“Reflection Wildcard" | Monday Dec 13, 2010

Reflection is rare in real life and almost unheard of in an organizational context. “Let’s move on”, “what’s done is done”, “no point in looking back”…you know the drill. You’ve probably heard or even used grabs such as these.

As facilitators, reflection is a key part of our toolkit. Not only is it important for us to reflect on our own practice, it’s critical that we have a repertoire of reflection tools to use in our own practice.

In a wildcard there is no official guest facilitator. The space will be open offering an opportunity for anyone who wishes to offer a reflection process to step up. Maybe you have one to share. In which case you would be the guest facilitator. We will have time for between 3 and 5 reflection processes.

Social Dinner

Our practice of many years has been to walk down to Haymarket to the Vietnamese restaurant. Economical Vegetarians catered for. Pay your own. BYO.

SAIGON METRO, 760 GEORGE STREET , HAYMARKET – directly opposite Ultimo Road in George St Haymarket.

The Organisational Learning Australia Special Interest Group | Special Guest Speaker: Professor John P Milton

The Organisational Learning Australia Special Interest Group, extends a warm invitation to all organisational learning professionals and other interested parties to its November 2010 event.

Special Guest Speaker: Professor John P Milton Professor John P. Milton has worked with CEOs and leaders worldwide including Royal Dutch Shell, Kraft, Sony Ericsson and Nokia, led work for the World Bank and advised governments.

He is the spiritual mentor of business luminaries including, amongst others, Peter Senge (5th Discipline), Otto Scharmer (Theory U) and Joe Jaworksy (Presence) and he is referenced in these books.

John will be in Australia in November to lead and teach a Sacred Passage on Flinders Island, and will be giving a talk to SoLA, to share: · How he works with Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer - both in the corporate sphere and in the more personal, spiritual space. · The work he has done with the Talberg Forum in Sweden, where 500 World Leaders were taken on a solo experience in nature, in the French Pyrenees · How this work impacts on the individuals and organisations he works with, About Professor John P Milton:
John, a revered global Elder of the environmental movement, served as one of the first ecologists on staff at the White House, studied as a Woodrow Wilson Scholar at the Smithsonian Institute, and for many years directed the International Programs Division of the Conservation Foundation, now a part of the World Wildlife Fund. He is one of the founding members of Friends of the Earth and has served on various committees at the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition John has spent decades studying with practitioners of Ancient Eastern spiritual pathways, including Taoism, Buddhism, Shamanism, Tibetan Dzogchen, Tantra, and Hindu Vedanta - as well as the Native American Way and Christianity.

From these broad and deep experiences, John has developed a powerful approach to leadership in both business and life, which he calls the Way of Nature. This is taught on the nature retreats which he leads. For more information on the Sacred Passage on Flinders Island go to http://ensemble.net.au/aus/.

Date: Wednesday 24th November 2010

Event Time: 6:00pm Networking
6:30pm Presentation

8:00pm (approx) Meeting Close
Venue: UTS, Broadway Campus Room 580 Building CB 10 on Level 5 Map Directions Link <http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/about/mapsdirections/map.cfm>
Cost: IIM/solA Members $15 KM Members $20 Non-Members $30 (Charge to cover catering)
RSVP: By Monday 22nd November 2010 by online registration - Link <http://solnswnov.eventbrite.com/>

"How to Achieve Mind Body Potential | The Feldenkrais Method" with Rada Millwood | Monday Nov 8, 2010

Before babies acquire language around the age of two, they use their senses to explore the world around them. The developing brain assembles all the sensory-motor input to make sense of the world.

As adults, in attempting to achieve our personal transformational goals we employ many strategies - from self analysis instruments to gym memberships - frequently finding our intervention leaves our development gaps unmet and unwanted habits intact.

There is an exceptional personal development technique that engages with our pre-verbal learning system to improve body and mind. It has been taught around the world since the1960’s. The technique is the Feldenkrais Method®; named after its developer Moshe Feldenkrais [1904 – 1984].

The Feldenkrais Method® relies on the human beings’ innate capacity to use sensing, feeling, thinking and moving to develop and to mature our body-mind potential.

Students of this approach develop their capacity to become deeply aware of themselves; to become aware of self in relation to others and in relation to the environment, whatever it contains. Within a short time, astonishing changes can occur in vitality, creativity and response-ability in living and professional practise.

In this session, by participating in an Awareness through Movement® lesson, you will experience some of the Feldenkrais Method’s processes for learning to embody change. Please come prepared to remove your shoes.

About the Facilitator

Rada Millwood’s background is in the fields of adult learning, workplace learning and personal development. Her facilitation experience acquired in large and small organisations has ranged across organisational change and development, leadership training, and executive coaching. She has been in private practise since 1993. Rada is a certified Feldenkrais Method Teacher® (CFP). She is a member of the Australian Feldenkrais Guild and has been teaching the Feldenkrais Method® since 1997.

"The Business of Facilitation" With Greg Jenkins | Monday Oct 11, 2010

What are the 'business' issues for facilitators in 2010 and beyond?

Come and join a conversation on these and other relevant questions:

• What's my product/service?
• How do I get work and how much should I charge?
• What are the ways to organise my business processes for growth & long term success?
• How do I develop and care for myself and others in a solo business enterprise?
• How do I maintain a sustainable business?

This session will be useful to solo practitioners, those thinking about going solo and anyone who uses the services of solo facilitators and want to contribute.

For the purposes of this session 'facilitators' includes change agents, consultants, trainers, coaches, mentors, speakers, gamesters and any solo/micro business entrepreneur that works with groups.

About the Facilitator:
Greg Jenkins has a background incorporating 30 years in business, 10 years in facilitation. Greg has been Coordinator of Sydney Facilitators Network for past 6 yrs and is a role model for facilitators balancing both practice and business streams.

Greg runs a facilitation/mentoring practice and innovative boutique learning business that develops and delivers blended courses in Facilitation, Leadership and Business.

Greg has developed a new mentoring program ideal for facilitators and other solo change practitioners. 'VeSPA | Solo Biz Success' starts October 27. Find out more info www.tincanlearning.com | greg@changeagent.com.au | 0418 486 501

Venue: University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Jones Street, Ultimo corner Thomas Street. Room 5.580 Level 5, Building 10, Take the lift to level 5, cross the atrium foot bridge, walk straight ahead to room 580.

Time: from 5:30pm to 7:30pm sharp | No RSVP - Just turn up

"How you do anything is how you do everything" great improvisation games for facilitators With Cindy Tonkin | Monday Sept 13, 2010

It is a Buddhist belief that how you do anything is how you do everything.
We as facilitators know that the simplest of processes can yield the most exciting breakthroughs.
Come play with us and discover a few improvisation games which will give you much pleasure, AND be useful when next you need to facilitate a group (or have them facilitate themselves!).
The games improvisers use to loosen themselves up and connect their brains before stepping on stage are games which reveal how you handle pressure, what makes you most afraid, what calms you most quickly.
How you play improvisation warm ups and how you respond to their built-in complexity gives you a way to access your patterns (and play with them, accept them, or even just laugh at your you-ness!).
If you're interested in having some fun, being creative, and learning a little about your own patterns, then come along!

We can guarantee you interaction, fun and a few games you may want to try.

Cindy Tonkin is the Consultants' Consultant. Her background in accelerated learning, NLP and more than 20 years experience in corporate consulting and training makes this workshop practical and fun. Her extroverted interactive style will keep you engaged. Cindy has been improvising on stage for the past ten years. She is currently producing and directing an improvised all-women show for the Sydney Fringe called Pink Ladies – Women make it up, all profits from which go to the Breast Cancer Network Australia. Find out more about Cindy at http://www.cindytonkin.com, http://www.consultantsconsultant.com.au and more about the Pink Ladies show at http://pinkladiesimprov.blogspot.com

"The Creative Brain and How It Works – Applied Neuroscience" With Silvia Damiano and Ralph Kerle | Monday August 9, 2010

There is a body of theories and papers starting to emerge in neuroscience around how our brain works creatively. This body of work suggests if you can be more aware of how your brain works in a context that calls upon creative endeavour, you will be able to alter your thinking or adjust your actions, in the process becoming more aware of your own creative praxis and how you can comfortably and confidently contribute your best to creative collaboration – an awareness that can be knowledgably sustained and improved over time.

In this highly experiential session, participants will undertake a creative team challenge using a theoretical framework and an arts based process to test this hypothesis in practice. Through this process, you will be observe and discern your own creative preferences and biases!!

About the Facilitators

Silvia Damiano, Principal of About My Brain

Silvia has degrees in Science and Sociology from the University of Buenos Aires and is currently undertaking a program on the Neuroscience of Leaderhsip with Middlesex University in the UK. She is an Associate Programme Director at Mt Eliza Executive Education part of Melbourne Business School. Her most recent role was Senior Manager, OD Westpac and she has worked in different countries, across many industries, helping teams and organisations to improve business performance, concentrating on key areas around leadership development and cultural change. In 2006, she received the L&D Excellence Award for the best learning tool by AITD (Australian Institute of Training and Development).

Ralph Kerle, Executive Chairman, the Creative Leadership Forum, Founder Creative Skills Training Council

Ralph is a globally respected consultant, presenter, educator, programme designer and writer on creative leadership, creativity and innovation.

His academic appointments include faculty adjunct at the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada as an Innovation Coach in their Leadership Development Programme and an International Thought Leader in their Leadership Learning Lab, faculty adjunct and Programme Director at the AGSM Executive Education Programme, University of NSW, Sydney Australia,and a member of the Advisory Board of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management and Technology, Utter Pradesh, India

He is a former Associate Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, a drama graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and holds a Masters Degree in Creative Industries. He is currently trying to find a university in which to continue his Doctorial studies.

Flow with Everyday Conflicts - Using the Skills from NVC Mediation | 1 or 2 Days with Ike Lasater 10 & 11 Sept 2010 Adelaide

A unique experiential learning opportunity with Ike Lasater (USA, Poland) supported by three experienced local coaches.
We all have conflicts within ourselves and with others, little and not so little. NVC Mediation provides step-by-step approaches to taking care of yourself before, during and after a conflict. Learn how to use the skills developed in the formal mediation context to transform everyday conflict into opportunities for deeper understanding and connection. NVC Mediation is based on Nonviolent Communication, a communication model developed by Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Day 1: Understanding and experiencing the contribution of NVC Mediation skills when applied to our everyday conflicts.
Day 2: Extending our understanding and application of NVC Mediation skills.
This workshop is relevant for anyone who works as a mediator, manager, trainer, educator, facilitator, business coach or counsellor. Also relevant for anyone who wants to find new and effective ways to peacefully resolve conflicts between others; between you and another; and to transform warring voices in your own head.
No prior experience of NVC or mediation required.
For more information or to register contact Kate Raffin Mob: 0488 550 979 kate@kateraffin.com

"Change Agents at the Gates of Transformation" with Gisela Wendling, Ph.D. | Monday July 12, 2010

Using an Ancient Approach to Harness the Vital Forces in Contemporary Experiences of Change

At these thresholds of transformative change, the old gives way to the new. These gates are marked by mounting tensions that are part of letting go, entering uncertainty, and envisioning what is possible. These challenging and generative tensions bring about the necessary momentum and energy to give birth to the new. In a world that is changing at an unfathomable pace and seemingly unpredictable ways, patterns of change have become less recognizable and change processes are often left incomplete. For many, living in the ‘betwixt and between’ has become a permanent way to be.

In this session, we will apply an adapted rites of passage framework to explore how the continuous presence of perplexing change impacts our lives and especially our practice as facilitators of change. We will identify approaches to assist the full engagement of these complex tensions and explore the criticality of supporting one another as change agents. In our work, we stand at the threshold of change not only with our clients, but also in our own lives and alongside members of our local and global communities.

About Gisela Wendeling PhD.

Gisela brings together contemporary and indigenous knowledge and practices to offer more complete, systemic, and contextually sensitive approaches to transformation. Gisela guides individuals and groups to courageously meet the challenges inherent in transformational change and to trust their innate capacity for renewal. In the process, they experience the healing that often precede the ability to access previously unrecognized resources. Gisela encourages sensitivity and compassion toward oneself and others, and I evoke the abilities for deep insight and focused action.

The conceptual and practical underpinnings for Gisela's work have grown out of doctoral research in human development and organization systems, 15 years of guiding organization change and employee development projects, and her position as an assistant professor directing a MA program in Organization Development. In the latter role she supported graduate students to gain the conceptual knowledge, practical experience and personal development to become successful change agents.

Monday June 21 (*Third Monday) Wildcard

At a “Wildcard” meeting, volunteer facilitators, in an open space style, step-up from the group to run a short session of between 5 and 20 minutes.

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 5 - 20 minutes.

Sessions are not scheduled in advance. We usually have time for six (6) entries on the night including a short debriefing.

Either come with a short process 'in your pocket' or just come along and have fun.

For further info call Greg Jenkins m: 0418 486 501, greg@tincanlearning.com

* Due to the Public Holiday falling on June 14, this meeting will be held on the Third Monday - June 21

Sol Australia Story Telling June 22

Story Telling - Surfing or Surfacing The Organisation Subconscious?

Speaker: Lee Carsley, Vice-President solAustralia

The world of business and government is one that applauds the virtues of rigor, clarity, crispness - heavy with practical import - after all, the entire economic wellbeing of the human race is said to rest on the effectiveness of this world view.

The success of this rational thinking, however, is spectacularly low, viz:

1. Only 10% of all publicly traded companies prove themselves able to sustain for more than a few years a growth trajectory that creates above average shareholder returns

2. The success rate of innovation, and particularly in large corporates - often the ones on which the future is said to depend - are also only about 10% successful

3. That never-ending activity of mergers and acquisitions has been shown to add value to the acquiring company of about 15% over a 5 year period.

So what else is there for organisations to sustain performance and their people?

The second in our series of provocative conversations asks the question:

"What might organisation story telling contribute to delivering sustainable change and growth for people and the places in which they work?"

Lee Carsley, National Vice President, solAustralia, and principal of Portent Consulting (for more information on who and what she is, see http://portentconsulting.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/meet-the-people/ and http://www.solaustralia.org/contact-us.php) will lead the 1.5 hour group conversation.

To entice conversation, a number of story telling frameworks will be presented.

People who attend will also have the opportunity to design a story for themselves, for others, or for organisation change. The session will stop short of expressive dance & face painting."

Date:	Tuesday 22nd June 2010
Time:	Following the 2010 Annual General Meeting starting @ 5:30pm
Venue:	The Carmichael Room, Level 1, Sydney Mechanics School Of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW
Cost:	Member Fee: Free Affiliate Member Fee: $20 Full Time Student Fee: $20 Non-Member Fee: $40
RSVP:	RSVP using this Registration Form Link

CANCELLATION POLICY: We are charged for the number of bookings made, regardless of attendance. If you register and find you are unable to attend, and unless you have cancelled your booking by close of business on Monday 21st June 2010, people who book but do not attend will be charged for the event.

Monday May 10 - Ritual, a powerful tool to facilitate change and transformation with Allan Rudner

All change and transformation is accompanied by loss, however small or large. In order to create space for the emergence of the “new”, a “letting go” process is important to undertake. This is a significant reflective space which can be made more powerful by marking the moment with a ritual. While this ritual ceremony has spiritual implications, it is not necessarily a traditional religious observance.

It would be useful if you are attending this experiential presentation, to note changes you might be considering, by accident or design, and bring at least one of them with you to our evening together.

Some events worth considering include; change of work, family life, health, relationship status, moving home, and children leaving home. These are just a taste of the range of possible changes in one’s life. Some will be accompanied by deep personal transformations.

The experience and understanding of the power of ritual will give you access to a significant facilitation tool to add to your pool of resources.

Allan Rudner BSc, MA Cultural Psychology

Allan is a co-founder, senior leader and trainer, and trustee of the Pathways Foundation. Pathways Foundation is an Australian organisation that designs and delivers Rites of Passage programs in the wilderness throughout Australia, for boys, girls, men and women. His experience and training spans; Leadership Development, mentoring youth at risk, suicide and crisis intervention training, family violence and sexual assault training, career transitions, and other deep transformation processes. He is the designer of a Rites-of-Passage program for men moving to Elderhood. Allan sat as a member of the Council of Elders at the first Global Rites-of-Passage conference in Hawaii in 2008.

Allan continues his work internationally, with Rites-of-Passage, Executive Coaching, Mentoring, Leadership Development, Eldering, and as a Speaker. e: allanrudner@gmail.com | m: 0411 191 354

Monday April 12 'Wisdom—Whence and Whither' with Jay Hayes

This session is a series of dialogues and enquiries into the nature of wisdom: where it comes from; why it’s needed; and what impedes it. Participants confront and engage “the wisdom paradox”: Wisdom is both abundant in the world and seldom observed.”

The session moves through the following themes:

1. The wisdom around us.

2. The importance of wisdom.

3. The roots of wisdom.

4. Impediments to wisdom.

5. Cultivating wisdom.

6. Applying wisdom to today’s problems.

The basic aspiration is to come to a shared understanding of wisdom and its potential, and to apply wisdom in a practical way to one or more real-life problems affecting the group.

At a meta-level, the session promotes, relies upon, and acknowledges the collective, communal wisdom of participants as a whole and reveals one way that “the getting” of such wisdom can be elicited.

This session draws upon recent work with Dialogue, the Team Learning Pyramid and Collective Intelligence.

About Jay Hayes

Jay teaches courses in management and leadership, including “Leading High-Performance Teams” and a management and organisation course titled “The Community Project,” at the Australian National University, Canberra. He is also a practicing management consultant and has led a wide range of Organisational Development and Change projects on four continents, most recently assisting in a major change program in Zambia, Africa. Jay is involved as facilitator and coach in several Community of Practice initiatives at the university and in the local community. His research interests include the development of wisdom and enlightened leadership, teamwork and collaboration, and organisational ecology. His present focus is on Dialogue and its use as an instrument of learning and change. Jay is author of three books, several book chapters, and thirty peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. Jay will be moving to Swinburne University in Melbourne in July 2010, where he will serve as Academic Advisor, Professional Practice.

http://cbe.anu.edu.au/staff/info.asp?Surname=Hays&Firstname=Jay

Monday March 8, 2010 "Having a Big Conversation about Values" with Paul Worth and Sharon McGann

There has been an explosion of conversations about what the global economic crisis means for all of us, what the future holds and what needs to change. The government is asking us to tell them what is important to us.

Our colleagues from the Emerging Leaders for Social Change network believe we need to make these important conversations bigger and louder. We need to talk about our values, because this is where our decisions and our actions come from.

The Big Conversation is a conversation about values. So how do we, as facilitators, work with values?

Our guest facilitators Paul Worth & Sharon McGann from A Passion for Results, have worked with values for nearly a decade. They will facilitate a conversation about tools they are familiar with - for example, values elicitation (NLP), the Barrett Survey (which is the basis of the Big Conversation National Survey), the AVI - Values Inventory and espoused vs values in action theories (Schein / Argyris). Please feel free to bring examples of other tools you use to expand the conversation.

We also encourage you to complete the first ever National Values Survey for Australia - it will take about 10 minutes.

If you have problems with this web link, go to The Big Conversation website and click on the link from there:

http://bigconversation.org.au/

Mediator self-care workshop with Ike Lasater March 1, 2010

Mediator self-care workshop with Ike Lasater

US mediator, lawyer and trainer, Ike Lasater will lead a workshop in Sydney on 1 March which will help us mediate our own inner dialogue.

Working with people in conflict stimulates reactions– to the subject matter, the people involved and conflict in general.

Ike teaches the skill of self-empathy (as based on the principles of Non-violent Communication), which enables us to change our response to these inner dialogues and better care for ourselves. This helps sustain us in our work as ADR practitioners.

http://www.leadr.com.au/

Monday Feb 8, 2010 - ‘Storytelling – Purposeful, Spontaneous and Playful!’ with Christine Carlton

Storytelling and story listening have long been recognized as having significant effects on the development of our personal, cultural and work identities. We are living stories!

Much has been written about the benefits of storytelling being purposeful and persuasive, yet the power of spontaneous and playful storytelling has often been undervalued.

With a sense of play and spontaneity participants will be invited to stretch their imagination to develop their creativity, spontaneity and flexibility to awaken the storyteller within.

We will explore how these skills can be applied in our lives and the workplace.

Christine Carlton is a member of the Australasian Facilitators Network and has worked for over twenty years as a freelance Consultant, Facilitator and Educator in Story, Drama and Creative Arts in Education, Business and Community Development. She travels Australia and overseas offering opportunities for individuals and organisations to tap into their creativity to gain insight and direction for their lives and their communities.

Christine lectures in Story and Drama in Education at University of Western Sydney; facilitates leadership and team-building processes; offers trainers and teacher in-service, storytelling workshops, reflective retreats and is regularly called upon to provide creative leadership and group facilitation at national and international conferences.

Venue:

University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Jones Street, Ultimo corner Thomas Street.

Room 5.580 Level 5, Building 10, Take the lift to level 5, cross the atrium foot bridge, walk straight ahead to room 580.

Time:

from 5:30pm to 7:30pm sharp | No RSVP - Just turn up

Facilitators Network Dates in 2010

Feb 8,
March 8,
April 12,
May 10,
June 14 (3rd Monday),
July 12,
August 9,
Sept 13,
October 11,
November 8,
AFN Conference Hobart 24-26 Nov 2010

December 13

NVC MEDIATION Update (links to May 11, 2009 session)

Ike Lasiter was guest facilitator on May 11, 2009
This session was one of the biggest gatherings for Facilitators Network attracting around 75 participants.

Here is the latest update:

NVC MEDIATION
5-Day Residential Retreat &
1 Year Immersion Training Program
with Ike Lasater & John Kinyon

Do you want to learn how to:
~ Facilitate people in conflict to hear each other and be connected to their
shared humanity?
~ Empathically connect to others’ experience in challenging conflict
situations?
~ Translate judgments into need language with greater ease and
naturalness?
~ Return to presence and connection in the midst of the intensity of
conflict?
~ Make and support clear requests and collaborative solutions?
Would you like to develop your abilities in various conflict contexts?
~ Effectively mediate as a “third side” professionally or in your work?
~ Lend your skills informally to support people in conflict?
~ Peacefully resolve conflicts you are having with others?
~ Transform warring voices in your own head?
~ Apply mediation skills to conflict coaching and groups?

About the program
Central to our program is the conviction that increasing your capacity to be with
conflict and intervene effectively involves learnable skills; and that when applied
holistically a person can remain connected to their own needs and productively
assist in the resolution of conflict both internally and externally, formally or
informally. Also central to the program is that we (Ike and John) use the NVC
mediation skills to facilitate group decision making and learning in a way that
creates safety, connection and enjoyment of the learning process. Our goal by the
end of the 12 month program is that you will experience confidence and
effectiveness with these skills in all aspects of conflict and in all aspects of your life.

http://www.nvcaustralia.com/