Library of facilitation techniques

This is an exercise to use when the group gets stuck in details and struggles to see the big picture. Also good for defining a vision.

Observing the lives of others is not only an essential element of how we define our own identities, it can also be a great spark for creativity. This activity was inspired by a blog post by Russell Davies.

This specific activity is perfect both for honing your listening and observation skills, but also how to turn this into an everyday documentary-style output. Oh and by the way, he does warn that this activity should be done with a certain level of sensitivity to the subjects you are observing.

A workshop to support teams to reflect on and ultimately increase their alignment with purpose/goals and team member autonomy. Inspired by Peter Smith's model of personal responsibility. Use this workshop to strengthen a culture of personal responsibility and build your team's ability to adapt quickly and navigate change.

In Social Presencing Theater, the word theater is used in connection to its root meaning – a place where something significant becomes visible, or where a community of people can see a shared experience. 4D mapping makes visible the current reality in a social system, such as a school system, health care system, or government.

We live and work in turbulent times, juggling never-ending to-do lists, back-to-back meetings, and constant context switching. When people enter a meeting, they often carry mental clutter – unfinished tasks, lingering thoughts, or stress from the previous discussion.

This simple yet effective exercise helps participants mentally transition into the meeting by externalizing their distractions, physically letting them go, and creating a fresh focus for the discussion ahead. I use this whenever I sense a group (whether virtual or in-person) is distracted, overwhelmed, or coming straight from another meeting. It works well when combined with a check-in question that gets everyone speaking.

Open Space is a methodology for large groups to create their agenda discerning important topics for discussion, suitable for conferences, community gatherings and whole system facilitation

Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitive feeling rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values. It is a good exercise to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values.

This teamwork activity requires participants to work closely together to build a tower from a set of building blocks. 

The players need to coordinate their actions in order to be able to move the wooden blocks with the crane they have, and this can only be solved by precise planning, good communication and well-organised teamwork.

You may use this exercise to emphasise the following themes and outcomes:

• In Leadership training: identifying interdependencies in systems, leadership communication, dealing with risk, giving feedback
  
• In Team building: communicating effectively, cooperating, being an active listener, maintaining the balance, working with values
  
• In Project management: simulating strategic planning, working under time pressure
  
• In Communication training: meta communication, facilitating, dealing with different perspectives
  

Individuals express their response to a statement or idea by standing closer or further from a central object. Used with teams to reveal system, hidden patterns, perspectives.