Mirrors and capacity development
Help organizations see their development questions through visual facilitation
Fifteen OD practitioners from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda participated in a three day workshop on visual facilitation, from 21 – 23 September, 2010. The workshop was organized and facilitated by EASUN in Moshi, Tanzania.Transformative powers of visual facilitation
In an OD intervention visuals help to construct the face and substance of an organization, which reveals helpful insights about how they can achieve greater effectiveness. Confronted by an image, we usually see it and in the act of seeing, we usually ‘read it’. Visual facilitation enables us to see what is impossible to see, especially when the process works with metaphors that increase appreciation of the best that an organization or leader can become. Visual facilitation calls into question “what it means to see”.
Visual facilitation alters power dynamics between the presenter and the audience, or facilitator and the learning situation, making them more democratic. It changes the nature of participation through more interactivity and involvement of physicality (movement, gestures, etc) in the learning process.
Rather appropriately, therefore, minimal input was offered at the beginning of the workshop. The learning process started with the generation of experiences about how visualization (through stories, movement, art and gestures) is used to document the learning process in real time (i.e., while learning). In order to effectively use visual facilitation as a training methodology, the mirror was selected as the metaphor around which the whole learning process was organized. In that way, the workshop worked with “lived experience”, since facilitators of change often refer to themselves as being a “mirror”.
Participants went on to perform three (3) presentations, based on stories constructed from their own earlier reflections on “what makes being a mirror an issue for a facilitator”. The presentations characterized various mirror qualities that had been highlighted by the participants themselves, for instance: “It is a bad omen to see something in a mirror, which should not be there” or, “to act as a mirror is to reflect back what is before you.”
New learning from the facilitator’s own mirror
Through working with movement, gestures and metaphors, new understanding was further generated through group work, to reflect on what participants had seen in the physical activities. Examples of new awareness shared by participants included: “My stuck situations or moments normally reflect my struggle with accepting the current reality, or who I really am”. A story shared by one participant illustrates this point:
“How do I gain the skills and ability to use strategic questions in order to facilitate others, as opposed to using them to “hear what I want?” In a discussion with my listening partner I discovered that the introductory part of my question was suggesting that my question was necessarily about skills related abilities. Further exploration led to a particularly helpful insight for me, when it emerged that by rushing to embrace “skills” as my real question I was deliberately blocking the possibility of becoming conscious of how my own “ego” needs (emotional or practical) play out in situations where I facilitate capacity development of other individuals and organizations.” In so creating safety or sparing the “self”, I was happy to look into the mirror, so long as it would show me only what was on the surface, saving myself from seeing or doing anything about my own self-serving unconscious processes in such situations.
Such real stories shared by participants enabled the workshop to assess what tends to help or hinder the effectiveness of facilitators’ as mirrors for organizations or leaders in coaching situations. Important indicators were seen to centre around the authenticity or openness with which a facilitator is willing to look into his or her own mirror and develop a posture that is empowering to those whose learning is being supported.
As noted by one participant: “Our good intentions can influence us to guide organizations in directions that they are not ready for and, in the process, hinder their capacity development.” This was seen to be akin to rushing an organization through the mirror.
Creating a better history for capacity development
Through construction and playing out “mirror related images”, participants were able to learn effectively out of their own creativity and interpretation of complex issues, and thus strengthened their skills in supporting organizations to see their core development questions.
“Visual facilitation” is effective where the facilitator is open and trusting that the learners have the wisdom and capacity to make meaning out of their own experiences. In order to support participatory learning processes through visual facilitation, the consultant needs courage, the ability to work through alternative approaches to learning and ethical leadership. He or she should be able to face the mirror and ask: 1) “To what extent have I remained open to all, or appreciated the talents and gifts of each individual (men and women) in the situation?” 2) “How diligent have I been in focusing on what is possible, rather than what is wrong?”
In addition to building skills in visual facilitation, the workshop became a mirror through which practitioners examined their capacities as ethical facilitators and leaders able to support transformation through participatory learning processes. As we moved toward closing, participants crafted a number of poems from metaphors they had created on the 2nd and 3rd days of the workshop. These reflected the values of openness, receiving and giving back, flexibility and empowerment, as characterizing the best “self” of a facilitator.
For more information on the workshop, training and opportunities to become an OD Associate with EASUN contact mosi.kisare@easun-tz.org
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Holding space for learning: APODEA sets its core strategies
Meeting for the second time since its inception in 2009, APODEA (Association for Practicing OD in East Africa) reviewed and approved its statements of purpose. The meeting was held on 24th September, in Moshi, Tanzania, immediately after the EASUN OD Associates meeting.
In addition to its Associational business matters, APODEA also discussed and came up with the first-cut versions of its statements of vision, mission and values. In terms of vision, APODEA identifies itself with organizations and individuals seeking to bring about Capacity building practices characterized by transformational values.
The practice values that drive APODEA to work toward that vision, as facilitators of development in others include: 1) Receiving and giving back; 2) Holding space for learning; 3) Working consciously with own power.
APODEA’s objectives
- To advance knowledge and skills of OD practitioners toward strengthening ethical leadership and sustainable development in the region;
- To create space for mutual learning and sharing of experiences among practitioners in the region
- To advocate for transformational development practices;
- To undertake research, document, publish and disseminate relevant practices, experiences and learning;
- To develop standards and frameworks to guide OD and other capacity development practices in East Africa;
- To establish strategic alliances with networks, organizations and individuals who share similar concerns.
APODEA re-affirmed its desire to have the Association housed in EASUN for another two years, to give it ample time for institutionalization through clarification of purposes. There was a clear inclination toward avoiding the rush and possible crush under the weight of rapid formalization. Two OD practitioners from Uganda (Jacqueline Kabahinda) and Kenya (Jared Onyach) were assigned the role of being co-conveners of the APODEA carrying group for the next two years.
For more information on APODEA and how to join contact jonyachsnr@yahoo.co.uk; jkabahinda@yahoo.com; alando.anyona@easun-tz.org.________________________________
EASUN annual report 2009 coming your way
EASUN’s latest annual report offers you a glimpse of both challenging and fascinating activities we undertook with East African CSOs in 2009. These included interventions focused on transforming civil society organizational and leadership practices, such as 1) Training field workers as the flag bearers of their organizations’ values and stated purposes in local communities; 2) Training transformational leaders through the FOD course; 3) OD Interventions for transforming organizational systems and cultures toward increased effectiveness in advancing their stated visions.
In addition, 2009 saw a new concentration on “special capacities” development work aimed at expanding civil society competencies in rapidly changing times. These included 3 workshops: 1) Ethical holding of organizational space (ETHOS); 2) Gender mainstreaming as an instrument for transforming organizational culture; 3) Assessing how OD can add value to HIV & AIDS mainstreaming in the workplace.
Other areas that received attention under the special capacities development category include 1) Internship for young women leaders—which is a gender specific leadership development; 2) NGO board training—emphasizing a board leadership angle of clarifying and sustaining the identities and values of civil society organizations; 3) Coaching boards and executive directors toward sustaining continuity of organizational vision and stability in times of leadership transitions; 4) supporting the creation of south-south movements for advocacy in social development and fostering capacity development approaches that empower local institutions and communities.
New learning included
From the ETHOS (Ethical Holding of Organizational Space) workshop EASUN experienced perceptual shifts that have revolutionized the way we think about structure and how we facilitate organizational learning and other development processes. A number of specific points captured during the unpacking of the workshop characterize the new learning, for instance: 1) The way space is shaped, taken or offered determines whether the kind of participation that takes place is democratic or authoritarian; 2) Participation in creating space is an action guarded by our values; 3) Alternative language channels (the language of visuals or art) can play a crucial role in constructing the face and substance of organizations and thus reveal helpful insights about how we can create better leadership and participation through the values with which we hold space or carry our responsibilities and relationships; 4) Transforming space into more open, appreciative, creative and participatory forms of relationships increases the opportunity to do things in ways that are ethical; 5) In all We also discovered that organizational learning and transformation happens where there is constant affirmation of values, and the systems that uphold them, in the lives and work of individuals, leaders and organizations.Finally, as part of our organizational learning, during the “end of year review” exercise in September 2009, we were reminded of how easy it may be to establish organizational systems, but much more difficult to entrench a culture of working through them.
All that and more are to be found in the EASUN annual report 2009. Order your copy now,Contact alando.anyona@easun-tz.org________________________________
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