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Author Archives: jofacilitator
About jofacilitator
On Sept 1, 2020, I celebrated 50 years of work with the Institute of Cultural Affairs, facilitating meetings, groups, communities, and organizations, making it possible for ordinary people to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives. I retired on December 31, 2021, but still volunteer with the organization.My Working Assumptions as a Facilitator
I have recently read reflections by several facilitators on group norms, facilitator neutrality, and “facilitation as manipulation”. I think that this is an important topic, especially in these times. Thirty-two years ago a group of people (I was a part … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, ToP Tools, Uncategorized
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Tagged facilitation, ground rules, leadership, participation, ToP methods
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Focus Group/Plenary Process for Large Group Consensus-Building
The process used in “Large Scale Participatory Process: A Municipal Consultation…” in this blog uses the Consensus Workshop Method at two levels, first using the same focus question in a number of small groups or focus groups to create consensus … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, ToP Tools
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Tagged consensus, facilitation, large group process, participation, ToP methods
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Large Scale Participatory Process: A Municipal Consultation on Public Engagement
I have been struggling with answering the question of what I can do to help build new patterns in society that address current issues, as our old expectations of how people and nations relate to each other and the structures … Continue reading →
Facilitating Your Family 2: Another story about facilitating one’s family
In 1992, Wayne and I and our 2 sons were living in a small apartment belonging to the organization we worked for, after having lived in many places around the world in our married life. We had already decided to … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, Personal Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged facilitating family, facilitation, participation, stories
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Facilitating Your Family
A couple of colleagues mentioned in social media posts before the holidays that it is very challenging to facilitate family members – that chaos can erupt very quickly. I was reminded of a story of facilitating my family years ago. … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, Personal Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged avoiding conflict, facilitating family, informal facilitation, participation
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The Power of Metaphor to Shift Images: Story, Song, Symbol
(Image of the Iron Man statue in the 5th City community in Chicago) I was reminded of the event below when teaching the course The Power of Image Change. In the course, we talk about how underlying images of self … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged metaphors, Power of Image Change, story song symbol, underlying image
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Reflecting on the Past Created an Aha! that Changed the Future
Our underlying images of ourself and the world have a profound effect on our mental health and our behaviour. Messages that come to us in all kinds of ways can change those images. When those images change, our behaviour changes. … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, ToP Tools, Uncategorized
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Tagged image, image change, ToP methods
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Healing Wounds by Sharing the Journey
(Photo is not of this story, but it is a creative Journey Wall.) Around 30 years ago, two community service organizations were serving a similar niche in an overlapping geographical area. One of these organizations was very large, with a … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, ToP Tools, Uncategorized
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Tagged facilitation, healing resentment, journey wall, participation, ToP methods
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Addressing a Culture of Conflict within an Organization
This post was originally posted as “Organizational Transformation through Facilitation” in June, 2015. I think it may be informative in 2025, so I am reposting it. Once I had a client whose understanding of their mandate and mission was to … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged business, facilitation, ToP methods
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One Story of Integrity as a Facilitator
The memory of this story was catalyzed by a LinkedIn Post by a colleague who talked about her experience of the power of personal integrity as a facilitator in choosing work. Many years ago, after a successful facilitation with a … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories
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Tagged facilitation, integrity, leadership, management, ToP methods, values
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Jofacilitator 