THE NEXT CHAPTER: SHOWCASING THE PURPOSE OF FACILITATION
VISIONING PLENARY
i) share stories of working at our best as facilitators in the world and in our region,
ii) discern/deepen themes around stories heard about working at our best as facilitators in the world and in our region,
iii) create affirmative provocative and futuric propositions based on themes of working at our best as facilitators to do more of what works well towards making a positive difference in the world and region.
The assumptions of Appreciative Inquiry which formed the basis of the Visioning process can be summarised in this way:
"1. In every society, organisation, or group, something works.
2. What we focus on becomes our reality.
3. Reality is created in the moment, and there are multiple realities.
4. The act of asking questions of an organisation or group influences the group in some way.
5. People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the unknown) when they carry forward parts of the past (the known).
6. If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past.
7. It is important to value differences (in creating the future).
8. The language we use creates our reality".
Therefore:..."We take what we know and we talk about what could be. We stretch what we are to help us be more than what we have already been successful at. We envision a future that is a collage of the bests. Because we have derived the future from our current reality, we know it can happen. We can see it, we know what it feels like, and we move to a collective, collaborative view of where we are going..."
An important feature of this process is also that it looks at a group or oganisation as a "mystery to be embraced" rather than a "problem to be solved".
Reference: S.A. Hammond. (1998). The thin book of Appreciative Inquiry (2nd ed.), Thin Book Publishing Co., www.thinbook.com pp. 20, 46.
FIRST STEP: SHARING STORIES OF WORKING AT OUR BEST AS FACILITATORS IN THE WORLD AND IN OUR REGION
Many depth stories were shared during the first step of the Visioning process, both in small groups at each of the 13 tables [130 participants] and with the whole plenary group. One of the many depth stories which were shared in the room is retold below:
"I received a call from a colleague who was coaching a couple of managers in the Perth office of a national Non-Government Organisation (NGO). He had been contracted to provide this service as a result of the national Human Resource (HR) staff alerting him to the fact that all was not well in the Western Austrlaia (WA) office and there were concerns that relationships were fracturing to the point of negativity and dysfunction - interfering with the team's capacity to perform well. During his initial coaching conversations, he recognised that serious conflict was present and was preparing the ground to open some space in order for the team to address their issues together. Before this could happen, the situation escalated - or disintegrated - and he received an urgent call from national HR to say that the team was in danger of 'imploding' and it sounded like they were going to 'kill each other'. Something needed to happen urgently and the HR staff would provide all the back-up needed...from the far-away East. And so I was invited to 'see what I could do'! (ie 'fix it!')
Never one to shirk a challenge of conflict - the product of twenty-five years upbringing in Northern Ireland - I agreed on the basis that my initial engagement would be based on a 'restorative justice process' ....
1 I would meet with the (three) individuals concerned around the conflict on a 1:1 conversation, hear their stories and help them to clarify what the major issues were.
2 Following this, I would invite them to attend a joint meeting, facilitated by me, at which they would be able to tell their own stories and listen to each other's story
3 From this, they would be invited to come up with what needed to happen next to enable them to move forward, if that is what they chose to do
4 I would invite them to report back the outcomes of their conversations to the far-away East...
And so the meetings occurred, I have not received any reports of 'implosions or deaths' from that part of Perth, the coaching continues with considerably more substance and depth to it (so I'm told) and the original plans to open space for the whole WA team (about a dozen people) have been renewed.
And life goes on accordingly......"
Brendan McKeague
ARTISTIC PRODUCT: ILLUSTRATING THE VISIONING PROCESS
including above and right (from left to right)
* visioning a positive future
Simon Kneebone, Sascha and Andrew Rixon
* facilitation works
* consulting with everyone
* it's o.k, - trust the process
* aha...
* they're going to kill someone: call a facilitator!
Grateful thanks to Simon Kneebone, illustrator extraordinaire, for permission to print the cartoons and for donation of the proceeds to
'Movember' enabling men's health globally.
SECOND STEP: THEMES INDICATING DEEPER PURPOSE OF FACILITATION IN THE WORLD AND IN OUR REGION
Focus question of second step of Visioning:
What is the deep knowing, longing or yearning for which facilitation is part of the answer for you?
This step included movement between the tables and depth individual reflection.
WRITTEN PRODUCT
Dale Hunter and Stephen Thorpe
a selection of responses from the Visioning plenary
for full details please see http://www.zenergyglobal.com/docs/news/afn07.htm
Doing good / our best in the world
To be useful as the planet, and all on it, evolves.
Life is better, more full, rosier, even fun, when people really come together
To make a difference for at least one person in the group/ "session"
Celebrate the unique
Realize the potential
Find your belonging
Make connections /connectedness
Be heard and valued
Have fun
Making a positive difference in the world
Helping people to collaborate and pool their wisdom to create better outcomes
To see groups learning to solve their own problems sustainably
Deep Respect
Community members / groups talking abut their community
To give people opportunity / permission to hear each other
Collaboration
Creativity
Challenge
New ideas / Outside the box
Tools for social justice
Deep learning
Assisting people to maximize their potential as part of a group and individually
To give space to the complexity of the world
Resolving conflict
Connect with constructive knowledge
Playing a part in the development of solutions which improve even a small part of the world
Peacemaking
Connecting people to true selves
Changing / transforming the paradigm of war/ competition to co-operation /
Appreciation and understanding
Connecting in positive and continuous ways
Total community involvement and ownership
Sharing joy, grief, realness, understanding, love, care of each other leads to connection, belonging, happiness
Connections - helping others
Facilitation to help break the cycle of degradation and destruction in indigenous communities
Creating community vibrance in regional community/s
Bringing the present forward "now" to enable possibilities
Clarity
Building a strong sense of community where all contributions are valued
To hear and respect difference - of ideas, of images, of actions
Sustainable communities and society
Join with others to do and feel stuff that really matters
To see people achieve their full potential!
Strength
Helping others understand each other and work together more effectively
Connecting us all with our individual and collective magnificence :)
That gives a voice to the voiceless > and thus connects people
Work together to create a better future…
Convergence
Confidence - through understanding environments, people, different needs and useful processes
To make a difference by enabling others to articulate and achieve ether visions (dreams)
Connecting people with differences
Engagement
Levity and fun
Opportunity and exploration
To have real conversations, meaningful action and to know that can happen ANYWHERE, ANYTIME!!!
Deep longing that people connect with, and hear each other and move forward Collaboratively
The energy within me is aligned and flowing the way it is intended to enter the world
People expressing their selves, people accepting diversity
That diverse voices can be heard
Creating a healthy society that is ecologically viable!
REAL LISTENING - hearing, looking, heart
The basic need for a person to be heard- well and fully
KNOWING
- Each client needs to tell their story
- Each client needs to know that they have been heard.
Only after telling and hearing can we move forward.
To create environments where conversation can be had to clarify and align
To connect with people heart to heart
- Harmony
- Achieving growth
Humanity
- Creating harmony
- Valuing diversity
- Sharing resources
To be able to confidently bring together various participants and work with them so they can develop a better outcome or future
People giving and talking the best they can
Community empowerment /taking charge /direction of their own futures
Helping people change their lives to become their best
THIRD STEP: Guided Visualisation "2017 I've been there"
Tom Schwarz
This was the progressive aspirational deepening ‘next step’ that aimed to build on the collective past/current/deepening/longing sharing done immediately prior.
The mini-steps in this were:
a) a guided visualisation of their 10-year aspirational future – in which participants were deeply relaxed, then while in that state guided to a generalised ‘ideal society’ operating with aspirational values and valuing relationships across all strata, and then focused onto what they could observe (visualise) in their minds eye happening across their work , with their clients, and across society – when they (the facilitators) were working at their best based upon the deep facilitation values and yearnings uncovered/explored.
b) a plenary sharing where people individually exchanged their top key future vision learnings with at least 5-6 others who they had not yet met and were NOT in their visioning group.
c) bringing this exchange of ideas and visions to their home Vision group – to work up a non-verbal expression of their own groups statement on what this future Vision looks and feels like – how to recognise it when you see it ... bringing their aspirations alive.
d) presenting this non-verbal Vision expression to the whole plenary – and capture by Simon Kneebone !
Craft opportunities were provided during the third step of the process and superbly talented local Adelaide artist, Simon Kneebone, illustrated the Visioning process. These illustrations were displayed throughout the Conference and later sold, with permission of the artist, with first option provided to those whose stories were illustrated and the remainder auctioned during the closing session of the Conference. All proceeds from the sale of illustrations went to Movember, a global charity dedicated to increasing Men's Health.
Grateful thanks to Simon Kneebone, illustrator extraordinaire, for permission to print the cartoons and for donation of the proceeds.
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Dale Hunter, Stephen Thorpe, Tom Schwarz, Joan Firkins
