Facilitation
“Thank you Joseph. You made a world of difference the last two days. We made monumental progress – maybe you’re not even aware how monumental…believe me, it was. To have walked out with all our questions answered, having had the incredibly hard discussions we did… Without you, I’m sure we would have left way too much on the table and left frustrated or worse. If you ever need a recommendation…I’ll tell them you’re the most amazing at your work that I’ve ever seen. :-)”
—Michelle Long, Executive Director, Sustainable Connections
The core of my practice is meeting facilitation. My goal is always to maximize the value of your meeting time. To do this I work with you to clarify the meeting goal, assure the right people are at the table, and most importantly bring cutting edge methods to assure that there is maximum participation and exchange of ideas.
I work in a wide variety of settings including:
Multi-stakeholder collaboration
Almost every situation we face in civic or corporate life involves negotiation between multiple stakeholders and trade-offs between competing values or priorities. I work with large and small stakeholder groups to clarify interests, identify concerns, and creating shared vision and action.
Public input processes
One of the most challenging facilitation settings is managing a public or semi-public meeting where the potential for conflict is high. I specialize in creating a welcoming environment for public comment that diffuses tension by recognizing our differences.
“ I was personally skeptical about the value of facilitation before I started working with you (I have perhaps an excess of do-it-yourself attitude), but now I’m sold!”
—Anna Warwick Sears, Ph.D., Laguna Foundation
Organizational retreats, events, and meetings
My motto is simple—meetings do not have to suck! With the right plan, activities, and careful facilitation you can get more done and build goodwill that lasts long past the retreat. I specialize in full-day and multi-day meetings where outcomes are critical and the issue is getting buy-in from all participants.
“Thank you so much for giving us the structure and guidance that we needed to really get somewhere today. I am very pleased with how it turned out. Thanks also for being a model for me in how to redirect us when we get bogged down in details.”
—Jean Redus, President of the Board, Atascadero Green Valley Watershed Council
Large group events
When you need to bring together 30 to 300 people, the challenge is how to organize an event that engages participants and has the results you want. I use Open Space Technology, World Cafe, and other effective models as frameworks to create dynamic large group experiences.
Consensus building
I work with ongoing groups that are attempting to build a consensus around policies and actions. With these groups we help to build capacity to listen more clearly, step out of self-defeating roles, and ultimately to be able to find real common ground.
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In all these settings my facilitation approach is based on keen listening, insightful observation, and neutrality. I use a variety of recording techniques to assure that what is discussed is captured for later use including real-time computer recording, graphic recording, and text recording.
“...just a quick thank you again for the great job on Saturday. I thought you connected easily with the group and moved us through our agenda and tasks with humor and professionalism.”
—Gary Hochman, President, Board of Directors, Community Child Care Coalition of Sonoma County