I’m going to break one of my cardinal rules of facilitation right off the top: don’t remind a group of all they’ve lost. Avoid any variant of, “If we were meeting in person, we would…” or “If only we were together, we’d be able to…” Instead, leverage what you do have and can do. It keeps the energy positive and allows our attention to move to a more generative place.
But let me just say: don’t you miss variety in our venues? Continue reading “Set the Tone”
“I had the privilege of attending an Annual General Meeting recently…”
Said no one ever.
Except me today, as the AGM of the International Association of Facilitators really inspired me this week. Not because of the content, which was encouraging but pretty standard. It was the diversity of attendees that caught my attention. I didn’t know everyone on the call, but we were a group of 51 people and I counted at least 23 countries represented! (These global meetings have become my vicarious travelling life…they make me happy.) Continue reading “When Disconnection Accelerates Connection”
Just because you’ve never seen it before — or maybe no one has seen it before — doesn’t make something impossible.
My perfect storm of inspiration this week came from reading Rob Hopkins’ From What Is to What If on the same day that Kamala Harris became Vice-President Elect of the United States. In her victory speech, she called for people to “…dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before.” Continue reading “Collective Reimagining”
Default settings exist so that we don’t have to make conscious decisions about too many things over and over again. They move choices onto autopilot for us. That’s a very useful thing, as our brains can hold far more in our unconscious zones than in our conscious ones. Making too many decisions is exhausting. (If you’re curious how Obama handled decision fatigue during his presidency, have a look here.) Continue reading “Disrupting our Defaults”
Employers in the midst of COVID are walking a tightrope between creating a supportive work environment and ensuring work gets done. Chronic uncertainty added to varying risk tolerance levels among staff and perhaps the legacy of precedents set in March/April that are no longer sustainable in October/November are making this a very tricky time. Rigid pandemic safety rules and mission-critical work combine awkwardly with a desire to create employment situations that are both flexible and equitable across teams. Continue reading “Building Culture in COVID”
