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Winkipodcast with Patti Digh

I’ve always said the best way to get on in this world is to hang out with talented people (smile).

Well, Geoff Brown is one of those talented people, and I’m delighted to be collaborating with him to bring you podcasts from around the world at Winkipod.

Last week we were fortunate to have some time with another talented person from Asheville in the US, Patti Digh. Check out Geoff’s excellent slideshow to see who Patti Digh is and what we talked about, then listen to the podcast.

Cool (and bookish) Links

It’s been a while - here’s a few cool links.

Michael Palin for Vice-President: hilarious video about the wrong Palin for the White House (hat tip to Euan and Johnnie)

Can you send me your CV? New clients often want a CV - security, I suppose. Now here’s a good way to do a web-based CV, easy enough for even me to develop, and to put a link on my blog/web page (hat tip to Geoff)

A book you simply must read Life is a Verb by Patti Digh. Enough said - it is a MUST READ! Trust me on this one.

A conference you should go to if you are anywhere near Chicago in late October (and even if you’re not) - the annual Applied Improv Conference. It includes industry leading speakers and presenters (including Thiagi and Keith Sawyer, author of Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration);  a group trip to a showcase of the best Chicago style improv; and of course the creative giant that is Open Space (oh, and I’ll be presenting two workshops with my brilliant psychodrama/sociometry friend Andrea Barrett). And if you email me for a secret code you’ll get $100 off the current registration (that’s $399 instead of $499).

Another book you should read: Harrison Owen’s Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self Organizing World. You can read a preview here and order the book here.

And yet another: Dave Pollard’s Finding the Sweet Spot. Dave is passionate about the environment, humanity and intentional community. I can’t wait to read his book.

I’ve known about del.icio.us for a while - and have only just got around to using it. It gathers together all your bookmarks, links, web pages etc etc. I know I’m a bit slow getting onto it - well worth it.

And while I’m on books, the best novel so far this year is Breath by Tim Winton. If you want to read some of the very best, spare, evocative writing ever and you want to know what it was like growing up in 1970s Australia and you want to understand surfing, just read Breath. If you want none of those, read it cos it’s a bloody good read.

Ash Grunwald has a new album out - Fish out of Water - a local, and very talented, roots & blues performer.

Rock balancing rocks!

Chris Corrigan wrote about rock balancing: 

Viv…the best way to do this, is to do this. In doing so you’ll learn more about facilitation practice than you can imagine. Host the rocks and they will take over…trust me.

Here’s the result of my first ever go at rock balancing.

And I learnt:

1. You have to try or you’ll never know

2. You have to believe it can be done

3. Don’t over-think, go with your feelings

4. It’s fun

Need your help

Anne Pattillo and I have created a facilitation training program called Facilitating With Confidence based on what we have learnt over the years. We’ve run it here in Australia and are pretty pleased with what we have developed. It’s built around this model, and is very practice orientated.

We support participants between workshops with on-line discussions and activities on a dedicated social networking site. For me it’s an opportunity to further build facilitation capacity and share approaches and resources that work for us.

We’re hoping to run a course in Singapore and need help in getting information out to people in Singapore and neighbouring countries who may be interested, particularly in the corporate and government sectors. If you know anyone who might be interested either please email me viv@theReef.com.au  or visit our Facilitating With Confidence web site.

Thanks.

Three favourites

Here’s three of my favourite pics from my recent Africa safari.

You can see why it’s called a ‘dazzle of zebras’ - and this is especially for my friend Fiona who reckons you can only ever get pictures of zebras bums!

Discovery versus telling

Many years ago I worked in community education. Our mantra (a bit cliched now, but nonetheless still true) was: “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.”

Not surprisingly, this applies just as much to facilitation and learning. Here’s how I applied this principle in recent training in Zambia. I used one of Thiagi’s favourite activities (slightly modified) called  ‘35′.Facilitation skills were a part of the 7-day program, integral, but not the main focus. Someone asked for our top 10 facilitation tips (after I demonstrated how to remove permanent pen from a whiteboard using whiteboard markers - sometimes the simplest things are most profound!).

There were 22 people - so I wrote out 22 different tips (from myself and Keren, my co-facilitator) on small cards and then handed them out randomly. I introduced the activity and did 5 rounds, people scoring each tip against another one, awarding scores out of 7 (7 x 5 = 35, the maximum score - hence the name). Then I got them to line up in order and we heard the tips in their order. The biggest surprise? What would have been my #1 tip was their #22! Now that was humbling.

But that’s not really the point of this activity - it allowed participants to engage with the data, discuss the tips in pairs, and rate them. I firmly believe this is more helpful than simply handing out a list of Viv & Keren’s tips. And, yes, it would have been even more ‘their activity’ if they had come up with their own tips. However, we’d done something like that the previous day - so these tips were additional.

Oh, you want to know what was #22?

Mix up your processes and if something is not working, stop it and do something else.

And their #1?

Recognise that the group have the answers - not you! Help the group unearth their knowledge.

Rock Balancing

My friend Chris Corrigan is into rock balancing. You can look at more of his photos here. I’m sort of intrigued and want to learn how to do this.  I think the local beach might be a good place to start. Check out this short video. 

Doing myself out of a job

Travelling to other cultures, especially in developing countries, is a useful reminder of how good most of us have it. A dinner table discussion in rural Zambia recently brought this clearly into focus - with a tourist complaining about the escalating cost of petrol back home in her petrol-guzzling nation - as we ate our dinner by the light of kerosene lamps. Admittedly we were in a National Park and at a bush camp where no electricity was available, unless you count the small amount generated by solar panels during the day. I couldn’t help suggesting that the ‘relative’ cost of fuel was increasing. Sure it’s real enough when considered in isolation. But the week previously Zambia had run out of diesel fuel. In any case most people don’t even have vehicles to worry about fueling. So what’s the point of this minor rant?

It got me thinking about my own role as a facilitator and what value I add. I don’t contribute much really. The world could easily survive quite well (some would suggest better) without facilitators. Groups would most likely get to where they need to be eventually. Facilitators probably help short-circuit some of the more ponderous discussions… And we can suggest some processes that can be helpful… And then we get out of the way. What if we weren’t in the way at all?

Which helped me clarify that the world does not need more facilitators. The world needs facilitation skills. Why? Because the challenges we are facing, and will face, will require us to tap into the breadth and diversity of minds to develop solutions. We will need to talk with other - and listen - and build on each others’ ideas. Our existing political and commercial systems don’t seem to support this, where competition still reigns supreme. It’s often the only way people know. Our models, our examples, our ways of being with each other are competitive. Even chatting with friends usually ends up with dissing - trying to outdo each other with an even better story. “Let me tell you about MY experience with lost luggage. One day is nothing - mine was lost for six days!” “Six days! I wish - mine never turned up at all. Gone for ever.”

So those of us working as facilitators are demonstrating how to tap into the wisdom of a group of people. How to hear what they are saying, build on each others’ ideas, and create solutions. The world needs  a lot of creative solutions, I think. Not everyone has facilitation skills. Not everyone understands the difference between dialogue and debate, when to inquire and when to advocate. These skills will be necessary. Not as a profession - but as something we can all do. Maybe once we could, and we’re on a journey of rediscovery.

For my part, I’m going to continue to try and do myself out of a job. To let others in on ’secret facilitators’ business’, build capacity where I can, use processes that are easy to learn and transferable, train others, share resources, help each other. Good enough reasons to continue this blog?

Live @ Winkipop

Head on over to our podcast website Winkipod to hear Geoff Brown, Johnnie Moore and myself shooting the breeze, live @ Winkipop - the surf break that inspired Winkipod. Here’s a pic to prove we were there!