In Over Our Heads?
The Hidden Curriculum of Adult Life
A PUBLIC TALK
by Robert Kegan, Ph.D.
Friday June 13, 2008
SFU Morris Centre for Dialogue
7:00 – 9:00 pm
$50.00 + GST
Register at www.bchealthycommunities.ca
Can we keep growing and developing in adulthood? Yes, we can! And we must, argues Harvard professor Robert Kegan, if we are to succeed in mastering “the hidden curriculum of adult life.”
In this lively and engaging talk, Kegan shares a lifetime of research into the continuing stages of mental development after adolescence, and assesses the fit between the mental demands of our adult roles and our still-developing mental capacities. He will shed light on some of the perplexing predicaments of adult life, and the challenges of navigating an increasingly complex world. And he will demonstrate how mastery of the “hidden curriculum” of adult development is an important contributor to health and well-being – in individuals, in families, in workplaces, in communities.
BC Healthy Communities invites you to join us for this exciting evening of learning and conversation, as we deepen our understanding of the connections between human development and “healthy people in healthy communities”.
This is a follow-up event to the BCHC Provincial Conference
2008 Conference
Did you know about the upcoming Australasian Facilitator’s Network (AFN) Conference?
The conference is called Pushing the Boundaries: Facilitation Frontiers
and it will be held at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia on November 26-28, 2008.
For more information visit the conference homepage.
A Great PBL Resource!
Photo by cgines
If you aren’t familiar with PBL (Problem-based learning) then you’ll probably want to take a look at the Higher Education Academy website, which offers a brief practical guide to PBL. The guide outlines advantages, disadvantages, approaches, processes, student assessment and facilitation in a PBL setting.
This site is specifically geared toward medicine, since PBL has become a very popular teaching strategy in the sciences in particular. But the guidelines offered here can also be applied to other disciplines, such as the humanities and social sciences.
IAF Conference
The International Association of Facilitators (IAF) is dedicated to growing facilitators and encouraging the use of group process methodologies world-wide.
The next IAF Conference will be held April 10-12, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.
REGISTRATION and FULL SESSION DETAILS are now available online!
Program focus areas include:
Advanced facilitation techniques
Large group facilitation
Facilitation for social change
Technologies for enhanced facilitation
The business of facilitation
Fundamentals of facilitation
Visit www.iafna.org for more information.
Effective Online Discussions
Two of our UBC colleagues, Cindy Underhill & Emily Renoe, will be leading an online seminar for the the Leading Campuses International Network (LCIN) next Tuesday called “Effective Online Discussions”.
The heart and soul of many online courses is the discussion area. However, those new to online teaching are often skeptical about the use of discussions, asking questions like: “Will students overwhelm me?” or worse: “What if they don’t respond?” This session will explore how instructors can approach online discussions including considerations related to the purpose of discussions, tips on managing student (and instructor) expectations, techniques for assessment, and tips on how to stimulate discussion.
Jan 22, 2008 1:00pm-2:00pm ET (note the start time for Vancouver will be 10am)
Register here to join the discussion!
Choosing the Right Leadership Style for the Right Situation
Here’s an overview of different leadership styles from the Mindtools website. This might help you get an idea of how you tend to lead and how you may want to lead differently according to particular situations.
The article goes over 10 frequent leadership styles, some good, and some not so good.
These include:
- Autocratic leadership
- Bureaucratic leadership
- Charismatic leadership
- Democratic leadership or Participative leadership
- Laissez-faire leadership
- People-oriented leadership or Relations-Oriented leadership
- Servant leadership
- Task-oriented leadership
- Transactional leadership
- Transformational leadership
Recognizing Barriers to Collaboration
The following information was provided by Steve Davis at the Master Facilitator’s Journal
We hear so much about what it takes to compete, but what does it take to collaborate? And while there’s a growing need for true collaboration in our society, locally and globally, just what does it mean to collaborate?
Collaboration involves two or more people coming together to share their collective knowledge, experience, and creativity to arrive at a shared understanding or tangible outcome that none of the individuals could have arrived at on their own. Collaboration is more complex than teamwork, which tends to operate in a sequential fashion to accomplish tasks or to join together to defend against outside forces.
I like what Michael Schrage of MIT has to say about collaboration “…[collaboration is about] the creation of value; a process that our traditional structures of communication and teamwork can’t achieve.”
Today, I’d like to take an unusual approach to exploring collaboration. I’d like to look at what stands in its way. Just as teaching a fish to fly, we must first show it the water that it depends upon. Because this water has surrounded the fish all of its life, it is probably unaware of it. Just as the fish may be clueless about the water in which it swims, there are streams of behavior and belief that we unwittingly travel with that stand in the way of us effectively collaborating. What are they? I share my take on them below. In the spirit of true collaboration, share yours as well and we’ll build on this list.
Failure to recognize the complexity of group thought. When we think that communicating and producing outcomes en masse should be just as easy as doing so individually, we tend to negatively judge the slower pace and additional processes required for collaborative activity. These judgments of ourselves, or others cloud and impede our work together. The first step toward effective collaboration requires us to be patient with the process, expecting that while working with a group will be slower and more difficult than working on our own, our outcomes will be worth the investment.
Commingling of task and process. Groupwork is often confused when we avoid separating discussions of task (the group goal), and process (how the group will complete its goal). Discussing process is confusing if done before the task is clear. Yet in this high-speed world, we’re all called upon to do less with more and charge off to “get it done” quickly. When groups don’t get clear about what “it” is, they aren’t focused on the same objective, and they can’t collaborate. Get a clear consensus on task before pursuing it to get your collaborations off to the right start.
Multifocusing. As individuals, we can attend to only one item at a time. Groups can multifocus and this capacity can make it very difficult for all individuals to track what’s going on. This is why effective collaboration requires that all relevant inputs are heard by everyone and recorded for all to see.
Serial communication. Accustomed to simple one-on-one conversations, in groups we tend listen to others share stories, information or opinions, until a space opens up for us to do the same. What we share doesn’t always connect to what others have said and seldom do we first check to make sure we really understood what was said. This self-centered style of delivering messages does not contribute to a shared understanding, the hallmark of collaboration.
Computer networks that engage in serial communication do something called “handshaking.” After receiving a message, the receiving terminal replies to the transmitting terminal to let it know the message was received and checks the accuracy of what was received. We’d do well to emulate this process in our human “networking” activities.
The loudest and fastest get the floor. The most outspoken and quickest thinkers often dominate group discussion. While their inputs may be valuable, they don’t represent all of what the group has to say and often not the best of what the group has to offer. Once again, to effectively collaborate, we must see to it that multiple methods are in place to invite and capture all relevant inputs.
People need to be heard. Many of us felt ignored as children and have a need as adults to make our voices heard in groups. Individuals speaking only to meet their own needs will tax the patience and emotional energy of a group. Challenge participants to speak when moved to speak. Also ask them to perform a self-check before speaking by asking themselves whether what they have to say is relevant, positive, and necessary to the group’s objectives.
Addicted to consistency. People dislike inconsistency and will attempt to eliminate it. When mental conflict occurs because beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information, people will tend to suppress, rationalize, avoid, or oversimplify it away. Help people to hang in there when mentally challenged by new ways of seeing things. Remind them that in order to arrive at a solution that fits with reality, they must be willing to face the full complexity of the situation. Facing complexity is supposed to be challenging and facing it as a group, they don’t have to do it alone.
Distractions and Disassociation. Every group encounters distractions from the late arrivals and early departures, to uncomfortable surroundings, to telephone interruptions, poor technical facilities, etc. The coupling of distractions with the difficulty of group thinking causes individuals to disassociate from the task at times to take a mental break. All participants tend to wander from time to time resulting in a short circuit of the group mind. Presume you are losing some members all of the time and regularly summarize and document the status of the discussion.
I’m sure there are more barriers to collaboration in the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that we consider “normal” in our society. Keep your eyes, ears, and hearts open as you traverse the collaborative landscape, looking for ways to point out and heal these barriers in your group work.
10 Qualities of Facilitative Leaders
What are the ten qualitites of facilitative leaders? Do you exercise these qualities? What qualities might you add?
The following list comes from the Master Facilitator Journal. Go to their website for more information and leadership ideas.
1. You’re Facilitative vs. Directive. Facilitative leaders know
that they’re not here to “fix” anyone. While they may be the
“designated” leader, they understand that they don’t always need to
have all the answers. As a facilitative leader, you see your job as
one where you help your team members expand the horizons of their
awareness, and facilitate them taking responsibility for their
actions, past, present, and future.
2. You’re not a “know-it-all.” Being the leader doesn’t necessarily
mean that you have to be the “authority” on the subject at hand.
The amount of brilliance unleashed in your team depends on how well
you let go of your need to know more than anyone else.
3. You’re a guide on the side vs. a sage on center stage. The way
most of us were raised and schooled, we were conditioned to shut up
and listen to the wisdom of the “expert” on the podium or the
person “in charge.” But if you consistently approach your
leadership from the perspective that the wisdom in the “room” is
far more potent than the “sage” in front of the room, you’ll see
your people more engaged, having more fun, and achieving greater
results.
4. You believe in your people. You see, invite, and challenge your
people, not based on what they’ve done, but what you know they can
do based on the latent abilities you see in them – abilities that
they may not be aware of just yet. Empowering your team takes a
huge burden off of you to do everything as the leader. This is
replaced by the burden of faith you must maintain in what’s
possible and hold that vision in the midst of chaos and uncertainty.
5. You’re transparent. You don’t withhold relevant thoughts and
feelings to try to look good to your team. To the degree we are
honest about what we see and experience, the more effortlessly we
will move forward, and the more powerful our invitation is to
others to accept and see what is.
6. You make adjustments instead of judgments. Facilitative leaders
are models of functional behavior. You engender trust by telling
the truth and doing what you say you will do. You gracefully accept
constructive feedback from your team members. When you make
mistakes, you own them, correct them, and move on.
7. You’re over yourself. You accept yourself fully, flaws and all.
You’ve given up presenting an image you think others want to see
and offer your unique self as you are, placing your focus on
greater visions, on others, and on the task at hand.
8. You practice extreme responsibility. You get that you choose
your thoughts, feelings, and actions in every moment no matter the
outer circumstances. When the unexpected occurs, instead of letting
it set you back, you simply ask, “What’s my next action?”
9. You practice being present. You live in the present knowing that
this is where you get your power and knowledge of right action. You
simply notice where you are and when you’re not here, you choose to
be “here” now. People’s ongoing patterns of behavior show up
constantly in their everyday interactions. Being available to the
present moment helps you discern these behaviors, provide
compassionate feedback when possible, and see the underlying
dynamics that cause problems in groups. Ironically, the best future
possible will be derived from living solidly, fully, and
effectively in the now.
10. You take excellent care of yourself. You engage in regular
centering and self-care practices to help you stay in peak
condition physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Engage in practices to expand and cultivate your awareness such as
meditation, marshal arts, tai chi, yoga, good nutrition, exercise,
diaphragmatic breathing, practicing presence, etc.
Welcome to TAG’s Facilitation Community of Practice!
We have just started this blog to make it easier for our community to communicate and share information. Please feel free to tell others who may be interested.
If you have questions about upcoming events or course design, this is the place to ask!
