Best practices sharing and summer party in Berlin

Having fun and good food at the evening multicultural party!

To finish the long and fruitful project we shared best practices had our final evaluation meeting and celebrated the end of the project in cool and multicultural Berlin.

We all agreed that the project has been very good in developing contacts between countries and knowledge has definitely increased. 
YESSSSS !

Team Coaching Workshop April 9th 2011 in Berlin

A workshop for managers, coaches, facilitators, trainers, teaching professionals and anyone who wishes to effectively use the synergy of a group. Team Coaching is a method of working with teams that is rapidly growing in importance.

A Team Coach needs a wide range of skills in order to make their work creative, effective and synergetic. Coaching workshops are ideal for small groups because they provide the opportunity for team members to work out interpersonal issues, build understanding, resolve conflicts and improve teamwork. Coaching workshops are also an effective tool for helping individuals to remove blindspots and dramatically improve their interaction.

This workshop provides a theoretical framework for working with teams and allows the participants to gain practical experience with the process.

The workshop included the following topics:

• What is team coaching?
• The team coaching process – preparation, introduction, contract, action plan.
• Team coaching methods in practice – wheel of life, scaling, visualization, etc.
• The skills of a team coach.
• Handling difficult situations.

Workshop time: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
To register please send an email to: Juliane.neumann@grapepeople.de
More information: +49 1772015227
Workshop fee: 35€ (drinks and snacks are included)
Participants: 6-15
Place:
impakt berlin - Raum für soziale Innovation
Erkelenzdamm 59-61
Portal 1, 3. OG
10999 Berlin

PhDr. Pavla Helclova

Pavla is an experienced HR professional with a background in recruitment, personnel audit and change management. After graduating from the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague with a specialization in Work and Organizational Psychology, Pavla began to cooperate with the Czech branch of the global executive search company, Amrop Hever. Then, to broaden her horizons, she took on various consulting projects, including the merger of GOOGGI and Digitania (A Telenor Company). Her most significant project was her role as Project Manager of the VISION 2008 Project at Stredoceska energeticka a.s. (Central Bohemia Energy Company), where she was entrusted with leading the project team responsible for transforming the 1400FTE regional company into the new process-based holding structure of the CEZ Group. Pavla then rejoined the ranks of the Amrop Hever Group as a specialist responsible for change management projects, assessments and HR audits with a focus on internal communication and company culture. She was also part of the team of consultants concentrating on executive search in the IT and Telecommunications fields. 

NODE Facilitation Training- effective meeting facilitation

Today when we design a training program for a client it’s often about dealing with the challenges and possibilities of global teams and how to run virtual meetings. These are the new skills that people would like to acquire including an understanding for virtual leadership and how to build trust in these settings. While these are very useful learning objectives, the problem is, that in many organizations the basic building blocks of collaboration – how we run our meetings – are taken for granted, but are not in place. The reality is, that most face to face meetings are still held in rather ineffective ways. We waste a lot of time when there is no clear agenda, process and outcomes and if we add remote participants to these meetings they often feel nobody realizes they are there and they cannot participate at all. This is why we would like to invite you to join us for a two day workshop on:
“The basics of meeting facilitation – how to get the best results with a group”.

Dear Training group, it would be nice to collect your feedback here. Please use the comment function.

Discovering the impact of phototherapy

PHOTOTHERAPY WORKSHOP - FRIDAY 6. JANUARY 2011

Workshop, Prague 6-8 January 2011  

The aim of this workshop was to learn new methods for Organisational Development through photography. Since not many methods exist in OD they should be applied from other fields of learning.

In therapeutic processes photography has been long in use as a supportive element in the healing process. In photography personal photos, photography cards and other photographic imagery are used in order to explore ones personal themes. The methods in this field are well developed and easy to “think-outside-of-the-box”, and apply in the psychological and facilitative work in organisations.

In the workshop the participants learned alternative methods on how to use photography as a tool in Organisational Development. In the process the participants were egiven assignments with which they learnd to apply the therapeutic use of photography in Organisational Development and artistic work.

The participants also learned how to prevent social exclusion and activate participants in their own workshops in different fields of work (facilitating, coaching, artistic direction).

After the active workshop the participants attended a Photo Walk through Prague and looked at the city from the point of view of identity. During the last dinner together the results were shared and analysed togther, and the group got to know eachother through the photos that were taken during the day.

Atteendees

Grape Consulting, Czech Republic: Coach Pavla Helclova (HOST)

Grape Arte, Finland: Facilitator Piritta Kantojärvi, Kari Kukkola

Grape People Germany GbR: Virtual Process Specialist Juliane Neumann

Denmark: Photographer & Facilitator Lars Borgmann

Trainers

PhototherapyEurope, Finland:

Ulla Halkola, MSSc, education coordinator, psychotherapist, organisational

developer

Tarja Koffert, Psychotherapist and trainer in family therapy and cognitive

therapy, counsellor

Recommended Reading:

European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, Volume 11 Issue 1 2009

Phototherapy and Therapeutic Photography

Judy Weiser´s home page, www.phototherapy-centre.com

http://www.phototherapy-centre.com/>

Grape Arte is presenting at Berlin Change Days

The Berlin Change Days were launched in November 2009 with the aim of bringing together consultants, managers and other practitioners who are passionate about positive change in individuals and organizations. Keynotes and workshops deal with very different aspects of change, e.g. new, unusual approaches, methods and tools. We use an open format which allows for different, creative ways of presenting the topics. Our vision is to contribute to people’s learning about how to start a positive change process in their organization, community, and maybe in their life. Accordingly, the profile of participants varies, from consultants to HR and other managers, representatives of NGOs, students and scientists, etc. The conference is delivered in English and in German.

Change Facilitation Through Art

Real life Art and Business cases, what is facilitation through art and how to use it to take forward emotional or complex Change Processes. Would you like to better understand what facilitation through art in organisational change processes is all about? In this workshop you will hear real-life Art and Business cases and create understanding about the possibilities that art can offer for Organisational Development. You will gain insight into how to apply art-based facilitation methods in the business life and how to use art to take forward emotional or complex change processes. This participatory workshop will kick off with an introduction to Facilitation Through Art. A variety of real-life business cases will then be presented and the participants will brainstorm how they would tackle these challenging situations as if they were artists themselves. We will discuss the outcome of the group work and close the workshop creatively. (Notice: the workshop is not about graphic facilitation, nor art therapy and we will not learn art-based group tools due to its short duration.) Learning objectives: Gain insight into how to incorporate art-based facilitation tools into Change Processes and share experiences about the tools and processes.

NODE is attending the IAF conference and offering several workshops

The International Association of Facilitators was formed by a group of professionals desiring an avenue for interchange, professional development, trend analysis and peer networking. A formal association was proposed and adopted at a networking conference in Alexandria, Virginia, in January, 1994. More than 70 people signed on as charter members. Since then the IAF has grown to over 1500 members in more than 63 countries. Each year there is a conference organized be the European IAF members.

This time the conference was held in Helsinki, Finland. Finland's Facilitators' Association (FAFA) as organiser, and Grape People as partner, they invited everyone to join the 3-day event at the self-contained conference centre on a pictoresque peninsula called Kallahti. The theme of the event was the Paradoxes in Facilitation, exploring the light and darkness.

The theme was built around the book and epic poem of Finnish and Karelian folklore – the Kalevala. The Kalevala is credited as providing some of the inspiration for the national awakening that led to Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917.

The programme was full of workshops where tools, methods and ideas were shared. The participant joined together also in the evening events and at some excursions around the capital city Helsinki.

Some workshops that we attended:

• The dark side of facilitation (Lars Borgmann,  & Michael Stif Oerbach, Center for Facilitering, Denkmark)
• Pattern making, pattern breaking (Ann Alder, RSVP Design Ltd, United Kingdom
• Playful and serious: contradiction or potential? (Jonas roth, Helen Lindhal, Move Managemetn, Sweden
• Brain Facilitation. What can we learn form modern cognitive psychology and neurology about facilitation? ( Robert Verheule LEF future center, The Netherlands)
• Understanding Change  (Dianne Watts, Watts Adair consulting, Australia)

NODE presents the BIOS concept at the WOSONOS in Berlin

18th World Open Space on Open Space Harrison Owen, 2009: “...At the end of the day Open Space Technology is not about having great meetings. Nor is it simply another tool in the facilitators’ tool box, although both are doubtless true. For me the true equity I find in OST is the ongoing natural experiment and learning experience of living intentionally in a self-organizing world.”

Teilnehmerzahl
170
Dauer
3 days
Sprachen
Englisch
Documentation from the workshop:
Bios – Blended & Integrative Open Space
11 a.m. May 14, 2010

Juliane and Holger started the workshop by asking the group to share what virtual tools they have been using for Open Space. The list included the following:

* Yammer, Blogs/Facebook/Twitter/IRC/Blogs/Mind-mapping/Telephone/Conference/Peanut Butter works/Tool blog (only in German)
* Shared agenda, Author stream, Shared documents in Google/Drop Box to exchange documents but does not always respect the format; Webex, Mixxt/ Ning/Live Meeting/
* Google Wave, Netwave similar to Linked in/ Viadeo in France/Doodle/Etherpad/Wiki/ Status.net (a microblogging platform)
* “Whole Person” facilitation process is an alternative meeting method; people are sick and tired of meetings as they are now in their workplace; looking for alternatives.

Different people work on different platforms; Need ways to real life OS to virtual distance methods. Want to include multiple tools that capture written, visuals, film, etc.

Holger describes a client event where they set-up a Ning platform beforehand primarily for socializing. The conference which included a major of the Agenda as Open Space provided time at the end of the afternoon for people to utilize different media tools to capture reports, experiences, etc. It was an event where people were able to live/learn Open Space, World Café plus learn about a variety of virtual tools.

The goal of using tools is to:

* Improve documentation
* Improve action after
* Improve and retain the memory of our Open Space experience

Holger and Juliane provide a one-pager (see attached) describing the Blended and Integrative Open Space (Bios) which focused on the Pre-work, Actual and Post-work of Open Space.

Stages include:

1. Sponsor (scoping the assignment) topic, theme, purpose, materials, on-line library
2. Steering Group preparation for those organizing the event especially when people are not in one single location and will need to communicate virtually. Objective is the make the communication transparent; is it also possible to begin the spirit of self-organization at that point.
3. Invitation where we start the connectivity between participants before the actual Open Space event.
4. Open Space Event itself including documentation which can even extend to the outside world (people not attending but part of the group)
5. Notes, Action, Progress

Multiple tools can be used
Holger then asks the group to describe the challenges they see in each of the above steps/stages

* There is a need for simplicity; must acknowledge the different levels of technical competence of participants; wise to reduce the number of tools.
* The initial log-on can be a problem at times. Would be nice to avoid log-in but not always possible; often to protect access to the site and to the information

Pre-work with client

* In the pre-work with client, we must spend time outline the risks of using multiple media tools; risks he/she may not fully understand. At times providing too many tools can be a danger.
* On-line library: the question to ask from perspective of sponsor, what does he really need or want. One participant mentions that information on OS site is not user friendly to client; also Wikipedia could leave a negative impression. Another participant says it’s not about the client understanding Open Space the process; it’s about what the client is looking to achieve in Open Space, be mindful of their goals and the sustainable results they are looking for. The need is perhaps more for an individualized library tied to the specific needs of client recognizing that at times we are dealing with HR representative or Mgt who will have different questions and needs.
* Do we need to reduce the number of tools recognizing a mixed target group?
* Working with a large organization can be difficult also as they may be restricted in their access to certain media; should we then use they own tools/platforms I.e. Lotus notes to make it easier for them.
* Also we don’t want them to have to download new software.
* Then we can’t only think of corporate clients; many other non-profit organizations with different needs. In non-developed countries, access to internet is non-existent; even getting to a phone is difficult. Some client situation are such that some people live in countries where all is available and others in the same group have almost nothing which limits their representation on the organizing committee. How do we make them feel comfortable? Many are not comfortable with wikis and continuous connectivity.
* Then interestingly, internet access is growing exponentially. Available in poor countries like Bolivia; more people connected in China than Germany.
* In future, we will all connect through cell phone.

Pre-work with steering/facilitating team

* Role of facilitator is not always easy; sometimes need a strong moderator. At times, long periods of silence as people wonder if they can speak and then everyone speaking at once.
* Suggestion of using white board with a large circle and people sitting around the circle. Talking stick in the middle and by computer, can even simulate picking up the talking stick, speaking and then putting it back in the middle. This can also be done on a simple conference call.

Invitation

* Main purpose is to socialize and start connecting people. Risk is that if only a few participate, it could give an impression that no one is interested in the upcoming event or another risk is that we make assumptions based on some but not being represented in this initial group.
* Then the assumption is that people who are passionate and excited about the upcoming event are those who will show up on a Ning site beforehand.

Open Space Event

* Discussions about using technology during the event i.e. twittering, using computer, etc. Challenge of protecting privacy and then allowing people to use technology without taking away from the spirit of Open Space.
* What is the protocol? What are the guidelines? This should be discussed with the client beforehand; will vary client by client.
* Issues of trust, safety; people who do not want to have their photos taken or broadcast on the internet. To broadcast photos, it is the law in many countries that you need signed permission. A solution is to use an arm band clearly identifying for example that this person does not want their photo taken. Others may sent photos and notes to a group for approval prior to publishing to assure that what needs to be confidential remains so.
* Use of computer, blackberry for some is a way to get away, to take notes quietly to reflect or even to connect one on one with a few others when one is less comfortable speaking to a larger group.
* Having a twitter wall on a big screen, capturing live in the moment experiences, also photos being immediately uploaded. Later this becomes an important data bank and reference.
* If notes are too condensed, at times the essence and richness of discussions can be lost.

Action Planning/Follow-up

* Goal is to have sustainable action using all kinds of social media. The challenge is how to transport the atmosphere of an Open Space meeting to the follow-up phase.
* Ultimately the group decides which social media tools to use. This decision and perhaps even the training is best if accomplished as part of the pre-work discussions not as an after-thought in the moment.

Workshop Convener
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juliane Neumann and Holger Nauheimer

Other participants
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Suzanne Daigle
Susanne Korsmeier
Ineke Hurkmans
Peter Otto
Matthias Bär
Petra Pinger
Johannes Ponader
Annette Heiß
Claudia Antoni
Lucian van den Plaats
Hempal Shrestha
Thomas Herrmannn
Frank Little
Ceren Bebek
Gabriela Ender
Beate Hardensett
Romy Shovelton
Miriam Notowicz
Christine Koehler
Bettina Warwitz