Author Archives: jofacilitator

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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.

Resolving Destructive Dispute Behaviour

Posted on May 1, 2026 by jofacilitator

It seems to me that this is a time in history when differences in opinion easily escalate into polarization and from that to destructive behaviour. This is not a new pattern, though it seems to be happening more often and … Continue reading →

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Listening as a Leadership Skill

Posted on April 17, 2026 by jofacilitator

A number of current events and posts by colleagues have catalyzed my thinking about leadership.  As a facilitator, I have experienced a range of situations with clients where leaders thought that leadership was about presenting their own insights and requiring … Continue reading →

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A First Step in My Facilitation Journey

Posted on April 3, 2026 by jofacilitator

Someone asked me this question:  If a career as a facilitator is lifelong, when did you decide you wanted to become a facilitator? When I started facilitating, there was no profession called facilitation.  I started out as a teacher. I … Continue reading →

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Using the Focused Conversation Method with Dots to Prioritize Consensus Workshop Results

Posted on March 26, 2026 by jofacilitator

I’m not sure when I discovered this process based on the Focused Conversation Method, but it allows thinking through a number of perspectives on priorities at different levels to discover which item is the biggest priority overall. Instead of just … Continue reading →

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ORID Thinking to Address a Facilitation Emergency:  A Participant Who Tried to Take Over a Meeting

Posted on March 12, 2026 by jofacilitator

I was facilitating the first meeting of a steering committee for a proposed province-wide public consultation on a painful and difficult topic involving abuse.  My colleague and I had worked hard to find a wide range of participants who all … Continue reading →

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Focused Conversation On Current Events with One or a Few Others (Or with Self)

Posted on February 25, 2026 by jofacilitator

This conversation was catalyzed by a conversation with a couple of other ToP facilitators in this month’s ToP Community of Practice meeting about how in current times it is challenging to have conversations about anything because people cannot agree on … Continue reading →

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Facilitating Diversity

Posted on February 19, 2026 by jofacilitator

(Photo from the front cover of The Art of Focused Conversation, Second Edition) This week in February 2026 marked significant religious events in several different traditions. Lunar New Year, the beginning of Ramadan, and Ash Wednesday all happened within 2 … Continue reading →

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My Working Assumptions as a Facilitator

Posted on February 5, 2026 by jofacilitator

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 →

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Focus Group/Plenary Process for Large Group Consensus-Building  

Posted on January 29, 2026 by jofacilitator

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 →

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