Spent a few days on Bowen Island,
just across the bay from Vancouver.
God’s country, indeed and the people who welcomed me and 50 other group
facilitators were God’s conduit of care, compassion, respect and
leadership. Yes, they were the team that
has lead the movement toward what is rightfully labelled, the Art of
Hosting. Founded on long standing
principles and the growing body of work by many on the importance of changing
the conversation from problem focused to possibility focused, the Art of
Hosting offers new possibilities for dialogue, decision-making and planning
that can help organizations and groups go further and deeper to achieve their
goals.
Simply put the Art of Hosting
brings together a number of perspectives and tools that assist groups to engage
with one another in productive, meaningful ways. Tools and approaches to conversations such as
Appreciative Inquiry, The Circle Way, World Café, Open Space, et al. are
utilized sometimes interchangeably with the underlying commitment made to make
the conversations productive and meaningful for the existing group in the
moment. The uniqueness of this approach
is found in the leaders of the Art of Hosting.
Hosting is different from facilitation;
it actually helps to bring facilitation into a deeper level of
leadership that empowers group members to take ownership through co-creation.
For me the best example of this
leadership came from the group of five who lead this training. They are a group of highly skilled and
experienced facilitators. They function
as a team so much so that in their process, there really is no way to tell who
the ‘kingpin’ is. They are seamless in
their interaction, respectful and inviting of one another’s gifts and skills
and have worked diligently to embrace a common philosophy of hosting people
knowing they will do their absolute best when they embrace hosting others
instead of facilitating to reach a predetermined end.
One of my most memorable
learnings was found in the art of crafting the right question. Seems simple but it is not. When we get the question right the answer is
easier to find. This I want to learn
more about.
My sense is that this is a
growing movement among professional leaders who want to take their leadership
deeper. If you or your staff want to
find different ways to convene conversations that matter, then follow the link
below and start exploring. If you have
already started exploring and using this and want to talk with someone else,
sharing a community of practice, I would be open to doing this with you. Email:
bob.interbartolo@goodshepherdsisterstoronto.com
There are trainings offered in
many places everywhere. Check out the
website to upcoming trainings in Halifax and out West.
No comments:
Post a Comment