Services

I feel deeply honored to have group facilitation as my calling, in Frederick Buechner's sense: "Where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." My primary offerings are:

1. Process Design:  The design of an event can and should be elegant, integrated, relevant, inspiring.  Whether for a training by me or for an event you are running yourself, the first step is to listen and ask questions about what your purpose is, then suggest what processes and formats might be a good fit for expressing your intention. I love figuring out how to create events for 12-2000+ people that are highly interactive, build a sense of community, and have a sense of aliveness at their core.

2. Teaching:   Passing on skills to others seems inherently joyful, as the aim of an ethical consultant is always to work yourself out of a job. My teaching goals are: (a) for participants to have a plentiful menu of options available for any situation, and (b) to help students find their own gifts and abilities within the field of facilitation. My workshops are engaging, informative, and practical, with an emphasis on practice and demo over lecture. Common topics include:

• Consensus Decision-Making
• Meeting Facilitation: Good Process for Good Product
• Planning Ahead for Fun and Success: Agenda Planning and Meeting Design
• Communication Skills for Feedback and Peacemaking
• Appreciative Inquiry

I also have a newfound commitment to bringing up-and-coming practitioners into the field, offering them opportunities for practice, support, and exposure. This may take the form of coaching (talking ahead about an upcoming gig you are doing or debriefing one you just completed), co-facilitating, inviting assistants along, or other opportunities.

3. Facilitation:  The core of my practice is serving as a facilitator in times of need. Such needs as:

• Visioning
• Strategic Planning
• Multi-Stakeholder Processes
• Board Development
• Organizational Restructuring
• Community-Building Retreats
• Big Tough Stuck Issues

I take pride in being an eclectic practitioner, drawing on a variety of approaches based on what's needed in each particular situation. Because issues rarely get stuck solely at a rational level, skillful facilitation calls for working with emotions and participants' whole selves, following the group's energy to see what is emerging and where the conversation needs to move. My list of methods includes: Appreciative Inquiry, Art of Hosting, Dynamic Facilitation , Non-Violent Communication, Open Space, Process Work, Reevaluation Counseling, Work that Reconnects, World Café and more, as well as consensus decision-making in a secular context which is my specialty. I emphasize building the capacity of your group to respond effectively to future situations along with moving through present challenges.

For some highlights of past work, see my resume.