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Communication

Facilitation: Group that has competition among members

Collaboration, Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Listening, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

It’s amazing how much competition is possible even among groups and organizations that have very similar helping-oriented missions. When I first started working in public health, I was surprised to find many organizations “competing” with one another providing similar health-related interventions to similar populations. Sometimes organizations didn’t realize or think they were competing with others […]

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Facilitation: Group that has underlying conflict

Collaboration, Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

Most of us do not enjoy conflict. Some of us try to avoid it entirely and others try to pretend it doesn’t exist. Some will address it aggressively while others attempt to figure out a way to address it without causing more conflict. If we facilitate groups long enough, there will be conflict and it’s

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Facilitation: Group with both new and experienced members

Collaboration, Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

You may have a newly formed group or a group that has been meeting for a while that includes a mix of participants who know each other well and other members that are brand new and don’t yet know anyone. As a facilitator, it can be particularly challenging to meet the needs of everyone in

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Facilitation: Group that has been meeting for a while

Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

If you are facilitating a group that has been meeting for a while, you may have some group members who are continuing to be engaged and enthusiastic about the work while other group members have lost interest and moved on to other priorities. You may have achieved some tremendous successes and are trying to figure

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Facilitation: A newly formed group

Collaboration, Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

Facilitating a newly formed group has unique challenges and opportunities that need to be considered. In a newly formed group, you need to consider that the group members may not know one another and may have very different perspectives on the topic or purpose of the group. It’s really important to assess and build relationships

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Facilitator: Increasing Engagement

Collaboration, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

We have all been part of meetings where everyone is looking at their phone or computer or they are zoning out seeming completely disinterested in what is happening. As a facilitator, this can be completely discouraging!  One of the most important tasks for facilitators is increasing engagement during a meeting; however, our meeting participants can

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Facilitator: Navigating power dynamics

Collaboration, Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Listening, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

Whether you are facilitating a small group discussion or a large group meeting, there are always power dynamics. Some of them are more obvious and come through titles or degrees while others are less obvious and come from personalities and past experiences.  As a facilitator, our job is to figure out a way to bring

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Facilitator: Our energy matters

2 Comments / Collaboration, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

Think about the last meeting you facilitated. Then think about the last meeting you attended as a participant. What was your energy like as a facilitator? As a meeting participant? Did you leave the meetings feeling energized and ready to take action or completely drained and exhausted?  As facilitators, we cannot underestimate the importance of

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Facilitator: How do you bring out the best in others?

Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Facilitation, Leadership, Listening, Partnerships, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

As a facilitator, you never know what may be happening in the lives of the people who are participating in your team or coalition meeting. They may be feeling completely overwhelmed, may have just found out about a promotion or they may have just been told their budget was cut again.  One of the important

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Facilitator: What is my role?

Collaboration, Communication, Facilitation, Leadership, Listening, Partnerships, Pillar Post, Teamwork, Uncategorized /

When leading teams and partnerships, we are often called upon to facilitate conversations, meetings and plans. Traditionally, facilitators are seen as “neutral” to the group. When we are an external facilitator, it’s often easy to claim the “neutrality” role; however, what is our role when we are part of the staff or leadership and we

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