Available distractions in facilitation and training environments are on the rise with the ubiquitous use of smartphones these days. I consistently hear challenges leaders have getting their participants to focus on the meeting versus being distracted by their laptops, cell phones, blackberries, and other culprits of multitasking. My thinking on this problem was expanded recently [...]
The Courage to Master
January 24, 2012 By 5 Comments
The deeper we delve into any subject, the more complex and intricate it can become. I think it’s common to think that to become an advanced practitioner of facilitation, or any art for that matter, that we need to move in the direction of increasing complexity. While a deeper and/or broader scope of knowledge and [...]
The Intuitive Facilitator
January 16, 2012 By 3 Comments
Tapping into the field of knowing My inquiry into the concept and practice of intuition among my peers led to many interesting responses. I’ve organized these questions and their responses below in a way I hope you’ll find useful. What is intuition? Intuition: 1. a. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the [...]
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Meeting
January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How often to you hear statements like these: “They can’t be getting any work done over there, they’re always laughing.” “We don’t have time for play right now, we’ve got work to do!” “They’re having just too much fun.” Tell me, how can anyone have too much fun? And personally, I don’t see all that [...]
Revisit Your Roots
December 27, 2011 By 1 Comment
As we move into the end of yet another year together, I’ve been thinking about what I could share that would help to clarify and simplify our work in the world of group leadership and facilitation. It occurred to me that as life long learners, our field can get pretty complicated with all the models, [...]
Break Through Barriers
December 5, 2011 By 1 Comment
Help your groups get moving when they get stuck. As facilitators, at one time or another, we will run into a situation where our groups get stuck dead in their tracks. By getting stuck, I mean that the group’s progress seems to have slowed down or stopped, energy is low, participation is spotty, and you get [...]
Use Mistakes as Tools
November 29, 2011 By 7 Comments
Each week after sending out this ezine, I sometimes receive a grateful response to the ideas I share, or a personal story or situation that relates to them. With many issues, I’ll not receive any responses. I’m not complaining. I know we’re all inundated with Internet information and can’t read and respond to everything, nor [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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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