This is the presentation from the workshop we facilitated at the 17th IAF (International Association of Facilitators) Asia Conference in Singapore 15/8/14.

1. Facilitating self while facilitating change – the
challenges of applying process facilitation in an
organisational learning & development context
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning
Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations

2. Conference theme
O A world of change and disruption where
groups are finding themselves at a critical
crossroad, with little idea how to move forward
or which opportunity to seize, and needing
higher quality dialogues to do so
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

3. Context
O Route 4: Emerging at Crossroads: What
facilitation can learn and innovate from other
disciplines
O Transformative learning theory in facilitation
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

4. Today’s Agenda
O Welcome and introductions
O We’re here to share our challenges in bringing
process and learning facilitation together
O We’ll encourage you to challenge some of your
assumptions about facilitation by having a
dialogue
O To start, we’re going to look at some key
transformative learning principles
O Which will lead us to a Gurteen Knowledge
Cafe
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

5. By the end of this workshop
You will have:
O explored how facilitation can learn and
innovate from transformative learning theory
O reflected on your views about navigating the
boundaries between process and content
O experienced a shared meaning making
environment
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

6. Managing self…
O There’s a myth that facilitators are neutral.
That’s not possible, especially if you are
facilitating in-house. Any facilitator, by virtue
of the process of facilitating, will come to have
a position, a view. That’s what humans do.
We process information, and create
meaning…
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

7. Managing self…
O …however, a good facilitator knows how to
suspend judgement and encourage
alternative views, without taking sides. This is
one of the reasons why facilitating can be
such hard work. It’s not so much what you
are doing that’s difficult, but the mental energy
required to maintain objectivity, emotional
balance and consciously control what you are
doing and not doing, saying and not saying’
McWaters & Moore 2012
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

8. Story wall
What is one belief you hold strongly about your
role as a facilitator?
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

9. Crossroads – facilitating a world
in change
O You can only adapt to change if you are able
to transform your existing frames of reference
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

10. Transformative Learning Theory
O Learning - ‘making meaning from our
experiences’
O Involves a fundamental questioning or
reordering of how one thinks or acts
O Critically reflecting on assumptions and
beliefs and consciously implementing plans
that bring about new ways of defining the
world
O Makes use of group dialogue to do so
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

11. Transformative Learning Theory
The kind of conversation I am interested in is
one in which you start with a willingness to
emerge a slightly different person.
Theodore Zeldin, Oxford Historian c/ Gurteen
Knowledge Cafe
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

12. Transformative Learning Theory
O ‘…transformative learning is never a
guaranteed outcome…all we as educators
can do is to be mindful of transformative
learning and its very nature, while facilitating
and providing the kind of environment that can
lead to, or facilitate the possibility, of
transformative learning’
Mezirow & Associates 2000
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

13. IAF Statement of Values
O As group facilitators, we believe in the inherent
value of the individual and the collective wisdom
of the group. We strive to help the group make
the best use of the contributions of each of its
members. We set aside our personal opinions
and support the groups right to make its own
choices. We believe that collaborative and
cooperative interaction builds consensus and
produces meaningful outcomes. We value
professional collaboration to improve our
profession.
IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

14. Facilitators…
O ‘…can disrupt existing habits of thinking and
behaving, providing a circuit breaker to make
the best possible use of the valuable time
together’
McWaters & Moore 2012 Connecting People and
Ideas
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

15. Gurteen Knowledge Café
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14
O A Knowledge Cafe is a means of bringing a
group of people together to have an open,
creative conversation on a topic of mutual
interest to surface their collective knowledge,
to share ideas and insights and to gain a
deeper understanding of the subject and the
issues involved.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafe

16. Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

17. Gurteen Knowledge Café
Jane Hudson, JBass Learning & Belinda Lowing, Effective Conversations. 15/8/14

18. To keep the conversation going:
Jane Hudson
JBass Learning
+61 416 180 997
jbasslearning@gmail.com
www.jbasslearning.com
Belinda Lowing
Effective Conversations
+61 3 9016 0254
+61 410 693 160
belinda@effectiveconversations.com.au
www.effectiveconversations.com.au