Former Senator Janet Rice shared how collaboration, consensus, and good facilitation can make politics – and any group – work better together.

“What  is it like to work in a different country?” I’ve always wondered that since I was a kid.

Impartiality.  Facilitators hear that word and - usually - know that it’s one of the keys in your job when working with groups; an independent voice, someone without bias or any skin in the game who can help a group do great work together.  With an impartial facilitator, a group can collectively participate once they feel confident that the dynamics within the room, whether related to people’s roles or status, or knowledge etc, will fall under the watchful eye of the facilitator, there for the whole group.  

We are living at a time where the rush to judge, cancel and isolate each other is being supercharged through the algorithms of social media.

In the many years I’ve been a facilitator, I have always found the process of creating group agreements the most important cornerstone for any group that wants to do good work together. Any group that has made time to generate agreements, and that’s had the conversations that explore the different needs of everyone in the group, has already practised collaboration and experienced the power that diversity brings to a group.

Fundraising campaign exceeds expectations by Henry Fowkes

That’s the magic of facilitation.

Jim Buckell muses on how his background as a journalist influenced his approach to group work

Jim Buckell foreshadows a major work on the Community of Selves and how you can contribute.

Is your project or team stuck? Virginia Gough shares tips on how to run effective team meetings and how to get past ‘stuckness’.

A common trap for many of us who lead or facilitate groups is to become so fixated on getting through the agenda, and so enthralled in talking about a topic, that we forget to read the room and check how engaged people are.

And so we are truly excited to be able to officially welcome some new faces to Groupwork Centre in 2025.  All have been at one time, participants of our long facilitation course, stretching right back to 2001.  Each of them brings unique experience, ideas and perspectives with them

As facilitators, we play a vital role in fostering inclusive environments where all participants feel empowered to contribute in ways that are comfortable and meaningful for them. Inclusion means ensuring that everyone—regardless of their background, ethnicity, identity, sexuality, role, status, or abilities—feels heard, seen, and valued.

Inspired by Brené Brown, Jim Buckell dug deep to explore his values. He found a quick way to identify his key values and call them up when needed