Archive for 'Facilitation Tips & Tricks' Category
Hitchhikers guide to Better Meetings
Posted by Andrew 9 August 2010Ever experienced or participated in a meeting which you felt could have been better?
With the story of our name being partly inspired by a reference to Douglas Adam’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I thought it could be a bit of fun to take a look at three phrases that are found within and see how [...]
On the nature of creative problem solving…
Posted by Andrew 8 June 2010A few weeks ago a good friend and very experienced facilitator said to me something that I found both challenging and intriguing: “You need to play more games”. My first reaction was, hang on, you want me to do what? Play more games? Do something that (looks) totally irrelevant to the “work” at hand? Not [...]
What’s guiding your practice?
Posted by Andrew 1 May 2009Here’s a must read.
Bad management theories are destroying good management practices
Looking for a story technique?
Posted by Andrew 29 April 2009The Hero’s journey model from Joseph Campbell is rich.
Download here for more.
Facilitating something new like Story
Posted by Andrew 17 February 2009Many HR and L&D practitioners will find themselves inspired to try out new approaches in working with their groups and teams but the first problem they will encounter is the self-talk “Can I really do it?”. This article takes an old approach like ‘story’ and tells of the journey a new practitioner might take to [...]
Want an engaging conversation? Try the fishbowl process
Posted by Andrew 12 December 2008Here’s a great process I’ve used alot, and most recently it was with a group of early career researchers, scientists and mentors. It see’s an inner group of participants involved in a discussion that is witnessed by a larger group.
With only the inner circle conversing it turns out to be a great way of generating [...]
Learning Facilitation Skills – Ian Gawler’s story
Posted by Andrew 19 November 2008Hat-tip as they say to my wife. She is currently reading “Ian Gawler – The Dragon’s Blessing” and shared this great quote of how Ian learnt to work with groups.
“It took me years before I felt really comfy having open discussions with groups”, Ian says. “It was much easier to just tell people what to do – which [...]
What’s your fear?
Posted by Andrew 12 October 2008Over the past several years I have been interested in other peoples experience of becoming a better facilitator – as well as ways to help them – and myself!
What’s a facilitator I hear you ask? Well – if you work with people, groups of people, teams of people and your focus is to help them [...]
Being a work in progress
Posted by Andrew 14 September 2008Last week I was at the Facilitation One-day wonder where I met a lady who asked me “If your profession is in facilitation, why did you come to this?”. As amazed as I was to be asked this question it was totally understandable and my response was that “I find my learning never ends”. In fact [...]
Does hearing “Fairy-Tale” give you the jitters?
Posted by Andrew 14 August 2008The fairy tale is a powerful story genre to use with groups and individuals. Something that I’m just starting to appreciate is just how risky the genre can be for some individuals and facilitators!
Whilst I have successfully invited many different groups and individuals to explore the use of fairy tale in areas like:
Chartering the journeys of facilitators [...]