2014 Gathering - Facilitation Acrobatics Revealed

So, What ARE Facilitation Acrobatics, Anyway?

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The Story

Our Minnesota host group of volunteers first met around a sticky wall in early March.   Quickly, in true Minnesota spirit, we knew that our enthusiasm was for something other than a typical “conference”, sitting in chairs, listening, nodding,etc.  So..how do you begin planning something that hasn't existed?  Aha!  use ToP methods!  Focus Question: what does an 'un-conference' featuring facilitation look like?   And so it went. 
                                                                                               
You will see the resulting 4 day design  'Raising the Big ToP theme: Facilitating Leadership in the Midst  of Diversity and Change" that emerged.  Using the 'circus' theme, there is always a 'Big ToP"...and a central 'big show'...with 'acrobatics'!   Thus...Facilitation Acrobatics jumped into center ring.

  • Saturday  January 11-- Imaginative facilitation going on in 12 'tents' - each 'tent with facilitation teams who begin working in August to design "(from wikipedia)  extraordinary feats of balance, agility and (facilitation) coordination".  Each participant experiencing one topic all morning, a second topic all afternoon.   
  • Sunday January 12, experience a 'pull together' of the 12 inquiries in an astonishing pull-together feat  - with two master facilitators working to 'invent' a new process to hold the wisdom, insights - what is emerging where 'participation and voice' is coming into our organizational lives. Each team spent 4 - 6 weeks determining the 'inquiry focus' of their topic...see those in the Facilitation Acrobatics detail.

Our Intentions:

Facilitation Acrobatics Rational Aims - each session will...

  • Ignite innovative facilitation approaches and results
  • Produce clearly expressed results for a pull-together on Sunday morning

Facilitation Acrobatics Experiential aims include:

  • Excitement in the facilitation experience with this new network
  • Re-invigorated hope in the possibility of generating new thinking - it can be done!

Topics:

Change Management:

Focus question:  How do we practice facilitation as a change catalyst?
Change is constant and sometimes intentional.   Organizations, businesses and communities that thrive embrace ever-changing circumstances with a fluency in self-evolution.  As facilitators, we can help clients increase this fluency by connecting their immediate needs to the broader arc of change transforming their situation.  We invite you to join this conversation about how facilitators might move from change-witnesses to change-catalysts.

- Jamie Barrie, M.A., Organizational Change & Effectiveness Manager, Hennepin County Human Resources;  Matt Rezac, CTF,  Sherwood Foundation, Omaha, Kayla Schnuelle, University of Nebraska Rural Futures Institute

Climate Change:  

How can facilitators support change and inspire hope in addressing the climate crisis?

All of us will personally experience the climate crisis as it grows; many of us have experienced it already.  What is our role as ToP practitioners?    Join in as we expand the application of ToP methods to address this crisis and opportunity.

     - Marti Roach, SBC Global;  Elaine Stover, Green Schemes, North Carolina;  Rachel Hefte; Minneapolis

Community Development:

All policies, plans and initiatives eventually get implemented at the Community level. The five foundational ToP methods and many other ToP methods can drive local implementation and this is what community development is all about. Discover scores of ways that ToP is used to plan organize and implement powerful community initiatives that change lives. By virtue of your ToP expertise, you ARE a CD practitioner. Expand your practice!!

- Seva Gandhi, ICA USA, Dawn Newman CTF, Educator, American Indian Community Economics Community Vitality Center,  University of Minnesota Extension University of Minnesota Extension,  Bill Staples, ICA Associates Inc. Canada, author of Transforming Strategy & Publisher of the IAF Journal

Conflict:

Conflict is challenging on many levels - What is its source? What is the experience of it? What is the significance of conflict in our facilitation and consulting work? Join us for an exploration on the dynamics of conflict, in which we identify entry points and hybrid models in ToP methodology from which we can better meet the needs of clients experiencing conflict.

- Sherry Johnson, Side by Side Associates, St. Paul, Minnesota;  Catherine Tornbom, Principal,  Interfuse Associates, Tucson, Arizona

Corporate:

Vision > Strategy . Successful Organizations

All Organizations encounter barriers to success!  We will explore how ToP methodologies along with other facilitation tools and techniques are helping companies to be more strategic.  This session won't be full of corporate stuffiness and board room boredom!

In this session we will share:

  • Successes using Strategic Planning
  • Over-Saturation concerns
  • How culture can be changed
  • Selling the value proposition of Strategic Planning and ToP

ToP in its low-tech manner is helping high technology companies and industry leading organizations strive for the next level!

- Facilitators:  Jennifer Johnson and Kristi Olson,  HR, Medtronic Corporation

Diversity

Understanding our own biases and embracing diversity in our management of facilitation. A hands on, participatory session using personal experiences and case studies.

- Facilitators:  John Epps: Director, LENS International; Malaysia, Adjunct faculty, University of Maryland Graduate School.  Beverly Scow: CTF, Assistant Director, Wise Women Gathering Place, Green Bay WI

Education:

Education will be the deciding factor in the success of future generations of children. Considering the enormous challenges that the educational arena faces, how can ToP facilitate the conversation among diverse stakeholders facing tough issues to move from dialogue to action?  Join us for a participatory conversation and action planning session in which you will generate plans that you can implement in your personal context or in your organization.

--Carolyn Evans,  PH.D, CC Evans Consulting,; Paula Forbes, Esq., Forbes Solutions, LLC; Jill H. Wood, PH.D. , Office of Human Resources, University of Missouri

Information Technology:

Information technology (IT) projects often fail to achieve the desired outcomes due to the inability to align people, process and technology.  ToP methods can make the critical difference in gaining stakeholder buy-in essential throughout the life cycle of the project.  This is an opportunity rich environment often overlooked by ToP facilitators.

Join us to explore the skills you already have that are valuable to IT project success.  If you have experience in this area, bring it.  If you don’t, leave behind your fear of insufficient IT subject matter expertise.  This session will be a participatory exploration of ways and IT project life cycle stages where ToP can heighten understanding, increase clarity, calm fears and build bridges between business and technical teams.

--Reine Kassulker, Hennepin County Information Technology;  Nileen Verbeten,CTF

Government:

Top Methods in Government – the good, bad, and ugly – and what works
We will explore the use of Top in government agencies, identifying challenges, tips and tools to try, and how to use ToP effectively for

  • Accountability and results
  • Building a facilitation cadre and peer mentoring system
  • Using technology effectively
  • Fold in cultivating support for facilitation, dealing with discomfort of newness of ToP, keeping it fresh, helping the documentation fit government formats

 

--Valerie Howard, MSW, Deputy Director, Income Maintenance;  State of Missouri;  Heidi Kolbe, Kolbe Company:  CTF,  James Mara,  CTF, Senior Planner, Hennepin County Human Services & Public Health

Public Health:

 This session will analyze trends and future projections in public health to discern “What changes are we experiencing?  How can ToP be 'systems support' and get ahead of the curve to develop tools to meet the needs of the future?"

Deb Burnight CTF,  Prairie River Partners; Jane Schadle, Office for Healthy Communities, Iowa Dept of Public Health, Brigid Riley, MPH, B.E. Riley Consulting

Youth as Facilitative Leaders

Youth/Adult Partnerships and Facilitative Leadership!  We’ve been talking about this for the last 20 years.  So…what’s new? – new insights – new case studies -  new directions?  Join us for this deep dive.

Rebecca Gilgen, CTF,  E.D. Brooklyn Bridge  Alliance for Youth, Brooklyn Center, MN;  Pam McBride, Director Minneapolis Youth Congress - Youth Coordinating Board, Minneapolis, MN

Virtual Facilitation and Social Media Applications

Focus Question: What are key components and optimal conditions for effective virtual facilitation?

As change agents, ToP Facilitators are constantly looking for ways to broaden their influence, to engage more people, and to leverage new technologies that are easily accessible, inexpensive and suitable for ToP methods. This session will demonstrate the capabilities of Google Hangout and the integration of various social media applications for effective virtual facilitation. The participants (session attendees) will take part in the Virtual Consensus Building workshop, where they will be able to share their insights on what constitutes an effective group process online.

Session Facilitators: Irina Fursman and Svitlana Salamatova

 
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