Simon Koolwijk

Online or f2f brainstorming?

2012-01-21T01:40:00.000-08:00

'There is no better situation, than seeing each other's eyes and use your brains while interacting at the same place at the same time'. This is what I hear regularly as feedback from my colleague facilitators and clients. However, nowadays there are free online applications available, which can be used while brainstorming at different places at the same time.

Recently I applied Spiderscribe.net in one of my training courses about 'Facilitation Methods'. Spiderscribe can be used in the combination with skype (teleconferencing) for doing:

a brainstorm workshop with postes
debates
creative brainstorming using mindmap applications
evaluations

Impressions of the Training Facilitation Methods with online tools at animoto:

Try our video maker at Animoto.

Advantages online brainstorming

Online brainstorming provides the following advantages:

You can do it at a distance with a group of people online at the same time;
The software of spiderscribe is user friendly, for free and easy applicable;
The lay-out is professional
Participants' ideas stay anonymous. Since the f2f handwriting and f2f interaction is not visible, participants are not hindered by hierarchy or pre-assumptions about people in the group;
By seeing ideas of other people at the virtual wall, participants are stimulated to gain insights for new ideas

Disadvantages

Disadvantages are:

There is no f2f interaction, although there are possibilities to support the brainstorm with webcams connections through Bigmarker or Google+;
Participants can get blocked in their brainstorming process by seeing the ideas of others;
The facilitator does not have control at the participants. It is not clear if they participate or do other things during the brainstorming phase;
A group size of 5 - 8 participants is the optimal group size for doing online brainstorming sessions. In a f2f setting, brainstorming can be done with 5 - 50 participants.

Potential for online facilitation

Online brainstorming has great potential. More and more free software and user friendly brainstorm applications become available. Spiderscribe is excellent!

In the training Facilitation Methods which I conduced on behalf of the Hendrik Kreamer Institute on the 9th and 10th January, 2012 the participants (a group of Young Professional Researchers) responded enthousiastically. 'It is easy to learn', 'Intuitive and applicable for long distance communication'.

If you are interested on how to become an online facilitator, consult Faciliteeronline.nl

Making a video about the future of the consultant in international development

2012-01-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

'Follow your heart, use your brains!' This was the title of the video that opened the 25th Anniversary of the Nedworc Association on the 6th January 2012 in Amsterdam. Nedworc is a network of development consultants in international development co-operation. In October 2011 Erica Wortel, Joke Oranje and Simon Koolwijk developed in partnership with the Nedworc Anniversary committee the scenario for a video about the future development in the sector of international development co-operation. The future of the sector, developments on the labor market for consultants, professional development and the future of the consultant were the main discussion threads for the development of the video.

See video: 'Follow your heart, use your brains!' (in Dutch)

The process of video making

After developing the scenario Erica Wortel and Joke Oranje selected member consultants with various backgrounds eg. livestock advisor, forestry researcher, director of a consultancy agency, a participatory research and game specialist and a professional coach/ organisational development advisor. On the 4th November 2011 Helena Immiga-Berends, Lucy Maarse, Frank van Schoubroek, Rolf Posthouwer and Hilde van Hulst - Mooibroek shared their views about the developments in the international development co-operation sector.

Before filming the interviewees, Erica and Joke conducted in-depth interviews, whereafter the video interviews were made. The camera work was done by Simon Koolwijk. Light, decor, acoustics were optimalized. About 70 minutes of video was taped. Normally the ration between video tapes taken and the actual finalized video has a ratio of 7:1. It took about 3 working days to make the first draft of the video. In early december 2011 feedback was collected from the interviewees followed by a 2nd and 3rd round of editting. This took in total 2 working days. One of the big discoveries that was done on how to make the right video conversion in Adobe Premiere elements from images of ratio 4:3 to 16:9. A search at google helped to solve the problem. Watch video Video tutorial Adobe Premiera Elements. Read more about how to make smart short video message at 'The art of making short video messages'.

Video as a reference

The video production was shown at the beginning of the 25th Anniversary of the Nedworc Association. It became a good reference. The key note speaker Louk de la Rive Box, former director of ISS, stressed that team co-operation, innovation, professional development and using intercultural development experience will be the main factors that will make consultants in international development effective and successfull in the future. Janneke Juffermans (author of Grenzeloos Gedreven), the conference speaker, facilitated the plenary discussion between Louk de la Rive Box and the attendees of the 25th Anniversary.

Lessons, team co-operation and co-creation

The process of video making with Erica Wortel and Joke Oranje was a useful experience. Through team co-operation I was able to enlarge my knowledge and skills in:

How to make a successful video production in one day;
How to involve the interviewees in the feedback of the editing process;
Learning how to see things from a esthetic, journalistic and more challenging perspective in developing the video story;
Video-editing. I discovered a lot of new ways on how to improve the editted video shots;
Discovering it gives a lot of energy if the process is a two-ways learning process while doing co-creation

It was a nice and useful experience! Thanks for everybody who was involved in the video production.

Mastering the tools, a first step on the journey of an online facilitator!

2011-12-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

In the end of November 2011, the first part of the course 'Social Media for organisationalchange' was completed with a f2f meeting at Maliebaan45 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. For a period of two weeks eleven participants practised with a number of social media tools, which are applied for organisational learning and change processes. Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google plus, Houtsuite, Prezi, Spiderscribe, Delicious, Twiddla and Yammer were some of the major tools which were applied for practise. Experiences about ad- and disadvantages were shared at a Ning Discussion platform.

Practise with tools

Three groups, all organised in a virtual summerhouse, selected a tool to present. Two groups presented their experiences with Yammer. The tool is userfriendly, easy applicable and has a lot of functions which foster discussions. It has some similarities with Facebook and Twitter. 'Yammer is a tool that is renewing itself continuously' adds Sibrenne Wagenaar, one of the trainers. Every two or three months, they add a new function.

Wiki is more of a fluid database tool. Wiki was presented by the third virtual summerhouse group. 'Through a wiki you can collect resources (such as publications, articles, video's) and literature on a systematic way. It is also an excellent tool for writing a book in building institutional knowledge of a group', explained one of the presenters. 'A minus is that Wiki did not evolve and renew itself for the past years. The functions of the tool are still very much the same as 3 years ago.

Myself I applied Animoto for the first time. It is an excellent tool to make creative photo-video presentations.

See video f2f meeting 24th November '11.

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Case study, research and developing an online process

As preperation towards the f2f meeting participants planned an online process, they are going to facilitate in the coming 6 months. Some are considering to choose a blended process, having online exchange in advance and after a f2f event. Another participant will develop a joint lobby strategy for sustainable development through online exchange. A research is currently developed, where stakeholders are planned to be interviewed through an online survey.

In December 2011 and January 2012 participants will start their research in developing their online process;

What will be the event?
What is the main reason why the need for online exchange is relevant?
What will be the purpose?
Which stakeholders will participate?
Which social media tool will fit to the needs of the target group?

Research is one of the major steps in developing an effective and successful online facilitation process. Read the article - Twelve factors for successful online facilitation.

New course 'Social Media for organisational change'

Early January 2012 the second round of online exchange will start. Participants will present their results of their research and draft online process on a second f2f meeting on the 26th January, 2012. The course 'Social Media for organisational change' is facilitated by Joitske Hulsebosch, Sibrenne Wagenaar and Simon Koolwijk. A new course will start in March 2012. For more information read 'Social Media for organisational change' or 'Leergang Social Media'.

Facilitation of Strategic Planning in Moldova

2011-11-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

Recently Procommunity Centre uploaded a video, where community members share their impressions about the Strategic Planning process. During the past years Procommunity Centre assisted village communities in Moldova in sustaining and improving the quality of rural infrastructure such as schools, cultural centres, youth clubs, roads and energy supply.

In the video village participants stress the participatory approach is one of the mayor factors leading to successful results. By having the relevant stakeholders on board to solve and discuss their problems, Procommunity Centre's Strategic Planning approach creates ownership and dedication with each party to work on sustainable solutions.

See video: Strategic Planning

The participatory strategic planning approach, which has been developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ToP - methods) consists of 5 steps:

Visioning (How will the future look like in an ideal situation?)
Contractions (What is the current situation and what are the hindrances in solving the problems?)
Strategic Directions (How will the stakeholders move forward to accomplish the desired future and what are the strategic goals?)
Time planning and organisation (Who? What? When? How? Where? Timebased results?)
Follow-up (What has been accomplished sofar? What went well? What should be improved or adjusted?)

At the end participants have a framework, including action steps and responsibilities divided.

Since the late 90's and early 2000's Facilicom Consult and Kontakt der Kontinenten co-operate with ProcommunityCentre. It is encouraging that the participatory approach, one of the values of all three partners, has been adapted as an approach for community development in Moldova.

Playing with dialogues online

2011-10-04T04:48:00.000-07:00

Recently Joitske Hulsebosch and Simon Koolwijk conducted two workshops on ‘How to facilitate with social media’. The workshops were held at AgentschapNL and the IAF-Benelux Conference ‘Facilitation as a {2^nd} profession.

An appealing exercise during one of the workshops was how to convert a face-to-face exercise into an online exercise, while facilitating. Based on the online exercise, two truths and a lie, participants introduced a number of creative exercises. See video: Two truths and a lie:

Some exercises which were presented to be introduced online:

1.The line up

Ask participants online to order themselves according to a question in a row. For example, position yourself based on your birthday in the line up. The people who have their birthday date close to January move upwards, and the ones who have been born closer to December move downwards. Spiderscribe.net is an excellent tool for doing this game.

2. Debate game

Start an online debate by introducing a statement. Again Spiderscribe.net is an excellent tool for doing this exercise. For example: If you are a good f2f facilitator, you definitely will be a qualified online facilitator! The ones who agree move to the left side, and the ones who disagree move to the right side. After that you can exchange by using the chat or a skype conference call.

3. Share a photo

Ask participants to share a photo about something they like, a hobbie or something special. Twiddla.com, Ning or Facebook are excellent tools for uploading and exchanging photos.

4. Mindmapping

Twiddla.com is an online whiteboard, which provides opportunities to make drawings. Making a mindmap is an excellent way to do an introduction exercise or an evaluation online together.

For more ideas; Read article ‘10 Online icebreakers – Joitske Hulsebosch’

Another exciting experience was a twitter chat, which was practiced at the conference ‘Facilitation as a {2^nd} profession. Through twitterchat.com participants can exchange experiences and questions at a particular topic. We used the #IAFNL11 to have an online dialogue. By using Twitter 12 participants communicated intensively on how they experienced the conference sofar. At first glance a twitter discussion looks very chaotic and unstructured. But compare it with going into a bar or a party having 100 visitors. You can not communicate with all the 100 people at the same time, but based on interest and curiousity you look for the people who are fun to talk to.
It is the same with Twitter. You just follow and communicate with the few ones, you like to meet and to exchange. The role of the online facilitator is to follow the exchange and the discussions. Most of the times there is no need to strictly structure the meeting, as is the same with a party. Most important is that the conditions and atmosphere is relaxed and easy going. The online facilitator can do this by throwing in some challenging questions into the discussion, to remind people of the goal and focus of the discussion and to link people who have a similar area of interest. About the benefits and challenges of a twitter discussion event, you can read more at the article Twitter Chat - author SuzanneBakker.

Transforming a face to face exercise into an online dialogue is fun to do! It challenges your mindset for creative thinking and when started it is difficult to get yourself stopped! For more information about online facilitation read faciliteeronline.nl

What is the relation between African masks and facilitation?

2011-09-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

A lesson about the significance of masks and its meaning in the African context. This was one of the practicals which was done during the training 'Facilitation methods', held on the 12th and 16th September, 2011. The training organised by the Hendrik Kraemer Institute and conducted by Simon Koolwijk was focused on acquiring methods and skills on how to activate and strengthen groups.

Nowadays facilitation is one of the key skills professionals need in engaging people for building effective teamwork and stimulating a fruitful knowledge exchange. Learning embeds better if people have already thought about the topic, before receiving additional information about the theoretical principles.

The lesson about the masks was facilitated by two professional lecturers who will teach religion and ethical topics at an university in Africa. Teaching is an interactive process, focused on asking questions, discovering and exchanging. 'The one who is doing the talking, is the one who is doing the learning!' is a worldwide shared wisdom. All these principles are embedded in the Kolb-learning cycle for adult learning.

Facilitation as 2nd profession

For organisational development advisors, managers, group leaders and people in a leadership positions capacity to facilitate and asking questions is an important pré-condition for getting better results from individuals and groups. Therefore, for most professionals in a leadership, training, coaching and guiding position facilitation is a 2nd profession. On the 23rd September, 2011 the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) will address this issue at the conference 'Facilitation as a 2nd Profession'. There professionals have an opportunity to get acquainted with the different types of facilitation and methods, that can be applied for activating and engaging groups.

Resources and literature

If you like to orientate yourself, on how it is to have the role of facilitator as a second profession, read the publication 'Advising as a 2nd profession'. If you like to know the meaning of African masks read the article >>> African Masks History and Meaning.

Co-creation through creative writing!

2011-09-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

'One day a freelance consultant sat behind the computer......' This was one of the starting sentences in writing a creative story on how to use social media as a tool for learning. With the assistance of a creative writing facilitator from Loesje, Faciliteeronline.nl (Joitske Hulsebosch, Sibrenne Wagenaar and Simon Koolwijk) organised a co-creation workshop in developing slogans for the training course 'Social Media for facilitating learning processes in organisations'. The purpose of the workshop was to identify the most important issues for this training course by going through a creative writing process.

Creative writing exercises

Based on the starting sentence 'one day.....' each participant continued the story by adding a new sentence, following the previous sentence. Each round the Loesje facilitator added a word, which was integrated in each sentence. The stories which were produced visualised some hilarious stories, creating fun and laughter.

The second exercise we were asked to think about five words that came up in our minds, when we woke up in the morning. Hereafter we were asked to write down a problem, that was keeping ourselves occupied in our today's lives. For each problem the facilitator provided us with a word symbolizing a physical office tool; for example a stapler or a paperclip. As a following step we passed our written statements to our neighbour participant, who was asked to give a creative solution for our problem by using three of the five words applying the physical office tool.

Imagine......

Problem: Help I can not create time to sit and practise with social media!

Answer: Give yourself a day off, stay the whole day at home, treat yourself with coffee and a fresh shower, use your paperclip to write a tweet at your i-pad. So why bother, if you can create your own opportunities!

See video for impressions:

Co-creation of slogans

Finally we formulated the most important questions, which online facilitators have to deal with when they are engaging and activating people for learning and sharing through social media;

How to deal with security issues?
What to do if people in the organisation feel blocked by their surrounding system to communicate through social media?
How to create time for using social media?
How to get people open minded for social media?

For each question we were asked to respond by using creative answers providing the solution. So how about:

Lock your colleagues for three days in an office with people who do not interest him, and give this person a laptop with internet connection;
Rain, storm and wind, it is time to tweet a twitter to Saint Nicolaes!
Tweets are like gingerbread cookies, you can spread as many as you like!

At the end of the workshop, topics were identified for the training course 'Social Media for facilitating learning processes in organisations'. Participants expressed that the workshop had helped them to think creatively in language. Playing with language is fun!, expressed on of the participants. One of the participants wrote an article at her blogpost read >>> Co-creation.

Back at home I played with creating a sentence using the Capital Letter 'T' as much as possible:

Twitter Tweets are tasting tea together in the Toronto Teagarden, telling that is takes two to tango and three text messages to tweet a #tweet to twenty two thousand tweeter fans thanking @twitter. Indeed playing with language, as a tool for co-creation is fun!

Twelve factors for successful online facilitation

2011-09-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

Last week the Magazine 'E-Organisations and People' published an article about the 'Art of online facilitation: sustaining the process' in their edition Vol 18, No 3, August 2011. This article I wrote with support from Jet Proost, Bob MacKenzie and Rosemary Cairns. In the process of writing this article I compared two successful and one unsuccessful case about virtual exchange in my 5 years experience as an online facilitator. Out of this process of comparing, I concluded that 'twelve factors' are needed for having a successful online exchange. I argue that the presence of an online facilitator is essential to get most out of the group and to keep the process going. Online facilitation requires a different approach from face-to-face facilitation in activating groups.

Twelve factors for successful online facilitation

1. People have an urgent matter to be solved or a question which keeps them awake at night

2. Leaders or managers have an interest in social media and feel ownership of the process, so that they feel responsible for involving others. A preparatory meeting with the key leaders and their involvement in discussions is essential. This is one of the conditions a facilitator should set when preparing and starting the process with the client.

3. The facilitator has the technical knowledge on how to apply social media for facilitation events, and is able to train others in the course of the process

4. One of the members of the facilitation team (facilitator, co-facilitator or client) already has a personal relationship through previous face to face contacts with at least 25% of the participants. These personal connections are essential in helping passive participants to become active in a later stage of the online event.

5. People see the benefit of participation as being worth the investment of their time. A reward at the end is stimulating. For example participation in a face-to-face conference, a publication in an important journal, an expanded network, new knowledge, tips or tricks for work etc.

6. The problem does not lend itself to being solved face-to-face, since distance, time and budget constraints are a hindering factor

7. People feel isolated and are looking for equals or peer colleagues with whom they would feel comfortable in sharing thoughts and feelings.

8. The social media tools are easily accessible and user friendly. Media such as mailing groups, Skype, Facebook and LinkedIn seem to match the habits of participants more effectively than wikis or heavy loaded platforms that a critical number of participants see as being too complicated. It is essential that more than 80 to 90% of the participants feel comfortable with the e-tools that are being applied.

9. Regular moments of evaluation are built into the process. Participants can indicate what they like and provide crucial information about what can be improved in the process.

10. The timing is right and makes sense. An online event nine months prior to a face-to-face event does not generate high participation. Creating an online platform discussion two to four weeks in advance of an event is more likely to be successful in generating momentum.

11. It takes into consideration the previous experience with social media of the client (organisation) and target group. When the client does not have experience with social media and is open to learning about their use, take a step by step approach and introduce the 'online event' as a discovery or experiment.

12. The group is guided by a competent online facilitator, who keeps the process going.

Blended learning

Online discussion processes combined with face-to-face (f2f) meetings work best as a kind of ‘blended communication’ process. This is called 'blended learning'. When people meet each other face-to-face, they get a feeling for somebody else and they build relationships in addressing each other when group tasks need to be accomplished. Therefore a f2f component is preferred in building an effective group through online interchange. However, online interchange adds a new dimension. People have different f2f conversations (more in-depth and meaningful) with each other after they have exchanged experiences online and vice versa after they have met f2f. It also addresses people's contemporary needs for flexibility and mobility.

The role of the online facilitator

The presence of an online facilitator (sometimes called a ‘moderator’) is essential to get the most out of the group and keep the process going. The facilitator is the one who keeps the group leaders and participants alert. In case a discussion is coming to a standstill, or if one of the key participants is not responding, the facilitator plays the role of 'informal investigator', checking what keeps the participant(s) silent. Usually this is done by an e-mail or an informal telephone call or chat. Relationship building is an essential competence of the online facilitator. The facilitator also stimulates participants to respond to discussions, by addressing people on their areas of expertise. Experience in sensing group dynamics and observing patterns of interaction also is essential.

Summarising discussions and acknowledging people's sentiments and linking that with the main objectives of the online event is another key task for the online facilitator. This is helpful input to keep participants on track and is excellent resource material. Capacity and know-how of the online facilitator is essential in setting up the discussion process. Affection and enthusiasm for social media, and knowledge about the 'advantages' and 'pitfalls' of the e-tools, are key in getting participants involved.

Conclusion

Online facilitation is not easy. Not only are specific competencies of a face-to-face facilitator required, but also virtual facilitation skills are a new requirement of the 'modern facilitator'. Their toolbox also includes social and technical skills, as well as the ability to convince and engage the group on a virtual journey. An online facilitator excels in multi-tasking. Online facilitation is indeed a complex Art.

In my article I make reference to the publication 'En nu online' - Authors Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar. Joitske, Sibrenne and I deliver courses about online facilitation through Faciliteeronline.nl Consult Faciliteeronline.nl - Leergang.

The complete article 'The Art of online facilitation - sustaining the process' you can read in the Magazine 'E-Organisations and People' - Vol 18, No 3, August 2011. This magazine has 12 other interesting articles about (online) facilitation. The magazine is a pre-event publication as introduction to the IAF-Europe Conference on Facilitation - Building Bridges through Facilitation' which is held 14 - 16 October, 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. Together with my colleagues Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar, we rewrote the article in Dutch having 7 factors for having succesfull online exchange. Read article: 'Zeven factoren voor een succesvolle online uitwisseling'.

Twitter! A great tool for networking and expanding your knowledge base!

2011-09-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been reading the publication #Twitter works! - author Fiona Stoop (@werkcoach). In this Dutch written publication Fiona Stoop shares some hintful tips on how to use Twitter successfully for your work.

Have a goal and a strategy

Are you looking for a job? Do you want to promote your company? Recruit participants for an event? Do you want to profile yourself as an expert in your domain? Are you communicating a campaign message? or are you looking for support and get some complex questions answered? Fiona Stoop is stressing in her publication '#Twitter works!' that it is important to have a well defined goal and a clear strategy when using twitter.

Fiona comments: 'Developing a strategy can take time. Reading and checking tweets from other professionals can be very helpful in discovering your own strategy. Just applying and using your account regularly, will help you what attracts and disattracts people'. According to Fiona an active tweeter is using twitter at least twice a week communicating around 10 - 40 tweets a month.

Hints for becoming an effective tweeter

For triggering and catching people's interest Fiona Stoop recommends to have;

A photo of yourself which attracts people
A bio, which describes your expertise in one line
A number of followers, who show that they have a relation with your expertise. Quantity and quality of your followers are a criteria for people to read and follow your tweets
20 % or less communication about your private affairs and focus more than 80 % of your tweets on your expertise and relations
Twitter is a medium of giving and taking. Do not focus on promoting yourself and your services, but try to be service oriented in helping people with sharing resources, answering questions and retweeting their messages.

Tips for tweeting

To make twitter work for you, Fiona gives some useful tips.

If you want people to follow a certain topic or an event use the code #. For example, I use the code #IAFNL11 for addressing the Conference 'Facilitation as a {2nd} profession.
If people decide to become a follower of your account, make them feel welcome by sending them a Direct Tweet or thanking them by saying thanks @koolwijk for following my twitter account.
To get people retweet your messages, retweet messages of others. One day you might get followers, who will retweet your messages having more than 1,000 followers. Twitter has tremendous possibilities for spreading interesting messages. So start retweeting messages gradually.
Be careful and cautious in spreading messages promoting your services and products. Focus on helping others! People will get interested in you, if they gradually start to know you and have a feeling of trust in you. '' You also don't start to sell your services at a birthday party, when you introduce yourself and get to know new people'. 'People will become interested if you have some interesting stories to share at the party.'
Don't overtweet, but be creative in keeping your messages worthwhile reading in 140 characters. You can use bit.ly for making links to websites, which you can embed in your twitter message.

Benefits of using twitter

I have been using twitter since January 2011. Sofar twitter has provided me a number of benefits;

Through twitter I have been able to read publications and seen video's, which are updating and enriching my expertise. These articles I would have never encountered without twitter.
I got to know interesting people, who I would not have met through f2f interaction.
The number of visitors at my weblog increased from 200 per month in January 2011 up to 1,000 visitors per month in August 2011. In my f2f meetings colleagues refer to some of my publications at my blog. The twitter messages got them connected to my blog.
Many times I refer in my f2f meetings with colleagues to their twitter messages. The medium is complementary and deepening our f2f conversations.

Twitter works! from Fiona Stoop (@werkcoach) is a publication worthwhile reading!

Factors for having successful Large Scale Interventions

2011-08-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

In March 2011 I had the pleasure to visit the Phd Graduation ceremony of Tonnie van der Zouwen at the Tilburg University. There she presented the main conclusions of her publication "Building an evidence based practical guide to Large Scale Interventions". Main question in her research was "What are the key factors for having a successful Large Scale Intervention (LSI), that can contribute to sustainable change?"

Factors for a successful LSI

Sofar worldwide the Open Space method, Future Search and World Café are the most applied Large Scale Intervention (LSI) techniques. For her research Tonnie van der Zouwen compared a number of Open Space events where she was involved as a facilitator. Some of the events were successful and generated sustainable results and changes. Other events were less successful and did not attribute to drastic changes or other ways of co-operation between partners. Based on her comparison she came up with seven key factors, which can make a LSI successful in realising sustainable change:

Be consistent in applying the principles of the LSI-methods (Open Space, Future Search, World Café) as a facilitator. The more you get away from the basics, the less effective they are;
The system of partners and stakeholders most be ready and prepared for a LSI intervention. The leaders must be open to share decision making power and be prepared to listen to input and contributions from stakeholders;
The LSI must be worth the investment and doing. A LSI has a lot of risks, when it fails. It can kill the belief in the benefit of participation;
The facilitator should work on what is possible in regards to possibilities and ambitions. A situational approach having an optimal match between situation, the task (goals of the LSI) and the process is essential;
Having the right people at the right time in the meeting is one of the most critical conditions for success;
A good preperation, where the key stakeholders take responsibility for making a contribution and showing ownership at the LSI, is another essential component for success. Face-to-face preperation meetings are essential in advance of the LSI;
Sustainable change must be maintained. The strength of LSI is the aspect of collective learning and exchange. However, after service and follow-up is definitely needed to continue the process of learning and exchange. The key stakeholders have a responsibility in this process.

Lessons for my own work practise

These 7 key success factors were very helpful for me to reflect on a number of the Open Space sessions, I facilitated during the past five years. Some of them generated a process of change. However, I also facilitated an Open Space intervention in which I noticed a number of particular situations which hindered an successful outcome:

Only 2 groupleaders, in an event having 60 participants, took a leadership role in the discussions;
The atmosphere was rather passive;
A number of key participants (two important group leaders) cancelled their participation only a few days before the meeting. Their substitute representatives did not have much influence to make proposals or decide for their leaders;
Since the project, funded by a big donor agency, was ending some of the key leaders were already looking for another job. However, participants did not feel the topic of job security was appropriate and safe for discussion during this meeting. People felt the idealistic goal was more fitted for discussion at this meeting.

Approximately 1 year after this event, the number of new developed initiatives between the partners that were involved in the open space meeting are still limited and the spin off is relatively low. Of course the event also generated some positive results. Best practices were exchanged and new approaches on multi-stakeholder processes were promoted and duplicated in some regions. However, when I had applied some of the 7 key factors for LSI, I believe the Open Space event would have generated more results.

Looking back at this event, the publication of Tonnie van der Zouwen has helped me to consider to be more critical as facilitator during the preperation of an Open Space event. What I learned and will do differently the next time:

Challenge the leaders in advance of the meeting to be present and prepare burning issues they would like to discuss during the Open Space;
Involve the leaders in setting up, the design and preparing the open space.
Consider cancelling the open space meeting in consultation with my principal/ client, when key leaders do not show up and participate in the meeting;
Address the behaviour and atmosphere I observed as facilitator during the meeting and give it back to the group on how they would like to deal with this.

If you are involved in organizing or facilitating LSI event, I would recommend reading "Building an evidence based practical guide to Large Scale Interventions" - Tonnie van der Zouwen.

The value of doubting

2011-08-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Is the belief, you think you have the right answer? Or is the right answer, a belief that is challenged all the time?

Having doubts is part of our daily lifes. If I am cycling to Amsterdam, I assume that the signboards are guiding me towards the right direction. But what if I did not notice a signboard on the road? Or if somebody changed the directions of the signboard having the intention to mislead cyclists? Or did a thunderstorm destroy the signboard? Or what if a roadblock leads me towards a cycling path withouth roadsigns in a forest? Am I still 100 % sure I am heading towards my final destination: Amsterdam!? It are the first signs of doubt....

Watch the video: The value of doubting - a first test about dealing with certainty and doubts:

The music, 'Fast legs, slow head', is produced by Omar Meza; e-mail. yoshihatsukatana@gmail.com

Having doubts has a number of advantages:

1. Connectivity: It helps to get meaningful contact with other people

2. Challenging beliefs: It helps to challenge values and beliefs. Is my perspective of the world the right perspective? or does a new insight, help me to look issues from a new perspective? And what does that tell about myself?

3. Trust on qualities of other people: Is it me who always has to give the right answer ? or am I open-minded to trust on others who might have (hidden) qualities, that help the team to get the right answer? Sometimes it is good not to know, so you can rely on trusted people who might know the solution.

Of course there are many other advantages about 'having doubts'. If you like to share more advantages about doubts, please post a message at this blog..........

A question is a motor for development!

2011-08-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

'A question is a motor for development!' This is the main phrase which struck me, while reading the 'Handbook Developing as Professional' written by Carolien de Monchy. The handbook is very useful for professionals who have a passion for learning and developing.

A continuous changing world is challenging the today's professional, to update his knowledge and capacities constantly. Three dimensions are influencing the development of the today's professional: A dynamic environment of changing knowledge and technologies, the changing perspectives in the organisational working surrounding and the changing demands from clients.

Talent and discipline

The book starts with an interesting metaphor. Somebody throws coffee at the floor and calls 'All wasted talents are flowing at the floor! What a pity!' 'How come wasted talents are at the floor?' asks the author. 'When the coffee is flowing at the floor, it is wasted. However, when the coffee is in a cup, it has value!' It is the same how we use our talents as a professional. When we don't have the discipline to update and develop our knowledge and skills, we waste our talents and capacities. Becoming a professional requires discipline and structure. If you don't practise, or don't ask for feedback from peer-colleagues or clients, the chances that you will become successful in your domain of work will be limited. Nowadays, the modern professional is creating and maintaining his own learning environment.

See video (in Dutch) where Carolien de Monchy explains about balancing the three perspectives in professional development - intro for IAF-BNL Conference, 23rd September, 2011

Outside and inside questions

There are many ways to develop as a professional. You can attend a training, read some interesting books and literature, participate in online communities, become member and participate in a professional organisation, share experiences in a peer-to-peer coachingsgroup , consult a coach, mentor or a senior and join a knowledge creation group.

Curiosity, passion and asking questions are key for development. With the outside questions, you can obtain progress on your discovery learning path by consulting your surroundings. So where do I get my learning needs fullfilled? What kind of feedback do I get from my surrounding? What are my qualities and what are my pitfalls? And how do I develop my capacities? The outside questions are the ones that can be answered by the environment of people and organisations which are surrounded by you.

The inside questions are the ones, that can only be answered by yourself. What are my beliefs? Why am I on this world? What do I want to contribute to the world? (your own mission statement) What is my identity? What is my self-image? And where do I want to go? (your vision) What are my goals in life? (the spiritual dimension).

Exercise 'Association Diary'

The 'Handbook Developing as Professional' has some interesting exercises in helping you to get some outside and inside questions answered. The one that was most appealing to me is the 'Association Diary'. Some steps for this exercise:

For two or three weeks write down every day a diary with associations that come up in your mind;
After these weeks, do three weeks something else. So, don't open or write in the diary and take some distance;
Finally, after 4 - 6 weeks, read through what you have written down in your diary and try to identify (look for) some patterns
Then, write a letter to yourself or a friend phrasing /your learning, your intentions or your beliefs.

An experience that caught my eye, was a person saying: 'After recalling the words and text I wrote down, I felt it was a bit boring, until I recognized it was the voice of my mother. I was noticing a pattern in my words! When I realized this, it felt like a relief and I was able to take a distance and let go this pattern!'

Create time for reflection

Taking regular time for reflection is a useful hint which I take from the Handbook. For example:

Create space (1 or 2 hours a week) in your agenda to reflect;
Make a date with yourself. So do something with yourself, so that you can give yourself a relaxing treat. Consider this appointment with yourself as important and valuable time and do not offer this time for another appointment;
Evaluate at least every quarter.

Professional development through social media

An increasing number of Professionals are now deepening their professional knowledge through discussion groups as Linkedin and Yammer. The book 'En_Nu_Online' written by Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar is complementary to the 'Handbook Developing as Professional' written by Carolien de Monchy. Daily I read some interesting articles and watch some amazing video's through links which I receive at my twitter account @koolwijk. A lot of practical knowledge I gain through following discussions at a number of Linkedin groups. When I am getting stuck and need advice from a peer-colleague I consult my colleages by an e-mail or a phone call. And when I can not directly get my question answered through my first circle of colleagues, I put my question at a Linkedin group. It is amazing how many people are willing to assist and share their knowledge. As Carolien de Monchy is mentioning, asking a question is a motor for development!

The art of making short video messages

2011-08-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks, I have been involved in making one-minute video messages as part of the preperation of the IAF-Benelux Conference 'Facilitation as a {2nd} profession. The conference will take place on the 23rd September, 2011 at Kontakt der Kontinenten in Soesterberg, The Netherlands. The event has 24 workshops and aims to have approximately 150 participants. My role is to make short video messages, where the workshop presenters explain in one minute what they will do and what participants can expect. In addition, testimonials are filmed where participants from previous IAF-Benelux conferences share some inspirational stories.

See video ( in Dutch) of one of the testimonials:

Conditions to be created by the client

Making a short video message is an art. There are six conditions that need to be created by your interviewee or client, before taping the video interview.

1. A space with enough light: Ensure that the interview takes place in a room or a setting, where there is enough light.

2. Prevent disturbing noises: The interview should not be distracted by disturbing noises such as cars, people talking on the background, machines or other distracting noises, which do not add any value to the video.

3. Prevent a space with too much wind: A windy surrounding affects the audio quality of the video. Make sure that the interview is done outside the wind, so that the voice recording goes smoothly.

4. Decor is part of the story: Before the interview takes place, the interviewee is recommended to think through what he would like to show on the background. Posters, facilitation materials or a surrounding where the interviewee peforms his services can already tell part of the story.

5. Match the dressing with the audience: Dressing and clothes are also part of communication. The dress of the interviewee should match, the needs and perceptions of the target group. Therefore, remind the interviewee to wear the proper clothing during the interview.

6. Prepare the interviewee what he is going to tell: A telephone call or an e-mail with a number of questions, are a helpful way to get the client prepared what he is going to tell in one minute.

Conditions to be ensured by the videomaker

So on a number of aspects for a successful video interview, you depend on your client/ interviewee. However, as videomaker you have control on a number of situations:

1. Take time to warm up: Plan at least 2 - 3 hours for an interview. Normally it is advisable to talk first half an hour with the client, before you start to make video's. A cup of coffee and a small conversation can be helpful on to finetune the video interview. Making a one-minute interview is hard work for both the interviewee as well as the videomaker.

2. Create a relaxed atmosphere during the interview: Spontanity does not come by itself. Allow the interviewee to make mistakes while talking and phrasing the message to the camera. Normally it takes 4 - 5 times to tape the same video message. Afterwards the videomaker can edit and compile different parts of a videomessage, to a fluent video story.

3. Check the videotapes together: Always, check with your client the video tapes, you have been making. It happens regularly that the interviewee still would like to correct some slight details in the interview. For example the decor, the hair, lipstick or the message. Checking the videotapes together, therefore allows to make some additional video material. In this case, it is not much of an hindrance to redo the interview another 2 - 3 times.

4. Ask for comments while or after editing: While or after editing, give the client one or two opportunities to respond and provide input for corrections. Normally I advise a client to collect feedback from a couple of colleagues or friends. One or a maximum of two rounds can help to optimize the quality of the video message. Be careful that the client does not get unlimited opportunities to correct the movie. The danger is that it can create a lot of frustration on both sides. Normally a maximum of 2 rounds of corrections is sufficient.

5. Have the right equipment: Make sure you have the right equipment. Nowadays, with user friendly, relatively low cost and good quality digital video camera's (JVC, Sony, Canon), you can document successfull interviews to be published at youtube, vimeo or websites. Make sure the camera has high density digital recording and that the audio is of good quality. It is also convenient to have a camera tripod. This prevents you from making video's with a shaking hand.

Up to the 23rd September 2011 Simon Koolwijk and Marc van Seters will continue to publish the short video messages at the IAF-Benelux Conference site: 'Facilitation as a {2nd} profession' and at the Youtube Channel of IAF-Benelux.

Why structured thinking!???

2011-07-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Structured thinking? Does it kill ideas or does it help to bring new ideas and perspectives? Writing down each action and step to the most basic detail is very challenging, when you are preparing a training. So...., after you welcome the participants, what will you do? What next? What next?

Fifteen years ago, when I got my Trainers of Trainers course in the USA, it made me very angry that I was challenged by my senior trainer to go through each training session step-by-step. Looking back after so many years, I appreciate and see the usefulness in getting the discipline of understanding each little move you are making in preparing a training. It helps me to master the skill of conducting a training and it even makes me more flexible in initiating new elements in a training when the group is asking for it. Actually it helps me even to become more creative, since I am understanding the basics of involving and engaging a group.

Watch the video: 'Structured thinking exercise'

The art of training depends on knowing the details and how to apply them. It is how little children learn to walk and talk. The same applies when we learn something new..... When I am doing something new which fascinates me, I am discovering each time new small essential elements in mastering a new way of working.

The last couple of years, I have discovered that learning something new creates curiousity, drive and energy. That is why I try to challenge myself to renew my services and my trainings over and over. It is like the feeling a child will have towards getting the first day of walking!

Young Professional about virtual exchange

2011-07-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Since 2006, ICCOenKerkinActie and Togetthere enable Young Professionals (YPs) working on development to exchange experiences about their work. The YPs work for local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as capacity development advisor. Most of them work in isolation and have limited possibility to meet colleagues face-to-face to share experiences.

Each year two discussion rounds, taking five weeks each, are organised virtually where the YPs share experiences about how to strengthen the operations of their partner organisations. The group is using a peer-to-peer coachingsmodel. Most YPs participate two rounds. Just before starting a discussion round, the YPs are asked by an online survey to share the topics which keep them awake at night or have a high degree of urgency for them. Some of the selected topics deal with: "How to make my work sustainable?" "How to create local ownership for what I am contributing?", or "How to position myself as professional in a different cultural context?" .

After this survey, key individuals, who are willing to take a leadership role in the exchange of topics related to their work, meet via Skype with the online facilitator to elaborate the objectives and facilitation process. The role of the online facilitator is to design the online process based on the wishes and needs of the group as expressed in the survey. So far, D-groups and Skype have been used as the most effective and popular social media for exchange.

A discussion round takes average around 5 weeks. Case studies or key questions, introduced by the YPs, are mostly used as a basis for discussion. At the end of each discussion, one of the participants writes a note which is published at this blogpost 'Everything you always wanted to know about capacity development'. Literature is collected by asking people for links to interesting websited or publications. These references and benchmarks are documented at a virtual platform at ICCO-Cad wiki. In this way, the group builds a share memory.

Recently one of the Young Professionals shared her experiences by a video interview. View the video:

Music on video:
Song: Una Mañana: Musicians: Omar Meza and Fernando Rey, for more information contact: e-mail. yoshihatsukatana@gmail.com

Some comments which were shared by other YPs in evaluations last year:
"The way you experience the discussions and what you get out of it is of course different for each.....When I think back of the discussion I am not able to reproduce all the contents directly, but the first thing I recall is that feeling that the (pre)discussions were good moments to take a step back, to reflect and to share experiences."

"Just being able to share is valuable in itself. It helped me to concretely formulate my questions and issues I encounter."

The online exchange was facilitated by Simon Koolwijk, Facilicom Consult. More about online facilitation, you can read at Simon's website http://www.facili.nl/ or http://faciliteeronline.nl/

Most Significant Change (MSC): How to measure behavioural change?

2011-07-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

'The literacy rate has increased with 20 % in five years!' 'Fifty percent of the young people, who participated in reading and writing classes have acquired a job within a year after their studies!' 'The number of parents, who take on volunteer responsibilities in the Youth Centre have increased with 30 parents in two years!'

These are just three examples of project indicators, which can be formulated according to the Logical Framework (LF) principles for a youth development project in a big slum area in Kampala City, Uganda. However, most statistical indicators are difficult to measure. And what do statistics say about structural change?

Mostly change can not be liniarly and logically explained......

Most structural change starts with behavioural change. Many times I hear people express after an inspirational workshop about social media; 'Tomorrow I am going to open an account at Twitter!', 'I will update my profile at Linkedin!' 'I will more actively participate in discussion groups! '

However, one month later people who expressed these statements, have not changed their habits. They are still not on Facebook, not on Twitter and hardly participate in Linkedin discussions.

Then suddenly, members of the group of people who participated in the social media training, loose their job. The jobless situation creates a new perspective. What do I want? How does my network look like? This is the moments habits and behaviour start to change. Linked in profiles are updated, a Twitter account is activated and regularly used and stories are shared at Facebook.

Was it the social media training that changed people? Was it the jobless situation that confronted people with a new situation? Was it the network around these people that made them change? And what was the attribution of the social media training event to this change? And what would have happened if people had not lost their jobs?

As you can read, the reality of change and development can not be explained logically and liniarly. When people attend a training, it does not automatically mean that they will start to change their habits and attitude. Change mostly comes gradually and is fostered by many other influences than training or projects. External influences (economic or a political crises, technological changes) or drastic personal changes (loss of a job, dramatic event in the family, health related problems) can be an accelerator of change.

Most Significant Change (MSC)

The Most Significant Change (MSC) provides an answer to the aforementioned dilemma. The MSC-technique is a form of participatory monitoring and evaluation. It involves many stakeholders. The approach provides data on impact and outcomes that can be used to help assess the performance of a programma as a whole. The technique is an excellent complementary tool to 'Outcome Mapping (OM)'. Outcome Mapping (OM) is a planning tool as part of the Project Cycle Management Approach, where planning and monitoring of behavioural change is one of the basic principles. The MSC-technique can also be complementary to the Logframe Approach, especially when there are no pre-defined indicators and measurement of behavioural change is part of the process. Read more - The OM versus the LF approach.

How does MSC work? ***

MSC has a step based approach where personal stories from key stakeholders are collected, analyzed and verified. One of the key steps is the phase of defining the 'Domain of Change' and collecting the stories. This is the phase where the MSC-question is asked for a specific change in a domain.

For example:

(1) Looking back over the last month, (2) what do you think was, (3) the most significant (4) change (5) in the quality of people's lives (6) in this community?

Three to five domains are a manageable number for conducting a MSC-evaluation. Mostly stories are collected on a written half A-4 page of paper. Whereafter the stories are collected, analyzed, and verified. An important part is the process of drawing conclusions, lessons and recommendations. Involvement of the right stakeholders determines the quality of the outcome of the evaluation.

Video as a tool for Most Significant Change (MSC)

Video is also an excellent tool to collect 'Most Significant Stories'. One-minute video messages or Testimonials (see an example of Simon Koolwijk sharing an inspirational story about an IAF-Benelux Conference) are ways on how 'stories of change' can be collected.

Training in Project Cycle Management

The MSC-technique was one of the topics discussed during the training Project Cycle Management (PCM) which was held at the Hendrik Kraemer Institute (HKI) on the 4th July, 2011 and conducted by Simon Koolwijk. A Development Professional from ICCOenKerkinActie was prepared using and getting acquainted with the principles of PCM and the Logical Framework Approach. During the discussions reference was made to the Outcome Mapping (OM) and Most Significant Change (MSC) technique.

*** Reference is made to the handbook: The 'Most Significant Change' Technique - authors: Rick Davies and Jess Dart

One-minute video messages

2011-07-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

'Present your workshop in one minute!' or 'Share a Testimonial - an inspiring story in one-and-half minute!' It is a new experiment Simon Koolwijk launched recently with Video-maker/ Facilitator, Marc van Seters. Both facilitators have been asked by the International Association of Facilitators - Benelux to interview the workshopleaders of the Conference 'Facilitator as a {2nd} Profession' by video. This event having 26 workshops about facilitation will take place on the 23rd September, 2011 at Kontakt der Kontinenten, Soesterberg, The Netherlands.

Catching 'institutional inspiration'

Workshop announcements: In one-minute the workshop leaders tell about their first and second profession, what participants can expect and what they will take home. 'It is an excellent opportunity to get to know beforehand the people, who will attend the Conference', says Simon Koolwijk.

See video: workshop announcement: Facilitation on Twitter

Video testimonials are catching the inspirational experiences from past IAF-Benelux Conferences. Participants share experiences from past conferences, which changed their way of facilitation. 'Video is a tool which can catch 'institutional inspiration' through documenting memories and inspirational moments. It can bring 'inspiration' to a new group of people', adds Simon.

Each week new one-minute videos are posted at the Conference website 'Facilitation as {2nd} profession'. 'We try to get people already in the mood for the 23rd September '11', shares Simon The uploaded video's can be disseminated through social media such as twitter, linkedin, facebook, hyves and yammer.

Informing the network close to your personal network is an approach with is promoted by Business Boot Camp. Social media are an excellent tool to spread the message of such an interesting event and make people excited to join! For more one-minute video's follow the youtube channel of IAF-Benelux or the website: 'Facilitation as a {2nd} profession.

How to deal as facilitator with an unsafe group?

2011-06-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

It is five minutes before finalizing a Team Workshop on how to renew the approach of its service delivery for social work to the community. Sofar the group has created an 'inspirational vision' and has worked out the strategies. You feel that everything is okay. The group looks involved and everybody is participating. The waiter from the restaurant is

informing the group, that the snacks are ready. You ask the group on what actions it should take the next 6 weeks to get the first strategies moving. Then, suddenly, the team leader takes charge of the conversation. He mentions 10 action points, including names of responsible people and deadline dates. The group looks shocked and intimidated. It is silent for a while. I check if everybody agrees. It remains silent. People nodd with a breath it is okay. The team leader says it is time to go to the restaurant. The food gets cold. We can evaluate up there!

During the snack I am checking informally participants' feelings about the meeting. It was okay! But when I ask for suggestions to improve, a few tell me in confidence that it had been better if the teamleader had not been there! We did not feel safe to express our feelings and sentiments!

'Unsafe groups!' It happens me a number of times every year, when I am facilitating workshops. Whenever possible I try to create a safe environment making people feel welcome. I initiate a number of relaxing exercises and involve everybody. But what to do if people do not feel safe? Is it about me as facilitator? Or is there somebody in the group people do not feel safe? 'Unsafe groups' was one of the main topics discussed during a IAF-Benelux experience exchange meeting in the Hague on the 21st June, 2011.

The 'Facilitation Styles of Heron' are a helpful tool in judging situations on how to deal with unsafe groups. The facilitator can choose for a hierarchical approach. He can take charge of the discussion. In case of the example, I could have asked the Team Leader to leave the room for a while, giving space the group to discuss the necessary action steps. Hereafter, the group could have presented these to the Team Leader and asked for feedback. I could also have asked the Team Leader during the preperation of this workshop to consider 'not to participate' or to 'participate partly' in this meeting in order to create safety. Of course a promis of the Team Leader is necessary that the input from the team is used for the implementation of the strategies. A risk of the hierarchical approach is that it might disempower the group.

The facilitator could either have choosen for a co-operative approach. In case of the example, I could have confronted the Team Leader with the body language and the energy in the group. I could have said; "Do I hear that you agree with the proposed action points of the Team Leader? " If people from the group would have responded 'yes', I could have asked "How come I observe you are not enthousiastic? Is that right?" In this case the Team Leader is confronted with the fact, that there is 'no acceptance' from the group. It provides space for both the Team Leader and the group to discuss the situation as it is....... It could have provided space to skip the snacks in the restaurant and to discuss the situation created further!

Eventually I chose for the autonomous approach. I asked the group to come up with action points, giving space to the Team Leader to take charge of the conversation while nobody took the opportunity to show courage and challenge the situation. Another method I could have applied under the autonomous approach is 'to walk out of the room and leave it up to the group to decide!' The group is left alone with the Team Leader and now confronted with their full potential and responsibility. In that case it can create space for the group to respond since they can express emotions, which they would not present in the presence of a facilitator (they hardly know or have seen a couple of times). A risk of the autonomous approach is that nothing gets achieved or conflict underneath is provoked.

Depending on the situation the facilitator has different options to guide and assist the group in getting better team performance. The 'Facilitator Modes of Heron' (Hierarchichal, Co-operative, Autonomous) are a helpful tool in defining ways on how to deal with unsafe groups. Heron wrote an interesting 'Guide to Facilitation'. On the 23rd September 2011 the International Association of Facilitators (IAF-Benelux) is organising an interesting Conference with the theme "Facilitator as (2nd) Profession". During this conference you will gain and learn about many more interesting experiences and developments in facilitation.

Making the unconscious conscious in facilitation and training

2011-06-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

"For years I was the chairman of a working group; I guided young children and organised workshops with youngsters; I assisted youngsters with home work classes and language training. However, it was all done intuitively. We never got didactical methods on how to guide people and groups in their learning proces. However, it worked. I had a passion to do it and had a good relationship with the youngsters in stimulating their personal growth." These were some of the introductions participants shared during the training 'Basic Facilitation Methods' attended by Development Professionals. The training was organised at ICCOenKerkinActie & Togetthere on the 16th and 17th June, 2011 and was led by Simon Koolwijk

Many people already have a lot of skills and knowledge in teaching and transfering knowledge, but are not aware about their capacities. The 'KOLB' learning cycle is an excellent tool in making the unconscious capacities conscious. Eighty percent of training, is composed of facilitation. The trainer asks questions and stimulates people to dig into their tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is the practical and intuitive knowledge people gained through working and life experience. ' Direct experience' is the first phase of the KOLB learning cycle. People become aware of the topic by answering questions. During the second stage, 'Reflecting on the experience' people take a step back and analyse and discuss what they did in the first phase.

During the third phase, 'Generalization of the experience', the unconscious is made conscious by giving significance and meaning to what was discussed in the first two phases. This is the stage where the trainer adds theoretical knowledge or models to what the group discussed. In the fourth stage, 'Applications' the participant applies what was learned in the third stage. The participant has gained 'Conscious Competence'.

According to the brainlearning principles transfer of knowledge is likely to be successfull when:

The trainer makes use of the context (worksituation) or workhistory of the trainee. 80 - 85 % of the training is based on asking questions and facilitation. Only 15 - 20 % is based on transfering information from the trainer to the audience.

The trainer creates a positive learning environment and builds on successes from the past, applies appreciative inquiry.

The trainer creates a safe environment, where people feel safe and comfortable. Space and time for informal contacts is essential. The most practical and valuable information is shared during the informal moments. The formal moments are the platform for the starting process of new behaviour and inspiration.

Other important and crucial factors are the willingness and eagerness of the participants to change. Drive, passion, curiousity and energy are important pré-conditions for the participant to adapt new behaviour. Practical assignments applying the lessons learned within 6 weeks after the training are essential in embedding learning. In case the participant does not get the opportunity of its employer to apply the lessons, than the trainee should have the drive and create the opportunity to apply the lessons. Otherwise valuable lessons get lost. The key challenge for a facilitator or coach, is to get the group or participant into the 'drivers seat'. LSA (Listening, Summarising and Asking in-depth questions) is a helpfull tool to dig deeper into people assumptions about changing and learning. The moments people show emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear and enthousiasm, the facilitator addresses and checks this behaviour and asks what is underneath. Whenever people feel strong emotions, knowledge or lessons sustain.

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and the book from Anthony Robbins , the Unlimited Power, describes the essential elements what makes people successfull in learning and performing.

The learning theory from Professor Sugata Mitra is a fascinating one. Through the project 'Hole in the Wall', he made computers available for young people in slum areas. Within three days the youngsters became capable in working with the computer without any assistance from trainers or teachers. Sugata Matra tries to show through this project, that people have capacitiets within their group to solve complex problems and make things work with limited outside assistance. The role of the trainer or facilitator is to ask the people challenging questions, which make them active instead of wondering 'Why should I learn this?'.

See video:

Another model for learning is the "Four Stages for Learning Any New Skill". This theory was developed at the Gordon Training International Institute by Noel Burch in the 1970s. The model suggests that individuals are unconscious of their incompetence. As they recognise their incompetence they become conscious of their incompetence. As they recognise their incompetence and have a strong desire to acquire the skill, they get conscious competence. It takes average 6 weeks to adapt new behaviour and it takes more than 10.000 hours to master a profession. This is the stage the skill has become a 'second nature'. The is the stage of 'unconscious competence'.

Capacity development: NGOs versus Church Development Organisations

2011-06-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

What makes a capacity development intervention with a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) different from one with a Church Development Organisation? It was one of the questions, which was discussed during the training Capacity Development with Organisations on the 7th and 10th June, 2011 at the Hendrik Kraemer Institute (HKI). The training was led by Simon Koolwijk and attended by participants from ICCOenKerkinActie and Mensen met een Missie.

The following eleven differences can be identified:

1. A NGO has more autonomy and flexibility to decide on how to develop their capacities at Human Resource (HRD), Organisational (OD) and Institutional (ID) level. A development department within a church is more dependent on approval and authorisation from church leaders. This makes the development process in the capacity development intervention slower.

2. Sensitive issues, taboes and conflicts are more easy to discuss in NGOs. Churches generally have an idealistic and spiritual mission. Through this conflicts can longer stay untouched within an organisation, because the organisation is working towards a spiritual aim and that is considered always to be good. Eventually this can contribute to extreme and explosive conflicts.

3. Injustice within a church is generally a topic not open for discussion. Many churches belief their organisational culture is fair and sincere. For NGOs the issues of injustice amongst staff members can be discussed more easily.

4. Church leaders coming from Nothern countries generally are modest and belief in participatory approaches. The religious leaders from Sounthern institutions are generally more authorative and do not leave much space for discussion in their organisation. NGOs worldwide are generally open minded for discussion about organisational development within their organisation.

5. NGOs generally have a transparent financial management system. They are obliged to publish annual financial reports including balance sheets and income-expenditure statements. Church organisations tend to have a less transparent financial system, including accountability responsibilities. The church is considered as a faith based institution and therefore members feel less commitment to make financial systems transparent. The church is from inside considered as a sincere institution.

6. The church has deeper roots and is more embedded at the grassroots level in the society. Through their structure, church development programmes can more easily reach and support poor and deprived groups than NGOs. NGOs are generally managed by well educated people and intellectuals. For them it takes much more effort to get their service delivery effectively implemented at the grassroots level.

7. The church is promoting and preaching spiritual norms and values. NGOs generally focus on support and service delivery. Therefore poor people are consulted in decision making processes about improving the quality of service delivery in programmes and projects. Churches tend to belief their practices, norms and values are right and fair. Therefore, they are less open minded to involve their beneficiaries in adjusting their programmes and projects. It is a tendency a capacity development advisor has to be aware of.

8. Usually Church based organisations observe mistakes outside their organisation. Generally they tend to have a 'blind eye' about internal mistakes. NGOs are generally more open to discuss 'mistakes'and their 'failures' within the organisation. For a capacity development advisor it is more easy to stimulate a learning organisation within a NGO. An organisation that is not willing to learn, will never be a learning organisation!

9. Staff members working with Church Development organisations generally are more committed with their work than staff with NGOs. Through their value based orientation, staff feel more connected to the values of the church and therefore have more commitment in their work.

10. Staff members working with Church Development organisations are mostly coming from the target group. They speak the language of the local people and understand their dilemma's and needs. Staff from NGO's are generally well educated people, some of them coming from elites in the society. They feel less connected with their target groups.

11. Church Development organisations are generally more sustainable organisations. They have a longer time span in implementing projects, and they continue to work and continue their service delivery whatever what happens. This creates more trust with the target groups and they feel more committed to get involved with the work of the Church Development organisations. NGOs generally have a shorter time span and their projects most last a couple of years. Therefore, it is more difficult for them to build trust with the target groups.

The differences between Church Development Organisations and NGOs have been published in the Handbook 'Religion and Development - Practitioners Guide'.

A capacity development advisor has to act cautiously and diplomatically in both types of organisations. Six months are at least needed to build relationships. By getting to know each other informally, a capacity development advisor can identify the key people in the organisation who are willing to change the organisation for the better; the so called 'change agents'. After having identified them, the next challenge is to play an assisting role as a capacity development advisor to make them some steps further in strengthening the organisation.

Another compilation of ten english spoken humoristic video's

2011-06-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

After more than 80 years of film history, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are still fun to watch. Youtube provides a lot of humoristic video's from the thirties in the last century up to till today, which can be used for trainings to create fun, laughther or to do energizers or games. Following is a compilation of humoristic video's.

1. Mr. Bean - Mr. Bean - Changing into trunks

2. Toomy Cooper - The bag and the egg

3. Charley Chaplin - Coffee drinking - Funny

4. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

Kneesy, Earsy, Nosey

Finger widdle

5. Monthy Python -Monthy Python football Germany vs Greece

6. John Cleese - John Cleese versus extremism

7. Spitting Image - James Bond, Roger Moore and Margaret Tatcher

8. Archie Bunker - All in the family - Archie Bunker on vegetarianism

9. Muppets show - Derek and Clive are muppets

10. Benny Hill - El show de Benny Hill

If you would like to add some more humortistic or funny english spoken video's, please feel free to leave a link at reactions.

The art of asking questions

2011-05-31T23:23:00.000-07:00

'The person who is doing the talking, is the one who is learning the most! ' It is an 'old wisdom' still applicable, when a training or facilitation event is conducted. According to research, people remember;

only a maximum of 10 - 15 %, when they received information through a presentation;
40 - 50 %, when they have been discussing about a topic, which keep them engaged;
70 - 75 %, when they have been practising with the new knowledge and skills;
80 - 90 %, when they have been applying the new knowledge in their work.

People learn most, when they are actively involved and make the knowledge practical. However behavioural change in applying new knowledge, can only work when people have the right attitude; openess, willingness to change and motivation. The right conditions such as time to learn and experiment, support from management and colleagues and financial resources need to be in place to enable people to change. According to the brainlearning principles, it takes around 6 weeks to adapt new behaviour. This was some of the information, which was shared during the two-day training 'Basic facilitation methods & knowledge transfer' at the Hendrik Kreamer Institute (HKI) on the 23rd and 26th May, 2011. Participants from ZHHK and IccoenKerkinactie attended this course to enable them to improve their skills in guiding and empowering groups. The training, led by Simon Koolwijk, was composed of discussions, demonstration of basic methods and practicals including feedback.

Listening, summarizing and asking (LSA) are some of the key methods a facilitator is using in enabling a group to move forward. The facilitator is like a mirror. He bounches back questions all the time and helps you to discover new insights', commented one of the participants. 'LSA is a very useful tool!'. ' The basic conversation methods and the workshop methods (both ToP methods) are helpful tools in structurizing a discussion. I am going definitely going to apply them'. commented another participant.

Resistance and dealing with emotions are another interesting aspect of facilitation. 'What if you have participants in the meeting, who have been sent by their director but have not clearified their own motivations? ' or 'what to do when there is a hidden conflict in the group?' The pitfall of a facilitator is to persue his agenda. 'Facilitation is about being in the here and now!', comments Simon Koolwijk. 'If people show four of their basic emotions (fear, anger, joy or sadness), you start to ask in-depth questions and try to address and to identify what is most important for the group at that moment of time'. 'If the most important issues of today's reality are not dealt with and listened to, people will not have the motivation to listen and talk about the future directions of a group', shares Simon Koolwijk. 'Asking in-depth questions helps you to build understanding', says one of the participants. 'By getting to a deeper level, you take time to listen to opinions of others. It helps to create a joint group feeling'. 'Facilitation is not just doing a trick or applying a structured method. It is an art to ask the right questions at the right moment to enable the group to move forward!' Read more about asking the right questions in the Art of the Focused Conversation.

Building capacities by Participatory Video (PV)

2011-05-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

Young people building relationships with adults in their community!

Showing your identity as a youngster by initiating activities in the community!

Creative thinking and teambuilding!

Expressing hopes and dreams as a youngster!

Members from youth clubs, coming from 4 different villages in Moldova, produced in the final stage of the two-year project 'Youth in the Center' a participatory video showing their accomplishments as a team.

Participatory Videomaking (PV) is not only fun! It is also about building capacities as a team. The process stimulates people's imagination. It strengthens the team and it is another phase in building a history as a group. Video is an effective media tool for informing other stakeholders and interested groups, especially through social media such as facebook, twitter and odnoklasniki.

Recently the four participatory videos were uploaded and published at youtube. Following are the video's.

See video; Youth club 'Ying/ Yang' in Vadul Rascov

See video; Youth club 'Pro Young' in Ulmu

See video; Youth club in Cotiujenii Mari

See video; Youth club in Varnita

More about the process of Participatory Videomaking, >>>>> read and watch PV in Ulmu

More about the presentation of the videos at the final conference 'Youth (R)Evolution 24-25 March, 2011, >>>>> read and watch Youngsters present Participatory Videos - Moldova

The project 'Youth in the Center' is aimed at building sustainable structures for youth development in Moldova. The first phase of the project was implemented between April 2009 and March 2011 by Procommunity Centre in co-operation with Kontakt der Kontinenten (Netherlands), Windesheim - University of Social Work (Netherlands), Proni Center for Social Education (Croatia) and local youth development organisations and institutions in Moldova.

The online versus the face-to-face facilitator

2011-05-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

If you are a good and effective facilitator in face-to-face meetings, does it mean you are also a high performing online facilitator? Online facilitation requires another way of thinking, acting and communication. You don't see the facial expressions. Body language and non-verbal interactions between people are absent. An online facilitator looks from a different perspective at people's participation in groups. 'By reading sentences and comments in discussions, you get a sixth sense in noticing people's sentiments', explains Sibrenne Wagenaar. 'If an issue is important and crucial, you start to ask in-depth questions.'

The' facilitator and social media' was the main theme of a workshop, which was organized by the International Associaction of Facilitators - Benelux on the 19th May 2011 at Seats2Meat in Utrecht. The two authors of the book 'En_Nu_Online', Sibrenne Wagenaar and Joitske Hulsebosch shared their experiences on how the today's facilitator can integrate social media tools in their intervention processes. How to deal and play the role of the online facilitator? was one of the main topics during this workshop.

See video: Photo impressions workshop 'Facilitator and social media'

'Fifty percent of an online facilitators' communication is outside a virtual discussion', says Sibrenne Wagenaar. 'When an online discussion is going on the facilitator has regular contact with individual participants. For example: Just inquiring how somebody is doing, when he was two weeks travelling for work and silent in a discussion. Or asking somebody to share their expertise, when you know through informal information that he has been attending an interesting workshop. An online facilitator is constantly checking the processes that are going on in the group and connecting people to people.'

'An online facilitator is the key person who gets the process going', tells Joitske Hulsebosch. 'He should not only know about group dynamics, but also about social media tools. The literature (Jane Hart) distinguishes three models on how to apply social media in e-learning processes', explains Joitske Hulsebosch.

1. Wrap Around Model; Using social media before, between and after face-to-face meetings. For example a joint weblog which is used for collecting expectations for a workshop or using a Ning platform to get acquainted with each other.

2. Integrated model: The primary focus of the learning process is the content. An online community platform is functioning as a meeting place, where information, resources and discussions are shared. Through face-to-face meetings and online discussions, people use the platform for doing specific tasks and assignments. Applications such as Blackboard, Moodle or wiki platforms are regulary used in such a model.

3. Collaboration model: Social learning and co-operation are the foundation of this learning process. Contents and new knowledge is created by the participants. Brainstorming, co-creation and intensive cooperation are characteristics of this model. Tools such as google doc's, wiki, discussion groups and skype are applied in this model.

'Facilitating an online discussion group takes average a half day of work in a week', says Joitske Hulsebosch. Other roles of an online facilitator are:

· To summarize discussions

· To facilitate participants' feedback and evaluations

· To assist in preparing the key questions, topics or case studies to ensure participation of the community

· To create a safe atmosphere by maintaining the ground rules, keeping control of the rythm and time span of the discussions and facilitating energizers and fun in between content discussions

· To ensure that technical requirements are working, so that participants are not hindered by technical problems

'Of course there are many similarities with a face-to-face facilitator', says Joitske Hulsebosch. 'It is all about building relationships! '

More about the publication 'En_Nu_Online' read the blogspot article at Simon Koolwijk's blog. More about Joitske's en Sibrenne's services on online facilitation can be read at the blog 'Online Faciliteren en meer'.

IAF-Benelux will be organizing their annual Conference on the 23rd September, 2011 at Kontakt der Kontinenten in Soesterberg. The main theme of the Conference is 'Faciliteren als {2e} beroep. People can register themselves through the website of IAF-Benelux and 'Faciliteren als {2e} beroep.

Capacity development is about building relationships!

2011-05-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

Listening to what keeps people involved! Getting to know people and create the right conditions, which help people to build their identity, realize their hopes & dreams are the main important things a capacity development advisor can do in building local sustainable structures for development.

These were some of the conclusions and lessons which were shared during the training capacity development (conducted by Simon Koolwijk), which was held on the 9th and 11th May, 2011 at the Hendrik Kraemer Institute in Utrecht. Three development advisors working for ZHHK in Malawi and Suriname were guided in their process on 'how to think through and tackle an intervention in building sustainable structures for church work.

Let people take responsibility and make them to discover what works and not works?; shared the participants. Development is about building relationships. If you have gained the trust from others and shown you are ready to make a long term investment in the community, people are also willing to make an investment. A lot of consultancy work in organisational development is about listening, talking and asking the right questions. Mostly people already know the solutions, but miss a stimulus or positive fresh approach in clearifying their hopes and dreams. It are not the methods, tools or management systems that are successfull, but common sense and a human centered approach are crucial for sustainable results.

Just a discussion after a church ceremony on sunday's can already be a simple moment to build capacities. In case these meetings become a part of people's rythm, you can start people to stimulate to take responsibility. They can share rituals about their own culture, organize a meal or provide input on how to build a church council. These were some of the ideas which were shared at the training.

As part of the training the development advisors got a practical task to analyse the current status of their partner organisation through an organisational life cycle and a SWOT-analysis. Based on their job description, the three advisors presented a draft plan of action for their capacity development intervention. Main purpose of the exercise was to get a deeper insight about the philosophy of capacity development. In most case the 'draft plans', differ from the real plans and implemented activities, since organisational development is a process involving local stakeholders and decision makers. The participation of local people is crucial in making your capacity development intervention to a success!

A lot of tips and suggestions on how to gain results in capacity development through relationships building, you can find at 'Barefoot Guide', 'Capacity4Dev.eu' and 'Everything you always wanted to know about capacity development'.

Measuring development of young people's capacities on video

2011-05-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

Young people present in front of an audience having 90 people including government officials, NGO representatives and youth workers from civil society organisations. High government officials, including a deputy minister and vice speaker of parliament shows the project implementers' relations with the authorities.

Measuring development

Youth (R)Evolution was the theme of the closing conference of the project 'Youth in the Center'. During the project youth clubs were initiated by young people in 4 Moldovan villages; Ulmu, Vadul Rascov, Cotiujenii Mari and Varnita. All clubs were able to develop support structures of adults guiding them in their development. Each club secured an adult coordinator, got space from the local municipality to have a physical meeting place and relations were developed with other locally and international based youth work organisations for support.

Video is one of the means showing how young people's capacities have been developing during the project period of two years. Young people debate and discuss with adults as equal partners, they are not afraid to speak up, build networks and have confidence to give presentations.

See video: Conference Youth (R)Evolution, 24 - 25 March, 2011

Process of videomaking

Videomaking can be done participatory. This is a process involving different stakeholders or group members who jointly develop a story, design a story board with video shots, film, watch and discuss, film and discuss again and finally edit. All this is done with the support of a facilitator and professional videomaker.

When you do it individually, it is less time consuming. You miss the interaction to make a production jointly, but it is till fun to do. Similar to the participatory videomaking the process can be tackled on a structured and plannified way; develop the story, plan the video shots, film and edit. Intuitive videomaking is another approach. You just film what comes up to your mind and you take all kind of different shots. By the end of each day, you watch and analyse the different videos. Through this the story gradually starts to develop. Finally enough material is available to compile and do the editing. This is how the Youth (R)Evolution was developed and compiled to a 8-minute production.

Technical equipment for production

User friendly, relatively low cost and good quality digital video camera's (JVC, Sony, Canon) are available to document qualitative indicators, such as attitude, involvement, body language and enthousiasm. Flip videocamera's, nowadays, are very popular for such measurement purposes. They are easy to use and fast in transfering video material to a hard disk.

When you using a laptop for uploading your video's, a hard disk (preferably 2 Tyka bytes) is necessary. Otherwise you might risk a crash of your disk at your laptop. For editing both Final Pro Cut (Maccintosh users) or Adobe Premiera Elements (Windows) have excellent software for video editing. When you finally produce a video you can either choose a MPEG or a AVI format. The last has a higher quality, but takes more bytes and time to upload it on youtube or another video platform.

For voice over you can either use a computer based audio recorder, such as Audacity. Or a handoperated voice-recorder, such as Olympus. For music you can best choose for locally produced songs. In case of music produced by professional musicians, you have to check their permission about authors rights.

Project 'Youth in the Center'

'Youth in the Center' is implemented by Procommunity Centre, a Moldovan NGO focusing on youth development. They cooperate with Kontakt der Kontinenten (Netherlands), University of social work - Windesheim (Netherlands), Proni Centre of Social Education (Croatia) and local NGO's and institutions on youth work. The project is financed by Matra, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For more information about the outcomes of the conference, read Youth (R)Evolution 24 - 25 March, 2011. The participatory video's of each youth club are available at Youtube. See video: Ulmu youth, Cotiujenii Mari youth, Varnita youth & Vadul Rascov youth.

Video interview; a simple method summarizing a discussion

2011-04-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

After having an intensive discussion about work and social life as a development professional in Kenya, a young professional from Mensen met een Missie interviewed a senior. Practicing the focused conversation method was one of the practicals of the training facilitation methods, which was organised by the Hendrik Kraemer Institute on the 19th and 21st April, 2011.

See video - interview young professional meets senior professional

Participatory video making is on of the participatory methods, which are applied by facilitators. The group becomes the producer of a movie. They do the research, create the scenario, do the filming and finally edit and compile the video. All with the support of a facilitator and a videomaker/ editor. A video interview is one of the most easiest steps in getting acquainted with videomaking. During the training facilitation methods, it appeared that a visual interview is an excellent and simple tool in summarizing a discussion. And therefore videomaking is an excellent additional tool for facilitators or project managers using it for summarizing discussions or monitoring & evaluation purposes.

Stimulation to practice!

The training facilitation methods focused during the first day on the basic principles of facilitation:

What is the role of the facilitator?
Basic methods - Technology of Participation
How to deal with resistance and difficult people?
The adult learning cycle using KOLB
Brainlearning principles: How to stimulate the senses by taste, smell, noise, atmosphere and visuals?

The second day was centered towards practicing and feedback.

'The training was inspirational and very useful!', commented a participant. 'The practical I did on dialogue in conflict areas using the KOLB learning cycle was an eye-opener for me. I am planning to conduct a session on this topic for my colleagues within the next couple of weeks. The training has inspired me to practice the lessons learned soon after the course.'

The Hendrik Kraemer Institute is planning a following course on the 23rd and 26th May, 2011.

Organisational development advisors as a biologist

2011-04-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

Organisational development advisors can take more the role promoting the art of a biologist. This is one of the conclusions I drew in discussions with my colleagues from Nedworc Association and research I conducted the last couple of months about Chimpansee behaviour in organisations. Frans de Waal and Patrick van Veen published a number of books about the similarities between chimpansee communities and organisations. Chimpansees are the animals which are genetically the closest to human beings. Ninety-eight percent of our genes are similar.

Chimpansee versus human behaviour

Many of our instincts and intuitive decisions as humans can still be related on how chimpansees behave. In a recent television documentary Frans de Waal provides an interesting example. "When I am in a hurry and snatch a place in a parking plot in front of somebody else, I can always give a rational reason why I did that. However in most cases my intuitive behaviour is different. What if the other car had been driven by a goodlooking lady? Or by a physical strong man? What would have been the behaviour in that occasion?" A lot of communication and co-operation in modern organisations is still based on authentic prehistoric behaviour.

See video: Documentary with Frans de Waal about chimpansee behaviour

Bekijk de video in andere formaten.

Each chimpansee community is composed of a complex interaction between individuals. The community is led by the Alfa man, followed by the Beta man. The most powerful chimpansee is not definitely physically the strongest or the most intelligent. The leader is the one who is best in building relationships. He is gracious and shares food and favours with fellow chimpansees. Grooming is a normal practice in chimpansee groups. Two individuals have an intemate contact, showing they are good friends. In organisations a similar behaviour can be observed when people have lunch with each other. Eating is a social habit, when you prefer to be with the ones you feel safe and comfortable. This is where informal alliances are created and built.

Social interaction between chimpansees is based on checks and balances. If I do something for you, you do something for me. Most Alfa men get their leadership based on support, they have gained in their community. Credibility in human organisations is gained by relationship building. Investments are reciprocal. It is much easier to get things accomplished in case you have invested time in somebody else.

Hierarchy is the central pillar in chimpansee communities. The Alfa man is the main decisionmaker about food distribution and selection of sexual partners. If the community is stable, conflicts are hardly noticed. The group looks for food, plays and takes time for strengthening relationships. What a striking comparison with human organisations, that are stable!

An interesting habit is how chimpansees deal with conflicts. Disputes take mostly not more than a few minutes. Short after that the chimpansees resolve the conflict by embracing each other. How about humans? There are still people who take their anger to their homes without resolving. Is there something to learn?

Change

Positions start to move in chimpansee communities, when there are external threats (e.a. competing chimpansee communities, food shortage or natural disasters) or internal changes. New chimpansees joining the community, change of leadership, illness or death of chimpansee members make the group to enter a new stage. How is it in organisations? When positions change in the organisation, the whole system starts to move. Uncertainty and change create by definition fear and resistance in organisations.

Act as a biologist - Observe!

Frans de Waal concludes; 'Don't believe what you read in reports or in questionnaires!' There are still a lot of issues we do not to tend to tell the exact truth. 'Will we confess that we are drinking much more alcohol as we say?' As such it is also in organisations. A lot of times the organizational structure in an annual report does not reflect the real power balance in an organization. Financial results, profit and loss balances and client satisfactory figures do not always show the reality. Therefore much more information about organisational develoment can be gathered by observation. How is the behaviour of people? Do they feel happy, relaxed or are they stressed? Who is eating with whom during lunch time? How is hierarchy demonstrated in the organisation? Does the director have privelliges, such as a parking place? And how are the leaders interacting with their staff?

Change agents

Observing is one of the keys in analysing the status of an organization. The truth is embedded in the 'here and now'. Key people in organizational change are the ones who feel committed to the organisation and have a passion to sustain it. They are characterised by a positive, critical behaviour, aware of the changes that are going on. They are called the 'Change Agents'. They are not always the ones high in the hierarchy, but play an essential role to organizational development. They are the interesting people for organizational advisors to work with. If they can be assisted in developing the art of a biologist and relationship building, it can bring an organisation a step further in its process of development.

Outcome Mapping versus Logical Framework Approach

2011-04-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Since recent years Outcome Mapping has been winning recognition and popularity amongst donors and international development organisations as a new tool for Project Cycle Management. Sofar the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) has been the most applied method for planning, monitoring and evaluating projects. What is Project Cycle Management (PCM)?; What is the Logical Framework? What is Outcome Mapping?

PCM, LFA & OM

Project Cycle Management (PCM) is a management method introduced by the European Commission (1992) for the identification, formulation (appraisal), implementation and evaluation of projects. It aims at assuring quality through a consistent approach to all phases of the intervention cycle, ensuring beneficiary-orientation (relevance), a comprehensive perspective on interventions (feasibility and sustainability) and effective monitoring and evaluation. (Source: PCM Group)

Both the Logical Framework Approach (L FA) and OM (Outcome Mapping) are tools for doing PCM.

The LFA method is a step-by-step procedure applying specific techniques in a participatory workshop setting for creating ownership among stakeholders, better focus on beneficiaries, realistic and measurable result-oriented objectives, quick decision-making, transparency of proposals and reporting, and easier management, monitoring and evaluation during the implementation of projects. (Source: PCM Group)

Outcome Mapping (OM) focuses on one specific type of result: outcomes as behavioural change. Outcomes are defined as changes in the behaviour, relationships, activities, or actions of the people, groups and organisations with whom a program works directly. OM calls them Boundary Partners. These outcomes can be logically linked to program's activities, although they are not necessarily caused by them. This is one of the main differences with the LFA method. The method is not aimed at measuring impact, since IDRC (the creator of this method) beliefs that measuring long term changes are almost impossible to measure and if there are changes, it is very hard to identify evidence which can claim if a project or program has attributed to this. IDRC beliefs it can limit the potential for learning with Boundary Partners.

OM is divided into three stages. The first stage, Intentional Design, helps to answer four questions: Why? (The vision of the project), Who? (the Boundary Partners), What? (the changes that are desired), and How? (the strategy and the activities). The second stage, Outcome and Performance Monitoring, provides a framework for monitoring the outcomes (change with Boundary Partners), strategy (implementation of activities and budget expenditure) and organisational development. The third stage, Evaluation Planning, helps the program identify evaluation priorities and develop an evaluation plan. (source: International Development Research Centre -IDRC)

Pro's and Con's of LFA and OM

Through the logical way of working in relating activities, to results, objectives and goals, the LFA method is considered to be linear, putting everything into boxes and therefore killing creativity. The time necessary for formulation and report writing is intensive and makes the approach burocratic and a 'Western model'. However, the LFA approach has still a lot of positive caracteristics. The method has been widely accepted as a tool for PCM with the European Union, Multilateral Donors and International Organisations. It provides a good basis for monitoring and evaluation through the formulation of indicators. The LFA is also excellent for budgetting. And through more than 30 years experience of working with this model, many donor organisations have simplified their reporting systems based on the LFA Approach. For example, MATRA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands) only allows a maximum of a 10 page report, indicating the main achievements and lessons in the area of sustainability, outcomes, implementation of the strategy, budget expenditure and organisational development.

The strength of OM is its non-linear approach focusing on behavioural change of the partners and beneficiaries. The method allows more space for creative ideas and is more prepared for unexpected changes or surprises. Changes are more easily measurable and provide a basis for using modern monitoring tools such as video, fotos and social media.

However, the method also has its disadvantages. As similar to the LFA Approach, OM has also an intensive and elaborated step-by-step approach where a lot of information needs to be documented. Also the formats for evaluation (The Outcome, Strategy and Performance journal) create a big amount of paper work and reporting. Another big disadvantage is that the method has not yet proven itself. There are not many examples of written project proposals, planning formats, budgets and reports based on the OM model. More practise and sharing of experiences in the application of OM is needed before it can prove itself as a method.

Matching science with the reality

During the training Capacity Development (conducted by Simon Koolwijk) which was held on 12 & 14th April, 2011 at the Hendrik Kraemer Institute (HKI) theoretical models such as the LFA Approach, Outcome Mapping, the ECDPM Model and other project management and organisational analysis tools (see ICCO-Cad toolbox site) were matched with the reality.

Based on case studies, the participants from Mensen met een Missie and Theatre Embassy learned that more than 85 % of the monitoring and evaluation is done informally. Based on informal conversations during lunches, dinners or travels in the car, and observation visits information is collected on how development projects are developing. The formal moments are used to discuss and compile all the informal impressions to a report. Theoretical models and approaches are helpful in this proces and stimulate partners to meet, discuss and draw conclusions. However, the prove of good project management is in the 'informal'. Therefore, to become a successful capacity development advisor or project manager you should invest a lot of time in relationship building, listening and observing. More about practical experiences on what you can encounter as a capacity development advisor, you can read 'Everything you always wanted to know about capacity development'. Another model that is complementary to Outcome Mapping (OM) and that is gaining popularity in measuring behavioural change, is the 'Most Significant Change Method'. Read More at MSC - How to measure behavioural change?

In early 2012 Facilicom Consult will offer a training course were a critical review will be held about the Logical Framework, Outcome Mapping and Most significant Change approach. The training 'Learning together from Results' will not only focus on these new methods for development projects, but will also pay attention to modern monitoring and evaluation methods such as video making and social media. Read for more information; 'Learning together from Results'.

Moldovan youngsters present participatory videos

2011-04-08T01:51:00.000-07:00

"Young people interviewing adults in their community about the life as a youngster...."

"I want to become a journalist and go to New York!" - Youngsters share their dreams in a sleigh.

"Dancing, taking care of the ecology, cultural festivities"

and

"A slapstick bringing youngsters together through the mobile telephone...."

Four different stories told by video through the perspective of young people. All video's had in common that they were directed, filmed and produced by youth from 4 communities (Ulmu, Vadul Rascov, Cotiujenii Mari and Varnita) showing implicitely and explicitely what they had accomplished during the last 2 years. During the Conference Youth (R)Evolution, discussing the State of the Art of Youth Work in Moldova on the 24 - 25 March, 2011 the videos were presented.

See video:

Participatory Videomaking was one of the final training activities during the project 'Youth in the Center' (financed by Matra). The project aims to build sustainable structures for youth development in Moldova implemented by Procommunity Centre with support from Kontakt der Kontinenten & Hogeschool Windesheim (Netherlands) and Proni Centre for Social Education (Croatia).

Aims of the process

The process of participatory videomaking was focused at:

* supporting the youth from each village to vizualize on what they had accomplished as a youth club;

* making them acquainted with modern techniques of participation and do something new and different;

* strengthening the teamwork

* developing the local capacity of the implementing organisation, Procommunity Centre

Process

Each of the youth clubs had a 2 - 3 day training which guided them to develop the video. First of all the youngsters got an orientation about video making and got the opportunity to develop a film scenario. Two weeks in advance of the training, the youngsters had to do research in their community on what locations they would like to film and which people they would like to involve and interview.

During the training, the youth learned about the principles of video making, practised with the camera and developed the final film scenario. On the second day they filmed, watched and discussed what they filmed and selected the main shots for their movie.

For the youth clubs who wanted to continue (only one), a third day was focused on the editing process. Time was used for discussions on how to compile the final draft of the video. After the training each youth club selected 2 - 3 represenatives who were involved in the final editing process with the trainers. See video on how process was facilitated in Ulmu village, november 2010.

Support in the video making

The training was conducted by two professors and filmmakers from the Filmacademy, Chisinau, Moldova. They explained on how to make a movie, how to film and apply basic important principles of videomaking. The process of facilitation was provided by Procommunity Centre. Three camera's were used for the filming and Final Procut was used for the editing. (Another user friendly program for video editing is Adobe Premiera elements). The support in editing was given by the two professors and by students from the film academy. Video editing is quite an intensive process and it requires quite an amount of practise. Therefore support was given by the filmacademy in this area.

How to build trust and make people comfortable?

Based on experience the pitfall in video making is the believe, that everybody likes video making. The reality is a bit different. Especially people in the age from 40 or above can have a feeling of resistance in being upfront or behind the camera. It also applies less for people below 40, but still they can have an objection. Therefore, the process of trust building is important. In advance of the video making, the people and parties involved should be clear about the objectives of the process and also should be aware on how the movies are disseminated and for what purpose. The technique and utilisation of camera's is also frigthening for some people. Therefore, we already used the video camera's starting from an early stage in the project. During the summercamps, trainings and exchange visits youngsters were already given the opportunity to practise with a digital filmcamera. During the second summercamp of the project a photo workshop was held to make the youngsters enthousiastic about the possibilities of visual technologies. Youngsters from Ulmu village published even a photo - film version at youtube - called Pro Young. When the participatory video making trainings started the youngsters and their support environment were already used to the possibilities and limitations of the technology of videomaking. A gradual and slow introduction of digital camera's in advance of a participatory video making training is helpful for a successful process.

Participatory videos from each youth club

The participatory video's from each of the four youth clubs can be viewed at youtube. See video's Youth club Ulmu, Youth club Cotiujenii Mari, Youth club Varnita & Youth club Vadul Rascov.

If you would like to respond to this article, please feel free to leave a reply.

Youth (R)Evolution - State of the Art of Youth Work in Moldova, 24-25 March 2011

2011-03-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

The today's youth worker should be modern, professional and should know about social media such as facebook, twitter and Odnoklasniki. Opportunities should be created for 'Youth Workers' to get credentials for their profession through non-formal education by NGOs and formal education by educational institutions. Job placement opportunities should be created for young people in Moldova to gain practical working experiences. These were some of the recommendations given by Youth, Adults, NGO's, local institutions and governmental organisations at the Conference Youth (R)Evolution in Moldova held on the 24 - 25 March, 2011 in Chisinau, Moldova.

This Conference was the final stage of the Project 'Youth in the Center' (financed by Matra), which has been implemented by Procommunity Centre (Moldova) in close co-operation with Hogeschool Windesheim & Kontakt der Kontinenten (The Netherlands) and Proni Centre for Social Education (Croatia). The aim of the project was to create and build sustainable structures for youth work in Moldova and disseminate the 'best practices' in the country. See video for impressions at the Conference:

Results project 'Youth in the Center'

During the last two years youth clubs were formed in four pilot communities (Vadul Rascov, Varnita, Ulmu and Cotiujenii Mari) supported by local structures (adults, parents, local government and schools). National NGOs (such as Procommunity Centre) and local civil society organisations have linked up with the youth clubs for technical advise and support. Opportunities for young Moldovan students from the Moldovan State University were created to have work practicals. And local trainers and youth workers strengthened their skills through exchange with partners from The Netherlands and Croatia.

The Conference - the process & recommendations Analysing the current State of the Art of Youth Work in Moldova and looking forward were the main aims of the conference. Supported by speeches from the Deputy Minister of Social Protection Mr. Vadim Pistrinciuc, Vice speaker of the Parliament - Mrs. Liliana Palihovici and the Consul of the Dutch Embassy, Mr. Rolf de Groof the 90 participants (youth, adults, parents, representatives from institutions and government, NGOs and civil society organisations) analysed in small groups the strengthes, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for youth work in Moldova. Followed by discussions on 1) Profile of the Youth Worker, 2) Structure for Youth Work, 3) Advantages and disadvantages of (non) formal education for youth workers, and 4) Sustainability of youth clubs. The highlight of the Conference was the formation of a pyramid built by representatives from the 4 working groups. Each working group came up with 9 recommendations (9 symbolic building blocks) on how to strengthen the 'Youth Work in Moldova' in the coming 3 years.

Main conclusions and recommendations were:

* The today's youth worker should be modern and professional;

* youth clubs should have a stable support from their national and local enviroment;

* Invest in youth work and young people (training, resource support);

* Create more opportunities for job placements and practical should be created;

* Create credentials for youth workers and strengthen the profession through non-formal education for youth work by NGO's and formal education by the institutions

The Conference was closed with a joint meal where the participants watched Participatory Video's which were produced by the Youth from the 4 villages during the final part of the project. See video: Watching participatory video's and see video about PV process. The participatory video's of each youth club can be watched at youtube: See video's; Youth club Ulmu, Youth club Cotiujenii Mari, Youth club Varnita & Youth club Vadul Rascov.

Music as tool for brainstorming; ten links at youtube

2011-03-28T04:23:00.000-07:00

Music provides some excellent opportunities to stimulate people to use their imagination and gain deeper thoughts. Especially during brainstorm sessions when people think individually, music can create atmospheres of phantasy or help you to imagine you are in a different environment (forest, sea, travelling etc....). Hereby some instrumental music I am using for brainstorm sessions.

Classical music
1. Beethoven/ Moonlight Sonata (in a rain and a storm)/ 6.19 minutes
2. Mahler / Symphony 5 / performed by Berliner Philarmoniker - Herbert von Karajan/ 7.54 minutes

Meditation music
3. Meditation / 7.13 minutes

Music related to nature
4. Oshoites/ close to nature/ performed by Ishan Khera/ 7.50 minutes
5. Enya/ Sounds of the forest/ 10.01 minutes

Celtic music
6. Simon Cooper / Keeper of the Flame/ 3.50 minutes

7. Simon and Garfunkul / Scarborough Fair (instrumental)/ - 3.26 minutes

Italian Music
8. Laura Pausini / Instrumental Tra te e il mare / 3.53 minutes

Modern symfonic music
9. Alan Parsons project/ Time machine - instrumental/ 3.41 minutes
10. Rene Dupéré/ Alegria / 5.32 minutes.

In case you have more suggestions for music which are helpful for brainstorm sessions, please leave a comment with a link at this post.

En_Nu_Online; Inspiring book providing tips about online facilitation!

2011-03-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

According to a wide based research of the American government around 80 % of learning is informal. People learn most when they do 'learning on the job' and do a 'critical self-reflection or in social interaction with others'. Only 20 % is mastered through formal learning situations such as reading, participating in trainings, coaching, teamwork meetings and participating in networks. According to Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar, authors of En_Nu_Online , social media play an increasing role in the informal learning proces of professionals. After having a particular experience which emotionally touch professionals, they search for information or peers at the internet. Discussion groups such as Linkedin, facebook and listserver groups provide a platform to do 'informal learning' by reflection and social interaction with colleagues.

The authors Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar highlight 3 dimensions on how you can use and apply social media to build your capacities as a professional.
1. To develop your own strategy of learning and profiling yourself.
2. How to apply social media tools for strengthening teamwork
3. How to facilitate an online exchange process

Examples
Some useful examples are given on how professionals succeeded in applying social media in their work. One professional explains that he uses twitter to update his professional competencies. 'Everyday I gain valuable information, youtube videos and useful links which I use in my trainings.'

Generally interviewees confirm it takes around 60 days to adapt new behaviour. One manager of an NGO says; 'Before I thought it would take too much of my time, but now I have integrated Linkedin discussions, twitter and reading blogposts in my work. I can not imagine a life without. I have much quicker access to strategic information and do not feel obliged to ask assistance for pending questions. It has changed my perspective on how to manage affairs.'

A teammanager confirms their discussion platform and blogspot has deepened their quality of work. 'Before we have our f2f meetings, we can share and express our concerns or issues at a wiki platform. When we have our f2f meetings we can easier touch the most sensitive issues. We also share stories about new developments and trends at our blogspot. Every week a team member reads a book or an interesting article and publishes an article at our blog. I have noticed that if a teammember commits himself to write an article, it helps to get things (such as reading a book) accomplished.'

Online facilitation
Online facilitation is still a new domain which needs to be explored further. Useful examples are given on how to set up an online process with skype and discussion groups. Blogposts and wikis are used to document information and build up institutional memory with a group. E-conferences and Communities of Practise (CoPs) are some tangible examples where the support of an online facilitator is needed. Simon Koolwijk conducted last year jointly a E-Conference with the Hendrik Kraemer Institute and the Act Allicance to exchange experiences about International Humanitarian Law. See an evaluation at: E-Conference?! Technology for the good!

Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar address 8 competencies (based on a publication of Nancy White) an online facilitator should have:
1. Self perception; have an insight in own strengthes and weaknesses;
2. Ability to communicate online;
3. Joint learning capability
4. Facilitation skills with a feeling for group dynamics and interaction;
5. Intercultural sensitivity and experience and how to deal with cultural differences;
6. High level of tolerance in dealing with different perspectives and types of communication;
7. Capacity to set up (online) discussion processes.
8. Synthetic capacities: Abilities to summarize and keep overview.

Combinations of f2f meetings with online interchange
Sibrenne Wagenaar stresses that online discussion processes combined with f2f meetings work best. 'When people meet each other face to face, they get a feeling for somebody else and they build relationships in addressing each other when group tasks need to be accomplished. Therefore a f2f component is prefered in building an effective group through online interchange.' However, online interchange adds a new dimension. Joitske Hulsebosch says; 'People have different conversations (more indepth and meaningfull) with each other f2f after they have exchanged experiences online'. 'It also matches people today's needs of flexibility and mobility.'

On the 19th May 2011 the International Association of Facilitators - Benelux (IAF) organises a workshop in Utrecht, where Joitske and Sibrenne will update professional facilitators about the opportunities with online facilitation. The workshop will opportunities to practise with online facilitation. For more information>>>

Ten online games for facilitation or training!

2011-03-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended a seminar about Gaming which was organised by Saganet, a platform promoting gaming for professional purposes (education, training, organisational development). At the moment around 80 % of the young people in The Netherlands regulary play computer games. An increasing number of adults regularly are playing games for fun. At the moment the Gaming Industry generates a multiple factor of income on what is earned in the filmindustry.

Martijn Koops, lecturer at Hogeschool Utrecht, mentions the term 'Edutainment' to match educational objectives of trainers/ teachers with the living world of the todays generation. Through the 'Game Cycle' the today's generation learns through Action Learning. First play the game, experiment and after that apply reflective exercises to gain lessons and link them to theoretical concepts. Ineke Verheul, Director of Game On, stresses that there are already sufficient existing commercial games (online and offline) to support 'educational processes'. There is no need to invest huge amounts of money in developing new games, but use the ones that are already there! She bases her experiences on research she conducted during the past years.
Based on discussions with colleagues, teachers and trainers recommended that games (online and offline) are most useful for facilitation, training or teaching when, they:
- are simple (easy to understand and not supported by huge manuals) and low profile;
- take less than 15 minutes;
- are easy accessible by computer (no complications in accessing by computer)
- look professional & have the appropriate music or sounds
- are challenging and stimulate a process of learning
- are fun to play.

Last week, I did some research myself on the internet. Based on my experience with games, I discovered the 10 online games which are fun to play and easy to embed in a training or facilitation event:
1. Formula 1 racing
2. Tennis
3. Playing Patience (card game)
4. Games People Play (mens erger je niet)
5. Pinball game
6. Slots (fruit gambling machine)
7. Monopoly
8. Gold roulette game
9. Pecman
10. Bowling

Of course you can also ask your participants to surf for a game at the internet and ask them to present. The blogspot Beter Gamen provides some useful hints where to find and how to use games in your trainings.

Please feel free to share more or links of games which can be used for trainings or facilitation events.

What a facilitator can contribute to effective teamwork?

2011-03-12T03:42:00.000-08:00

Building a good atmosphere was mentioned as one of the most important ways to build effective teamwork during the training facilitation methods on the 9th and 10th March, 2011 in Utrecht. The training was led by Simon Koolwijk, Facilicom Consult with participants from the Hendrik Kraemer Institute and ICCOenKerkinActie.

Chemistry and a feeling of trust amongst the teammembers are important pré-conditions for building effective teamwork. If the relations are good, teammembers are open to give each other feedback and address each others' responsibilities in getting things accomplished. It creates a platform to share and have common values. A joint history creates an ambiance of togetherness.

Photo: The product of the 9 - 10 March 2011 group of participants, 'What are practical ways to build effective teamwork? '
What can a facilitator do to enhance teamwork?
The role of the facilitator is to guide the process of group development aiming at enhancing the effectivity of the group. Following are some hints what a facilitator can do to stimulate this proces;

* Have a warm and welcoming attitude. Make sure that you are already there at least half an hour in your meeting room before the participants arrive, so that they have the feeling that they enter a room where they feel welcomed. * Create conditions that people feel safe to communicate
* Use creative methods challenging people to discover new insights
* Ensure that the meeting place feels comfortable, welcoming and challenging. Colors, toys, enough light, different roomsettings, fresh air stimulate people to feel, think and act differently
* Stimulate fun by 'energizers'
* Treat the inner body of the participant by healthy food (fruit), fresh liquids and drinking water
* Find a balance between formal and informal parts in the programme, so that people can balance intensive work with relaxed work. Informal moments create the stage for people to know the 'other life' of their colleagues.
* Ensure the 8 B's for reflexion and creativity by selecting an attractive meeting venue; Bed, Bar, Bath (shower), Bench (the couch), Beautiful forest, Beditation (meditation of the brain), Bizar fun and Balance (formal and informal)
* Ensure that there are regular moments of monitoring & evaluation of the group processes so that it can foster the growth of the group. More useful hints can be found in the book 'Ontwerpen van Traningen' - author Karin de Galan.

Training Facilitation Methods
The two-day training facilitation methods conducted by Facilicom Consult is a hands-on training for people who would like to advance their skills in facilitation and guiding groups. The course deals with the Technology of Participation techniques (ToP). These methods are powerful, very basic and simple in what facilitation is about. After getting the theoretical principles of facilitation, the participants get an experience about two basic techniques (basic conversation and brainstorm consensubuilding method). During the second day of the training participants practise and get feedback about their facilitation skills. The training is not only about methods, but also participants get a feeling on how to deal with resistance and difficult participants. For more information about the next course, see http://www.facili.nl/upcoming_courses_events/upcoming_courses_events.php

Theatresports, a tool for facilitation

2011-03-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

Theatresports and improvisation are the themes in the book: 'Theater vanuit het niets'- Author André Besseling. The book reminds me of a theatre sports event, I experienced in the summer of 2009 with Preau in France.

Theatresports event
Two teams of 6 people each were created out of a group of 60 people. The ones who were not part of the playing teams, were the audience. They received toys and sponges for showing their discontent. And roses for expressing their enthousiasm. The event was led by one facilitator and three judges. The games were supported by somebody playing the piano. The judges voted for the performances by giving scores from 1 (bad performance) to 5 (excellent performance). We played 5 games.

1. Word limit scene
One by one participants from each team were asked to phrase a sentence without a vowel. The first team was not allowed to mention the letter 'e'. Whenever used 'e' the person was off. Each team had a maximum of 5 minutes, to have not more than 6 mistakes (one by each person). After 3 minutes team no. 1 was already off. Team no. 2 was not allowed to use the vowel 'a'. They made it up to 4 minutes.

2. Singing a fake song
Each team was invited to delegate a member to sing a song. The goal was 'not' to sing the best as possible, but to sing as fake as possible. One group imitated the 'Wilhelmus' - the national anthem and the other 'Dromen zijn bedrog' from Marco Borsato.' After that the judges were asked to give points to the most fake singing group. Finally there was no winner. Both teams scored a total of 12 points.

Video: The Art of Improvisation of Theatre Sport

3. The car and the lifter
Two frameworks of two cars consisting of 6 chairs each were put on the stage. From each team two people were invited to start driving (imaginal) with the car. After one minute they picked up their first lifter. The first lifter brought in an emotion (happy!) and all the others had to copy this behaviour. The second lifter brought in another emotion, whereafter all the others in the car had to internalize and express the new emotion. After five minutes the game was over. Time for the judges to give their points. Team no. 1 scored 13 points, against 10 of Team no. 2. Most spectators of the audience did not agree, and threw sponges and toys to the judges. However, there were also a couple of roses that passed the floor.

4. The quiz with absurd questions
Each team had 3 representatives. Each time one of the team members was asked to respond to an absurd questions and the two other team members had to answer by vizualisation. Questions were: "what would you tell your wife, if you came home after visiting your secret lover? ". "What would you do if one of your best friends would give a snake to you as a birthday present?" The role plays were hilarious and made many people to laught. Eventually both teams got a similar score from the Jury. Both teams received 15 points. It generated applaus and roses from the audience.

5. Story telling
Each team got 5 minutes to tell and share a story. The first person in the team started with one phrase. The second person continued with another sentence. And so it continued....... Whenever, a climax came into the story, the faciliator intervened by giving the group a new direction. Finally, after both teams had finalized the story, the jury asked the audience to vote by screaming. Eventually both teams got as much support in loudness, that the jury declared that both teams were announced as winners of the evening.

This is one of the examples on how theatresports can be performed. And theatresports is one of the disciplines in the art and profession of Improvisation Theatre.

What can you do with theatresports as a trainer or facilitator?
The main goal of theatresports is not winning, but to live with the moment and be as creative as possible. Other goals are to gain confidence by making mistakes and to accept errors and consider them as opportunities. It is about creating a safe atmosphere and to accept the ideas of others. Therefore, theatresports is an excellent tool to build confidence in a group and to create a culture of making and accepting each others' mistakes. Especially with groups who are more in the head than in the body, 'Theatresports' can make a difference.

The book: 'Theater vanuit het niets'- Author André Besseling provides also a compilation of warm up exercises. Some are excellent to be used for trainings, workshops or facilitation events. Andre Besseling is one of the founding fathers of the Theatresports Association in Amsterdam.

The International Theatresports Institute is the licensor and founding father of the theatresports.

What is the benefit of knowing about NLP for you as a trainer or facilitator?

2011-02-27T08:09:00.000-08:00

The book 'Unlimited Power - the new science of personal achievement -' - Author: Anthony Robbins (Dutch version - 'Je Ongekende Vermogens) gives an insight in the world of NLP.

What is Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)? What can you do with NLP as a trainer or facilitator?
Neuro = 'Brains'; Linguistic = 'Language'; Programming = 'Planning or Procedures'
NLP studies how language (non-verbal & verbal) influences our brains. Our capacity to take action in our own lives depends on our ability to manage our brainsystem. The ones who gain successes have an ability to manage and direct their system effectively. Antony Robbins, author of Unlimited Power, mentions 7 characteristics of successful people which are based on a research of Bandler & Grindler in the '60s and '70s of the last century.

Successfull people have;
1. Passion; 2. Beliefs and ability to convince; 3. Strategy; 4. Clear values; 5. Energy (through maintaining a good health), 6. Ability to connect and build relationships; 7. Effective communication skills.

How to apply NLP as a trainer or facilitator?
NLP is an effective tool which can make your work as trainer or facilitator more effective. Following are some six hints:
1. Identify the communication behaviour of your group (or individuals) and adapt your strategy to it
Has the group (or individual) a visual approach? (seeing), or an auditive approach? (hearing) or a kinetic approach? (feeling). The challenge for you as a facilitator or trainer is to fine tune your communication to the behaviour of your group. What do you see yourself doing in 3 years from now? What images come up to your mind? are appropriate questions for a visual person. What music comes to your mind when are you visualising your future? What noises are you hearing? are more convenient questions for an auditive person. Touching, warmth and a feeling of companianship are part while communicating with a kinetic person. How do you feel in your ideal situation 3 years from now? What kind of relationships will you have? How will the atmosphere look like? are effective questions for a kinetic person. Use visuals and music in your sessions and stimulate a safe and warm atmosphere.

2. Check and challenge beliefs
There are certain beliefs, we have adapted since our own childhood. There are beliefs we can change, or look from a different perspective. Help the group to look at things from a different perspective; Example: 'Our director is not willing to listen to us' - change to a new perspective: 'We are good listeners - we even make time to listen to him'. Challenge; 'how can we make it both ways?'

3. Take care of yourself, maintain and ensure a good health
Sleep enough, eat and drink healthy and use your breath optimally. Just take every day a quiet moment to do some breathing exercises. All measures will give you as a facilitator or trainer enough energy for the day. The group you can help by building in meditation sessions or give them the opportunities to do some reflective exercises in a physical healthy environment (forest). Ensure that there are healthy drinks (water, fruit juices) and food (preferably vegetarian or light).

4. Help the group to make from a drawback an opportunity
Each obstacle is a source for change or creating an opportunity. Has the group missed some opportunities, help the group to draw the lessons and stimulate them to do it differently the next time. Or help them to change the perspective. If our clients are not willing to buy our products, we can use the opportunity to ask them 'why they don't buy our products?' or 'it gives us information to change our products'.

5. Make the group to take lead of their own destiny
Stimulate the group not to wait for others to decide for them, but to take steps to give direction to their own destiny. Include the what? who? when? where? how? in your facilitation or training sessions. 6. Build in opportunities to relate to people
Build in moments in your sessions that people can relate to each other, or think about on how they can expand their networks. Or invite outsiders (experts, people with network value) to your events. Build in enough moments for informal exchange (coffee, lunch breaks, walking in the forest, or just fun in the bar) or do some relaxing sessions (party, right brain exercises) .

The book 'Unlimited Power ' - Anthony Robbins is easy and fun to read. NLP is strong related to Brainlearning. The tips and hints which have been given in the article BrainatWork are covering the principles of NLP.

Other interesting handbooks which are useful for you as facilitator are:
- Title: Coaching met NLP - Author: Paul Kerr
- Title: Het ABC van NLP - Authors: Yoka en Dick Brouwer

Brain@work, an eye opener for trainers & facilitators

2011-02-01T03:28:00.000-08:00

Brainatwork - authors Nina Lazeron & Ria van Dinteren - gave me a lot of inspirational hints in preparing my trainings and facilitation events. Following are some useful hints:

Know abouts and hints for preparing your trainings
· Repetition is essential for embedding learning
· Create a safe environment, where people feel safe and comfortable. Also provide space and time for informal contacts. The most practical and valuable information is shared during the informal moments. The formal moments are the platform for the starting process of new behaviour and inspiration.
. Trainees formulate their own expectations, monitor and evaluate them. Provide space of adjustment of your training according to the development of the students. Give your trainees a task in advance of the training to foster their motivation.
· Create a positive learning environment. Build on successes from the past, apply appreciative inquiry
· Practise, practise, practise..... 10.000 hours or more make you finally make to master the art of the profession. Stimulate practicals and ask for applications
· It takes average around 6 weeks to adapt and embed new learning. This process can be stimulated by practicals, connecting people to buddies or a personal coach, by reporting & sharing (social media is excellent for this) and reflective meetings/ follow-up.
· Check assumptions or perceptions about learning or change and try to challenge them
· Make use of the the 5 senses; eyes (visual material), ears (music or sounds), touching senses (toys or stones), nose (different smells) and taste (different sweets, chocalate etc...)
· Make use of the context (worksituation) or workhistory of the trainee. 80 - 85 % of the training is based on asking questions and facilitation. Only 15 - 20 % is based on transfering information from the trainer to the audience.
· Create a learning environment which stimulates learning such as fresh air, movement, light, colours, toys etc.. and use different presets (set up of the room or learning place)
· Meditation and mindfullness (be in the now) are helpful in creating peace in your mind, and can be effective for learning. Enough sleep is also very important for learning.
· Connect emotions to learning. Whenever people feel strong emotions, knowledge or lessons sustain
· Stimulate the 'growth mindset' of people. In situations people have the feeling they can make steps of improvement, provide a space to do that.
· The package of learning is as important as the content. Create a package and a training that looks professional, inviting and safe.
· If possible integrate social media tools in your trainings, so that people are encouraged to do hands-on-learning and sharing through the internet.

The 8 F's for preparing and conducting facilitation events
The hints and tips for conducting a facilitation event are very similar to the ones when you conduct a training. However, Ria van Dinteren, author of Brain@work, quotes 8 F's for the facilitator:
1. Feiligheid, security; provide a safe environment & build in moments of meditation or silence
2. Fresh air and food; make sure that there is the right food (light), water, drinks and light
3. Fysical enviroment; ensure that the presets and room setting is inviting, inspirational and stimulating
4. Focus; Have a clear goal and focus, which is matching the groups' expectations
5. Ferbinden/ connect; Make connections and sharing possible between people (small group work), and relate to theory, images, stories, fairy tales and associations
6. Fun; Integrate fun elements, games and humor in the training
7. Feeling; Question and discuss when people show heavy emotions (positive or negative) and connect them to learning
8. Ferwerken/ reflect; Reflect regulary on what people liked, learned and on how they think they are going to apply what was discussed (what?, where?, when?, how?, who? )?

Inspired?! or curious? read more about Brainatwork, Brain learning in organisations.
In case you would like to share links or articles about brain learning in organisations, please feel free to respond.

Project cycle management (PCM) as tool for capacity development of organisations!

2011-01-26T23:23:00.000-08:00

Project cycle management (PCM) is a process. It helps organisations to tackle difficult issues and problems through a well defined step model. It is a participative method which creates group involvement, ownership and responsibility. It is a perfect tool for communication amongst project actors and supports local organisations in their process of strengthening organisational capacity. However, it is a rigid and very systematised tool. Therefore, creativity and flexibility is needed in applying this tool. These were some of the comments of a KerkinActie development professional, stationed in Ghana, who participated in the training Project Cycle Management on the 26th January, 2011. The training was organised by the Hendrik Kreamer Institute (HKI) and conducted by Simon Koolwijk, development consultant.

PCM is a 4-step model which is applied for project management. The method consists of a phase of a. analysis, b. design, c. implementation (monitoring & review) and d. evaluation. Especially the contextuel and analysis phase is an important part in the process. During this part the key actors are identified, approached and problems and interests are defined. Whenever actors feel committed and involved in the analysis phase, already half of the work is done. It provides an essential basis for successful project implementation.

Following the actor identification phase, development actors develop a planning matrix (called logical framework = LFA). The problem tree is the starting point, which helps to identify the key causes of development dilemma's. Problems and causes are turned into 'Dreams and hopes' into an objective tree, whereafter these 'visions' are transformed into the Logical Framework.Tear Fund published a user friendly handout which explains the process on a simple way. More tools about PCM and capacity development can be found at the Compart User capacity development wiki.

Ten videos for stimulating fun, roleplays and exercises!

2011-01-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

Youtube provides a lot of inspirational short video's which you can use for trainings or facilitation events. Whenever, you try to stimulate fun in your group or want to provide some hints for a role play or exercises, a compilation of ten video's to get your group started:

Especially the television advertisements are inspirational for making caricatures of famous people or functional roles people play in society. For example the Cup a Soup advertisements with;

1. Louis van Gaal
2. Sjors, the coach/ inspirator
3. John, the manager
are hilarious.
And what about the advertisements with Even Apeldoorn bellen with:
4. Bill Clinton
5. The parking garage

Another source of inspiration are the comedians:
6. Toren C, the job applicant. See video

7. Koefnoen, showing a media training with our former prime minister, Mr. Balkenende
8. Jiskefet, showing a father who is coaching his son, or is he coaching himself?
9. The two britisch soccer coaches
or

10. the shocking Fart at the office of Toren C.

In case you have additional tips and links about funny or humourus video's, please feel free to respond at this blog article.

Regards,
Simon
http://facili.nl/

Examples of facilitation at youtube!

2011-01-24T00:40:00.000-08:00

Video provides a great opportunity to explain somebody the art of facilitation. Following is a compilation of 12 video's showing different aspects of facilitation.

1. How to be a great facilitator
Suggestions on how to become a great facilitator; See great facilitator

2. More effective meetings
Animation movie on how to have more effective meetings; See more effective meetings

3. How to make your meetings more effective
8 tips on how to make your meeting more effective by having a facilitator; See video;

4. Creative facilitation seminar 2008, EAFIT University
Visualisation of a creative facilitation seminar ; See creative seminar

5. Pinpoint facilitation in Action
Video impressions of a facilitation event; See facilitation event

6. Open space technology meeting
The principles and impressions of an open space technology meeting; See open space

7. Tips & tricks - Invite right brain thinkers
Think about involving right brain thinkers in your workshop sessions. They help you to look things from a total different perspective. See right brain thinkers

8. The spirit of the world cafe - Italiano
Impressions of a world cafe facilitation session; See World Cafe

9. Memory magic - ice breaker
An interesting ice breaker to make and to tell a story; See ice breaker

10. E-Facilitation
Example on how to conduct an E-Conference. Participants share their experiences after having participated in an E-Conference; See E-Conference

11. Graphic facilitation
Output which was produced and documented through a graphic recorder after a group facilitation event. See graphic facilitation

12. Participatory video making
How to facilitate the creation of a movie. Example of a youth project in Moldova. See participatory video making

In case you would like to share links or more video's about facilitation, please feel free to respond at the blog article.

Simon Koolwijk
http://facili.nl/

Sticky wall: A helpfull tool for facilitation!

2011-01-23T04:25:00.000-08:00

Participants name it the magic wall! You just stick a piece of paper on the wall and it will stick. The sticky wall, a cloth of material (size 3.5 x 1.6 mtrs), is an excellent tool for facilitation. Whenever you use paper or flipcharts and you want to move them quickly it is very helpful.

Benefits
· The sticky wall provides a space where you need to group and regroup participants' ideas that have been written on papers
· It is light weight, you can use it for 2 - 5 years
· It is easily portable so that you can take it to every meeting

Preparation, use and maintenance of the sticky wall
Ø To make your new sticky wall sticky, use 3M Spray Mount, Artistst Adhesive. Avoid over-spraying
Ø You can use most types of paper on your sticky wall, but don't use construction paper because it may permanently stick
Ø When you fold the sticky wall for carrying, be sure to fold with the sticky side in
Ø For subsequent uses, first check the wall for stickiness
Ø You can hang the sticky wall with masking tape, push pins or T pins
Ø When there is adhesive build up, and you want to clean it, you can use 3M Citrus Based Cleaner

Purchase of the sticky wall
You can order the sticky wall at the website, click sticky wall

How to facilitate Chimpansee behaviour in organisations?

2011-01-20T03:22:00.000-08:00

High performance! What are the key ingredients of an effective leader? High business performance! How to create entrepreneurship and more openess in the organisation? Many training courses and teambuilding workshops are focused on the rational behaviour of people in organisations and their commitment to get a better performance of the organisation. However, the reality is more unpredictable. 'Gossip', 'sabotaging or undermining the boss', 'informal alliances to slow down organisational change', 'fear of losing position as a manager when staff become super high performers', 'manipulation to get a higher salary or a better position in the organisation', 'managing your private affairs at work' and 'delegating impossible tasks or projects to your potential competitors in your organisation, so that you can blame them'.

Social and political behaviour in organisations are still an underestimated force which are driving organisational development. How come that organisations which were successfull 10 years ago, have now become slow and conservative operating institutions? A lot of similarities can be found with the development of chimpansee communities and political behaviour in organisations. Similarities between chimpansee and human behaviour in communities
Patrick van Veen author of 'Help mijn baas is een aap!' & 'kuddegedrag in crisistijd' identifies a number of remarkable similarities between chimpansees and humans. For example; a new chimpansee leader, the alfa man, who has just come to power, kills all the chimpansee babies to ensure that his ancestors are his. A new Chief executive who has become managing director destroys most of the favorite projects of his predecessor and initiates another restructuring. Chimpansees make alliances within their community by grooming each other. Staff create partnerships by informal meetings during lunch or at the corridor. An alfa man never gains power by himself. He always has gained support from the majority of the community before he has challenged his predecessor. After gaining power, he keeps his community satisfied by giving his supporters privelleges. A director who has gained leadership in the organisation rewards the staff who have helped him to power and sabotages his critics.

Other books that provide an interesting look into the internal politics and social behaviour in organisations are:
* Zo Zuidas, author: The Zoza's
* Chimpansee politiek, author: Frans de Waal
* Hoe wordt ik een rat? author: Joep P.M. Schrijvers
* The egalitarians human and chimpanzee, author: Margaret Power

Ways to deal with Chimpansee politics
Building coalitions and networking inside the organisation are mentioned in the aforementioned literature as the most crucial steps to maintain and ensure a good position within the organisation. When you become victim of such a political game, the authors refer to three strategies;

1. Fight
You fight back and try to build coalitions and support against the other coalition, so that you get some of your goals persued.
2. Flight
You count your blessings, accept your defeat and prepare for another position within the organisation or look for other job opportunities outside. Why waste energy on fighting? Go for the opportunities which provide energy.
3. Adapt
You accept the situation as it is, but low down your commitment to the organisation and focus on your hobbies during your free time or the weekends.
An example of the last strategy, you can see at a youtube video of Debiteuren - Crediteuren, performed by Jiskefet in the '90s of the last century.
See video. Jiskefet 'Dibiteuren en Crediteuren'

Positive behaviour of a stable community
Conflicts and politics are maybe the most interesting and intruiging aspects of organisational development. They can be both created from inside as from outside. However, both chimpansees and people prefer a stable and safe community. Researchers observed that in stable chimpansee communities, members have fun and play regularly. They have a lot of mechanisms of mutual support. Interesting is that a Chimpasee leader, the Alfa man, plays the role of listener and maintainer of the norms and values of the group. Whenever somebody is violating the rules of law, he intervenes and resolves the conflict. Researchers discovered that violent disputes amongst chimpansee members within a community are very much limited. Mostly they are resolved on a peaceful way. So, in circumstances the hierarchy is clear, tasks are done efficiently and effectively. When there are no external threats (such as shortage of food or a competing community), the living environment is safe and leadership is stable, the community takes care of each other. Of course there are still a lot of striking differences between chimpansees and people, but to a certain extent it is interesting to look at organisational development from a biological perspective. In the documentary VPRO Tegenlicht of January 10, 2011 Frans de Waal shows some of the positive characteristics of chimpansee communities: Link: http://beta.uitzendinggemist.nl/afleveringen/1039492

How to act as a facilitator when chimpansee behaviour is affecting the organisation?
What to do as a facilitator when you are facing a group or organisation that is full with conflict and intruiging back-door behaviour?

1. Make your client responsible from the beginning and ensure a monitoring/ evaluation plan
A crucial step is the intake with your client. Is he/ she already aware of these conflicts? What are the reasons you have been hired as a facilitator? Don't be afraid to ask some thorough questions during your first meetings. A useful step is to formulate a focus question with your client and try to involve some key people in the preperation of your workshop. Ensure that they are the 'eyes and ears' of the group. And build in a monitoring and evaluation track where you will evaluate their findings after one or more workshops.

2. Observe different behaviour during the workshop and deal with it
A lot of interesting things can happen when you facilitate a meeting. Some people dominate the workshop, others show limited interest, people openly show aggressive or conflictuous behaviour or sabotage a fruitful outcome. There a different ways to deal with this as a facilitator:
* Formulate and maintain ground rules
* List and address the expectations and check with the group on what expectations they would like to work
* Approach some of the people face to face during one of the breaks in order to listen to some of their concerns
* Address the behaviour and give it back to the group so that the group will be confronted to take its responsibility.
* Practise the art of Judo. Give the sabotaging or conflictual behaving people a responsibility
* Allow persons, when they feel they should not be there, to leave the meeting

Another way is not to deal with it, so just 'let it happen' so that the group will deal with it.
3. Evaluate at the end and just after the meeting wit the group
Ensure that you evaluate the content and the process at the end of the meeting. In case people do not feel safe to express their feelings, try to build in evaluation moments during the 'informal' moments during or after the meeting. Involve the 'eyes and ears' of the preperation team in this evaluation, so that you can share their observations during a mid-term or final evaluation after the workshop.

4. Build trust, maintain your neutral position and show your concern with the organisation
Most crucial is that you ensure your neutral position as a facilitator. Be clear on your role and try to build an atmosphere of openess and trust with your client. Be sincere in what you observe, feel and experience. And show your concern and commitment that you support the organisation and its values.

In case you have additional remarks, questions please feel free to respond to this article.

Simon Koolwijk,
facilitator/ trainer
For more about courses on facilitation, consult: http://facili.nl/upcoming_courses_events/upcoming_courses_events.php

Energizers & games make facilitation fun!

2011-01-09T02:14:00.000-08:00

How to overcome a lunch dip? What to do when people are tired of using their heads? And how to get focus? Energizers and games are ways to refresh people's minds and get them active.

The paper tiger is a popular one and fun to do. Make an animal from a piece of paper without talking. Make a group, each person tears a piece of paper without talking and passes it on to the next person. Make a maximum of 4 rounds and give each group a maximum of 5 minutes.
Ranking on the chair is a nice one to get to know each other better. Make a line of chairs as many people as there are in the group. Give an assignment to the group by asking a question. For example; Rank yourself on basis of your age, or birth date? or what is the most south located place you have visited on the earth?

The word game has a competitive element. Ask people to make columms, asking them for example 1. Country? 2. City/ village? 3. Name? 4. Animal? 5. Tool in the household? Each time a participants says a letter. For example 'R'. After that the one who answers the questions the fastest is the winner!
These energizers were part of the training facilitation methods, which was held on 5 - 6 january, 2011 in Utrecht and led by Simon Koolwijk. He is certified professionals facilitator with the International Association of facilitators. IAF has also a professional network in the Netherlands, called IAF-Benelux.
Young Professionals (YP's) from Togetthere and Mensen met een Missie became during the course acquainted with methods (Technology of Participation) on how to facilitate and guide groups. These YP's were prepared for their capacity development intervention missions in Peru and Guatemala, where they are going to assist local organisations in updating their communication strategies and training courses.
'Experience', 'know the background and the theory' and 'practise' were the main components of the course. During the last day part, participants learned on how to set up a training and how to teach a lesson according to the 'KOLB - learning cycle'. This cycle integrates facilitation and teaching on how to transfer knowledge to groups of people and individuals. It is a powerful tool in capacity development of local organisations and people. Young professionals from ICCO - Togetthere have made a short list of coaching and facilitation tools at the icco-cad toolkit site.

The training had a good balance of theory and practise, commented the participants. It was intensive, but very useful. We would have loved a day more! The training was structured and passed very smooth. We were the whole day active and time flew.

Young people active with video and social media: Participatory Video Making in Moldova

2011-01-04T05:34:00.000-08:00

Young people's lives today versus the lives of young people in the past from the mouths of adults. This was the main theme of the participatory video young people from Ulmu made from 1 to 3 November 2010. The video-making was guided by two professors and students of the Film Academy in Chisinau, Moldova. Support in the discussions was provided by Pro Community Centre and Kontakt der Kontinenten.

Training
Prior to the training Pro Community Centre organized an orientation meeting to allow young people to know more about the process. Professors from the Film Academy asked them to think about the scenario and locations / individuals to select for the story. Young people chose the theme; "the youth of today versus those of the past". During the training 10 locations were visited in their village to develop the story. The visits were diverse. Interviews were done with the mayor, a disabled mother, an elderly woman, a garment factory, a young entrepreneur and a family that produces local products.See below a 4-minute impression of the process of participatory video.

The development of the scenario and filming were part of the first two days of the course. The final day focused on video editing and discussions. By the end of the training a draft story of 10 minutes was completed. A core group from the youth club performed the final completion work (translation, perfectionizing, subtitling and learning to work with video editing) together with the professors of the film academy in the remaining weeks of 2010. The film is now in a completion stage and will be presented at a national conference on youth development in Moldova in March 2011. The process of participatory video making will be continued with youth clubs from Varnita, Vadul Rascov and Cotiujeni Mari.

Lessons learned
The training yielded some interesting lessons. Highlights included the video making, do it yourself and getting acquainted with the basics of filmmaking.

Some lessons learned were:
* As many times happens, the group felt it did not have enough time to complete the video. The use of a means of transportation on the second day could have saved some useful time.
* During the filming the youngsters and their professor used 5 cameras. This had an overwhelming impact on a number of interviewees. Therefore limit the use of cameras up to two.
* Many times the youth asked closed questions to the adults. Inclusion of a session on interview techniques offers an added value during the orientation
* The process of video making contributes to 'team building' and increases awareness about the profession of film making.
* By working with the Film Academy of Chisinau it created a basis for further capacity and local knowledge development about participatory video making. The process provided space for a core group of young people from Ulmu to further develop their skills on video making and editing.

Young people duplicate the process of video making
The training inspired the young people from Ulmu to make a video production themselves after the training and to spread it through social media. Together they made a Christmas message that was posted on youtube and was circulated through Odnoklasniki (Eastern European version of facebook). See link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsP-vbpf2Ks

The participatory video making is part of the project 'Youth in the Centre', funded by Matra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). This project is aimed at building sustainable structures for youth work in Moldova. The project is a partnership between Pro Community Centre, Kontakt der Kontinenten, Proni Centre for Social Education and University Windesheim.

Marry Christmas and Happy 2011!

2010-12-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

We wish you a Marry Christmas and Happy 2011!

The Youngsters from Ulmu village made a nice video message sharing their Christmas and New Year wishes:

The Youngsters from Ulmu village, Moldova are participating in the Youth Development program 'Youth in the Center', which is facilitated by Procommunity Centre with support from Kontakt der Kontinenten, Proni Centre for Social Education and Hogeschool Windesheim.

Thinking through about a capacity development intervention!

2010-12-22T03:34:00.000-08:00

Which activities to select on how to guide an organisation in its process of development? 1. Exchange, 2. facilitation, 3. coaching, 4. research, 5. training, 6. advise, 7. management or 8. implementation?

Two Young Professionals from Togetthere met for a one-day training on the 21st December, 2010 to think through about their capacity development intervention. Both Young Professionals will be assisting for a period of 6 months local development organisations in Peru and Rwanda in the area of communication and micro-finance. Part of the training was to gain skills on how to plan for a capacity development intervention based on their job description and some basic principles of capacity development.
The training was led by Simon Koolwijk, professional in the area of facilitation and capacity development. Some useful information and literature about these topics can be found at the ICCO CAD tookit site and the UNDP CD site. The training was a combination of theory, practicals in planning, presentations and discussing about dilemma's Young Professionals are facing in these kind of interventions. Some interesting stories are shared at the blogspot "Everything you always wanted to know about Capacity Development" and the Barefoot guide.

The training was useful, interactive and dynamic, commented the participants the end of the course. It was actually a bit too short. We would have loved more stories about the challenges and dilemma's in capacity development interventions and on how to tackle that.

Developing capactities of local organisations

2010-12-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

'Build informal contacts', 'build good contacts with your supervisor', 'organise a cultural exchange party to build cultural understanding', 'conduct a participatory meeting with your colleagues guided by an external facilitator', 'consult a coach or a local mentor', 'plan monitoring and evaluation moments with your supervisor', and 'get clear about the conditions which your partner organisation can fullfill to make your capacity development intervention to a success'. These were some of the recommendations which were shared on how to tackle dilemma's and build ownership during a capacity development intervention.

Dilemma's and how to create ownership in organisational development was one of the sessions during the training Project Cycle Management & Capacity Development of organisations which was held and organised by the Hendrik Kraemer Institute. The training was attended by Development professionals from World Servants, Mensen met een Missie and Togetthere - ICCO. The 3-day training conducted by Simon Koolwijk delt with the principles of Project Cycle Management, Organisational Analysis and capacity development. A compilation of literature can be found at the ICCO-cad toolkit website.

Participants presented their cases from Ukraine, South-Africa and Guatemala on where they are planning for a capacity development intervention. Applying the theoretical principles and practising with tools in organisational development, it helped the participants to get their plan of action clear on how they will assist their partner organisations. The barefoot guide and the blog 'Everything you always wanted to know about capacity development' provide deeper insight on what is involved in capacity development.'The training was a good combination of theory and practise. There was a balance between our experiences and this from the trainer' commented the participants at the end of the course. 'It was an eye-opener on how to work with our partner organisations.'

Formulating indicators at policy & strategic level; Project Cycle Management

2010-12-05T02:13:00.000-08:00

The training was a mix of 'deepening understanding' about our strategic plan, teambuilding and receiving professional feedback on how to optimize our relations with our project partners. This training gave us new insights and tools on how to further develop our 4-year strategic plan. It was useful and practical! These were some of the comments from staff from Kom Over and Help after participating in the training Project Cycle Management & Partner Relations. KOEH is a development organisation supporting NGO's and churches who are assisting poor and disprivalaged families and children in Eastern Europe.
The 3-day in-company course was conducted by Gerard Verbeek and Simon Koolwijk. The training was focused at reviewing the strategic plan, formulating key indicators at project, policy and strategic level and gaining tools for project visits to project partners.As most development organisations, KOEH is applying the Project Cycle Management approach for monitoring & evaluating its projects. Main purpose of the PCM method is to optimize the effectivity, impact and efficiency of projects. The role of Gerard Verbeek and Simon Koolwijk was to assist KOEH in optimizing the key indicators for policy formulation and to review the existing procedures for monitoring & evaluation, reporting and partnerships.

The first day of the training was focused on the theoretical principles of project cycle management and formulation of project indicators. On the second day a role play was exercised to get a deeper understanding about the existing partner relations with project partners in Eastern Europe. The exercise provided some useful tools on how to optimize partnerships in helping deprived and poor groups. Some tools can be found in the Barefoot Guide. On the third day the strategic plan was reviewed and key indicators were formulated for the strategic plan.

Finally participants shared their excitements about the course. The perspective from 2 outsiders and specialists gave us some useful hints optimizing in helping poor families and children in Eastern Europe. The training was welll prepared! It was practical! And the open atmosphere gave space for gaining new insights in improving our work!

How to deal with cultural differences as a facilitator?

2010-11-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

'Build up informal moments', 'Apply the indirect way', 'Use local discussion techniques', 'Humor', 'Move along and adapt to the situation'; These were some of the outcomes from the workshop "What are ways to deal as a facilitator with cultural differences in a group?" The workshop was part of the Training Group Facilitation Methods, which was held and conducted by Simon Koolwijk for staff from IccoenKerkinActie and Togetthere.

Three participants applied creative techniques on getting out the ways on how to deal with cultural differences. A combination of 'story telling', 'role plays', 'associative thinking' and 'collecting' ideas provided 16 answers to the focus question of the workshop.

This workshop was part of the training 'Basic Facilitation Methods', which was held on the 9th and 10th November, 2010 in Utrecht. Participants learned about the theoretical principles of facilitation (consult handbook Group Facilitation Methods - IAF), the Technology of Participation techniques, and creative methods (Creativity Today - Igor Bytebier).

The first day was focused on the theory and demonstration of facilitation methods. On the second day all participants practised and received feedback. The training was both fun and a learning experience! Content was connected to practising, it was well prepared. In two days we were put in a pressure cooker, but that made it that we thoroughly learned the basics of facilitation. We missed some background about the why of the 'left' and 'right'brain. Next time we hope to get some more information about brainlearning. (Brain_work, Ria van Dinteren)

Youngsters in front and behind the camera. Participatory Video Making in Moldova!

2010-11-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Comparing life of youngsters of today, with the life of youngsters in the past. This was the main theme that young people were filming during the training Participatory Video Making which was held from 1 - 3 November, 2010 in Ulmu village, Moldova. The training was led by Mr. Vlad Druc and Mr. Mircea Chistruga, both video lecturers at the Moldova Academy of Filmmaking. Support in facilitation and discussions was provided by Procommunity Centre and Simon Koolwijk from Kontakt der Kontinenten.

During the training the youngsters did filming at around 10 sites to develop their story - Youngster in the past and today. The visits were very diverse. Interviews were done with the mayor, a handicapped mother, an old women who was taken care of by her daugther, an old single woman, a family producing local products, a young business entrepreneur and women working in the local clothing factory. Youngster activities in the youth club, a dancing class workshop and a spiritual water point with youngsters were also included. Developing the story and the video making were part of the first two days of the course. The final day was focused at editing and discussions. By the end of the training a final draft of the 10 minute story was ready. A core group of youngsters of the Ulmu youth club wil further elaborate and finalize their movie in the coming weeks with the support of the Moldova Film Academy.

The participatory video making is part of the program 'Youth in the Center', which is financed by Matra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). This project which is aiming at building sustainable structures for community youth development work in Moldova, is a partnership between Pro Community Centre, Kontakt der Kontinenten, Proni Centre for Social Education and Hogeschool Windesheim

Green Agenda: Environmental improvement through a process approach!

2010-10-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

Green Balloons with 60 wishes were flying into the air! It was one of the highlights of the Final Evaluation Seminar of Green Agenda on the Balkans. From 22 - 24 October 2010 60 representatives coming from NGO's, MilieuKontakt, trainers from Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro met to evaluate the 3-year project Green Agenda on the Balkan. The event was facilitated by Suzanne Bakker from MilieuKontakt and Simon Koolwijk.

Green Agenda is a participatory method for developing and implementing local sustainable development strategies and plans with active involvement of the different sectors in the local community where the process is conducted. The method (developed by MilieuKontakt) is special, compared to other processes with similar aims, in at least 3 main aspects: the process starts out by identifying local values rather than problems; participation in the process is not limited to experts or certain stakeholder groups but is wide and open to all; and as a result the process and its results are genuinely owned by the local people.

Improved environmental practices were initiated in 18 communities in the Balkans. Energy saving light, improved garbage disposal practices, renovated monuments, establishment of teams of ecological tourist guides, start of ecological awareness centres, marketing of sustainable and ecological food are some of the successes which were presented and shared by the participants. In more than 90 % of the communities, the local municipality developed and approved a long term strategic plan (The Green Agenda document) for environmental & sustainable development. In Macedonia and Serbia even more communities requested and provided funds for initiating the Green Agenda process in their own communities. All 18 participating communities developed a participatory video with the faciliting support of Julijana Daskalov, Kocka and Insight Share. During the first evening of the event all video were shared and watched combined with a cheese and wine tasting event, promoting local and sustainable products. By the end of 2010 the videos will be found at http://www.youtube.com/GreenAgenda2010

Besides evaluation, the meeting was directed at looking at the future. Through the open space approach, participants were invited to start and share in discussion groups. All partners decided to continue to work together through a regional network. Later on ideas for promoting and strengthening Green Agenda initiatives will be further elaborated.

"The atmosphere was great! And it was professionaly organized!", commented some of the participants. "It gave new energy and direction that we should move forward with this process and that we have to take further steps to develop a network!"

Facilitating resistance in a group discussion

2010-10-11T01:17:00.000-07:00

You are facilitating a lunch meeting in a big consultancy company. One of the key questions is "How to stimulate entrepreneurship in the organisation". One of your participants is showing a big resistance, because he was requested by the director to attend the meeting. He shows a non-verbal non interested attitude and is eager to sabotage the meeting. You as a facilitator are worried and are doing your ultimate best to involve this person. What to do?

Involving resistant people and making them feel responsible for the group proces is one of the biggest challenges while facilitating a meeting. "Checking people's expectations" is one measure. Another is the temparature method. Just check people's feeling about their presence, while you are starting a meeting. Address and check people's behaviour is a risky one, but if you recognize people's emotions, it can be an effective one. "Is it right that you are angry? " This statement provides resistant participants space to express their emotions and feel themselves recognised in a meeting.

How to deal with resistant people as a facilitator was one of the topics of the training 'Basic Facilitation methods' which was led by Simon Koolwijk on the 6th and 7th October, 2010 at ICCOenKerkinActie. The training was composed of the theoretical principles of facilitation, the Technology of Participation methods, creative methods (Creativity Today, Igor Byttebier) and how to deal with resistance.

"The training was practical. It had a good balance between theory and practise" commented the participants. I liked the tools, attributes and the coloured smelly markers and the sticky wall. The atmosphere was safe and open to practise.

Facilitating difficult people in a supermarket!

2010-09-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

It is 5 minutes to 8, just before closing the supermarket. Four people are queing. All of them are in a hurry and actually not willing to wait. Some of them do not behave properly. The casher is playing the role of facilitator. There are different options to deal with the difficult clients: 1. The exit option, 2. Make the group responsible or 3. Judo, make a difficult person responsible. This was the setting of a role play, while generating ideas on the question: "What are the key competencies of an effective facilitator?"

It was part of the practise of the training 'Basic Facilitation methods' and 'How to work with the KOLB learning cycle' on 27, 28 and 29th September, 2010 which was facilitated by Simon Koolwijk. Professionals working with ICCOenKerkinActie, Togetthere, Mensen met een Missie and the Theatre Embassy participated in this training.

During the training participants got acquainted with the Technology of Participation methods. These are basic facilitation methods which have been developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs. The first day covered theoretical parts of facilitation and the second day was focused on practise. The third day was focused on 'How to develop a training based on the KOLB learning cycle'. Here the participants developed and taught a lesson based on the principles of 'direct experience', 'reflecting on the experience', 'generalisation of the experience' and 'application'. At the end of the training attention was paid to the principles of coaching. For example how to work with the GROW model. And participants got acquainted with the 7 F's on how to stimulate and optimize the conditions of the brain, while conducting a training. These principles can be read in the book Brain_work, Ria van Dinteren.
The training provided and generated a lot of inspirational knowledge from the participants. More about creative thinking and learning can be discovered at Pressure cooker and Acht uuroverwerken. 'The training was both structured and inspirational' commented one of the participants. 'It was a safe ambiance to practise and a cosy environment. We got double value. We practised but we also gained insight in some important issue of teamwork and facilitation'.

Creative facilitation in overcoming a lunch dip!

2010-09-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Imagine your organisation is searching for an effective facilitator, who can facilitate and deal with learning and change processes in your organisation. Three practising facilitators of ICCOenKerkinActie guided their colleague participants in identifying the key competencies of an effective facilitator. Challenged by a task, participants were asked to interview some of their colleagues outside the training room. After 30 minutes the competencies of an effective facilitator were presented and shared.

This session provided us some space to move and get outside the training room, expressed one of the participants. The whole session was composed of a diversity of creative methods; the bloopers, statue theatre, interviewing outsiders and a smily evaluation. Creative methods are very helpful in overcoming a lunch dip. It is energizing!

The creative sessions were part of the training Basic Facilitation Methods, which was held on 20 - 21 September, 2010 at ICCOenKerkinActie. ICCOenKerkinActie aims at supporting development initiatives in the South aiming at Improving Basic Services (education, health, water, food), Fostering market & economic development and Building Peace and Democracy in fragile states. Through this the organisation aims at contributing towards the Milenium Development Goals.

The training, led by Simon Koolwijk, was focused the first day on learning the Technology of Participation Techniques. These are basic techniques, developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs, which stimulates people to give direction to their own lives. The second was focused on practising and getting feedback.

The training appeared to be a fruitful occasion of exchange. Additional methods such as the 'Experiential learning cycle', 'Rich picture' and 'Back casting' were shared and further elaborated. It was a fruitful course for learning trics and tips!

Similarities between an animal and a facilitator?

2010-09-10T00:38:00.000-07:00

How to come from an animal to the competencies of a facilitator? This question was answered by a group of 8 staff working with ICCOenKerkinActie, a Dutch development organisation which has one of its aims to contribute towards the Millenium Development Goals. The staff members participated in a two day training (6th - 7th September 2010) on learning and practising basic facilitation skills led by Simon Koolwijk.
A team of three facilitators practised this creative workshop with the key question: "What are the competencies of an effective facilitator?" Inspired by the book Creativiteit Hoe? Zo! (Author Igor Bytebier) the 5 other colleagues were asked to draw an animal which symbolizes an effective facilitator. An owl, lama, elephante, octopus and eagle were some of the inspiring animals which were shared. After that the participants were invited to associate words, through the brainwriting technique which reflected the 'ideal' of an effective and competent facilitator. Finally the best compencies of an effective facilitator were selected, written on coloured cards and posted on the sticky wall, whereafter an interesting discussion followed about the 'ideal facilitator'.

This exercise was part of the training Basic Facilitation Skills. During the training the participants got acquainted with the Technology of Participation methods, which are structured and efficient tools in getting groups focused in discussions. The training was composed of theory, discussions and practicals, including a number of energizers.
Participants commented: 'The balance of theory and practise was optimal in this course! I appreciated the feedback after practise. It was very useful. ' 'The exercise about resistance was very helpful. Deal first with the emergencies, before you further discuss the content, explained one of the participants. 'It is a course definitely a must for managers and project leaders!'

Capacity development: A course putting theory into practise!

2010-08-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

"The fact that we worked our own project, made the course very practical!"; "The application of many diverse tools and methods of teaching made us to involve constantly"; "The case studies were very practical and gave us insight in capacity development and how projects usualy operate"; "The course was very inspirational!"

On the 23rd, 24th and 26th August, 2010 capacity development advisors, working with GZB, Mensen met een Missie, ICCO & Centrum for Israel Studies participated in the course Project Cycle Management & Capacity Development which was organized by the Hendrik Kraemer Institute (HKI). The training was conducted by Simon Koolwijk.

The first part of the course was focused on how to plan and design a project through the Project Management Cycle and logical framework approach. Based on a practical project, participants developed a project plan through the logframe approach. On the second day participants presented their job descriptions, which are focused on organisational development. Based on theoretical principles and organisational analysis tools, participants developed a draft capacity development intervention plan. Feedback and suggestions were shared on how to focus and where to deal with difficulties. Tools for monitoring and evaluation were shared on how to follow the progress of the intervention.

Finally dilemma's and pitholes were shared which can be encountered during a capacity development intervention. Ownership, unclearity about expectations, building trust are some of the main challenges during an intervention. Some strategies are shared at the weblog "Everything you always wanted to know about capacity development".

Video Evaluation - short highlights about two weeks exchange on International Humanitarian Law

2010-07-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

"I have never experienced such a wonderful seminar", "My expectations have been met", "I know how to apply the four principles for International Humanitarian Law", "The composition of the group", "Lecturers addressed the issues". These were some of the comments which members of the ACT Alliance shared during a video evaluation at the end of the face-to-face seminar discussing Humanitarian Assistance & International Law (HAIL) which was held from 25th May - 4th June, 2010. This 2-week seminar dealt about the four principles of HAIL; 1. Humanity, 2. Neutrality, 3. Impartiality and 4. Indepedence. Main purpose of the meeting was to link theoretical principles with the reality of the work in the field. The 22 participants coming from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin-America shared 'best practices,' 'challenging cases' and 'possible scenario's ' on how to apply HAIL during interventions where Humanitarian Aid is needed after natural disasters and armed conflicts. The seminar is an initiative of ICCOenKerkinActie and the ACT Alliance, facilitated by the Hendrik Kraemer Institute.
See video for the impressions:

The video evaluation was facilitated by Simon Koolwijk at the last day of the seminar, where participants shared their perspectives on how they felt about the two week meeting. The scenario of the video evaluation was designed by the participants. This scenario included the goals, questions and video story boards/ shots, that were proposed by the group. The process of filming lasted 2 hours, where each of the participants shared their views. The editing took about 6 hours.

Such a video evaluation has the following advantages:
1. It provides the participants a platform to share their highlights at the end of the meeting
2. It provides space for a making a joint production, which they can share with their colleagues
3. It builds the group and document institutional history.

Public Participation in water and health related issues

2010-06-20T02:26:00.000-07:00

Having access to clean water is still one of the long lasting dreams in many countries. On 15-16 June, 2010 around 70 representatives from European governmental institutions and non-governmental organisations met in Bucharest, Romania to exchange experiences on information and public participation in water and health related issues. Most representatives were coming from Eastern European countries and organisations who run water and health related projects in Eastern Europe. Simon Koolwijk assisted the organizing committee to facilitate this workshop.

Main organizers of the international workshop were the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - Water and Health protocol ) and WECF (Women in Europe for a Common Future). The overall goal of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of public authorities and non-governmental actors to cooperate in the implementation of the Protocol on Water and Health.

The workshop allowed participants to:

1. Review obligations and opportunities under the Protocol;
2. Exchange practical experiences and lessons learned
3. Overview existing tools and mechanisms to promote access to information and public participation;
4. Discuss ways and means to raise awareness – in general on the linkage between human health and water management
5. Discuss future needs in these areas and possible actions under the protocol.

One of the key discussion items was to discuss the access to information and public participation in the fields of health and water under the principles of the Aarhus convention.

There is still a lot of space for improvement commented the participants. They expressed: The implementation of the component of public participation in having water and health quality improved is still complicated. There is a lack of trust with authorities and the public to be involved in making improvements. And in many of our contries we miss a communication culture. However, some NGO's successfully succeed in building bridges and reach results. Now the dialogue is much better than 10-15 years ago, and local people are willing to make investments in clean toilets & water systems and are more aware of the dangers for health of dirty and contaminated water. However, the condition is that it should be affordable and not too expensive. If people know that water is touching their personal life, they want to be involved. There is a role to play for NGO's to build bridges with local governments. There are already some examples where public authorities and NGO's are working together. Also NGO's have a role to play in data gathering, monitoring and using these data for policy making.

The conference was very useful, commented one of the participants. The fact that we had an opportunity to discuss in small groups about the issues and that we could meet people with similar questions and issues was very helpful and stimulating!

More about Women for Europe and a Common Future can be found at youtube. WECFEU

Promotion of rural entrepreneurship in Rwanda

2010-06-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Promotion of rural entrepreneurship in Rwanda is the main focus of the IPER program, which is led and coordinated by AgriProFocus. Wageningen International, The Royal Tropical Institute, SNV, Larenstein, Agriterra, Oxfam-Novib and ICCO are major partners in this project. On the 11th June 2010 the partners met in Arnhem to discuss about the action plan led by the Advisor of promotion of rural entrepreneurship in Rwanda.

The program is focused at strengthening local market development by building capacities of value chains on rice, casave, maize and other agricultural products. Farmers, producers, service providers and research institutions are involved in this program. Finally farmers and individual families would like to improve their lifes, have fair prices for their products which will lead to better welfare. The meeting was facilitated by Simon Koolwijk. "We all of us produced something on which we have ownership, consensus and it is workable", commented the participants at the end of the meeting.

As preperation of this meeting, the capacity development advisor for the IPER program (financed by ICCO) was trained and equiped with skills in capacity development on the 10th June 2010. Parts of the training covered theoretical principles, how to build capacities through human resource, organisational and institutional development. 'Capacity development is not the purpose in itself, but it should finally lead to better service delivery of organisations and institutions'. Building capacities, linking (producers, farmers, service institutions) and learning are the most important tasks of the CB advisor in the program.

Lots of inspiration in limited time!

2010-06-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

"We strengthened our team through joint analysis and practicals with new methods", "The teambuilding was a successfull instrument in coming to concrete results", "We learned a lot of diverse methods on how to support structured group processes", "The training was dynamic", "We gained a lot of inspiration in limited time!"
Staff members from Impulsis and the communication department from ICCO followed the training on facilitation methods. Since Impulsis is regular organising meetings with their project partners, who have partnerships with small scale projects in Africa, Asia and Latin-America on education, peace building or community development, the lessons learned were very applicable for the own worksituation.

Participants got acquainted with the theories of facilitation, the Technology of Participation methods (developed and tested by the Institute of Cultural Affairs - USA) and creative methods from COCD (literature: Creativity Today!) . The focus during the second day was on practicals. Starting from early in the morning up to mid afternoon all participants facilitated a session and received feedback. "Our experience has been strengthened through structure and methods" commented one of the participants. "We already know a lot, but the training provides an additional dimension in preparing and facilitating a group meeting".
Simon Koolwijk, the trainer, is member of the International Association of Facilitators. This association promotes the profession of facilitators around the globe. In 2008 Simon became a International Certified Professional Facilitator.