Hi all,

I am new to the group so just learning!

I help to organize a decentralized Fall event of 29K participants across 70+ countries. I am curious to know what questions you are considering when moving an IRL event to online? What are you communicating to local organizers?

Any event best practice or decision matrix we could learn from during these uncertain times?

As reference, the CDC has a list of for mass gatherings. This is not directly relevant to the ?work but maybe a template for thinking.

Thanks for any help you can provide.?

Best,
Alyssa.

My client was experiencing a severe breach of trust, with multiple issues piling up over the past couple of years, climaxing with budge/personnel cuts early this year... which led to the staff of 13 presenting a very strong letter to the ED and her team... One of the demands was for a restorative circle - which is when they contacted me.? Initial planning was for a day long retreat in a lovely setting..? then came the Pandemic...

I have facilitated many meetings and workshops online, many restorative circles and mediations off line...? This was a challenge!!? And a leap into the unknown...

...we set it up for two consecutive half-ish days... Day 1 - part one, relationship building, sharing values, forming agreements, connecting...? part two:? rolling up sleeves for the tough conversations:? sort of a writing simultaneously (not seeing): divided the group into two (staff/exec team) - and they were asked to discuss and then record on a shared google doc that had a column for each group - how they were NOW - impact of all the events leading to this...? As expected, it was raw and intense - people were very honest...? part two of fishbowl:? go back and now reflect (without interpretation or reacting) - what they heard - the feelings and values... I went in to each group to offer some coaching - staff initially were so triggered they couldn't 'listen' - but with some listening to them, they began to step in to the shoes of the other... And Exec Team too, at first were responding/explaining/defending....? Then we came back together --did some breathing... and did some popcorn style sharing as a whole group... as I asked:? Do you feel heard?? Is there anything you want to take responsibility for? What else needs to be said now?? ?So this day ended very raw -- they had experienced radical openness... Feelings expressed in closing circle:? sadness, grief, some fear... a few felt reassured by the honesty...? Essentially - cracked open.? I asked them to do some journaling...

Day 2 - begin with self compassion meditation, 'weather report' check in (lots of storm clouds, even a hurricane)...? Then moved in to Restorative Circle asking - where are you now with regard to this organization and creating the culture you want... Popcorn style (everyone raised their virtual hand - then lowered after they spoke so could see who was left)...? The ED started with a powerful apology/acknowledgement of what she heard, disclosure of some unknowns behind issues, etc...? Everyone engaged very deeply, very honestly -- extraordinary...? Lasted nearly two hours...? When we returned from lunch there was still more... another 45 minutes... Finally ready to move forward:? I asked them to journal their ideas for actions to get them to sustain the desired culture - and this quality of honest open communication... and then they went into mixed breaks of 4-5 and brainstormed.. Came back together and harvested... used virtual stickers on Trello to prioritize...

They closed with a sense of hope and shared ideas of ways to move forward...
I'll offer some coaching to the Exec team to help sustain...

This can be done in the virtual environment!!!? Day 1 part 2 was rough but I believe fundamental to getting to where we did...

May we all be well!

I tried a 'virtual milling' as a warm up - where I randomly assigned folks to pairs/breakouts just for 3 minutes in 3 rounds - to mix them up... encouraged them to 'move around' during the in/out process of breakouts... and to please click 'return to main' as soon as the 'count down' started to close the room.... So in and out for 3 quickie different pairings...They loved it - plus got them ready for the more serious breakout experiences later in the day...

3 questions?- 1 for each round

--how are you doing right now (with 'lock down' or pandemic - however your community would language it)

--what are your greatest hopes/fears for today's session

--what do you love about this organization

Susan Partnow

she/her/hers

tel. 206-310-1203 ?(use this for WhatsApp with +1)

??

Partnow Communications, Organizational Development & Workshops

Breathe deep.? Smell the roses.? Wash your hands!

?. Founder and Executive Director

?

?? Co-Founder

? Network Weaver and Sr. Certified Facilitator

On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 5:46 PM Eva Schiffer <eva-schiffer@...> wrote:

Hi all,
Last week with a team that was willing to go deep, I asked them to share:

• One fear they have
• One hope they have and
• One strength they have

What I loved about this is that it allowed us to acknowledge and engage with what keeps us busy (so the fear is not just a very loud background noise) but it doesn't stop there. I had the feeling that after we had shared (each writing their answers on a slide in a shared slide show and saying them out loud), we were much more "in it together". This was a small group, in a bigger group I would probably have had them have conversations about this in pairs or trios and only share out some observations afterward.
Good luck.
Eva

Hi all,
Last week with a team that was willing to go deep, I asked them to share:

• One fear they have
• One hope they have and
• One strength they have

What I loved about this is that it allowed us to acknowledge and engage with what keeps us busy (so the fear is not just a very loud background noise) but it doesn't stop there. I had the feeling that after we had shared (each writing their answers on a slide in a shared slide show and saying them out loud), we were much more "in it together". This was a small group, in a bigger group I would probably have had them have conversations about this in pairs or trios and only share out some observations afterward.
Good luck.
Eva

Dear all,

I am new to this great group and would like to ask you for your support:

?

-????????? What are your experiences with doing conflict resolution between 3 people?

-????????? Do’s and don’ts in a remote setting? Pitfalls of the technology?

-????????? Anything specific I need to pay heed to? (I intend to use zoom)

?

(context: 2 employees who don’t get along well to a degree, that both felt like quitting their job; manager whom both perceive as not being present and decisive enough. I assume that part of the conflict stems from a vacuum of direction that one of the employees tries to fill in by controlling the other).

?

Cordial regards from Vienna/ Austria from my pandemian home office

Ruth

?

?

Mag.^a Ruth Picker,

?

?

Facilitating Dialogue and Collaboration

?

Kinderspitalg.4/13, 1090 Vienna, Austria

+43?676 7346689

?

@Mike thanks for the idea

@Paul I run multi-day workshops, giving people time to learn something about one another (especially strangers) makes it more likely that they acknowledge team/organizational challenges. I also need to them to become familiar with the toolset Mural/Zoom. A warmup that aides that is good.

Interestingly the Mural people have a blog post with a fair number of ideas - I only found this morning as I completed their training:??found via:?

Cheers

Mark

Hi, All. I've been appreciating all the resources here. Here is a new one to share:

LEADING GROUPS ONLINE

a down-and-dirty guide to leading online courses, meetings,?trainings, and events during the coronavirus pandemic.

by Jeanne Rewa and Daniel Hunter

COVID-19 has created new challenges for facilitators and educators. Across the globe, people are being asked to lead groups online: teachers, trainers, professors, event managers, organizers, activists. Jeanne Rewa and Daniel Hunter swiftly wrote a booklet for this moment, available for free ebook download and in print.?Using their combined two decades of online facilitation, Jeanne and Daniel walk you through the basics of how to lead sessions online in this challenging time. They give you their top 10 principles for leading online groups in this moment, interactive tools you can lead online, a simple process for moving your in-person work online and answers to commonly asked questions.

--

Zein Nakhoda?

Pronouns:?

Director
Training for Change

In non-Liberating Structures communities I've heard 1-2-4-all referred to as: Think-Pair-Share.?

Michelle Laurie

+1-250-231-0635

Email: michelle.k.laurie@...
SKYPE: michellelaurie?

Twitter: @Mklaurie
Occasionally blogging @

--
Michelle Laurie

Strategy-Assessment-Engagement-Faciltation