by Ten Directions
The large multipurpose room in the community college was full – chairs clustered around tables, and it buzzed with the hum of about 100 people saying hello to each other. And, there was an electricity in the room that felt exciting, unpredictable, and somewhat volatile. I was midway through a series of open dialogue meetings
Today, I’d like to share some feedback on an interesting dilemma that’s come across my desk. As you read this, see if you can find in your own experience a moment when this might have been true for you. You might also engage in thinking about your immediate response and whether you’re “listening to fix
Silence. Everyone appears to be staring at me, or the floor. The air feels thick with everything that is not being said, and yet, silence. “I’m curious what’s happening for everyone right now?” I venture. “What’s creating this moment of quiet?” More silence. I let it hang in the air, waiting (hoping) for someone to
Recently we sent out an invitation to you to share a challenging topic or dilemma that you were working with in your facilitation practice. We loved what came back to us – here’s one we felt moved to respond to: “My dilemma is around addressing an overbearing, demanding person who’s not receptive to feedback. Others are
I was speaking to a friend the other day about a facilitative experience they were having with a group of leaders. I can relate to their experience – perhaps you can too? My friend said the session had been “a little rocky”. Here’s a brief summary of the challenge (with an added dose of
Together we can cultivate the culture that is being called for and that we want – Where resilient collectives are fortified in their shared sense of belonging, hold faith in something vast and greater than themselves, prioritize both support and challenge, and celebrate the uniqueness each member brings.
I’d love to share an experience from a few years ago that illuminates how facilitative leadership was used to weave alignment and transform culture and relationships. I was consulting with a large corporation where conflict and tensions were brewing among senior management in three main areas of the organization. Their teams were feeling pressures from
I came to the Next Stage Facilitation program as a yoga teacher and a teacher trainer. As a woman of colour in an industry where I am often the only one in the room, I have become deeply passionate about bringing more diversity to yoga and to reaching more communities and people with the practice
“Ground is the place to go when overwhelmed with thoughts and fears. It can hold our confusion with unwavering presence. We can source the earth’s formidable strength to connect with how these qualities live inside of us. In her timeless gaze, we open to the present; we slow down.” Kelsey Blackwell, Your Body is Your
The Condors “Dead condor chicks have been found with stomachs stuffed with cigarette butts, lighters, and plastic shards. Adult condors forage for bone fragments and calcium-rich shell to feed their babies, but inadvertently find and regurgitate plastics and trash into the mouths of their hungry nestlings, inevitably killing them.”
For the past few years, when it comes to doing any kind of work with teams and organizations, I’ve been increasingly drawn to the emergent and turned off by the planned and premeditated. To me, emergent potential is all about the possibility to disarm, reveal, become unapologetically candid, and fearlessly transparent. It is raw and
Let’s just start where it hurts. My friends and colleagues are worried about the recent push back on cultural progress. So is UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. His line “We must push back against the pushback” resonated with 10,0000+ gender equality leaders at the United Nations in March.
Most of us know how to host others. At gatherings we offer to take coats, pour a drink or two, check in now and then to make sure our guests are comfortable, and then wish everyone well as they head home. We know the feeling of being hosted well, and the immense comfort this focused
