All Blog Posts (172)

"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…

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…

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....

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…

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…

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…

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

•…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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."

 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

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

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…