This year I went to the annual conference of the IAF (International Association of Facilitators) England and Wales chapter held in the Priory Room in the centre of Birmingham on the 25th and 26th April. I’d been once before, a couple of years ago, but that was a hybrid mix of ‘roomies and Zoomies’, which […]
I love a paradox. The two methods below embody one of my favourites: the fact that competition can produce cooperation. Who’d have thought it? The Win-Win Workout The Win-Win Workout separates the ‘what’ from the ‘why’. if you are familiar with the excellent method of Convergent Facilitation, developed by Miki Kashtan, you will also familiar […]
It has been a tough few years for Rhizome. In 2023, we lost our founder and dear friend, Matthew. This was a truly devastating blow. Since then, for various reasons, our once 12-strong team of facilitators has shrunk down to four co-op members. We are, however, a rhizome: resourceful and resilient. We can’t be got rid of […]
We have a responsibility to educate ourselves about the contexts, the historic and current interrelationships and intersections between different marginal groups, and then to watch out for the ways we as facilitators might be pulled in to become aligned with some of the people who have privilege in the world, if not the room
Facilitation, as it’s usually conceived of, leans towards an ‘All Lives Matter’ approach, with all the problems that entails. By that I mean that facilitators are often trying to be so scrupulously fair that they end up perpetuating unhealthy power dynamics in groups. Fairness often plays out, for example, as ensuring that everyone has the […]
Adam spotted aspirationtech.org’s blog on Power Dynamics and Inclusion in Virtual Meetings. This far into using online tools instead of face-to-face meetings, it would be easy to believe we’re up to speed and doing a great job. We’ve probably all read a number of how-to guides and sat through webinars on facilitating online. Still, I’d […]
The successor to feudalism, capitalism rests on the past enslavement of Black people and ongoing globalized exploitation of Black people and people of color as the cogs of production
Like many events, the annual Worker Co-op Weekend, Friday and Saturday of this coming week, can’t go ahead as planned. But a number of Co-ops, including Rhizome, are coming together with Co-operatives UK to deliver a programme of webinars, online discussions and workshop. If you’re a worker co-op take a look at the programme and […]
An American webchat we spotted indicated the steps that cohousing groups there are considering or have taken. Here are a few: Close the common house We’re having Skype and zoom dinners!! (If not already done) ask every member to fill out a questionnaire that includes relative/friend contact info, doctor and medicine info, allergies, health conditions, […]
In this series, I am suggesting ways in which people who disagree over Brexit, maybe bitterly so, can have a constructive conversation. In the last two blogs I wrote about destereotyping and how to show that the ‘other side’ are not a bunch of extremists. This blog is about a third approach to reducing the […]
