I also have a wiki-website in place here that explores the questions in the podcasts in more detail. The wiki is also a space where other people can contribute their ideas about community leadership programs like this one. The content will be drawn into a report by myself and submitted to Julian at the City of Port Phillip by the end of July 2010.

Two separate programs ran with around 20 people in each. The first in Feb/March 2009 and the second in October. Here’s a blurb from the City of Port Phillip’s website:

“Community Leadership Training is about increasing the confidence and skills of people to make contributions to their own community. It’s about being more effective in leading projects by working smarter. It is also FUN, interactive and applies to community, personal and professional life.”

This podcast invited participants to discuss and reflect on the training and engage them in a few questions – listed in each of the links below. The people involved were Emma Joughin, Chloe Farmer, David Robinson and Julian Donlen. The first part allows for some introductions and a discussion about ‘the need’ for these types of programs. The second part looks ‘what difference do this make?’ (for individual participants and community). The third part explores ‘where to next’ for the program in the City of Port Phillip.

Participants also shared their most memorable moment … but my Skype recorder failed me and we didn’t capture it. See the summary provided by participants below the podcast links.

Part 1 – Introductions and What is the NEED for these types of leadership training programs? – 15 mins

Most memorable moment#1
I think that the visualisation exercise we did on the first day is something that I will always think back to. I channel into that moment every now and again to re-remind me of what my vision and goal was (is). It was such a simple exercise, and even seems obvious now. “Visualise your goal” of course visualisation is a useful tool but at the time, the way we were guided through the process and the way my vision developed and then was linked and related to where I was at that moment was incredibly profound. It made the dream seem ever so much more possible, it made it really come into feasible reality. I remember my tummy flipping a little thinking “whoa! I could really do this”

Then that was reinforced by the letter exercise, it took a little longer than 3 months but by 6 months everything in the letter had come into being in some form or another. Funnily enough, the final achievement in the letter I wrote was getting a job in the sustainability industry and that happened the day before Earth Hour. The following day I went along to the eco centre for the Earth Hour gathering and with the friends I had made at the course we made a toast to my achievement and I stood with my glass of wine on the very spot in the garden that I had stood on and visualised on that first day. Awesome.

Most memorable moment#2

It is hard to pick one, as the training was made up of many inspirational moments, but one I found pivotal in my learning was the part on accepting & blocking offers.
This was an invitation to a new perspective, an opportunity for self reflection and to see how accepting & blocking offers is at play every moment and becomes a part of ones habitual reactions. I became more aware of my own accepting & blocking behaviour and when others do so. Ultimately it helped me see what was holding me back, or moving me forward, or how I may benefit from accepting an offer that I may not ordinarily take. Exercises like this are so useful because with awareness comes freedom, empowerment to create change and alter how you navigate through life.

Most memorable moment#3
My memorable moment(s) were:
· Food!,
· camaraderie (as David said),
· the reaction to the exercise of handing out A+ certificates, and
· a comment by one participant who had been recently visiting family in Europe who said that the course made her feel for the first time like she was home in Australia – this summed up an open and emotional response that was a highlight of being a participant.

Most memorable moment#4
There was no one “memorable moment” for me. However what stands out in my mind is the comradie, and unity of purpose, that built up amongst the participants.

Another thing the course did was that we all made a public commitment to undertake our project.

Everything we heard, or practiced, was then linked in our minds to how it would be used in achieving our goal

Andy Middleton      Belina hiding behind some crabs!

I first heard about Andy through a Skype chat Rob Poynton a while ago when he mentioned the link between Biomimicry and Improv – this got me excited! Then 6 months later I met Belina at the Applied Improv Network conference in Portland (OR) in November last year where she hosted a Biomimicry-Improv session! How’s that for ‘meant-to-be’!

The inspiration for this skype call and podcast was this discussion thread that Belina started at the Applied Improv Network site – Using Improv to Save The World: What’s that mean to you? This discussion thread is well worth a read as it sets the tone for some of our ramblings in the podcast. Enjoy!

Download Podcast – Using Improv to Save the World (25 min, 6MB)

More to follow on what we chat about.

Cheers

Geoff

As recorder of this podcast, here’s Johnnie overview (and the shownotes can be found on his site) …

Yesterday, I recorded a conversation with Viv McWaters and Roland Harwood on the theme of The Tyranny of the Explicit. We explore how the need for certainty in an uncertain world, the over reliance on metrics and the demand that learning be made explicit, can often kill energy in meetings and get in the way of innovation.

Download Tyranny of Explicit here (22m, 9MB)

Viv also expanded on this podcast by writing this over here …

What happens when there’s a great conversation going, ideas are sparking off each other, people are energised and excited and then someone says, “we should capture this”? Or when creativity or innovation has to be expressed as a number, you know, ROI? Or when our ideas need to conform to someone else’s model? And how do we make decisions in these complex and demanding times? Who is taking responsibility (or not) for making decisions? And what about accreditation? What’s that all about?

These and other thoughts are explored in this Tyranny of the Explicit podcast featuring the ever articulate and often provocative  Johnnie Moore, and Roland Harwood, Director of Open Innovation at NESTA. Oh, and I chime in too.

And if you’d like to explore more about this and other tyrannies that oppress us in our organisations and in our work, come and join our Crumbs! workshop in Sydney on May 13.

Cheers

Geoff

Viv McWaters

Download the podcast  (25m, 23.5 MB)

Geoff’s comments …

Thanks to Viv, Johnnie and David for exploring this ‘Tyranny’! So much of what I experience at workshops, in both myself and clients, is impacted by our fear of not being good enough!

Sydney folk will have a great opportunity to bust this Tyranny wide open at an event known as “Crumbs – A few possibly surprising ideas about innovation and change”. Here’s the link to Matt Moore’s events page for all the details about Crumbs.

Cheers

Geoff

Direct link to mp3 download here

Here’s what they said about Ken at their website:

British creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson believes we’re all born with creative capacities but we lose them the more time we spend in the world.

He says the school system often discourages creativity by favouring
academic measurement.

Sir Ken is an internationally recognised leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources.

He was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland.

The resulting blueprint for change, ‘Unlocking Creativity’, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, education and cultural leaders across the Province.

He was one of four international advisors to the Singapore Government for its strategy to become the creative hub of South East Asia.

cheers V & G

Nick was in Australia to facilitate the open space day at the Australian Theatre Forum.

Hope you enjoy!

Winkipodcast with Nick Sweeting – Improbable Theatre Co.

Geoff Brown and I chat with Nicole Hunter who is currently a freelance facilitator based in Dubai, U.A.E. Before shifting to the desert she was the Manager of Community and Stakeholder Engagement at EPA Victoria. And before that Nicole worked as the Manager Community Engagement, Fire, at the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Nicole’s core expertise includes facilitation, community engagement and project planning and management.

She shares her experiences and wisdom from working with rural communities following the Grampians bush fires a few years ago.

Download and Listen to podcast here (40 mins)

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Created @ Wordle.net

Geoff Brown and I chatted with Gil Brenson-Lazan about the role of facilitators in disaster recovery. Gil has 35 years experience in this area and a background in social psychology. He is a co-founder of the Global Facilitators Service Corps (GFSC).

Download and Listen to podcast here (32 mins)

Here’s an overview of what we covered.

Gil’s experiences of disaster responses – good and bad. What happened when 26,000 people were killed in Columbia.

Why it’s important for people to participate in their own future.

Training facilitators in psycho-social recovery: personal (psycho) grieving processes and building community (social) resilience.

An aid mentality compared with a facilitative approach to disaster response.

Thinking like a facilitator.

Role of Community Fireguard in building resilient communities.

The power of participating and dialoguing instead of being ‘talked at’ by an expert.

Secondary crisis – not dealing appropriately with the loss and turning to ‘escape’ behaviours.

The problem of staying in the aid mode for too long and building dependency. The ladder of participation.

When is the right time for facilitation after a disaster?

GFSC resources for facilitators

Arnstein’s article about the Ladder of Participation

I was delighted to be asked to open space for the final day of this year’s conference in Chicago. And sad too, that I would not be able to stay until the end. Those pesky flight schedules between the USA and Australia meant I had to leave early. So I employed the ultimate ‘invisible’ facilitator role, advocated by none other than Harrison Owen. He takes a nap. I left the country! But before I left I recorded some comments about the conference.

Thanks to Joey, Alan, Yael, Bobbie, Rita, Sven, Kathryn, Andrea, Jodi, Sue, Paul, Leif, Zohar, Alieke and David. There’s about 20 minutes of comments from these insightful folk. At about 12 minutes in there’s an absolutely delightful piece from Jodi Cohen. 

 Listen here; Reflections on the AIN Chicago 2008 Conference

At last week’s Applied Improvisation Conference in Chicago I managed to snatch a few minutes with Simo Routarinne, an expert on the use of status. Simo is from Helsinki, Finland and is an improviser, facilitator, teacher, trainer, actor, writer, director and stuff…

Listen here – Simo Routarinne on the use of ‘status’

We chatted for about 20 minutes. Here are the ‘show notes’:

00.00 Introduction, shift from prof acting to impro + applications, on making your partner look good

03.10 What is status? About what you do, not who you are. Dynamic status. Use of space

06.43 Value of high/low status

08.29 Moving status and why we should be aware of it? Saving the world. Status fights.

10.56 Debate and verbal violence, friendly discussion and the hidden status competition, reactions to status challenges

13.50 Consequences of not reacting, passive aggression – avoiding conflict by not reacting

16.07 Counter-attack and conflict escalation, bullying

16.35 Language status, skilled at recognition, hard to verbalise

18.15 Status awareness in groups, adapting to be close to the status of the group

19.53 Building trust and rapport, status of the facilitator

21.33 More info

Keith Johnstone Impro

Daniel Wieiner Rehearsals for Growth

Contact Simo Routarinne sroutari@welho.com

23.30 Ends