From an interview with my dear friend Peggy Holman on enhancing creative leadership: Q: What is one practice that people could start applying today to bring more creativity into their work or their business ”¨organization? Holman: If I were to pick on practice that is simple to apply and powerful in its affect, I’d say: welcome disturbance by asking questions of possibility. Creativity often shows up in a cloak of disruption. It makes sense when you stop and think about it. If there were no disruption, there’d be no reason for change. And change opens the door to creativity. Great …
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A basic diagram for hosting questions that create extraordinary conversations. In the life of organizations and communities there are times when questions arise that just can’t be dealt with in the regular course of events. This is often when those of us who are consulting facilitators are brought into an organization. We are often told that “we have reached a place where we need a facilitator to help.” Usually there is an obvious need or purpose stated right in the first few sentences of the phone call or the email. This is something that consultants like us have to bear …
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I’ve been thinking on similar lines; it’s quite tempting to write stuff about faciliation to guide the “leader”… but maybe it would be more powerful to write for the participants. Steve, in fact, goes ahead and does this, suggesting 12 Acts of Courage to Change Meetings for Good. via Johnnie Moore’s Weblog: Facilitation for participants. Yes indeed Johnnie, and I see this as fundamental to the invitation process, so that participants know what they are getting into.
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I have great clients. Most of the people who end up working with me do so because they want to work in radically more participatory ways, opening up processes to more voices, more leadership. In conference settings this means scheduling much more dialogue or running the whole thing using Open Space Technology and dispensing with pre-loading content. But there persists, especially in the corporate and government sectors, a underlying nervousness in doing this. common objections to making things more participatory include: It’s too risky We’re not ready for it I’m worried it won’t work There won’t be enough structure People …
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Bob Stilger on “decision happening” rather than “decision making:” I’d add to what John has written by introducing the concept of “decision happening” rather than “decision making.” It is a term I coined a decade ago and am reminded of from time to time. Decision happening uses collective discernment to discover the decision that is happening before our very eyes. It has a very different energy than “decision making.” There is a curiosity. It has an openness and a sense of inquiry rather than a driving quickly towards a given decision. It invites the participation of spirit, non-material beings, the …