Making Room for Magic: A Revolutionary Act in a Busy World

A colleague from Kansas recently told me that she had received some pressure to “cover more material” in order to “make the most” of the professional development investment. “Yikes!” I said, “That is so contrary to all we know about how humans learn.” “Don’t give into the pressure,” I added, “You have to leave room […]

Read More

Receiving and Offering Feedback: An Organizational Culture Worth Building 

Cultivating a culture of healthy feedback – receiving and offering it – takes time and intentional work in multiple areas. It can begin during onboarding and run through to the exit interview. Leaders can model healthy feedback processes and ensure commitment at all levels of an organization. It can take place in one-on-one settings as […]

Read More

Teaching in Closed Societies

I work in a closed society*. My colleagues do as well. In fact, we are all from the country in which we work and are passionate about what we do. We facilitate learning sessions with individuals in small and large communities, from grassroot organizations and concerned civil servants, victims as well as perpetrators of violence, […]

Read More

Where Restorative Practice and Dialogue Education Meet

“Remember that your authority over other human beings is an artificial construct.” [1]  I’ve been asking people about their core values and characteristics when they are at their best for over 20 years. I was introduced to this practice through the field of restorative justice. I witnessed mentors help groups identify their core values in […]

Read More

Celebrating a Life

In her recent book The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker impels us to prepare well for our gatherings. She reminds us to probe with questions such as: Who is this event for? What do they most want to get from it? Whether preparing for an executive leadership retreat, a 90th birthday party, or a virtual […]

Read More

Applying Core Principles to ‘Question Design’

Adults learn best when respect, safety, inclusion, relevance, immediacy and engagement are all present within the learning experience. A distillation of years of educational research, these six core principles are the building blocks of Dialogue Education™. Effective questions, so key to dialogue and learning, are designed with these same core principles in mind.   RESPECT: […]

Read More

Courage and Bravery in Addition to Safety and Respect

During the first day of the Foundations of Dialogue Education course and many other Global Learning Partners learning events, we ask participants to identify guidelines that will support each other’s learning. The generated lists usually include expectations about cellphone use, side conversations, handling disagreements, and listening to each other. In addition, the core concepts of […]

Read More

Getting People Talking When Working in Rural Africa

Every teaching or meeting situation is unique and offers its own challenges. I work in rural Africa and have found the follow seven tools especially helpful for engaging community members. Use appreciative inquiry. In every community some things have worked well. It is therefore important for facilitators to appreciate and build on what is already […]

Read More