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Contribute to the newsletter
If you have an article, book review, something of interest
to facilitators in your region or an upcoming training
programme that you would like to include in the newsletter
please contact Stephen Thorpe
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| Regional
Update News
from the IAF board meeting in Atlanta from IAF Secretary
Stephen Thorpe
The IAF held their annual face-to-face board meeting
in Atlanta on 13 April. Attending the meeting from the
Australia and New Zealand region were Stephen Thorpe
(Secretary) and acting Regional Representative Keith
Ryall.
Gary Rush from San Juan, Puerto Rico, stepped into his
new role as IAF Chair. The Board also welcomed several
new members:
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Sharon Almerigi (Barbados), Latin America and Caribbean
Regional Representative
Mariann Hintz (Luxembourg), Strategic Initiative Coordinator
for Communications and Publications
Rief Kanan (United States), Treasurer
David Spann (United States), United States Regional
Representative
Simon Wilson (United Kingdom), Strategic Initiative
Coordinator for Membership and Affiliates
The first thing covered was the various fiduciary and
other obligations of directors of an not-for-profit. Betty
Kjellberg, the former Executive Director of the IAF, took
the Board through a review and discussion of the key issues.
The Board received a report and recommendations from former
Chair Cameron Fraser on its continuing work to restructure
the IAF to better serve our members. A report on Shared
Services was tabled by John Butcher and accepted by the
board. The IAF’s Professional Development programs were
discussed, including CPF certification, re-certification,
and a proposal for the accreditation of facilitation training
providers, an initiative that Stephen is now championing.
The IAF’s Conference “Pillars”, have been under review
for the past several months by Ann Epps, IAF’s Strategic
Initiative Coordinator for Conferences, and Carol Sherriff.
A report containing feedback from facilitator conference
convenors from around the world was received and discussed.
Discussion was then held on an initiative to upgrade the
popular Grp-Facl Listserv into the “Facilitator
Forum”. (You may recently received news of this through
an “IAF Member Update”). A preview of the proposed system
was given by Tammy Adams, our outgoing Strategic Initiative
Coordinator for Communications and Publications.
A change to the by-laws was suggested by John Butcher
to allow for proxy voting for members of the board who
may not be able to attend the annual face-to-face board
meeting. All were in favour of this step, which will now
be put to the membership at the next business meeting
of the IAF to be held as part of the conference in Vancouver
in 2009.
The IAF financials were presented and the relationship
with the IAF-Methods
Database was also clarified and support funding agreed
upon.
The meeting concluded with date planning for the coming
year's board and E-Team meetings and key areas to work
on moving forward into 2008 and 2009.
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Facilitating
Social Change Conference Seymour, Victoria - 8-10 May 2008
Reflections
from IAF Secretary Stephen Thorpe
The Facilitating Social Change Conference was held at Commonground,
Seymour, VIC on 8-10 May. It had grown from several conversations
held at the Adelaide AFN Conference (Nov 2007) following
a workshop that explored a social change framework led by
Dr. Dale Hunter. Ed McKinley and Glen Ochre, of the Groupwork
Institute of Australia, led the conference organising
team. The focus of the conference was to further explore
the relationship between facilitation and social change.
Forty nine people attended the conference from facilitation
and social change communities around Australia and New Zealand
and Philip Thomas, an invited participant from the Generative
Change Community came to learn and share his knowledge
relating to social change multi-stakeholder peace building
in Latin America. The conference was held in a modified
version of open space with workshops offered in response
to some of the key questions participants had brought to
the conference around the theme of facilitating social change.
A breakthrough moment for me was seeing
a distinction between the role of a group facilitator;
who facilitates a group to achieve its purpose and the role
of a social change facilitator; who focuses on
generating a change over time within a group, community
or society. Seeing the social change
facilitator role working at the individual, relationship,
organisations and systems, and cultural levels was also
a useful illustration for me of some key points for effectiveness
of change work.
More photos from the conference and workshop
resources can be found on the conference website - www.fscc.net.au.
A second conference is now being planned for early 2009.
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Certified
Professional Facilitator Accreditation at Bathurst 22-24
The assessment process is based on rigorous peer review of
knowledge, experience and demonstration of skills. The IAF
Certified™ Professional Facilitator designation indicates
attainment of these foundational competencies. The professional
facilitator designation offers clients an assurance that those
who are certified are qualified to design and provide basic
group facilitation services. Click
here for the IAF-CPF Certification Process Overview (93kb
pdf).
We'd love to have you with us for accreditation
in Bathurst! Early application and an early start on
document preparation is highly recommended! Contact
to register.
The rate the Bathurst certification programme is US$1200.
A portion of this fee, US$250, is payable at the time of
application. The remaining $950 is due upon receipt of an
invitation to attend the Assessment Day. Current IAF membership
is required for certification. Candidates are expected to
cover the cost of transport to the event location, and any
lodging/food for overnight stays. We provide light breakfast
and lunch for all candidates on the event day. |
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Click
here to read about Sydney-based facilitator Tom Schwarz's
journey to attained his CPF in Arizona, USA (33kb pdf).
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Leading
Effective Meetings Key
pointers from Glen Ochre of the Groupwork Institute of Australia
Lately we have been doing a lot of work within organisations
around maximising the effectiveness of meetings.
This is an 'old' topic - yet people still regularly feel
there are 'too many meetings' and that 'meetings are a waste
of time'. Badly facilitated, badly structured meetings are
frustrating, ineffective and therefore are a waste of time!
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Given how incredibly busy, everyone is in their workplaces
now, meetings need to be well thought through to ensure
that they are (a) necessary and (b) effective. When we gather
a group of people together it costs time and dollars, so
they need to be there for an important reason. When appropriate
and effective, people actually appreciate a good meeting!
Here are some meeting pointers,
that people genuinely find helpful.
* What people call meetings are in fact, often actually
briefings. A briefing is where a group of people are brought
together to be given information. People often describe
these as a 'waste of time' - 'sitting there listening to
someone talk at them'. If it is just about disseminating
information, ask people how they feel it can best be received.
* Meetings will work best where there are opportunities
for people to discuss important issues, and contribute their
wisdom and experience. Again, people feel meetings are a
waste of time, if the issues are not of significant importance,
or that their contribution will not be considered when decisions
are made. It is very important that the right people are
there, and that the issues are of a level of importance
to warrant their contribution.
* For meetings to be effective, they need to be well planned.
There needs to be a mechanism for people to contribute to
the agenda. Agenda items need to be prioritised with times
allocated to each item. Otherwise, agendas are too crowded,
and we either go over time, or items fall off the agenda
(frustrating those involved in that item).
* Facilitation of meetings needs to be taken seriously.
It involves considerable skills. Rotating facilitators is
a good idea only as long as people have the skills.
* Meetings go better if they begin with a brief moment
of 'centering' to allow people to 'arrive'. This can be
followed by a short 'catch up' to see how people are. This
gets people involved from the word 'go', and helps them
to be present.
* It is a good habit to end each meeting ON TIME, and with
a very brief informal, 'how did we go evaluation?' This
demonstrates that we take our meetings seriously, and allow
the whole group to continuously improve meeting practices.
We hope this checklist helps, and trust that people will
appreciate a good meeting!
By Glen Ochre
Groupwork Institute of Australia
Melbourne, 03 9443 8500
www.groupwork.com.au
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| Welcome
to Our Newest Members Welcome
to members joining since March
Isabella Allan; Sage
Allan Pty Ltd, Mark Butz; Futures
by Design, Jill Chivers; The
Corporate Compass Pty Ltd, Judy Clark; Jacara Consulting,
Joan Firkins; Facilitation
Works, Bernard Gore, Christine Kane; Kane Enable, Christina
Lovison; Mountain Ash Executive Development Pty Ltd, Andrew
O'Brien; Organisations
That Matter, Christine Rinehart; Rinehart Consulting,
Gerard Roberts; GR Consulting, Margaret Taylor; Learning
Edges Australia, Garry Trotter; Learning & Leadership
Dynamics, Elizabeth Western, and Margot Wood; Curtin
University of Technology.
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| Local
Membership Where
do our local members come from?
Membership total at 3 June = 72
By region:
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New South Wales |
24 |
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Victoria |
16 |
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New Zealand |
12 |
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Queensland |
10 |
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Western Australia |
7 |
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South Australia |
1 |
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Tasmania |
1 |
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ACT |
1 |
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| South
Australia Facilitators Meeting Details
from Joan Firkins |
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A small group of SA facilitators
are planning to meet on Wednesday 11th June, at 11.00
a.m. at Muggleton's, 2/38 Main Road, Hahndorf for
coffee and lunch: Muggleton's has delicious soup and other
heart-warming fare. There is ample parking at the back.
So, any other SA based and/or any other visiting interstate
facilitators are able to be there it would be great to meet/catch
up,
Joan
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2009
North America Conference - Vancouver, BC, Canada
20-25
April, 2009 - "The Art and Mastery of Facilitation: Explore
Diversity"
Hello:
Next year’s IAF North America Conference Week will be held
on April 20 – 25, 2009, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at
the downtown Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel. Our Conference theme
is “The Art and Mastery of Facilitation: Explore
Diversity”.
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Conference Week will begin with in-depth One- and Two-Day
Training Workshops on April 20-21. Our Opening Celebration
on the evening of April 21 will feature Dr. Brian Little,
an award-winning Psychologist at Carleton University and Harvard
University. (Those of you who have not yet experienced one
of Dr. Little’s wonderfully engaging and insightful talks
on “Personalities At Work” can learn more about him and his
message at www.BrianRLittle.com.)
Our Short Workshops will be held on April 22-23. Conference
Week 2009 will close out with a two-day Professional Certification
event on April 24-25.
ICA Associates
Inc. has already gotten the Conference off to a terrific
start by pledging a $12,000.00 sponsorship. We hope to build
on the generosity and leadership of ICA Associates Inc. to
attract other significant sponsors and exhibitors.
The Call for Proposals and the Workshop Proposal Submission
Form are now posted on the IAF North America web site (www.iafna.org).
Proposals must be received by July 1, 2008.
We are aiming to finalize our line-up of workshops by mid-September,
and to publish the final Conference Program by early November.
The IAF global web site (www.iaf-world.org)
has all the information on the process to register and prepare
for the Professional Certification event.
During Conference Week 2009, family members and friends who
are not attending the Conference will be able to enjoy many
off-site activities. And you might also want to consider arriving
early or staying on after Conference Week to experience Vancouver
and British Columbia. By 2009, the city and province will
be humming in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Use
this link (www.HelloBC.com)
for all the information you will need on things to see and
do on Canada’s beautiful west coast.
You can even book your room now at the Sheraton Vancouver
Wall Centre Hotel on-line through the IAF North America web
site (click on the Conference logo, then go to "Hotel
and Travel"). The $169.00 CDN per night rate is a tremendous
bargain for such an excellent facility in the heart of downtown
Vancouver, less than a year before the Olympics.
Registration for the April 21 (evening) to April 23 segment
of the Conference will be available on-line by the end of
June or early July. This includes the Opening and Closing
Celebrations, Short Workshops, and special plenary events.
Registration in the One- and Two Day Training Workshops, that
will take place on April 20-21, will open on November 1.
So, please do save the dates, and plan to join us in Vancouver
for what should be one of the very best IAF North America
Conferences ever. Best wishes.
John Butcher
IAF Canada Regional Representative 2007-2009
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IAF-ANZ.org
Events Calendar
A
new addition to the regional website
We have developed an events
calendar for the Australasian regional website - www.iaf-anz.org.
Facilitation events and training are now being listed. Please
contact Stephen Thorpe to list details of your facilitation
training programme or event.
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Join
The IAF-ANZ Leadership Team Promote
facilitation in your area
We meet monthly (via Skype)
and together tackle many ideas and initiatives to promote
the art and practice of facilitation in our region. To share
your ideas or to find out what is going on, please contact:
Tom Schwarz:
Keith Ryall:
Stephen Thorpe:
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