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Journaling as reflective practice

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Journaling as reflective practice Journals and diaries have been used ever since people could find ways of capturing their thoughts and ideas. Many people have used it as a deeply personal process, others to capture important moments and events in their lives. Journals can also be used as part of a conscious practice of reflecting and learning. As organisational development practitioners, often we are very action oriented and may not always make time to capture or document through writing. Our work may already be consumed with many other writing tasks like field reports, developing materials and donor reports and the thought of starting a journal may seem like an indulgence. If we can begin to see journaling as part of a reflective practice and not an indulgence we can begin an exciting self-directed learning process. Journals can become an important reflective tool for practitioners who want to become more conscious of how they practice. The advantage of a journal is t...
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Active Conscious Leading Beyond talking to action: Facilitating Renewal and Transformation in Organisations

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  “In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.” — Wangari Maathai, Nobel Lecture, 2004   Why Do We Struggle to Move from Talking to Action? Why do so many organisations and teams struggle to move from talking about change to actually transforming and being the change, doing the change? Usually, after a workshop—sometimes called a talkshop —staff may leave excited and inspired, or confused and disillusioned or a bit of both. It often depends on how the space was held: Were all voices heard, or did some dominate? Was there freedom and creativity, or a rigid agenda with hoops to jump through? Was there hot conflict out in the open, or cold conflict simmering beneath the surface? Did people feel safe enough to be honest and open? Was the timing aligned with the organisation’s life cycle and context...
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The transformative power of story telling as a methodology for teambuilding and building a healthy organisational culture

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  Last week I facilitated a teambuilding session in Harare, Zimbabwe with an international capacity building organisation with country offices in several countries. This session brought the team together in person - over 40 people gathering in a large tent which was set up in the beautiful gardens of their office premises. This was the ideal setting for several rounds of storytelling and sharing in small intimate groups. Coupled with an active listening exercise the group found that the qualitative listening helped to change the dynamic between them and those who shared their stories felt a deep respect from their colleagues as they were each given their space to be heard fully. Some were also surprised how much they learnt from each other - especially for those who were working in different departments of the organisation - the lesson being that we all have wisdom which can be revealed when the conditions are conducive. This set the tone and was a strong foundation to build the re...
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