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
Side conversations: The gift they give facilitators Posted by Steve Ray on October 17, 2018 in Facilitation, Management Gems, Working as an independent facilitator, 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: Read more
7 Tips to make your life easier as a leader Posted by Sarah Norton on September 12, 2018 in Working as an independent facilitator, Do you feel the need to be nice? Trying to achieve great results and enjoy productive relationships at work can be a tough balancing act, especially when you need to save time and money. Take heart – you can make things easier for both you and your team! A key factor is emotional resilience, when you apply […] Read more
How collaborating literally changed lives for the better Posted by Ed McKinley on August 2, 2018 in Working as an independent facilitator, Five years ago, the Department of Human Services was seeking tenders for a new approach to service delivery to young and pregnant mums who were a part of the Out of Home Care system. Their research found that a very high percentage of the next generation end up in the same situation. So they developed […] Read more
Why I love supervision Posted by Ed McKinley on July 4, 2018 in Working as an independent facilitator, Here’s a beaut story from Andrea Curran-Bennett, a manager in the disability arena. This is her take on the challenges of leading others and (beware: plug for us ahead) why she likes our training in supervising skills: “I stepped into a leadership role six years ago. Part of that was supporting and managing people; I knew […] 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
Practice these core facilitation skills anywhere! Posted by Ed McKinley on January 24, 2018 in Facilitation, Try these 5 simple skills that you can use anywhere to assist you with engaging others. Generate greater ownership of the process and commitment to successful outcomes. Read more
From desire to go deeper to benchmark facilitation training Posted by Ed McKinley on December 13, 2017 in Facilitation, Working as an independent facilitator, How our Advanced Groupwork Facilitation Course came to be Our co-founder Glen Ochre long harboured a passion for working with people at a deeper level, over an extended period of time. Glen was a great cook; she would take recipe books and magazines to bed and conjure up meals that looked nothing like the originals, but were specco. […] Read more
6 Tips for scribing: A key facilitation skill Posted by Ed McKinley on November 29, 2017 in Working as an independent facilitator, It’s powerful for people to have their input written up for all to see. Visually sharing input in a meeting helps you sort priorities, include everyone and create an accurate record of the process. 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
Groupness: A facilitator’s guide to helping a group connect Posted by Steve Ray on August 10, 2017 in Facilitation, Working as an independent facilitator, We all LONG to hang out with other people. We just can’t help it. It’s locked into our DNA. We are social animals, and being a part of a group in some way is just a healthy survival imperative. Naturally, some of us are more gregarious than others, however even if we like to be […] 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
