Introduction With our planet in trouble and our lives under stress from many sides, finding balance and equilibrium can be a challenge. Sometimes we lose the energy to “kick at the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight”, as Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn sang.  When that energy flags, I’ve learned to seek sources of thoughtful reflection and good news that reset my perspective.  These help me peek above doom and gloom, like a meerkat.  As a facilitator, this regularly regained p

Photo by Johnny Gios on UNSPLASH Introduction A facilitator is often thought of as a moderator or process manager rather than a change agent. But the relationship between facilitation and change raises a more fundamental question: why are you facilitating? If you’re not facilitating to support a change, you may be moving pieces around without a strong purpose—or, in emergencies, helping rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. This post explores the relationship between fac

Introduction What does it mean to be excellent at facilitation?   Unlike a static skill or single competence, facilitation excellence is dynamic - like a kaleidoscope pattern.   The core dimensions of the role recombine into a unique form for each event, group and purpose.  This means excellence is both context-specific and pattern-based.  Photo by  Malcolm Lightbody  on  Unsplash Purpose is the compass:  results are the lodestar Purpose and goal-level results are at the hear

Introduction Welcome to the three-series post on aristocracy of the capable in relation to process facilitation. What happens when people assigned to run a process aren’t the ones who can, or should?  The core idea is that facilitation is strongest and supports the most successful processes when it draws on everyone in the room.  Post 1 introduces the approach (below).  Post 2 offers practical methods for extending your co-facilitation team to participants.  Post 3 pulls back

Extending a co-facilitation team to include participants Introduction  A separate post introduces the concept of “an aristocracy of the capable” as it applies to facilitation of events and processes.  (Link to INSIGHTS page of facilitateit.ca .)  This post explores how the approach to facilitation taken by a lead facilitator can open scope to include capable participants.  The goals are to: tap into the widest “aristocracy of the capable” for process management from both the