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Groupwork Centre Blog articles categorised 'Management Gems'

The power of group agreements

Posted by Jim Buckell on December 13, 2021 in Facilitation, Facilitation resources, Management Gems, Working well with others,

Group agreements are a powerful tool we use to help people work well together. We encourage groups to spend some time formulating agreements and to refer to them regularly as a reminder of the importance of getting along. Items they come up with might be as simple as punctuality or not talking over each other. […]

The top five things that go wrong in meetings and how to fix them

Posted by Jim Buckell on July 26, 2021 in Facilitation, Facilitation resources, Management Gems, Working well with others,

Meetings matter. It’s here we bring people together to make decisions, set directions and find out what’s going on. Alongside their role as an engine room that drives our organisation or team, meetings are also places where we establish and maintain the culture of the group. If that culture is troubled, inevitably tensions surface when […]

Double strength – a guide to co-facilitation

Posted by Jim Buckell on June 19, 2021 in Facilitation, Facilitation resources, Management Gems, Working well with others,

Explore beyond ‘just managing’ – give your team the awareness and tools to work well together, to arrive at better outcomes and enjoy doing it.

How to deal with time pressure in your meeting

Posted by J Liddy on January 22, 2020 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working as an independent facilitator,

Informal office setting with windows, two women sitting in chairs looking up at a man entering the room with a stressed look on his face

Get the feeling you’ll need to race through everything to cover the agenda? Show leadership with this simple action.

Great leaders are actually just really good facilitators

Posted by Justine McSweeney on July 19, 2019 in Facilitation, Management Gems,

Five women and men standing in a semicircle as part of a group, dressed in informal business clothes and smiling

“Despite some initial cynicism she reported back that the turnaround in their meetings was remarkable… and swift.” Here’s how you can collaborate effectively…

7 skills you need to lead … and avoid burnout

Posted by Ed McKinley on June 20, 2019 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

1 woman and 2 men in informal business clothes, seated in a circular curve, smilling, in an office environment

If you have consistent patterns of tension or under-performance, you could be part of the problem. Avoid wasting time and emotional energy with effective leadership.

Want to transform your triggers into useful actions? Try Sociodrama

Posted by Sarah Norton on May 2, 2019 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working well with others,

Butterfly looking directly at you on the edge of a leaf about to take off

Here’s how you can use a group process to replay those moments of pressure or threat and create new and wiser ways to respond. Limited places for our safe, profound, intense and satisfying two-day masterclass.

Free Webinar: How to create a bold and dynamic team Tue 23/4 at 12.30pm

Posted by Steve Ray on April 17, 2019 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Three people seated in a workshop room, leaning back and not looking at each other

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9 Common listening mistakes that sabotage your collaboration

Posted by Sarah Norton on March 19, 2019 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Big blank brick wall, painted dull blue with a plain grey border

Serious about leading or working collaboratively? If you’re falling into these common traps, you’re stopping people from feeling heard. Here’s how you can improve connection and performance, simply by listening.

Hearable Messages

Posted by Ed McKinley on January 24, 2019 in Management Gems, Working as an independent facilitator, Working well with others,

Aerial view of 9 pots in three rows with dark, rich soil and small green plants growing in them

Too often people default to being overly gentle and indirect when giving critical feedback. Then if that doesn’t work, they can flip over into being bossy. We suggest you try giving a hearable message instead with these key steps.

Interview: Turning pain and suffering into kindness and empathy

Posted by Sarah Norton on November 14, 2018 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

“A compelling life story, beautifully told.” Rosie Batty Glen Ochre had a tough, wild and courageous life. Here’s a link to an ABC radio interview with her partner Ed McKinley, Co-founder of the Groupwork Centre, about her and the story she wrote before she died. Raised deep in the bush of central New South Wales, […]

Side conversations: The gift they give facilitators

Posted by Steve Ray on October 17, 2018 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working as an independent facilitator,

Classroom with 4 12-year-old students. A girl is whispering into the ear of another girl while two boys in the background are chatting with each other

Address the vexing problem of side conversations in groups without shaming …That’s a mental shift that YOU have to make first as a facilitator. Here’s how:

The power of YES: 3 Tips to responding when you disagree

Posted by Steve Ray on June 14, 2018 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Mediaeval knight in full armour brandishing a sword and shield

How much do you protect yourself and your opinion? When you experience resistance to your ideas, it can be an opportunity to connect and explore.

Who’s afraid of supervising? 4 Questions to ask yourself

Posted by Ed McKinley on June 1, 2018 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Black-faced sheep looking directly at you between two wooden fence palings

You don’t need to treat your staff like sheep. Use structured time and a process to reflect on their practice, take on feedback, test out ideas and work through issues.

How to turbo-charge the connection in your group

Posted by Nancy Nuñez on May 4, 2018 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working well with others,

In a meeting room, two seated people, a man and a woman are looking at each other, while another woman stands between them, trying to intervene in their frowning interaction

All groups are challenged by the stuff that comes up between the people in them. Whenever a group is doing a task, your need for recognition can play out in less than helpful ways. Opinions and ideas become precious things to protect or argue for … and when the stakes and passion run high, generating a […]

Here’s how a leader refused to make rules and found success

Posted by Steve Ray on April 12, 2018 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Ants on a gum leaf; the leader ant is looking ahead but also looking at the team

People often ask: ‘How do we adapt to a new environment without losing our culture or sliding away from the principles that have made our workplace the preferred place to work?’ Our co-founder Glen Ochre was a big fan of this maverick boss, Ricardo Semler from South America. He is a quirky and successful example […]

Giving a hearable message after an ‘incident’

Posted by Ed McKinley on November 9, 2017 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working well with others,

Do you ever reflect on the effectiveness of your communication? Looking back on what happened can help you with a way forward. We ask participants of our Advanced Diploma of Group Facilitation to log reflections on their facilitation and collaboration experiences. It’s a simple yet effective way to crystallise your learnings and gain a greater […]

Tiger hearts: How you win a flag with groupwork

Posted by Holly Stanton on October 11, 2017 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Everyone wants to know how they did it – and there’s been analysis of their player list, game plan and on-field performance. I’ve been more intrigued by the club’s focus on building stronger relationships between the coach and the players.

Deep listening: Going beyond a technique…

Posted by Steve Ray on May 4, 2017 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working well with others,

Are you truly listening? Or is there something going on for you which is undermining your support of this person speaking to you?

Standing Tall

Posted by Ed McKinley on March 2, 2017 in Management Gems, Working well with others,

Given events swirling around us, we feel the need to stand taller, become bolder and act with greater compassion than ever before… I was particularly moved by a message I received from Simon Clough, an old mate from northern NSW. Here is what he shared with me: Very concerning is the emergence of the “post […]

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