In many large group processes I use, small groups are asked to facilitate some of the process. Recently, on the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation mailing list, there was a call for easy guides to help people facilitate these kinds of groups. Turns out that there is lots out there, including: 37 guides collected on NCDD’s own website Some resources from a climate dialogue project in Seattle The Conversation Cafe guidelines Bare bones version of the Let’s Talk America guidelines More detailed issue guides from the Everyday Democracy project And a few more that I use: Hosting …
With tears of gratitude in my eyes, I point you to Nancy White’s passionate observation that the future for peaceful societies lies with the women and the girls. Since I was in Israel and Palestine last month, I have been struggling on how to write about my experience in a way that is not about judgement, but about reflecting what I saw. The tyranny of person over person is heartbreaking, regardless of the reasons and justifications we create. But from what I saw and learned about, women and children are victims as Israel and Palestine continue without a solution for …
From the feedreaders this week Ashley Cooper and Thomas Arthur make a film about standing up for love. Inkmaster Cuttle slams the US election Andy Borrows finds a beautiful line Myriam Laberge on the importance of purpose in engagement My Metafilter favourite of the week is on vegetable woodwinds. A new blog in my reader: VizThink John Abbe is enthusiastic about a new document collaboration tool called EtherPad Have a good weekend.
Peggy Holman and I have just spent two days working with some amazing provincial public servants in Victoria, hosting a learning workshop on Appreciative Inquiry. There were many gems over the two days, but I think what stands out for me is the list of learnings that came after this morning. Our participants were given some homework overnight which simply consisted of interviewing someone using appreciative questions. Here are some of the rich insights that came up in the check in this morning: Genuine, appreciative questioning brings us together and fosters connection Being interviewed appreciatively open our awareness of possibility …
From Alex Kjerulf: