Diversity Requires Empathy
Speaking of tough conversations, I hope you’ll find some thoughts and ideas here on how to manage yourself as the facilitator. Read More...
read more →
Collaboration skills are necessary to facilitation, group leadership, and public engagement at any level. We all work with people. As public sector consultants, we usually find ourselves bringing different groups of people with varying perspectives to work together on common goals. You need to know how to collaborate and how to cause collaboration. Together we are even better. There is a reason why it is our motto. Collaboration is the core of democracy and it’s how big things get done. Here’s some of the latest information we have found on collaboration skills. Thanks for letting us share it with you.
Speaking of tough conversations, I hope you’ll find some thoughts and ideas here on how to manage yourself as the facilitator. Read More...
read more →
An article in the recent issue of Psychology Today addresses how our eyes, gestures and tone put us in synch with each other in ways that online platforms will never duplicate. Like all primates, we’re social creatures and regardless of how effective WebEx, Facetime, Skype, Zoom and the others are ...
read more →
People believe what they choose to believe. For some people choosing means weighing verified, peer-reviewed facts on all sides of issues, and for others it means agreeing with whatever and whoever reinforces how they want to feel. Read More …...
read more →
Eventually we’re going to have to figure out how to talk to, deal with, and work with people that we don’t agree with or maybe even don’t like very much. That’s going to require (re)developing a skillset that feels like we’re losing. I’m seeing more being written about the need ...
read more →
Most meetings and hearings are naturally scheduled evenings when more people are available, which makes perfect sense most of the time. Some time ago it was decided that most government organizations can’t spend taxpayer dollars on even basic refreshments for people who come to these meetings – the ubiquitous cookies ...
read more →
Government agencies are supposed to be the epitome of how a society organizes and authorizes things to be done for the common good, which, although necessary, easily gets out of hand, intimidates constituents, sometimes feels very arrogant and really ticks people off. So one of the dozens of things that ...
read more →
Digital communication has truly transformed public participation but it’s not an automatic or comprehensive solution to working with the public. It does not solve everything. Thus, it is important to choose your digital tools wisely in order to promote the collaborative process.
When I look at ...
read more →
OK, let’s just say really good facilitation. If you’re looking for some tried, true and methodical suggestions for handling groups, we think you’ll find this useful.
Being called an expert in anything always sounds a little blustery, but developing real expertise is always an honorable goal. Expert vs. expertise...
read more →
OK, so this may not be the most politically correct headline for a blog today, but I will stand by it. For over 20 years, before cell phones made the effort moot, Ma Bell and later AT&T used this slogan to get people to call long distance. It turns out ...
read more →
We’ve talked a lot in past newsletters about the nuances of facilitating groups toward conclusions, but we haven’t yet said much about the first order of business – getting people to actually show up. If they’re already mad at you, it’s pretty easy. But, otherwise, just because your little gathering ...
read more →