Tag Archives: participation

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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Facilitating Your Family 2: Another story about facilitating one’s family

Posted on January 16, 2026 by jofacilitator

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 →

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Facilitating Your Family

Posted on January 12, 2026 by jofacilitator

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 →

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Healing Wounds by Sharing the Journey

Posted on November 13, 2025 by jofacilitator

(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 →

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“No Time for Planning a Meeting”

Posted on October 23, 2025 by jofacilitator

I have heard this more and more often. Huge demands for productivity in meetings, but less and less time allotted to them. Here is a story of a team’s discovery about the impact of taking time to prepare a meeting. … Continue reading →

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Addressing Distrust in a Public Consultation with a Focused Conversation

Posted on October 16, 2025 by jofacilitator

A school district needed to address the fact that some schools were very old and needed very expensive renovation, and that there were new neighbourhoods in the city that needed new schools.  The budget was limited and not everything could … Continue reading →

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I’m proud to announce that The Art of Focused Conversation, 2nd Edition is Available!

Posted on July 9, 2024 by jofacilitator

The Art of Focused Conversation, Second Edition: More Than 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in Your Organization by R. Brian Stanfield and Jo Nelson The Art of Focused Conversation is the quintessential theoretical and practical guide to group communication … Continue reading →

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