An alternative to African aid
3 October 2007Having just returned from working in Africa – Uganda to be precise – I was very interested to hear this TED talk by Andrew Mwenda.
More Japanese inspiration
3 October 2007Anyone who reads this blog will know that I’ve written recently about the extraordinary similarities between Aikido (a Japenese martial art) and facilitation; and Haiku poetry as a reflection process. And today I discover Pecha Kucha (which literally means 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide) – learn more and see a demo by Daniel…
Facilitation in Armenia
16 September 2007I’ve just finished a week’s work in Armenia working with folk who are trying to encourage community engagement, citizenship and social accountability in a post-Communist environment. it was an interesting and challenging experience. Some impressions on Armenia. I have absolutely NO IDEA how the pedestrian crossing system works in Yerevan (the capital) – green lights…
Inconsequential
7 September 2007So – here I am in Armenia – a mere 42 hours travelling from my own little bit of paradise overlooking the southern ocean to a land-locked country on the other side of the planet – and feeling somewhat fuzzy-headed. Some would say (probably quite rightly!) – “why on earth are you writing in your…
Volunteering & Complexity & Story
20 August 2007Over the last couple of years I’ve been working with Victorian local and State Governments on the future of volunteering – so this project on the Future of Volunteering looks interesting. Not the least because it’s using narrative research processes, tools and proprietary software Sensemaker TM developed by Cognitive Edge to explore an issue of…
Are we really in control of our thoughts & actions?
16 August 2007There was a really interesting article in the July 7 issue of New Scientist, written by UK writer, Mark Buchanan. It’s all about human behaviours and what influences what we do – the premise being that humans, like other animals, are influenced by their environment and by routines, meaning that a lot of behaviour can…
Why are we afraid of story?
1 August 2007Storytelling, I think, is a part of being human. We hear stories, tell stories and make sense of the world through stories. So why are some of us so afraid of stories? Here’s a conversation I had this week. Me: We’ll provide an opportunity for folk to tell a short story about something positive that’s…
Aikido
25 July 2007Wow! I’m at an Asian Facilitation Conference in Malaysia and today attended a session on Kensankai Aikido Dojo. Aikido is a Japanese martial art, focusing on peace and harmony, using minimal strength and agression. We learned about presence and welcoming and centring and deflecting and movement and responding and blending techniques (enetering and turning). This…
The world needs more facilitators – AND improvisers!
13 July 2007I was checking out Dave Pollard’s prolific blog and came across this. He’s describing 12 of the most important areas of expert consensus about the next pandemic: Resilience, practice and improvisation skills are more critical than good planning in a pandemic: Redundant systems, people who have been through emergency situations or rehearsals, excellent, evidence-based decision-making…