");

24 July 2023

Technology and the Future of Facilitation - Special Morning Zoom Session September 12 (8am-20am)

 


Technology and the future of facilitation |  SFN Special Zoom morning session |  Tuesday September 12th from 8am-10am (AEST)

with Schelling Point

On Zoom 

Here is the link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84505817922


If you havent registered for the session, feel free to come along and witness how the process unfolds. 


Dear SFN colleagues,
 
Following recent conversations about the future of facilitation, I was curious about how emerging technologies might affect our work in the coming years.   So, I went looking for an opportunity to get some first-hand experience with leading-edge approaches and try these out with the SFN community.
 
I stumbled upon on SchellingPoint, a Philadelphia-based company with experience using augmented intelligence, data science, and other collaboration software to support its facilitation activities. The software assists the facilitator with the things humans can’t do well repeatedly. They kindly accepted our invitation to showcase the approach with the SFN community.  There were some pre-session activities for this session, which many of you completed. Those who didnt register, are still welcome to come along and witness the program. 

The event will be different from our usual SFN monthly sessions. SchellingPoint has offered to conduct a ‘live’ Strategic Collaboration with some pre-session activities which many of us have now completed. 

The topic for the dialogue will be something around Technology and the Future of Facilitation. So hopefully the process will match the purpose. 

SchellingPoint’s CEO Michael Taylor and their Sydney partner Marek Lis will provide case studies and answer questions.

Through this exercise, we hope to get a better understanding of how technologies are being applied to the deeply human aspects of our work. I haven’t experienced the Shelling Point platform yet, so we will all be joining as novices in this exercise.
 
I look forward to walking along with you on this exploratory journey.
 
Kind Regards,
 
 
Ian Colley

SFN convening group


About Schelling Point

We researched and developed the strategic collaboration technology and techniques through over 400 projects, from Fortune 50 corporate strategies, global coalitions, and government policy development, to early-stage ventures, process improvement, and product innovation, to mergers, outsourcing contracts, and infectious disease strategies. 

Our solutions are based upon the work of Nobel Prize recipient Prof. Thomas Schelling, Harvard professor Chris Argyris, and our work in Relational Network Analysis. In recent years we have taught the derived principles, concepts, and methods at leading business schools.

SchellingPoint is how we make them available to those needing to create new outcomes through coordinated action.



About the presenters


Photo of Michael



Michael Taylor is a SchellingPoint principal and co-founder.  Michael holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics, and Economics from the University of Warwick, England, and has guest lectured on Managerial Decision-making, Consulting on Complex Problems and New Methods in Consulting at  Cornell, Duke, Penn, SMU, Warwick, and Wharton.

Michael led the process for Andersen Consulting (Accenture)’s first software patent, an AI expert system, in 1992. Michael has been using AI at SchellingPoint since 2014.










Photo of Marek



Marek Lis is a Collaboration Architect dividing his work between Sydney and New York. Marek specializes in using the SchellingPoint platform to get groups of people heading in one direction.Marek spent many years in the advertising industry where he honed his skills in mediating highly subjective opinions of strong-willed people. And he has the scars to prove it.

After spending the last 25 years in New York where he grew increasingly frustrated in not finding a decent flat white, he and his wife moved back to Sydney late last year. Now he can enjoy client meetings over decent coffee.



4 July 2023

COMING SOON - July, August and September 2023

Special September SFN Session with Schelling Point on Integrating AI with facilitation. 

Tuesday 12 September at 8am (this will be an invitation event with some lead up activities to demonstrate the approach).  More information coming soon.  

Deep ecology Workshop with John Seed 18 August, at Narara on the NSW Central Coast.  

Some of you may remember John Seed who led a zoom session on Deep Ecology for SFN earlier this year which many of us enjoyed.   He is offering a weekend of experiential deep ecology at the Narara Ecovillage August 18-20 with 25% of the proceeds to the Rainforest Information Centre.


INVITATION to  all the SFN Community I you have something you would like to try out or share with this community then come and Do a Monday night session, feel free to contact Ian Colley. There are always session times available  (ian.colley@makestuffhappen.com.au).

Lewis Deep Democracy CoResolve Course starting on the 24th of July, 2023.

CoResolve will give you the skills to manage the messy realities of groups. Learn how to recognise when resistance occurs and equip yourself with the tools to effectively resolve the tension and harness the group's potential. Register here:  https://3qiu0pvy5gq.typeform.com/to/DKW7rnuH, or visit our website for more information www.lewisdeepdemocracy.com




The (Fl)awesome Facilitator - Jacinta Cubis on Monday 10 July, 2023 5.30pm (AEST)

 





What kind of Facilitator are You?

It’s a challenging question that we’ll start to explore in this session, with a little honesty and vulnerability.

 You’re up for the challenge because you are a facilitator. Courage is your middle name. You need it to work with every group, as the only predictable thing about groups is their unpredictability.




Meet your facilitator:


Jacinta Cubis is a dynamic facilitator who lights up the room with her energy, creativity and enthusiasm. She loves guiding groups on their journey to make decisions, generate ideas and solve problems. 

Jacinta facilitates for you and builds your own facilitation capability to: 

q  Lead workshops and meetings with authentic flair. 

q  Elevate engagement and boost collaboration.

q  Generate valuable ideas and information from groups to make decisions that stick.

q  Deepen a team’s sense of belonging and appreciation of how to effectively work together.

q  Communicate memorable content fast in pictures.

With 25 years of experience, Jacinta has made her mark in various sectors, including government, universities, and community organisations, helping groups generate ideas, solve problems, and make lasting decisions.

Jacinta’s exceptional talent in visual thinking enables her to create captivating cartoons that help people tackle challenging topics with ease. She specialises in creative processes to help people express their thoughts and appreciate different perspectives. 

Her qualifications span community engagement, partnership brokering, corporate social responsibility, international relations, and communications. She is also an author and mentor, regularly sharing her expertise through a blog, facilitation resources, mini-masterclasses and her books. 

 

More information HERE



15 June 2023

Invitation to present at SFN and Coming Events

Special Invitation - present an SFN monthly session

We have session times open in the next few months for anyone interested in sharing their practice, or trying out an approach.   Just contact Ian Colley on ian.colley@makestuffhappen.com.au


Coming Soon ...

1. Special September Session
with Schelling Point on Integrating AI with facilitation.

Tuesday 12 September at 8am (this will be an invitation event with some lead up activities to demonstrate the approach).  More information coming soon. 



2.  Lewis Deep Democracy CoResolve Course in July

Following the highly successful Myrna Lewis session in May, this is an invitation for those who would like to learn more

You are invited to a Lewis Deep Democracy CoResolve Course starting on the 24th of July, 2023.

CoResolve will give you the skills to manage the messy realities of groups. Learn how to recognise when resistance occurs and equip yourself with the tools to effectively resolve the tension and harness the group's potential. Register here:  https://3qiu0pvy5gq.typeform.com/to/DKW7rnuH, or visit our website for more information www.lewisdeepdemocracy.com





21 May 2023

How to Keep our Brains fit and healthy - with Jeanne Walker

 

How to keep our Brains Healthy and Fit for Life! |  SFN Zoom session |  Monday June 19 at 5.30pm (AEST)

Session on Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86250511462

“We used to think our brain didn’t grow or change much after our twenties. We assumed the  main changes were about decline. Now we know that there are lots of practical things we can do keep our brains lively, growing and learning right up to our last breath,” says Jeanne Walker, our SFN facilitator for June 19.
 
Jeanne should know. In July 2022, she survived four hours of emergency brain surgery to remove a very large brain tumour, which had grown undiagnosed for ten years, despite visits to many doctors.
Now 10 months into her recovery, all her years of coaching and facilitating in leadership, happiness and well being, and her enthusiastic reading of brain specialists like Dr Oliver Sachs and Dr Lara Boyd have all come together.
 

“In fact, I feel my brain tumour has been a friend in disguise. It’s really forced me to focus on what matters: the people I love, living fully and healthily, and helping everybody - including me - to keep our brains as active and fit as possible.”
  
“We’ll be exploring how attitude, gratitude, relationships  and a range of everyday habits like eating, drinking water & alcohol, overnight fasting, moving, sleeping, meditating, and learning - especially fun things – can all boost our brains. We’ll also look at how you can get assessments for yourself or a loved one. We may even have time to look at how our brains can soar with ease and flow."


Jeanne Walker’s career has spanned radio and TV as a journalist and as an executive. She made her name for powerful reporting of mass demonstrations in New Zealand for human rights about racial equality, freedom from nuclear radiation, and laws to recognise homosexual rights. Her first Australian TV job was on the ABC’s Lateline team. 

Jeanne went on to lead government behaviour change campaigns involving millions of people and to raise over $30 million for community causes. 


Read more at:

 https://www.linkedin.com//in/jeannewalkerlinkedin



2 May 2023

Tools and Tips for facilitating in complex times - with Myrna Lewis. May 8 at 5.30pm on zoom

Session on Zoom 

May 8 at 5.30pm (AEST)

Discover a new lens to look at groups and understand group dynamics. Learn a useful diagnostic giving you insight into the dynamics and behaviours that interfere with groups, The Resistance Line. Experience what to do when there are diverse and charged views.


 
Myrna Lewis is a thought leader and practitioner in transformative leadership. Myrna and her late husband co-founded the Lewis Deep Democracy methodology. She is internationally known and respected for making critical soft skills accessible to individuals, teams, corporates, public sector organisations, and educational institutions, enabling them to work more efficiently and effectively. Myrna has consulted international corporates on change strategies, transformation, mergers and acquisitions. She has advised politicians and governments concerning transformation and large-scale social change in Sweden, Canada and South Africa.



Myrna is the recipient of international awards and the author of Inside the No, published in 2004 and republished in Dutch in 2022. Myrna continues her life’s passion as CEO of Deep Democracy Pty Ltd, working and consulting locally in Australia and abroad.


2 April 2023

Speak Up | SFN Zoom session | Monday April 17 at 5.30pm (AEST)

Speak Up:  The neuroscience of psychological safety - with Sandy Killick









Session on Zoom 



'Speak up' cultures have a shared belief that team members won't be punished or humiliated for voicing their ideas, questions, concerns and mistakes. The Royal Commissions into banking and the Robodebt scandal shows what happens if people don't feel safe to speak up or listen to the 'no' in the room. This session explores the neuroscience of psychologically safe workplaces. How can the SCARF and TEAM models from the NeuroLeadership Institute help us create speak up cultures?






Sandy Killick, Director & Lead Educator

Sandy is a leading authority in democracy education, adaptive leadership & systems thinking. As an experienced adult educator and facilitator, Sandy creates spaces where people can have the challenging, necessary discussions about the big ideas affecting all of us.


See More Info HERE