Thanks to those of you who let me know you found last week’s facilitation tips useful.
A quick addendum this week. These are the elements that have shown up in my facilitation skills course in recent years that are newer and/or more variable. I’m a bit more tentative on these because they change — I would welcome hearing what you think.
Continue reading “Fluid Facilitation Findings”I love the variety in my work. But occasionally I get to do the same thing more than once. It allows me to road test a workshop or polish a keynote — it definitely ups my game.
Last week I taught Facilitation Skills for the tenth time at Conrad Grebel University College, and this week I teach Planning Retreats and Complex Meetings at Western University for perhaps the sixth time. I’ve been paying attention to what gets updated and what stays the same each time, alongside what participants highlight as the most relevant pieces for them.
Continue reading “Facilitation Tips”Recently, my niece got angry at her younger sister for interrupting her. Except that she hadn’t been talking at the time. At least not out loud.
“She interrupted the story I was telling in my head!”
Not much I can do about that one.
Or is there?
Continue reading “Make the Implicit Explicit”I have a love/hate relationship with centralization.
It’s a tension I see all the time. In federations, what is the optimal level of shared service to be provided by the national office to gain efficiencies, while still maintaining local personality and autonomy? In community development, where does it make sense to amalgamate back-office functions while maintaining specificity of neighbourhood or cultural preference? In philanthropy, granting committees would rather receive a single, coordinated funding proposal than a dozen similar, disjointed ones.
Continue reading “Centralized Specificity”I work with a lot of nonprofit Boards of Directors.
I’m noticing that the ones I enjoy the most are the Boards who understand their role primarily as advancing the organization’s mission more than advancing the organization’s existence.
Continue reading “Collective Missions”