Insights From the Field

by Ten Directions

Insights, essays, perspectives, and lessons learned while working in the field of facilitative leadership. Authors include our staff, as well as guest contributors.

Featured Articles

blog
Rebecca Colwell

“I felt threatened….”

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

blog
Rebecca Colwell

Facilitator’s Dilemma: Owning our mistakes

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

All Articles

Cultural mastery is the new frontier for project management

For most of my career I’ve been involved in the Project and Program Management fields. In 2002, I attended the first PMI Certified Project Management program at the University of British Columbia, and following that I earned numerous certifications in that discipline—from PMI, Agile, and Scrum to Queen’s University Project Leadership Certification and Negotiation and

Facilitator as Space-holder Or Conduit for Group Energy?

For the past ten years, my work as a facilitator has primarily focused on diverse groups where multiple stakeholders need to come together around a shared purpose—often large international non-profits or multiple organizations. A year ago, I had a client situation where two people had an intense conflict during a gathering I was facilitating and

Courage
Lauren Tenney

Facilitation can set you free

When I facilitate, I’m usually scared. Excited, curious, engaged. But definitely also scared. Scared of being obtuse and failing to deliver what the group needs. Scared I’ll offend someone. Scared something will happen that I can’t handle and I’ll freeze, revealing my incompetence. In short, I’m scared I’ll get booed right off the stage. Standing

Collaboration
Rebecca Colwell

Meeting Complexity with Receptivity

Recently I have been facilitating a group of 22 leaders that is about to begin a major transformative process. A newly configured team, they are coming together via a recent integration of three different organizations to collaborate on an organizational renewal strategy to move into the next era. When we first met, what immediately struck

Collaboration
Lauren Tenney

This idea should die

Is there an idea that you think should be taken out of circulation? A commonly held notion that’s holding us back, that’s outdated, or that you wish would just fade out of use, to be replaced by a more helpful idea? I’m asking (sincerely) because of a podcast I recently enjoyed that was focused on

authentic leadership
Rebecca Colwell

Being a Tuning Fork for Collective Intelligence

An excerpt from “Will the Next Buddha be a Sangha? Responding to the Call to Influence the Future of Collaboration” published in Integral Leadership Review, January-February 2015 In the early 2000s I was retained to lead a cross-border merger integration project for a major utility. This was an extremely challenging and emotionally intense experience for the

agility
Lauren Tenney

Availability—Inviting the “bigness” of you

“When you can relate to the present moment, make choices and distinctions, and bring those into the collective—that is where the facilitative and the leadership role really meet. When that happens, you’re able to help a group have the capacity to relate to presence and be available to what is emerging. That’s the interface that

adaptive leadership
Rebecca Colwell

Facilitative Leadership: Inner Evolution for Social Revolution

“The opposite of Love is not Hate; it’s indifference.” – Elie Wiesel Last month, I wrote about The Awakened Takeover. Which is another way of saying I *dared* to articulate my deep intention and publish it for the world to see. And now…it has me by it’s teeth. In it, I included this call to

authentic leadership
Rebecca Colwell

The Awakened Takeover: A Manifesto

If what you do every day is somehow trying to close the gap between the human condition and human potential, then you are already participating. We are so aware of the many complex challenges unfolding on a global scale—rifts in how we get along, as well as disturbing patterns in how we are treating each

adaptive leadership
Rebecca Colwell

What does Adaptive Leadership have to do with avoiding a T-Rex?

Last night I learned something I didn’t expect to learn about leadership from watching The Lost World: Jurassic Park. This lesson comes from an old adage: “Never bring home an injured baby Tyrannosaurus Rex.” First, replay this gripping scene in your mind’s eye: It was a dark and stormy night. Scientist Julianne Moore warned activist

Collaboration
Rebecca Colwell

The mindset of collaboration: The one thing you can’t fit in a wagon

Like most kids, when I was a little girl I eagerly anticipated the transition from school to the freedom of summer. But the real highlight for me was the opportunity to travel up the hill to the public library (much more mysterious and shadowy than our protestant elementary school library) once a week to select

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