After ten years at US$125,the cost of standard membership in the IAF has increased as of 1 June, 2008 to US$175 per year, and there a number of new membership categories as well.

In her announcement, Former Chair Eunice Shankland noted:

• The Regular membership, now called Classic, will be $175 with discount options for multi-year signup

• We have added a category for retirees - $125.

• We will continue to maintain discounts for developing countries and full-time students- $85

• Those who join through affiliates - $165.

• In 2004, 40 members signed up as sustaining members. The Board has decided to continue that option for those of us who would like to make a long-term commitment to IAF - $1200.

The 11th Annual IAF Asia Facilitators conference will be held on 27-28 August in Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia. The venue is the Damai Puri Resort & Spa, Teluk Penyuk p yuk Santubong.

Several facilitators from Australia and New Zealand are leading workshops at the conference including Tom Schwarz, Jill Chivers, Michelle Howard and Sheryl Smail. Click here for more conference details.

Sarawak is Malaysia's largest state, endowed with one of the world's richest and most diverse ecosystem. Sarawak's ancient rainforest canopies, the world's largest flower, the Rafflesia; squirrels and snakes that can glide through the air, mouse deer the size of kittens, pitcher plants that eat insects and even relish the occasional small mammal. In fact, there are countless species of flora and fauna, yet to be discovered.

The closing date for part 1 of the CPF process is 31 August. Get your application in and begin collecting your evidence today.

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.

Click here to read about other facilitators journeys to attain their CPF designations.

The IAF Forum is up and running again. After a shaky start with several challenges with several different email servers it is now running in digest mode. There are 3 options for viewing posted messages online, daily digest, and weekly digest. To setup your forum to receive the daily digest. Log into www.iaf-forum.org and go to My Profile. Select Edit Options from the list on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down the centre of the page to the section titled Messaging & Notification. In that section, make sure your Default Thread Subscription Mode is set to Daily Email Notification.

Topics included in the forum are a general facilitation forum that anyone can join, a forum for IAF members, a Spanish language forum, and forums for different sub- groups, such as the board, cpf organisers, regions, and projects. Many thanks go to Tammy Adams and her team of supporters in bringing the forum into being. Check out the forum, join in a conversation or start one of your own.

As a group facilitator, you'll want to join the Forum so you can...

• Network and Grow. Interact with other facilitators world-wide both IAF members and non-members alike to grow in your professional knowledge. If you're already a user of the GRP-FACL List Serv, this will be a continuation of the moderated discussions being held there, with newer collaboration technology that's easy to use.

• Participate in Member Issues and Ideas. If you've already joined the IAF, you'll be able to interact with other IAF members and leadership about IAF association topics of interest and suggest improvements to your IAF.

• Learn about and Share Upcoming Events. Find out what's happening in the facilitation community by checking the Event Calendar. As an IAF member, you will be able to post events and view events that have been posted by others that will benefit the facilitation community at large.

• Find Job Opportunities. As an IAF member you can post and view for pay and pro bono facilitation opportunities in the Find a Job Opportunity forum.

Join in the discussion on the Group Facilitation Forum now!

For those members who may not know much about the IAF Journal, it is a multi-disciplinary publication focused on sharing the art and science of group facilitation. As the new Editor I plan to continue the Journal's tradition of advancing the knowledge of group facilitation and its implications for individuals, groups, organizations, and communities.

One of the wonderful things about being on the Journal Editorial Board is receiving submissions. So if you are interested in making a submission I can send you a copy of our Call for Papers that covers a lot of the information most people ask, or you can email me your submission directly to .

We are currently looking to fulfil a few volunteer roles on the Editorial Board. We are looking for a second Associate Editor, an Advertising Coordinator, a Conference Proceedings Editor, and we are always looking for people who would like to review articles, so let me know if you would be interested in helping your fellow facilitators with improving their articles.

Issue #8 is currently available for download from the IAF website. Issue #8 has a number of interesting articles: A Report on the 2006 Survey of Australian Facilitators; Examining the Effect of Marginal Members in Information Sharing Groups; The Effects of Group Size and Decision Type on Decision-making Tasks and The Use and Documentation of Facilitation Techniques. There are three books also reviewed in the issue The Change Handbook, The Art of Facilitation and, Coaching in Depth.

Issue #9 is due out this December and there are some impressive articles to be included. The journal's policy is to publish each article as their review are complete so there are a couple of articles that you can download from Issue #9 already: From a meeting to a learning community by Sibrenne Wagenaar and Joitske Hulsebosch and Evaluating Group Interventions: A Framework for Diagnosing, Implementing, and Evaluating Group Interventions by Jacob de Lichtenberg and Manuel London

Contact me if you are interested in submitting an article, or taking on one of the leadership opportunities on the Journal Editorial Board. If you haven't done so already, download and check out Issue #8 today.

Best regards, Stephen Thorpe
Editor-in-Chief
Group Facilitation Journal

www.albany.edu/cpr/gf/gfj

This highly relevant new book focuses on workplace bullying, is written by New Zealand-based IAF member Hadyn Olsen, and is published by WAVE Publishing. Easy to read and learn from, this book is a useful resource for all group facilitators, team leaders, employers, human resources personnel, and workplace managers faced with challenging staff members. It provides a guide not only for dealing with problems but for creating a culture of respect, dignity and safety for workplaces.

Describing typical workplace bullying situations and their remediation, Hadyn Olsen offers clear strategies for identifying when behaviour is bullying. He defines strategies for eradicating bullying behaviour from the top down; a pathway for implementing the strategy for the good of the whole organisation and a strategy to ensure that bullying behaviour does not become a part of the workplace again.

For more details see www.wave.org.nz.

Membership total at 1 August = 76

I have been quite interested in following the recent debate about leadership on the Australasian Facilitators Network e-list. Leadership appears in many ways to be a rather simple yet complex thing, with a range of views and assumptions in it's description. I thought I'd share this link to a thought provoking article by Otto Scharmer on deeper dimensions of leadership and transformational change. I found to be really interesting.

www.theoryu.com/documents/Uncovering_the_blind_spot_of_leadership.pdf

Otto Scharmer is a senior lecturer at MIT and has recently written the Theory U book and has a chapter in Presence by Peter Senge.

Reading this article helped me articulate some ideas and stimulated some re-thinking around my understanding of leadership and its role in facilitating change in groups and organisations.

Best regards,
Stephen Thorpe