Monday December 14, 2009 - Holiday Season Wildcard

As a community of practice and we love to create opportunities for anyone in the network to practice their craft. At a Wildcard facilitation event volunteers step-up to run a short session of between 5 and 20 minutes. Wildcard is open to everyone. Wildcard is educational and fun. Entries are taken on the night.

Suitable activities for this end of year Wildcard session may include:

• Fun stuff – activities for the Holiday Season [E.g. activities to lift people’s spirits, getting to know you better, energisers, ice breakers, thought provokers]

• Serious stuff - reflection activities to mull over learning from the past year [E.g. How I survived the GFC, how to plan for success in 2010]

Monday November 9, 2009 | Graphic Facilitation with Nancy White (Click Here for Fabulous Pics)

Is there more to visual facilitation than the occasional use of a flipchart? Can we listen with our eyes and fingers as well as our ears? This session explores how images and drawing can help with the facilitation process.

Whether you are an artist or not (especially if you think you aren't), we will be painting, drawing, smudging and crayoning. We will be getting our hands dirty please do not dress in your nice work clothes (or at least bring a big shirt to cover up).

Nancy White has worked with organisations as diverse as the World Health Organization, IBM, IEEE & the International Labor Organization. She is the co-author of "Digital Habitats" with Etienne Wenger & John Smith. Her graphic facilitation gigs have involved the Dalai Lama.

Monday October 12, 2009 | Action Methods in Facilitation: Making Meaning Tangible with Rollo Browne

As facilitators, our use of language is a foundation skill. But, by itself, language creates as many misunderstandings as it does possibilities. A way of cutting through confusion is to use action. If we ‘show rather than tell’ and create concrete images of what is meant then group members can

• actually see what others mean rather than relying mainly on words
• enter more fully into each other’s worlds
• engage with each other on substantive issues and
• develop a fresh perspective.

Action methods involve thought, feeling and movement, and require us to work in the here-and-now and with whatever emerges.

This session is based on the philosophy and methodology of Dr J L Moreno, the founder of psychodrama, and particularly his Spontaneity Theory of Learning.

Rollo Browne has used action methods in his work in team development, conference facilitation, exec coaching and organisational culture for the last 15 years. He applies Moreno’s philosophy and methods to groupwork, organisational and community dynamics and in one to one work. He is Director of Training at Psychodrama NSW and is Convenor of the forthcoming Psychodrama Conference in Sydney, 21-25 January 2010, see www.anzpa.org/conference/2010. He runs a regular free Psychodrama Open Night on the first Friday of every month, see www.anzpasydney.org.

Monday September 14, 2009 | ‘Spirituality at Work’ with Claire Jankelson

Our September Facilitators Network meeting will deal with that elusive topic ‘spirituality at work’. David Tacey defines spirituality as receptivity to mystery, a sense that there’s more to reality than meets the eye. Benedictine monk and psychologist Steindl Rast characterises spiritual experience as moments of heightened aliveness and actually, common sense (!!).

Is any of this useful in our daily interactions with business?

And how relevant is the topic now, to the world of organizations and consulting?

This session will offer the opportunity to explore the potential value of spirituality for us as practitioners.

Claire Jankelson will facilitate a process that builds a picture of how the group itself makes sense of 'spirituality at work'. We'll consider the implications of the group's understanding, for taking action.

Claire is coordinator for February 2010 Spirituality Leadership and Management conference. www.slamconference.org.au Claire’s web site is www.confluential-leadership.com

Monday August 10 | Living a Sustainable Life

Living a Sustainable Life
with Matt Moore & Sharon McGann

You are warmly invited to the next meeting of the Facilitators Network on Monday 10^th August, 2009

"Sustainability" is widely-used term today in politics, business and the media today. It often crops up often at Facilitators Network meetings. However, while it is widely-used, its meaning is often ambiguous. What is sustainable behaviour? What does it mean to lead a sustainable life? This session will explore participants' definitions of sustainability and our possibilities for action. Those who feel they have plenty of experience in this area and those who feel like newbies are equally welcome and will have equally important parts to play.

Facilitators: Matt Moore & Sharon McGann. Matt Moore wants to do the right thing but often fails. His day job is a director of Innotecture and an occasional lecturer at UTS. Sharon McGann is a Director and Consultant for A Passion for Results who has been studying Sustainable Leadership practices formally and informally for a number of years and attempting to practice what she researches.

I see where I belong (When I look at you) with Jennifer Newman

Monday 13^th JULY, 2009 “I see where I belong (When I look at you)” with Jennifer Newman

You are warmly invited to the next meeting of the Facilitators Network on Monday 13^th July, 2009

“I see where I belong (When I look at you) with Jennifer Newman”

Facilitators Network Celebrates NAIDOC week 2009.

NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia in July each year to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week 2009 will be held from 5 to 12 July.

NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.

Jennifer Newman

Jennifer is a Wiradjuri woman and lecturer at UTS in Aboriginal Studies and Adult education.

She uses experiential education to help individuals celebrate their cultural identities but does this in a way that allows them to walk together comfortably with care and respect on Aboriginal land.

Jennifer will facilitate a session incorporating Sense of place, story and respect.

I see where I belong (When I look at you)

· When I look at you I feel where I come from.

· When I look at you I know where you come from.

· When I look at you I see where we belong.

Monday 15th June, 2009 - Wildcard – Short Processes and Energisers

Monday 15th June, 2009 “Wildcard – Short Processes and Energisers”

This is a joint meeting with the Games and Simulations Network (GSN).
At a “Wildcard” meeting, volunteer facilitators step-up to run a short session of between 5 and 20 minutes. All wildcard entries are taken on the night. Sessions are not scheduled in advance.
Typical processes suitable for the “Wildcard” include ice breakers, opening and closing rituals, energisers, thought provokers, experiential activities, games, simulations - anything at all that can be done in 20 minutes or less.
“Wildcard” is for everyone from beginners to the highly experienced and of course those in between.
“Wildcard” is fun – anything can happen when volunteer guest facilitators come forward.
The aim is to run and debrief as many short sessions as possible in the time available. Please be on time.

Monday May 11, 2009 “An introduction to mediating our inner dialogues when facilitating” with Ike Lasater

When we facilitate groups we often experience our own reactions to what is said or happening. How do we as facilitators work productively with the critical voice in our head that judges us against an impossible standard of perfection? Learning to work with our inner dialogues can help us to become better facilitators. In this session Ike will give us a taste of the self-empathy practice he has developed for using in a mediation and facilitation context based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). NVC is a simple and powerful communication model developed by Marshall B Rosenberg comprising four basic components: observation, feeling, needs and request. (For more information see: www.CNVC.org) The skill of self-empathy can be applied to care for ourselves before, during and after facilitating sessions so that we are able to be more present to what is happening in the room, and able to learn from our experiences.

About Ike Lasater

Based in San Fransisco, Ike Lasater facilitates the resolution of conflicts, coaches people in conflict, and teaches these skills to others.

Ike has facilitated NVC and NVC mediation workshops across the US and in Australia, Hungry, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland and Sri Lanka. He has served as a board member of a number of organisations including: the Center for Nonviolent Communication, the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California, the Lawyers' Club of San Francisco, and the California Yoga Teachers Association (founding owner of The Yoga Journal magazine).

Ike engaged in civil trial practice in San Francisco for 20 years and co-founded Banchero & Lasater, a 20-person law firm specialising in complex, multiparty commercial and environmental cases.

Ike is in Australia to conduct a five day mediation intensive in Sydney on 14-19 May (see http://nvcaustralia.com/ ) and will also be conducting a 1 day training through LEADR: ‘Mediator Self Care: Mediating your inner dialogue’ on Wed 13 May 2009: www.leadr.com.au/events/Mediator-self-care-ike-lasater-may09.doc

To learn more about Ike's work go to www.WordsThatWork.us

Monday 20th APRIL, 2009 “Restorative Practices” with Julie Matthews

Monday 20th APRIL, 2009 “Restorative Practices” with Julie Matthews

You are warmly invited to our next meeting of 2009 (a joint meeting with the Games & Simulations Network) on Monday 20th APRIL 2009

Simulations in the context of Restorative Practices
Julie Mathews will lead a session on Restorative Practices to reflect on past, present, future options for use in potentially difficult communication contexts.
The restorative practices concept has its roots in "restorative justice," a new way of looking at criminal justice that focuses on repairing the harm done to people and relationships rather than on punishing offenders (although restorative justice does not preclude incarceration of offenders or other sanctions). Originating in the 1970s as mediation between victims and offenders, in the 1990s restorative justice broadened to include communities of care as well, with victims' and offenders' families and friends participating in collaborative processes called "conferences" and "circles". See http://www.iirp.org/whatisrp.php
This is a collaborative meeting of the Simulations Games Network and the Facilitator’s Network, and Julie will use a number of strategies from simulation-supported learning contexts – including scenarios and the briefing/action/debriefing sequence. The session will model the use of such tools and invite participants to explore how these can be applied to a variety of contexts where improving the quality of communication is a priority.
Julie is passionate about the use of Restorative Practices to assist individuals and groups re-establish equanimity after damaging exchanges, so we can expect a powerful exploration of its principles. The session will provide insights into the values underpinning restorative practices and simulations for learning, a valuable introduction to current and future oriented communication strategies.

March 9, 2009: Decision making in uncertain times. Managing encounters with uncertainty and discontinuity.

march 9, 2009: Decision making in uncertain times. Managing encounters with uncertainty and discontinuity.
Presenter – Dr Elyssebeth Leigh

Once upon a time – so the story goes – to be a successful decision maker only required memorising then following carefully a chosen set of stepping stones called a “ decision-making sequence.”
You know the kind of thing. First do this, then do that and follow that with the other. And behold! A decision emerges as you cut your way through all the competing options to find your way to clarity and certainty!
Whether you actually thought they were as helpful as their proposers asserted, might have been a different matter. For my self I always felt there was something missing – but could not say what it was – so said naught.
Now I know why I felt something was missing. I have learned that decisions -
 happen in contexts – which heavily influence your starting point
 are of different kinds – which kind is yours?
 have known and unknown influencing factors – which impact on the extent to which you can make/implement a decision anyway
 are driven by causes which may have different effects in different conditions
 concern problems that will not always succumb to applications of logical sequencing
The work of David Snowden and the Cognitive Edge team has opened my eyes to a whole new world of ‘decision making in uncertain times’. This session will introduce the Cognitive Edge approach to thinking, learning and decision making in the 21st century. The action will focus on Snowden’s model of ‘decision heuristics’ to co-create some new understandings of problem finding and decision creating.

Feb 9, 2009: What can we Learn about Leadership from Indigenous Kids?”

“What can we Learn about Leadership from Indigenous Kids?” with Greg Jenkins

An indigenous youth leadership initiative in Western Sydney sponsored by the AFL was developed and delivered by Greg Jenkins in 2008. In this session, you will experience the simple facilitation tools and games that seem to be highly effective with indigenous and disadvantaged populations. The insights from this program have the potential to transform the way we plan and implement leadership development in organisations, schools and communities.

This session was received with high praise when presented at both the AFN Conference in Bathurst in Nov ’08 http://www.markbutz.com/afn/afn_08_conference/index.html and the ICEL Conference at UTS in Dec ’08 http://www.education.uts.edu.au/icel/

Greg Jenkins is an independent facilitator working with business, education and community organisations and founder of TinCAN Learning www.tincanlearning.com which develops and delivers blended learning programs in Facilitation, Leadership and Change. Greg is coordinator of the Sydney Facilitators Network.