The Art of Hosting

All Blog Posts (172)

Cracks in the Ice

"There are Cracks in the Ice!!"

 

“Don’t worry, we’re fast climbers!”

 

~~~~~~~  

 

We had seen the forecast and knew we needed to get to the base of the ice climb early.

 

As a staff team of Outdoor educators, we were in training in the Scottish Highlands learning the winter arts of ice-climbing, skiing and winter mountaineering.  We were excited as this year – 1985 - held the best conditions for years.  Glistening, thick snow, cold…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on December 1, 2011 at 3:42pm — 1 Comment

Workshop invitation: Inspiring Change - Best Practices for Green Education (All costs covered!)

Creating Holistic Learning Experiences and Teaching Sustainable Lifestyle



A holistic training experience for all staff in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the living and learning place 'Ecovillage of Sieben Linden'



10/06/2012 - 17/06/2012



We are excited to offer a EU wide workshop opportunity for professionals in the field of sustainability where real life examples, hands on training, action learning and…

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Added by Jonathan on November 25, 2011 at 4:03am — No Comments

Accountants Need Circles Too...

I've been hosting conversations among young leaders at a Big Four accounting firm, holding space for them to develop a greater sense of self-leadership--it has been a living laboratory for me...and a dream-like environment to do this kind of work in...but most grateful for the new relationships and deep bonds being formed....

Added by Kevin A. Johnson on November 23, 2011 at 10:31am — No Comments

Shaping Questions for Powerful Check-in and Check-out Processes

Check-in and check-out processes are not just frivolous time wasters in our meetings.  If they feel that way, something is probably  missing.

Wicked questions help shape powerful processes. The shaping of questions in a thoughtful, purposeful and intentional manner increases the likelihood of them being powerful. This is the second post on powerful questions, the first one contained  general thoughts about…

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Added by Kathy Jourdain on November 16, 2011 at 12:17pm — No Comments

Shaping Powerful Questions

One of the most asked questions at, and after, any Art of Hosting training is about the questions.  Developing powerful questions is a crucial element to creating the conversational space we are seeking.  People are…

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Added by Kathy Jourdain on November 16, 2011 at 12:16pm — No Comments

Chaordic Stepping Stones: Notes

Chaordic Stepping Stones: Notes

Name derived from Dee Hock, Visa CEO; embracing chaos and creative order.



When individual purpose becomes social (event and process planning)

Nine steps of project management

Need, purpose, principles, people—the first four steps; collectively, the invitation; iterative.

•Create buzz, excitement with the invitation; pitch it

•Articulate your need; if the need isn’t valid, pressing, relevant, you have no…

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Added by Charles Thrasher on November 7, 2011 at 12:26pm — No Comments

Cynefin Framework: Notes

Cynefin: Welsh word for the place of multiple belonging

Domains

Simple

•Cause and effect relationships easily identified

•Stable, repeatable conditions

•Known solutions

•Process re-engineering

•Best practices

Methodology: Sense making > categorize > respond

Complicated

•Cause and effect relationships obscure, complicated

•Realm of expert advice

• Multiple potential solutions requiring domain expertise

•…

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Added by Charles Thrasher on November 7, 2011 at 12:24pm — No Comments

Structures liberated to host the Wild at the Hearth

Dear Freddie, our dog, slept in front of the fire - the first time he has been dowstairs in the house all night on his own.  Lily, his sister - who sadly went missing in the spring - used to jump on the chairs and chew things, so it was never possible to leave them at night.  Freddie slept soundly and in the morning greeted me in his usual sweet, excited way until I let him…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on October 23, 2011 at 10:05am — No Comments

Balancing the Edge with Beauty

The Edge is really here in Greece – and the call for transformation resonating at all levels.  Despair and Outrage are rising as the injustices become more visible – and equally Responsibility and Resilience are arising also.

 

As Maria wrote in an email a day ago: “I am in Athens right now - and the disintegration of the old system is really strong - everything is coming to a standstill here - garbage is not being collected, general strikes about two days a week on…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on October 13, 2011 at 9:23pm — No Comments

What the Business Innovation Factory has in common with AoH

Hello community,

 

In September I was fortunate to attend the Business Innovation Factory's Story Summit, where 30 innovators gathered to share their stories on innovation from all sectors. I carried with me questions connected to hosting and harvested insights in the scaffold of the 5 Breaths/Chaordic Stepping Stones. My notes are posted on my blog should any nuggets be useful to…

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Added by Amanda Fenton on October 9, 2011 at 10:17pm — No Comments

tools versus mindset

i just returned from some coaching and consulting work. i am struck by the similarity of experience that todays leaders face across companies, industries and even across sectors. as a leader today, you find yourself in NO-WHERE-LAND. on the one side you have all the tools that you learned from consultants, business schools and other sources of conventional management wisdom. on the other side you have a huge leadership challenge that you currently face. and inbetween these two things, there…

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Added by Martin Siesta on October 6, 2011 at 6:25am — 1 Comment

Caution up ahead

I thought this was rather appropriate for much of the Art of Hosting work... a sign that says "I know there's a need for caution up ahead, but I no longer know how to define it."

Added by Heather Plett on October 1, 2011 at 9:36am — No Comments

the limits of empathy

 A great article by David Brooks in NY Times

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/opinion/brooks-the-limits-of-empathy.html?src=tp

Added by Martin Siesta on September 30, 2011 at 9:59am — No Comments

Balance Point of Truths

Today, a dear and trusted friend voiced a concern of me having posted the video of the UKIP MEP, Nigel Farage – a  UK public servant who’s political party, according to Google is ‘Libertarian, non-racist party seeking Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.’

 

I replied,  “Yes, I (we) know he is of the Right.  He simply offers a…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on September 15, 2011 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment

Safety nets for learning

 

 

 

Inspired by the conversation, on Democracy Rising in Greece http://axladitsa.ning.com/forum/topics/democracy-rising-in-greece - about our sense of co-creating a place in Athens, I found this great video on National Geographic: on…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on September 8, 2011 at 10:28am — 1 Comment

Wholeness of Economy

Yesterday I received a question from someone on a Ning network, who had clearly read my profile page and blog entries….“ Sarah...How are you systematically shifting your own financial system...or is that a question too far...?”

 

To which I replied…”Fundamentally - thank you for asking...x”

 

“Sarah...fundamentally is a big call, where do you start or where did you start...?”

 

It got me thinking, that perhaps I needed to become conscious and harvest…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on September 8, 2011 at 7:08am — No Comments

All is not lost

On the face of it, its hard not to lose heart.  Yet, in a sense, the situation here in Greece is getting more real – with the deeper layers of culture exposed through the events these past months.  It has informed our conversations within our local field here and shown the nature of the real challenges ahead.



So we,…

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Added by Sarah Whiteley on September 7, 2011 at 4:00am — 1 Comment

The Art of Stewarding

Anyone who has ever wanted to call an Art of Hosting training has, in all likelihood, been told how important it is to have seasoned hosts – or stewards – as part of the hosting team. What does it mean to steward and why is this role so important in the Art of Hosting community and in individual training offerings?

I wanted to…

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Added by Kathy Jourdain on September 2, 2011 at 8:01am — 3 Comments

Community of Practice - What's It All About?

One of the biggest questions arising out of Art of Hosting trainings and related work I've been part of these days is, what's next?  How do we actually practice and…

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Added by Kathy Jourdain on September 2, 2011 at 7:52am — No Comments

Turning to Each Other in Times of Chaos

My news does not, for the most part, come from mainstream media.  Long ago I stopped reading the papers and watching TV news.  Far too depressing and non-constructive.  My news comes from other sources like the Art of Hosting listserve that I am part of (and you could be too, if you aren’t already) as well as other social media like Facebook and Twitter.  I am grateful to…

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Added by Kathy Jourdain on September 2, 2011 at 7:30am — No Comments

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