Last week I had the priveledge of working in Sydney with a very large room full of people who are passionate about their work. Mostly, they are change-agents in the environmental sustainability space. Some were from health and others from policy. They came from government, private industry and NGO’s. 150 people in all. This gathering was called the ‘Behaviour Change for Sustainability – National Congress‘ and was hosted by the 3 Pillars Network. Next year it will be staged in Melbourne and my vote for the conference name would be something like … ‘Beyond Behaviour Change: Finding the new edges …

Last Tuesday night I went dancing! Not to a nightclub and not to a structured form of dance like Flamenco, Ballroom or Swing. It was a practice of dance known as The 5Rhythms. The classes have a host/facilitator to hold the space and invite participants to move, play and interact. In my case, the facilitator is a long time friend of mine, David Jurianz. Whilst I am intensely interested in the application of improv, movement and music to my facilitation work, I didn’t attend this workshop to figure out some magical formulae of how I can “apply it”. I showed …

I’m excited! This year I have been privileged to co-design a Sustainability Congress which is happening in Sydney next month with the 3 Pillars Network. This Congress has emerged from a network of people with unanswered questions and great ideas. This extraordinary group of practitioners and researchers have been on a learning journey together in 2011 – The 3 Pillars Active Learning Program EARLY BIRD rates end this week on Friday 21st October for the Behaviour Change for Sustainability National Congress. The reason I am excited has been the collaborative approach to the shape, the content and the design of …

Last night I was a participant at a workshop. I turned up with 50+ members of our local community after a month of issues, poor leadership, lack of communication, rumor and misunderstanding – I’ll give no more away, but you get the picture. A meeting was called by the institution concerned and the relevant state government department took the facilitation role. At the moment I entered the room, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck … this was to be facilitation at it’s very worst. Being a participant, with a passion for the content, I couldn’t stop …

“As Bloom once told a reporter: “We were looking for exceptional kids and what we found were exceptional conditions”. […] The “exceptional conditions” we found can be summarized under the headings of opportunity to learn, authentic tasks, and exceptionally supportive social contexts.” ~ Lauren Sosniak, p289. I found this quote here in Doing What Works in Solutions Focussed Change and it got me thinking about my work, parenting and change. In my last post, What are you a student of right now?, I shared this little word-graphic on the fields and practices that shape my learning … As parents we …