Meetings are a big part of our work week, whether it is a recurring staff, team, or board meeting or informal check-in. Our meetings are face-to-face, virtually, and a combination of the two known as "hybrid" meetings. Many times our meetings are highly productive, but sometimes meetings can be boring, frustrating, and a complete waste of time. Whether our meeting is useless or valuable depends on how we design, facilitate, and follow up. Meeting design is more than just agenda planning or … [Read more...]
How Your Nonprofit Can Routinize Reflection
Reflection is a critical step in assessing individual and team performance at your nonprofit. A reflective process, whether it is a structured process for individuals or groups, can give us insights about what worked and what could be improved. Reflection requires hitting the pause button and asking and answering questions. How many of us as individuals have the discipline to notice what we’re doing with our professional work or our team? Our natural tendency is to keeping moving forward on … [Read more...]
Trainer’s Notebook: Just A Few Participatory Facilitation Techniques
Recently, a colleague asked me a wonderful question: How did you learn to become a good facilitator and trainer? Did you read books, take classes, or have a coach? I answered yes to all, but more importantly I think these two methods helped me the most: Carve out time for reflection after each training and do an after-action review with yourself. Evaluate your content, facilitation, and logistical skills against participant evaluations. If time is available, also do a plus/delta exercise … [Read more...]
4 Design Thinking Facilitation Resources for Nonprofits
Almost four years ago, I wrote my experience as a participant n a design-thinking lab to give input on a digital strategy for a philanthropy. The design lab was facilitated by Pete Maher, founder of Luma Institute. I learned so much about the taxonomy of innovation and really practical techniques, that I took the facilitation training. I started incorporating facilitating design labs as well as the techniques into my training practice ever since. I even facilitated design labs to help with … [Read more...]
Building Relationships within A Cause-Centered Community: Jeffersonian Dinners
A cause-centered community is a group of people who share a common passion for a cause. They could be a group of people who support a particular nonprofit's social change agenda or a group of people from different organizations united around a common challenge, idea, or cause. I've been a member of the Leap Ambassadors Community, comprised of people who believe strongly that nonprofit performance matters. While a lot of work is online --sharing knowledge and insights, co-creating tools to … [Read more...]
