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Dear Daryl,
Sitting and talking about our individual and collective businesses, we discussed the topic of the value of newsletters as a medium for sharing, learning and building a sense of community.
We decided to edit a newsletter for people interested in facilitation. This is the result — our very first issue.
We'll strive to provide informative, relevant, and interesting content bi-monthly.
We'd really like to hear your thoughts, comments, and recommendations about the content of this and future issues. We also invite you to contribute articles or be a guest editor. Please contact us.
We hope you enjoy reading!
— Daryl, Gillian and Kimbra
Storytelling and the Poetry of Rumi
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, There is a field. I’ll meet you there. — Rumi
These words by 13th Century mystic and poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, speak directly to how I want to be in the world and the type of space I want to create as a facilitator.
I discovered Rumi only 18 months ago. I became immersed in his poems which inquire into our relatedness to each other, the world and ourselves. Since then, The Essential Rumi, a translation by renowned poet Coleman Barks, has been by my bedside, and The Love Poems of Rumi, also translated by Coleman Barks, is in the bag I take with me everywhere.
As last year was the 800th anniversary of Rumi’s birth, there were many celebratory events worldwide. Melbourne hosted whirling dervishes, renowned translator of Rumi poetry, Coleman Barks and a ‘speaker of Rumi’, Ashley Ramsden.
Seeing and hearing Ashley speak Rumi's poems to the accompaniment of a local guitarist he had met just that day, was a transformative experience. He moved us to laughter and tears and I immediately signed up for his 'Speaking Rumi' workshop. In the workshop, Ashley used Rumi as a vehicle to teach us how to use a broad range of expression in voice and body as well as silence. We were enriched as presenters and as human beings!
So, I am very excited about hosting the Melbourne leg of Ashley's current tour. His performances and workshops will delight anyone who loves words and the many ways they can be voiced and embodied.
Ashley will also launch a book written by Nancy Mellon with Ashley Ramsden. “Body Eloquence – The Power of Myth and Story to Awaken the Body’s Energies’. www.bodyeloquence.com.
Ashley's Melbourne schedule is outlined below. I hope to see you.
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Tips and Techniques
How to Mix and Mingle: An Introductory Activity
People like to know who else is in the room, something about them - it is an essential part of building rapport and trust. So, it's important
to spend time introducing people to one another.
The following is an interesting and engaging introductory activity used at the opening of the Facilitation One Day Wonder in September, 2008. I first saw it demonstrated by John Batros at a VFN meeting in 2006. I call 'Mix and Mingle'.
Steps
- Ask everyone to stand in an open space that will allow them to move around – mix and mingle.
- Invite everyone to find someone in the room they don’t know and when they find a partner, for each person to finish the first statement below. Each person answers the statement and then the pair goes on to introduce themselves and to get to know the other person.
- Repeat using the following statements at about 2 minutes each.
» On my way here today I was thinking ...
» My interest in (the meeting topic) is ...
» My hopes for today are ...
Tips
- Debrief if you wish once everyone is back in the circle. I design the last question to be one to be debriefed e.g., to collect the whole group’s hopes for the day as in the example above.
- Design a set of questions specifically for the group with whom you are working. John used a different set of questions at the VFN meeting that were more around what I want to talk about today, what I don’t want to talk about today, right now I am thinking, and right now I am feeling.
- This exercise could be used to start team meetings, in the above format for large teams and with everyone simply answering the set of questions to the whole group for small teams.
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Out and About: Reports from the Field
Victorian Facilitator's Network - Facilitating in Indigenous Arenas
Committing yourself to the process and being in it for the long-haul. That was a key message from Bob Jones at the VFN on October 27.
Bob was the guest facilitator. He spoke passionately about his experiences working on land management issues in North East Victoria, which has brought him in regular contact with Indigenous Communities and organisations. Bob has learnt a lot about how to work well with these communities. He had many stories to tell and lots of wisdom to share.
His opening point stressed that time and commitment are critical to working with Indigenous Communities and organisations. And it is your time and your commitment, not your organisations, as the relationship is built with you, not the organisation you represent.
He went on to talk about some of the core elements of engagement such as:
- Ask widely who you should be talking to;
- Always holding meetings at places to suit the people you are meeting with;
- Always offer real respect;
- Give time for the groups to make their informal introductions;
- Let elders manage the conversation and don't be to quick to intervene; and
- Check whether people really said yes (as opposed to not saying no).
Most of these points are are equally applicable to facilitating most groups, but Bob stressed their particular importance and the extent to which you must follow them when working as a facilitator with Indigenous Communities and organisations.
International Association for Public Participation — Australasian Conference
The recent IAP2 Conference in Adelaide had two great speakers on evaluation.
Stacy Barr from Brisbane presented about setting performance indicators for difficult tasks like community engagement.
One of the main things that resonated with me was about removing weasel words from the starting or objective statement — that we should be clear about the difference that we are trying to create and take out any meaningless or ambiguous words.
For example, the following objective: To encourage active engagement of participants with the work of the network could be rephrased as: To increase the number of local residents and workers helping to organise events for the network.
Dr Jessica Dart specialises in participatory evaluation. She spoke at the Conference about participants being involved in the evaluation process and making their own judgements about success. The main philosophical change to conventional evaluation methods is that it is based on the information and knowledge of the participants and not external 'experts'.
One of the many benefits of participatory evaluation is that it occurs in real time and so it is possible to influence and change projects as they proceed.
Her work is based on a method that she co-authored known as Most Significant Change. There is lots of valuable information on her web site if you're interested in finding out more.
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Taking Care of Ourselves
Developing Equanimity
Working as a facilitator can be quite a difficult and stressful occupation. I have an example that I'd like to share with you to illustrate my point.
Recently I was asked to facilitate an event that was highly political and was getting a lot of media attention in the broadsheets. All day, I had friends and colleagues calling and emailing, asking if I'd seen the press coverage. My client was at their wits-end worried about how the planned meeting was going to play out and there were also concerns that protesters would be picketing outside the meeting venue.
To say that my anxiety levels were high leading up to the meeting is probably an understatement.
How do I did I deal with this?
I've learnt the importance of trying to develop equanimity — an inner peace and evenness of spirit or right disposition. To be centred, and "in the 'wise-self'" as a mentor so nicely puts it.
So, before this particular event I spent quite a lot of time alone on a quiet park bench and turned to the Metta Bhavana — one of the most ancient forms of Buddhist meditation practice.
The Pali word Metta means loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity. You could also define metta as the strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others. Bhavana means development or cultivation. The aim of the practice is to develop a mind of friendliness and benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others.
During the practice, which unfolds in five stages, we cultivate Metta for:
- ourselves
- a good friend
- a 'neutral' person - someone we don’t have any strong feelings for
- a 'difficult' person - someone we have conflicts with or feelings of ill will towards
- all sentient beings
It is not my intent to go into too much more detail here about the specifics of the practice. If you're interested, there are lots of resources on the internet or you might find local mediation groups who teach the practice.
In this example, the practice helped me to actively cultivate a positive emotional state towards myself and others. Just what I needed before I stood in the line of fire.
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Calendar 
There's lots of great events coming up. We'll be attending quite a few of them, so make sure you say hello if you bump into us.
Also, keep an eye out for our reports from these events. We'll publish them in the regular Out and About section of the newsletter.
November — December, 2008
- Ashley Ramsden
- Thursday 13th November: 7pm — Performance. Voice of the Heart: Poetry and Stories of Jelaluddin Rumi and Hafiz. Melbourne. More »
- Saturday 15th November: 10am - 4pm — Workshop. Speaking Rumi and Other Sacred Poetry. Melbourne. More »
- Saturday 15th November: 7pm — Performance: The Hilarious Adventures of the Hodja Nasruddin. Melbourne. More »
- Sunday 16th November: 10am - 4pm — Workshop. The Art of the Storyteller. Melbourne. More »
- Sunday 16th November: 5.30pm — Book Launch. Body Eloquence: The Power of Myth and Story to Awaken the Body's Energies. Melbourne. More »
- Monday 17th November: 10am - 4pm — Workshop. The Power of Stories in our Interactions in the Workplace. Melbourne. SOLD OUT.
- Wednesday 19th to Friday 20th November — Open Space training. Perth. For more information email Brendan McKeague.
- Wednesday 26th to Friday 28th November — Australasian Facilitators Network (AFN) Conference. Registrations are still open. Bathurst, NSW. More »
- Tuesday 2nd to Thursday 4th December — Open Space training. Sydney. For more information email Brendan McKeague.
- Monday 15th December: 5.30pm — Victorian Facilitator's Network. Monthly meeting at 333 Heidelberg Road, Fairfield. Delish food is provided at 5.30pm, Meeting 6-8pm. There is no formal membership and no RSVP is required. Donation for food and venue - $5. Contact: Ed McKinley.
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Odds and Ends
Who is in the Room – Is Random Sampling Effective?
Yarra Ranges Shire Council recently held a Community Forum. Eighty-seven participants attended two sessions over two consecutive Saturdays.
Interestingly, one third of the people in the room were randomly selected. The Council simply had a market research company call people from across the Shire and and invited them to attend. The people I spoke to from this group were delighted to have been invited and honoured to be asked to contribute to the future of their Shire.
The other two-thirds were either people who answered the advertisements to attend (self-nominated) and the final third were representatives of community groups who had received a direct invitation from the Council.
People were not paid to come although they were provided with a petrol voucher and child care was available during the forums.
There was a positive vibe in the room, a lot of energy around the discussions and negligible ‘grandstanding’ on specific interests.
The idea of randomly inviting people not only has the benefit of finding people who match the demographic of the area, but also provides a diversity of experience into the conversation.
For more information, contact Jill Colson.
Deliberating on Democracy
A major initiative is underway to deliberate on the future of democracy in Australia. Funded by a Research Grant and a major philanthropic contribution, the New Democracy organisation is gearing up to take randomly sampled people (one from each federal electorate across Australia) to meet in Canberra in February 2009 as a citizen’s parliament.
What Makes Workshops or Meetings More Deliberative?
Involve — a leading provider of information about community engagement in the UK — has a good article on their website about the principles that underlie deliberation. It's called Deliberate Public Engagement: Nine Principles and you can find it under the publications section (at the time of writing, I had trouble accessing the website to provide the link — sorry. Ed.)
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