Facilitation communities are on the rise

Everywhere I look, I see facilitation communities! Probably, algorithms noticed that I am interested in them. On the other hand, it also seems as if (facilitation) communities are becoming a thing. Recently, AJ&Smart hosted a 7,5K Euro retreat for facilitators and shared a few insights:

Get involved in the workshopping community. We saw amazing results from simply bringing facilitators together. 

Why am I telling you this? If everyone agrees how important community is for facilitators, the question is: which one would you like to join.

Of course, I am biased because with NeverDoneBefore, I built the only facilitation community I would want to belong to. Hence, I do see the differences and would want you to find your tribe - the community you want to belong to and that will help you thrive.

Free Facilitation Communities

There are many free communities that offer open workshops that you can join to find inspiration and connect with fellow facilitators from around the globe. They all have many active members, an abundance of free workshops you can join and more resources that you will ever have time to read and digest.

Some serve as marketing tools for companies or products, such as Butter, Miro, MURAL communities. There are communities around tools or methods such as Design Thinking or Liberating Structures.

Others are communities of practice, supported by (boutique agencies) such as Meeting Innovation or, The Flipchart (on Facebook).

And, there are groups that offer regular workshops without the community ecosystem around it, such as the Design Thinking Zeal, Facilitation Lab by Voltage Control or the Weekly facilitators (remote) café.

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Paid & hybrid Facilitation Communities

The UK-based The F-Club is committed to help expert facilitators grow their skills through coaching and training. It's based on IAF standards and seems like sharing solid facilitation methods. It's organised in small group cohorts that keep each other accountable while having access to the large group of expert facilitators.

​The Facilitators Network is a member-based community based in New Zealand which combines online meet-ups and onsite events. It seems more community and peer-learning focused. They offer discounted trainings to their members and the opportunity to host their own workshops at online/ onsite meet ups.

And, there are many "hybrid" communities built around alumni of certification or training programmes such as the IAF or AJ&Smart.​

NeverDoneBefore - A Special Tribe

​NeverDoneBefore provides an ecosystem to its global community where everyone can learn while nobody is teaching. We offer several workshops and meet-ups per week and the only condition is that we offer something we haven't done before. Although this might sound weird at first, it has three wonderful side-effects:

1. We meet as humble equals, everyone responsible for their own learning: Some by hosting, some by participating. Each experience is different and we learn from sharing our experiences through different lenses.
2. We train one of the most important muscle in facilitation: Mental flexibility. Workshops never work out as planned, we have to think on our feet, ditch the agenda, adjust to unexpected group dynamics. By growing the NDB muscle, a client workshop is a walk in the park!
3. We created our own Research & Development Department where we cross-pollinate methods, tools and schools of thoughts. Experiencing one activity in a NDB workshop, will spark an idea for a different context.

Recently, Mirjam & Ewen hosted an embodied improv workshop for the community. On of the activities they used to make us dance in pairs, inspired me to adjust the technique for a verbal activity that I successfully used in a leadership offsite this week!

Nutshell

Depending on your needs and resources, there are many tribes you can join. All offer an abundance of resources and access to events/ workshops/ meet ups. Since facilitators are wonderful people by definition (otherwise we would not do the work we do), you will meet great human beings in any of these communities.

Hence, the question you want to ask yourself:

• Do you have a budget?
• Are you looking for community or for events/ workshop experiences?
• Are you interested in skill acquisition & training or in peer-learning?
• Are you looking for a community around a specific tool or method, or would you prefer access to an agnostic group to mix and match and learn from all?
• How much structure and guidance do you need? Usually, the more you pay, the more 1-1 support you get (did I mention Anuschka, our community angel who schedules a 1-1 with every new member and with whom I co-host our onboarding events for the new cohorts??)

Maybe this run-through helps you to take an informed decision or at least to realise that you were not looking for a community after all :-D

In any case, I would love to welcome you at NeverDoneBefore. If you wish a sneak behind the curtains, let me know because I would love to show you around. We are open for new members until September 20th and again in December for the new year cohort!

With love & care, Myriam

Colophon

This article is published as a reprint. Dr Myriam Hadnes | workshops.work B.V. | www.neverdonebefore.org | Unsubscribe from all | Update your profile | Keizersgracht 482, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland 1017EG