9 Common listening mistakes that sabotage your collaboration Posted by Sarah Norton on March 19, 2019 in Management Gems, Working well with others, 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. Read more
Hearable Messages Posted by Ed McKinley on January 24, 2019 in Management Gems, Working as an independent facilitator, Working well with others, 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. Read more
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, […] Read more
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, 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. Read more
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, 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. Read more
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, 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 […] Read more
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, 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 […] Read more
Hateful comments: Defensive or Curious? Posted by Steve Ray on March 27, 2018 in Working as an independent facilitator, Working well with others, You could read a million books, but they will all be flotsam and jetsam in the wake of the state that we’re automatically transformed into when accosted by a hateful attack. Read more
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 […] Read more
Group culture: The magic of facilitating group agreements Posted by Steve Ray on October 27, 2017 in Facilitation, Working as an independent facilitator, Working well with others, “How can we work well together?” Last year, we worked with a group of IT professionals who were blown away by our use of group agreements when working with a group for the first time. Many of them had specialist technical expertise, but didn’t have the skills to work well in their project groups. Their […] Read more
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. Read more
What do you say to them? Our top 5 tips to starting with a new group Posted by Ed McKinley on September 27, 2017 in Facilitation, Working as an independent facilitator, Working well with others, You’ve been asked to facilitate a group. How do you make an engaging start? The way you begin can put people off participating before you have even got to your intro activity. You want people to be actively present, contribute with confidence and to listen to understand others in this group, but how? No pressure, […] Read more
3 Deeper traps to avoid at your next meeting Posted by Ed McKinley on June 21, 2017 in Facilitation, Working as an independent facilitator, Working well with others, There’s a lot of benefit to be gained in digging a bit deeper into why you may be finding your meetings frustrating. People instantly get it when we encourage structure around meetings by emphasising the importance of Beginning, Middle, End and allowing enough time. But we’re often met with some surprise at our emphasis on […] Read more
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? Read more
The Power of Noticing and Naming Posted by Steve Ray on April 12, 2017 in Facilitation, Working well with others, Sometimes we have stuff going on in our lives that gnaws away at our equanimity. We’re driving along feeling OK and then we remember ‘that thing’ – an unresolved issue in our life which sits like some kind of boulder inside of us, and which we desperately wish wasn’t there. Sometimes taking the step […] Read more
Staying grounded is a workplace martial art Posted by Uschi Steedman on March 14, 2017 in Working well with others, Many of us have had exposure to professional training, but one area often overlooked is emotional resilience. We believe it fundamentally underpins our capacity to act professionally… and wisely. How effectively has your training helped you with your capacity to deal with all the challenges your work throws up? Working with people, we’re often faced […] Read more
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 […] Read more
7 Steps for Emotional Intelligence/Resilience Posted by Steve Ray on July 25, 2016 in Management Gems, Working well with others, How easily can you pick yourself up after a big emotional experience? How easy do you find it to have ‘challenging conversations’, especially when there is high risk involved? Do you manage to be true to yourself, your values, beliefs and needs? And say what you need to say or do what you need to do? Read more
