Book Description
Designed specifically for trainers, speakers, and group facilitators, this 400-page cookbook of playful group mixers helps to "break the ice" among participants at the beginning of any meeting, or to recharge participants on the brink of boredom. Complete with guidelines, these simple activities-like games, energizers, brain-teasers, and quizzes-require little or no preparation time, and most can be completed in less than 5 minutes. Also included are props and hand-outs that can be photocopied for the entire group to enjoy.
Customer Reviews:
Great conversation starter.......2007-07-03
Find Me: How Psychic Detectives from Around the World Have Banded Together to Find Missing People
I teach spiritual development classes and i use ths book for some of the beginnings of classes and workshops, to help people get to know each other. It has lots of great exercises.
Excellent!.......2006-07-26
I work in a school and this book has already helped me plan several fun activities for teachers, directors, and students. I highly recommend it!
Well written and has good variety........2006-07-14
While many of the activities might suit a business, I was able to find quite a few for small groups in our church. The instructions are thorough and handouts are well done. My only suggestion for the publisher would be to make the book so the pages could be torn out and put in a three ring binder.
Great for Residence Life staff.......2000-07-03
There are few books on icebreakers/teambuilders that I've found to be useful with college students ( I work in Student Affairs). This book, however, offered many activities that were useful not only for just 'breaking the ice' but also for applying them to the many educational workshops we do in this field. There was also a very helpful section called "Icebreakers for the Non-Icebreaker types" that was both interesting and practical. Because I work with such a diverse range of students, I struggle to find icebreakers that are not geared solely to the extroverted-types. This collection gives a number of activities that are beneficial to teambuilding while respecting the different learning/interaction styles we see in our students. Out of the 201 offered in the book, I have found at least 180 of them that I will use as integral parts of the next staff training. This book also offers activities for groups ranging from 8 participants (good for small staffs) to 400 participants (good for all-hall activities)!
Disappointing.......2000-06-29
It was disappointing to find so few ideas for a group of 100 business people who don't know each other. Most of the activities are far too personal for such a group, involving sharing personal information or touching. In addition, many of the activities have no "closure": they simply end, leaving us to wonder, what was the purpose of THAT? Many of the activities would be fine for very informal gatherings where being silly (marching in a parade, charades, making a human octopus) and getting personal are appropriate. But business people--even my lighthearted group--expect some degree of professionalism and purpose associated with such activities.
Book Description
Open Space Technology: A User's Guide is just what the name implies: a hands-on, detailed description of facilitating Open Space Technology (OST). Written by the originator of the method - an effective, economical, fast, and easily-repeatable strategy for organizing meetings of between 5 and 1,000 participants - this is the first book to document the rationale, procedures, and requirements of OST. OST enables self-organizing groups of all sizes to deal with hugely complex issues in a very short period of time. This practical, step-by-step user's guide details what needs to be done before, during, and after an Open Space event.
Customer Reviews:
Useful handbook of a counterintuitive approach.......2007-03-02
Open Space Technology is nearly identical to the "unconference" approach to workshop and event planning that's currently fashionable (see "Foo Camp" or "Bar Camp" or many other geek-oriented "camps). Basically, abandon a traditional agenda and force the workshop participants to self-organize a schedule, goals, and work. It's profoundly counter-intuitive, everyone assumes that a strict plan is necessary...but it turns out to work. People really enjoy participating in an event where their opinions matter, and where everyone's responsible for raising issues they find important.
This book can come across as annoyingly new agey and dippy at times (I see someone's tagged it "embracing group genius" here on Amazon...your mileage may vary a bit from that). It's probably more helpful in getting you the facilitator into the right mindset, and encouraging you not to fall back on the crutches of detailed schedules or keynote speakers. It's pretty dated when it talks about using computers in your event, but that doesn't really matter.
Bible of Open Space.......2006-07-12
This is a very good hand-book for open space newcomers.Easy to understand and easy to read.I strongly suggest this book for anybody who want to start learning open space technology
One of the most valuable books in the world.......2003-12-26
As Brookings revealed in 2000, most of the world's 10000 biggest organisations don't yet have the measures to govern the vast majority of value now produced in services and knowledge businesses because as our networking age blossoms value dynamics are mainly intangible, deeply woven into the human relationships we self-organise, not for precise planning and overpowering command and control from the top. Value multiplication is a core gravity which should be embedded in everyone's right to work, learn , behave openly.
Whilst some of those of the transparency communities interlinking at http://www.valuetrue.com open source the simplest maths of intangible systems, others have much more fun voting on what are the safest methods to protect your system from doing an Andersen or a NASA self-destruction of its greatest purpose. Open Space is voted as the number 1 method uniting transparency communities, and because of its simplicity I predict it will always be the gateway to anyone who prizes self-organising, a term which actually means making the most of everyone's time, learning and passions to make a diffeernce to our overall purpose. A very valuable book, which in my dreams would start any MBA course or any professional's training.
Open Space is now 21 years young and over 100000 experiences mature and networked by people who are both most open with their knowlhow and conscious that you learn something subly more about human relationship trust from every Open Space you particpate in. It is as near as organisations (seen as human relationship infrastructures) can get to a modern day miracle, and long may Harrison light up the open world. See his latest deep concerns with conflict resolution applications at http://www.practiceofpeace.com
a "How to" book.......2001-06-18
I recommend using open space tehcnology and/or other large scale intervention techniques to mine the collective emotional intelligence of a group of people (this may be your company, or people from an acadamic field you belong to).
This book gives you the details on HOW to organize and facilitate an open space meeting - (what kind of location you need, how to organize the room, how to use break up rooms, how to facilitate, ...). You'll also get imporatnt rules and lessons for making this technology work. In short, it's pretty good at doing this "HOW TO" part.
WARNING: If you want to know WHY it works and if you want some examples, there are 2 other books to take a look at:
- tales from Open space (Harrison Owen, Editor, 1995)
- Expanding our now (Harrison Owen, 1997)
Good luck!
Patrick E.C. Merlevede, MSc -- author of "7 Steps to Emotional Intelligence"
A Good Read!.......2001-04-24
Harrison Owen presents a hands-on, step-by-step manual for putting on an open space technology workshop. In OST workshops, participants basically set and facilitate the agenda with some guidance from a facilitator. Here, the book's examples are particularly handy. Owen suggests conference duration, agenda and techniques including how to set up a meeting, invite participants, prepare the logistics and meeting site, facilitate activities and more. While these workshops generally involve hundreds of people, you can also put on an OST event with as few as five. If you want to read gripping business philosophy, look elsewhere - this is a practical how-to manual, a task it accomplishes quite well. We [...] recommend this informative guided tour of the OST process to those who want to know how, because they already know why
Average customer rating:
- SMART Facilitation - A very good read
- Good book to teach facilitation techniques
- An Excellent Resource!
- Best book on facilitation I've read
- Great Book For The Executive Suite
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The Secrets of Facilitation: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide to Getting Results With Groups
Michael Wilkinson
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
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ASIN: 0787975788 |
Book Description
The Secrets of Facilitation delivers a clear vision of facilitation excellence and reveals the specific techniques effective facilitators use to produce consistent, repeatable results with groups. Author Michael Wilkinson has trained thousands of managers, mediators, analysts, and consultants around the world to apply the power of SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) facilitation to achieve amazing results with teams and task forces. He shows how anyone can use these proven group techniques in conflict resolution, consulting, managing, presenting, teaching, planning, selling, and other professional as well as personal situations.
Download Description
The Secrets of Facilitation delivers a clear vision of facilitation excellence and reveals the specific techniques effective facilitators use to produce consistent, repeatable results with groups. Author Michael Wilkinson has trained thousands of managers, analysts, and consultants around the world to apply the power of SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) facilitation to achieve amazing results with teams and task forces. He shows how anyone can use these proven group techniques in managing, presenting, teaching, planning, selling, and other professional as well as personal situations.
Customer Reviews:
SMART Facilitation - A very good read.......2007-07-24
Well written -- brief and to the point. Valuable even if you only read the first and last chapters. If you think you want to work on Facilitation skills -- get this book!
Good book to teach facilitation techniques.......2007-05-25
This book starts with good real time situations to describe the common problems in facilitation and how to overcome them. It helps both beginners and serious facilitators. Through a series of real life examples it teaches the best practices for effective facilitation.
An Excellent Resource!.......2007-02-13
I am the Principal of Cohesion Inc, a marketing & business consulting organization, and also a part-time course director in the marketing faculty of the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada.
Facilitation is an important part of my work and teaching, and as such I regularly review literature on this subject to discover new insights and techniques with which to experiment.
Whether you are new to facilitation or already an experienced practitioner, this book will serve as an excellent resource to build your skills in this area.
Best book on facilitation I've read.......2006-01-29
This is a wonderful, practical, well-written book, with 60 facilitation secrets that are worth far, far more than the price of the pages. In fact, I learned more from this book than I did from a nationally recognized Advanced Facilitation course for $1700.
The chapter on consensus-building, which introduces 4 common techniques for building consensus (Delineation, Strengths and weaknesses, Merge and Weighted Scoring) I found particularly useful. The 6 high-level agendas for common facilitated sessions (among them process improvement and issue resolution) are a must for every facilitator.
I would recommend this book most highly for facilitators who want to build on their existing skills rather than as an introduction to the field, as some of the secrets (those related to dealing with dysfunctional behavior, for example) assume some foundational facilitation skills. However, anyone interested in the field would benefit greatly from the secrets in this book. A truly great addition to the facilitator's library!
Great Book For The Executive Suite.......2005-06-02
The Secrets of Facilitation is a great book for facilitators, from those about to facilitate their first session to those of us who have been practicing for over 25 years. I counted over 200 Post-Its and notes in my copy. Beyond what we facilitators gain, the "secret" of The Secrets is the value this book will have to those in Executive Suites and serving on Boards.
All leadership teams are searching for new leaps in productivity. They are lean as can be, yet uncomfortably aware that the majority of ideas delivered by consultants (60%, 75%%, 90%+?) come from their own people. They need an alternative. Their answer lies in the first secret revealed by Michael Wilkinson, "You can achieve more effective results when solutions are created, understood, and accepted by the people impacted." The rest of the book reveals how to do so. Now executives can choose to use in-house facilitators and their own people to develop and deliver the majority of solutions, and outside facilitators and top talent consultants only when truly needed.
Most executives I meet have experienced a session of the caliber delivered by a true Master Facilitator like Michael. Many can recall exciting, highly successful sessions facilitated by a real professional. What they've lacked is confidence that similar successes can be repeated consistently. The Secrets of Facilitation reveals a set of skills that can be learned and can permeate any organization. Michael's efforts in researching, teaching, and now writing this book will accelerate the adoption of facilitation as a core approach for leaders in any organization.
I only know Michael from participating in sessions he's facilitated, my recent association with the International Association of Facilitators, and through reputation of even some of my own favorite clients who recommend him as "The Best". Even so, yes, I do have a bias for recommending Michael's book. First, with the success of his book there will be more business for all facilitators. Second, our own firm's focus is turning more towards facilitating virtual teams, where getting our clients to understand The Secrets becomes even more important!
Certainly if you can schedule Michael to facilitate a session, grab the opportunity, he is that good. Better yet, buy copies of his book, give them out to your full leadership team, and embrace facilitation as a way of doing business.
John Carroll
CEO
Dynamic Directions, Inc.
Amazon.com
It is impossible to read Turning to One Another in the wake of the devastating attack on New York City's World Trade Center and not marvel at the book's eerie and moving prescience. Of course Margaret Wheatley has already earned herself a (deserved and legit) reputation as the Oprah of "sensitive" organizational books with such titles as A Simpler Way. But this book--devoted entirely to centrality of conversation in healing everything from personal relationships to organizational dysfunction to world discord--flows so broadly and easily across the borders of genre or topic it's almost as though Wheatley intuited when writing it how the need for its message would soon skyrocket. "The intent of this book is to encourage and support you to begin conversations about things that are important to you and those near you," Wheatley writes right up front in the clean, straightforward voice that always saves her work, unlike that of so many other "New Age" gurus, from cheesiness. "It has no other purpose." She then delivers on that promise, making her points in short, succinct, finely written essays on various aspects of human understanding and connection, invoking the thinking of great humanists like Paolo Friere and Nelson Mandela, peppering her thoughts with encounters with people around the world, and then expanding on 10 "conversation starters" like "Do I feel a 'vocation to be truly human'?" "When have I experienced good listening?" and "When have I experienced working for the common good?"
Suffice to say, those looking for some worksheet-packed, three-step plan for organizational harmony won't find it here. Those willing to take a slower, harder, more thoughtful and likely more rewarding path to better relations on any level--or even those looking for the book equivalent of a cool, tall drink of water (perhaps where all change begins)--will be truly moved and genuinely inspired by Wheatley's practical, timely wisdom. --Timothy Murphy
Book Description
"I believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again." With this simple declaration, Margaret Wheatley proposes that citizens band together with their colleagues and friends to create the solutions for social change, both locally and globally, that are so badly needed. Such change will not come from governments or corporations but from the ageless process of thinking together in conversation. Turning to One Another encourages this process. Part One explores the power of conversation and the conditions -- simplicity, personal courage, real listening, and diversity -- that support it. Part Two provides ten "conversation starters" -- questions that in Wheatley's experience have led people to share their deepest beliefs, fears, and hopes.
Customer Reviews:
Turning to One Another - Review.......2007-09-10
I enjoyed reading Margaret Wheatley's book, "Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future". This book is easy to read, applicable and possibly life-changing.
Read it and talk about it with a group of friends........2007-06-13
Read this book with a group of your friends, or neighbors, or with a group of the willing. The opening premise simply states: "I believe we can change the world, if we start listening to one another again. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard and we each listen well." The book encourages us to actually listen to each other, to different perspectives, to our own perspective, with the aim that we are better off when we have genuine connections with others. One of the best parts of the book is "A Prayer for Children" by Ina. J. Hughes; the poem is poignant, humorous and intriguing.
Heart blowing!.......2007-03-08
So simple, and yet such a fresh way of looking at life, leadership, community and conversation. I learned a ton from this book, very helpful in specific situations I am involved in. It teaches me how to become an ever better listener.
If there is one book on changing relationships you must read, this is it!.......2006-10-26
Margaret has created such a powerful book on conversation, learning, and change. I can not imagine a more powerful book telling stories that can transform how we work, play, and learn together. This is a life changing read and one that I highly recommend. And even more importantly, in such a turbulent time, keeping in conversation with others may be the only thing that helps us hold this world together. Therefore, do not only read the book, but put into action conversations that can change the world.
One of the most important books I've read.......2006-06-23
Margaret Wheatley's Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future is one of the most important books I've read.
It is based on the incredibly simple premise that growth, real growth begins with two people having a conversation.
Part 1 discusses a range of subjects: Wheatley's views on conversation and listening, including the importance of staying with conversations that sometimes get "messy" to reveal deeper truths and commonalities; her belief in the importance of being surprised and even shocked by the person(s) with whom she converses, versus seeking people who agree with her, affirm her thoughts, or where the conversation follows either a predictable course, or safe outcomes; the belief that differences between people can lead to deeper commonalities and greater closeness.
Quite frankly, there are simply too many gems of wisdom and insight in this book to do more than recall a handful that particularly struck me.
Part 2 is very short, restating some fundamental principles or concepts explained in greater detail in Part 1.
Part 3 is a list and explanation of 10 possible conversation openers.
This is not per se a "how to" book, as if there is "one way" either to converse, listen or relate to another person. Quite the opposite. She talks, for example, of the reality that various people can have a seemingly unlimited number of interpretations and reactions to a given event to stress (implied) that what matters is the process, the act of conversing and relating.
Wheatley's book is about possibilities, the possibilities that everyone possesses in terms of relating to one another, personal growth, healing oneself and restoring hope in the future, compared to the fragmentation, isolation, pressures of day-to-day life, the impersonality of technology, etc.
It is an exciting book to read, a book that virtually anyone can benefit from no matter where they are in their lives. It is, fundamentally, a gift that those of us fortunate to read this book should be grateful Margaret Wheatley wanted to share.
Average customer rating:
- Very insightful and useful
- Great for me (techy person)
- The Skilled Facilitator
- What Facilitates Facilitator?
- More Than Practical Wisdom
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The Skilled Facilitator
Roger Schwarz
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
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ASIN: 0787947237 |
Book Description
When it was published in 1994, Roger Schwarz's The Skilled Facilitator earned widespread critical acclaim and became a landmark in the field. The book is a classic work for consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches--anyone whose role is to facilitate and guide groups toward realizing their creative and problem-solving potential. This thoroughly revised edition provides the essential materials for anyone that works within the field of facilitation and includes simple but effective ground rules for group interaction. Filled with illustrative examples, the book contains proven techniques for starting meetings on the right foot and ending them positively and decisively. This important resource also offers practical methods for handling emotions when they arise in a group and offers a diagnostic approach for identifying and solving problems that can undermine the group process.
Customer Reviews:
Very insightful and useful.......2007-03-26
The skilled facilitator introduces a facilitation approach that is based on 4 core values: Valid information, Free and informed choice, internal commitment and compassion. Most of the work on the values are based on the work of Chris Argyris and his work on Organizational Learning.
One of the key-points in the book is that most people work with a unilateral control theory-in-use. This will automatically make their facilitation in-efficient eventhough they do not realize it. The skilled facilitator approach is to try to move away from this theory-in-use and move to a "mutual learning" theory-in-use in which the facilitator tries to maximize the learning for him and his participants. The four core values provide a basis for that. Next to the core values there are 9 ground rules which are concrete enough to really act upon.
Most of the book explains the ideas behind the core values and the ground rules and shows how the ground rules influence your facilitation. This is done with scenarios in which the author shows a normal approach and a skilled facilitator alternative approach.
The book ends with a wonderful chapter on "the facilitative leader", which shows how you can combine the skilled facilitator values and ground rules and your role as a leader within the organization. This chapter alone would have been worth the book already.
I finished the book fairly quick. It's easy to read and kept me interested at all times. It also kept me thinking about the content when I was not reading it. Changing a theory-in-use is a difficult thing, but thanks to this book, I've become more aware of my own approach to facilitation and have the ability to improve it.
Great for me (techy person).......2007-03-09
When I first read this book years ago, I was a very technical IT person who preferred to work alone. I credit this book with helping to develop my people skills and making me a more effective team member.
The Skilled Facilitator.......2007-01-16
A good book but unfortunately both copies arrived damaged by water, one was still wet. They also smelled like rat's urine. I was able to retrieve one after a week of drying in 30 degree temperatures & turning pages every so often. The other is a total wreck. Probably should have been packaged in plastic prior to putting in the box. Disappointed.
What Facilitates Facilitator?.......2004-08-14
Many who want to be skillful facilitators are in a way "misled" by consultants, trainers or books on facilitation in the sense that techniques and recipes are cited and taught.
With many techniques and methodologies delivered, honest "facilitators" sense that they are not getting there - people do not get engaged, people among themselves are not connected.
Roger Schwarz, in his book "The Skilled Facilitator" shows that there is more to techniques, theories and methodologies. The very thinking, motives or mental models of the "facilitator" is an important part of the chemistry of the whole group.
By QuaSyLaTic, Andrew
http://www.360q.com
More Than Practical Wisdom.......2003-02-26
The subtitle of this accessible guide to facilitation, "Practical Wisdom For Developing Effective Groups", accurately describes the book's scope and utility. In four parts and thirteen chapters, Schwarz provides an overview, with countless meaningful examples, of how facilitators can most effectively help groups develop their capacity for improvement. He distinguishes between two types of facilitation: (1) Basic facilitation, which aims to help a group "solve a substantive problem"; and (2) Developmental facilitation, which accomplishes basic facilitation while helping a group learn "to improve its process". He argues that three core values underlie effective group and facilitator behavior. The first is "valid information", which means that relevant information is shared by group members and that all groups members can validate and understand the information. The second is "free and informed choice", which means that group members define their own goals and methods of achieving those goals using valid information. The third is, "internal commitment to the choice", which means that group members take responsibility for their decisions by making informed choices based on valid information. Using a basic or developmental approach, facilitators most effectively intervene by making explicit and modeling these core values. These values are maintained by a group agreeing and sticking to essential ground rules, which Schwarz lists on p. 75 and treats extensively throughout the book.
In the heart of Schwarz's book are seven chapters on intervening effectively in groups. In those chapters, he advises the reader on, among other things, how to intervene, meeting management, group problem-solving, following ground rules, and dealing with emotions. He closes with wisdom on serving as a facilitator in your own organization and on the facilitative leader. His opening sections on how facilitation helps groups achieve their goals and establishing the foundation for facilitation lay the groundwork for his later chapters.
In the opening chapters, he includes two models worth mentioning. In his "group effectiveness model" (p.23), Schwarz shows how group processes (the primary concern of the facilitator) interact with group structure and organizational context to contribute to a group effectiveness. Group effectiveness is assessed through three criteria: (1) The group's services or products meet or exceed the expectations of the clients; (2) The processes and structures used to deliver services or create products enhance the group's capacity to work together; and (3) The group's experience is satisfying, not frustrating, for the group's members. In the second noteworthy model, Schwarz presents the "diagnosis-intervention cycle" (p. 68). In this cycle, there are three diagnostic steps and three intervention steps. In the diagnostic phase, the facilitator observes behavior, infers meaning and decides whether to intervene. In the intervention phase, s/he describes observations, test her/his inferences, and helps the group decide whether and how to alter behaviors. Understanding and using these models are critical for effective facilitation.
For the would-be facilitator or group leader, this book provides exactly what the subtitle promises.
Book Description
The Art of Facilitation provides a superb training resource for facilitators and enables group members to understand facilitation and to take on this role themselves. It also provides access to the source of group empowerment and shows how to create group synergy.
Divided into four major components, this book will give you the insight, tools and resources you need to help your group work easily and more effectively together.
Provides an in-depth examination of the art of intervention and cooperative beliefs and values underlying facilitation for creating group synergy.
The toolkit includes facilitative designs for workshops, meetings, projects and evaluations; facilitative processes of being with a group, working with other individuals, keeping sight of the group's vision and goals, empowerment, identity, role playing and more. Plus, a Facilitators' Training Program.
A personal perspective on facilitation through interviews with experienced facilitators.
Customer Reviews:
Great resource for enhancing facilitation!.......2004-04-16
I found The Art of Facilitation to be an easy-to-read, complete guide in helping to better understand facilitation. I suggest that every beginner facilitator should read this. The authors wrote it specifically outlined and detailed, yet not too complicated. It is a good book to keep close by as a quick reference source. The breakdown of the book allows it to be a wonderful training guide complete with a toolkit to assist your every need of facilitation.
Excellent book on facilitation.......2002-07-04
A very good book on one of the most difficult arts that of drawing together a group through facilitation.
Distinguishing Facilitation Powerfully and Simply.......2000-03-31
The Art of Facilitation is written in simple language. It cuts through the academic tendency to complicate this domain, and in doing so displays the authors mastery of it.
The Art of Facilitation elucidates what it takes to facilitate groups powerfully and provides pathways, tools and processes for this.
This book will provide people new to facilitation with an intellectual analysis of it and old hands clear pathways to doing complex things simply. I use it all the time as a resource in my pratice as a professional facilitator and it is the required text in facilitator training courses which I lead for Zenergy.
I would also recommend Hunter et al's other books: Co-operacy, The Zen of Groups, The Essence of Facilitation.
New Facilitators must read!.......2000-03-28
The Art of Facilitation is a must read for new facilitators or trainers. It is easy to read and offers practical advice and activities for newcomers to the field of facilitation. This is one of the few facilitation books to offer a chapter on facilitating yourself. Not as advanced as other facilitation books (Masterful Facilitation or Facilitator's Guide to Particiapatory Decision Making) but recommend this as part of any facilitator's library of resources.
A great guide for "first time" facilitators!.......1998-09-15
I have found this book a great resource to augment the training of first time facilitators and coaches. It provides many practical exercises, with numerous tips that help to demystify facilitation and increase the first time facilitator's success.
Book Description
SMALL GROUP DECISION MAKING is informed by the late Aubrey Fisher's own theory of decision making and his perspective (pragmatist) on communication. These perspectives give the book a strong theoretical framework on which to build an understanding of group communication. The fourth edition of this book is a thoroughly updated version, with a review of the recent scholarly literature, organizational changes for clarity and increased coverage of important topics such as NGT, leadership, conflict and ethics.
Book Description
This book is an invaluable desk reference for facilitators, leaders, coaches and anyone who wants to engage in more effective learning and decision-making conversations. It offers over 1700 rich questions that you can borrow or adapt to improve your inquiry skills, and provides clear frameworks that point to when, where, and why particular questions are most useful.
Book Description
Communication within many organizations has been reduced to email, electronic file transfer, and hasty sound bytes at hurried meetings. More and more, people appear to have forgotten the value of wisdom gained by ordinary conversations. The Art of Focused Conversation convincingly restores this most human of attributes to prime place within businesses and organizations, and demonstrates what can be accomplished through the medium of focused conversation.Developed, tested, and extensively used by professionals in the field of organizational development, The Art of Focused Conversation is an invaluable resource for all those working to improve communications in firms and organizations.
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Resource for Productive Conversations.......2004-11-24
I like books that are practical and have real-world application. This book does that. You get 48 pages of enough explanation that you can learn how to use the Focused Conversation model. Then, you get the skeleton of 100 conversations that you can adapt and use. If you want to know more, read on.
In the 21st century, those workplaces that share information to create value for themselves and their customers have a competitive advantage. On page 14 Stanfield writes "These days most people are tired of blaiming and demanding; they want to solve problems. They want to go beyond input to push an innovation through and take responsibility for making the desired change." The focused conversation model is a technique for capturing the wisdom of a group and helping it become accountable for doing more than complaining or "giving input."
The model's four parts consist of asking and answering questions. The questions at the "objective" level begin to uncover facts about the topic being discussed. The "reflective" questions uncover how the group is relating to the facts discussed in the objective level. The "interpretive" level allows the groups to discuss implications and options. The "decisional" level then creates action based on the discussion. This book also contains hints and guidelines for leading focused conversations: what to do when someone gives a long answer, or when people start arguing, or when someone dominates teh conversation...and more.
I've used several dozen of the 100 conversations in various work settings. I have gotten especially good value from the conversations on evaluating a seminar, planning a study group, coaching a colleague, mediating a difficult situation, reflecting on a choatic meeting...well, you get the idea.
If you're interested in moving toward gathering, processing, and taking advantage of group wisdom, this book provides excellent tools. Its straight-forward, gentle manner and high practical value earn it five stars.
Good Solid Model.......2001-10-04
Ultimately conversations are the working process of most leadership. This book expands upon the conversation techniques presented in "Winning Through Participation". The model is simple and useful. When distilled down, a focused conversation proceeds through four stages:
- objective / data
- reactional / feeling
- interpretive / meaning and
- decisional / action.
The model takes about 50 pages to explain and is followed by about 150 pages of examples of its application. Many will find that the 10 pages in "Winning Through Participation" had enough information to get going.
Simple and Powerful Concept.......2000-12-05
Brian Stanfield and colleagues have written a meaningful book that provides a profound, yet simple method to help groups effectively grapple and address any kind of issue.
In the book, they say, "For whole systems to operate effectively, information must flow in every direction, up, down, sideways, and diagonally." They go on to describe leaders as askers of questions and state that "the participatory principle requires the art of asking questions."
Canada's Institute of Cultural Affairs developed the focused conversation method as part of its Technology of Participation, which leads people through certain phases of reflection, enabling them to process their experiences as a group. A leader/facilitator asks a series of questions to elicit responses that take a group from the "surface of a topic to a topic to its depth implications for their life and work."
The focused conversation uses questions at four levels:
1. The Objective Level- questions about facts and external reality. 2. The Reflective Level - questions to call forth immediate personal reaction to the data, an internal response, sometimes emotions or feelings, hidden images and associations with the facts, when we encounter an external reality (data/objective) we experience an internal response. 3. The Interpretive Level - questions to draw out meaning, values, significance, and implications. 4. The Decisional Level - questions to elicit resolution, bring the conversation to close, and enable the group to resolve about the future.
The first third portion of the book provides an understanding of the concept of focused conversation and is followed by 100 meeting topics with specific examples of questions at the four levels that would be appropriate.
The book has helped me to re-think the types and the order of questions that I address to a group.
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- Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion
- Business and Its Environment (5th Edition)
Books Index
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