our discussion got me questioning the value of strong, forceful, and charismatic leadership in the world of facilitation and training. It occurs to me as [...]
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