The State of Facilitation 2023 – how do (ToP) facilitators keep learning?

Thank you to SessionLab for sharing the outcome of their first comprehensive survey on the state of facilitation, 2023 edition, and for the opportunity for me to share my own reflections in the Resources & Communities section on How do facilitators keep learning? – see below.

It is a comprehensive survey indeed, rich with insight and with much food for thought for all of us who are seeking to promote the power of facilitation worldwide. The report is timely, too, as the global Board of the International Association of Facilitators meets in Kuala Lumpur this week.

A further reflection of mine, on reading the whole of the report again, is to wonder how different the results might be if the survey were designed to be read and responded to in multiple languages, and circulated with the support of non-native English speaking facilitation communities such as local chapters of IAF and member ICAs of ICA International. I offer that as a challenge and opportunity for the 2024 edition!

Meanwhile, you are (just!) in time to register for this year’s ToP Network Annual Gathering “The Transforming Fire of Facilitation: Building Belonging & Sparking Innovation”, a 3-day online conference of 150 or so practitioners of ICA’s Technology of Participation from next Thursday 2 March to Saturday 4.

See you there?  Registration closes next Monday 27 February!


How do facilitators keep learning?

I am pleased to see that so many people report here that they are participating actively in numerous communities, as I know from experience how enriching that can be. I am especially pleased to see that so many have access to a community of practice in-house, however, I hope that facilitators who are involved mainly in their in-house communities do get out as well. I say this as an encouragement to take the opportunity to learn with and from others who work in different ways and in different contexts to their own.

I am sorry to see so many participating actively in no communities at all. While there is much to be learned from books, courses, and all the other resources mentioned, I think there is no substitute for active participation when it comes to developing and improving skills in facilitating just that.

I also notice here, as a facilitator with long involvement in ICA and long specializing in its ToP methodology, something very particular that seems to be missing. As many as 53 respondents report in 2.4 that they have ToP facilitation certification, and no less than 115 in 6.1 that they use ToP methods: great that so many ToP facilitation colleagues responded to the survey! Yet, not a single one refers here in 7.2 that ICA or the ToP Network are professional communities that they are actively participating in. I find that very curious, since I know that so many do.

I wonder what we regard as active participation, and what we regard as professional communities/organizations, to affect our responses to such a question. My own conviction, and my own experience from many years of active participation in ICA and IAF in particular, is that there is much more professional development to be gained from actively collaborating with professional peers than there is from passively receiving ‘professional development’ services and resources.

That is why I see volunteering opportunities as one of the greatest benefits a professional association such as IAF can provide its members. And that is why I have always volunteered and encouraged others to do so – so much so, in fact, that my name came to be used when I was Chair of IAF England & Wales as short-hand for the experience of finding oneself to have volunteered unexpectedly for a certain role (to be “Gilbraithed”!). In that spirit, if you haven’t been drawn into a community yet, I hope you will soon!


See also about mehow I workwho I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Join us in promoting the power of facilitation worldwide this #FacWeek!

Happy Facilitation Week 2021, starting today!

Facilitation Week is a participatory experience that inspires synergy and celebrates the act of group facilitation. Held in the third week of October each year, it’s purpose is to showcase the power of facilitation to both new and existing audiences, and to create a sense of community among facilitators and their groups worldwide. To join in as a participant, facilitator or sponsor, see facilitationweek.org.

The mission of our #FacPower book project too is to promote the power of facilitation worldwide. So, what better opportunity could there be for us to share a brief update on how we have been working to do just that, and how you can get involved?

The #FacPower story so far…

How you can get involved

Please…

  • download and read the whole book, or whichever chapters interest you most
  • rate the book on Goodreads, and add a brief review there – that will help many other readers to find it
  • share your reflections and questions on your own website, blog or social media with the #FacPower hashtag and a link to facpower.org, and mention or tag the relevant contributors – let’s deepen and broaden the conversation together
  • if you have your own blog, podcast or other publication, contact us to arrange an interview or online session with one or more of our contributors
  • contact us if you are interested to translate of all or some of the book into your own language – see our translation page for what support we are ready to offer and what we will expect from you
  • contact us if you are interested to share your skills to help us to develop new editions including print-on-demand, an audio-book and a podcast series
  • follow, like, connect and engage with us on TwitterFacebookLinkedIn & YouTube
  • refer to our media kit and Creative Commons license for the resources you need to otherwise help to get the word out, or to use excerpts from the book
  • last but not least, please donate generously to the International Association of Facilitators Bursary Fund, to support IAF too to promote the power of facilitation worldwide.

Thank you!


See also about mehow I workwho I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

The Power of Facilitation – now available!

“Facilitation simply works. It is a critical skill needed in government, civil society, and business, if humanity is to deal with climate chaos, ecocide, racism, fascism, and other challenges. Thank you for this powerful book.”

Robertson Work, author of A Compassionate Civilization, former UNDP policy adviser, New York Professor, New York

 

Download

We are excited to share with you the Power of Facilitation! #FacPower

The book is a compilation of chapters written by different authors or author teams, designed to promote the power of facilitation.

Each chapter connects key perspectives on specific dimensions of facilitation, organisational and community development with the respective authors’ practice and thinking about our craft. Most of the team are members of the International Association of Facilitators, and many are IAF Certified Professional Facilitators.

The book project is a labour of love for all contributors. Our mission is to promote the power of facilitation worldwide. We are making the book available for free in order to enable and encourage everyone to read it and to share it.

Download

The Power of Facilitation #FacPower

Future editions will include an Epub version soon, and we hope a print version in October for International Facilitation Week 2021. In the meantime we will post each chapter in turn to this blog over the summer.

For news – follow the FacPower blog and connect with us also on TwitterFacebookLinkedIn & YouTube.


See also about mehow I workwho I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Scaling up engagement and dialogue – IAF webinar recording & outputs

Scaling up engagement and dialogue - the power of facilitation and communications in partnership

Thank you again to the 100 or so who attended this session yesterday, and especially to IAF for the invitation and to Michael Ambjorn of AlignYourOrg for co-hosting with me.

In this session we explored the ladder of engagement, and how we can climb it with those that we work with. We invited you to share your experience in changing the conversation, at scale, so we can all become better at it.  We explored together how the roles, skills and tools of the facilitation and communications professions can complement each other, and help us to scale up engagement and dialogue for positive social change.

We drew on some insights of previous work on the power of partnership between facilitation and communication, including research for our chapter in the forthcoming book the Power of Facilitation #FacPower.

We applied some of the tools of the two professions to generate new insights together, including four external digital tools in addition to zoom – Google Docs, Easyretro, Flinga and Mentimeter.


The slides, recording and other session outputs follow here:

Contact details and zoom chat have been shared by email with participants only – if you have not received yours, please contact me.


See also about mehow I workwho I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together. Please do not delay before contacting me – the earlier I hear from you, the more chance that I will be able to help and the more helpful I may be able to be.

Register now on Eventbrite also for my regularly scheduled ToP facilitation training courses in London and Brussels, and now also online.

Facilitation Competencies for Agilists – session recording & outputs

Facilitation Competencies for Agilists - Agile Tour LondonWhat skills, knowledge, and behaviours must facilitators have in order to be successful facilitating in a wide variety of environments? To what extent do these vary, if at all, when working online rather than face-to-face? What can we do, individually and together as Agilists and as peers, to develop our own facilitation competence?

Thank you again to all those that attended this session last week during Facilitation Week, and especially to Agile Tour London for the invitation and to Megan Evans for co-hosting with me.

This session adapted the format of the ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series: Taking time to connect, learn and reflect. This was a series of taster sessions around different topics – both to examine and explore the topic, and to demonstrate the use of ICA’s ToP Focused Conversation Method.

In this session participants acquainted themselves in breakout groups with the IAF Core Facilitation Competencies and shared experience of their application, both online and face-to-face. In plenary we reflected on the extent to which these competencies vary when working online rather than face-to-face, if at all. Participants also reflected on what they could do, individually and together as peers and Agilists, to develop their own facilitation competence.

For more on ICA’s Technology of Participation and facilitation online, register now for Introduction to Facilitation OnlineIntroducing the role of the facilitator and the ToP approach, plus some key tips & tools, 2.5 hours, next on 11 November.


The recording and other outputs follow:

  • the slides and mentimeter outputs shared on SlideShare
  • the Zoom recording in Youtube

This session was previously held also in September, in partnership with the Agile Coaching Retreat and co-hosted by Dawn Williams with over 100 participants – see:


See also about mehow I workwho I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together. Please do not delay before contacting me – the earlier I hear from you, the more chance that I will be able to help and the more helpful I may be able to be.

Register now on Eventbrite also for my regularly scheduled ToP facilitation training courses in London and Brussels, and now also online.