RTV # 38 - Remembering to Play (with Vince Gowmon)

A Year of Raising theVillage Week 38 - Remembering to Play

... an interview with Vince Gowmon - player, facilitator, coach extraordinaire!

Remembering to PlayEvents offer workshops that combine unique and fun experiential activities with open discussions and rich group learning – we mean really rich, wake you up learning. We took part in one of the PLAY workshops and were smitten with the soulful facilitated process and the skill of the person holding a respectful and fun space in the workshop room.
Who is the playful leader behind these inspired workshops? Meet Vince Gowmon and get a special peek into the spirit of the Play process...

Vince Gowmon, is the founder of Remembering to Play Events.  All his life he has loved playing, and since 1998, he has lived his other passion of supporting others to create their life with joy and purpose.  Remembering to Play Events is his opportunity to combine the two, giving people a playground to discover their authentic Self and laugh along the way!
We asked Vince to take us behind the scenes of his special workshops...
What is at the core of Remembering to Play?

The essence of Remembering to Playis remembering your spirit. It is taking the risk to be authentic (it can be risky to shed your fears and inhibitions). Many of us have SAS (serious adult syndrome) – we take ourselves and life so seriously that we forget the joy in the lighter side of play. Also at the heart of Remembering to Play is remembering what it means to be a child and connecting to the wisdom of a child-like heart. Children are present, engaged, intuitive, spontaneous, honest, expressive of a wide range of emotions without extra thought as to whether the emotion if permissible. Children are less attached to one certain way of being and are willing to be open and try new things.


When facilitating groups, how do you know when a group process is landing with people?

·      Take time to read the group. If people are not ready for a certain activity or process that I have designed, I will huck out the outline.
·      There is a dance between my prepared agenda and the participant’s needs and agenda. I’ve learned to limit the amount of content in my agenda – I leave space open for what arises within the group.
·      Another approach is to be curious around any feelings. I will name it (i.e. There seems to be some resistance here. What’s that about? What do we need more of? Less of?).
·      Ask – what does the group want?

How do you determine and design group activities that connect with people? What advice do you have for group facilitators and leaders who are looking for process inspiration?

I look at a workshop like a journey. First, meet people where they are – meet and honour their current reality. Secondly, layer activities that add a slow stretch to that reality. For example, I might not include movement and music in the first part of the workshop as that might be a large stretch.  Thirdly, I look to see that the foundational skill sets and values of Remembering to Playare present in the workshop activities. For example, one of the values is to “Be Present”, so I will choose activities that reflect “Being Present”.

Designing workshops is like creating stepping stones across a river. I could stand on one end of the water and point to the other side while people stand at the edge OR we can slowly lay out different sized stepping stones as the learning and growing unfolds. We can co-create, chisel, space out the steps and consider how strong the current is.  People will cross to the other side in their own way and contribute every step of the way.

Creativity is a big part of my process. For me, creativity is opening up to something bigger than self. It is new ideas and possibilities combined with education. I balance ideas and structures with things people can hold onto.

What personally brings you a “sense of community”?

·      People close by that I connect with on a spontaneous level while being authentic and real.
·      A sense of community comes with safety, nearby nature, knowing the people in my neighbourhood and delighting in running into them on the street.
·      I look at the harmony of a community and for me this comes with intimate connection between people, intimate connection within infrastructures, and intimate connection between products and intentions of the stores and services within my community. My values are embodied by what surrounds me.

 How can people who are working together in communities with a focus on the early years relate to the workshops and services you offer?

Many early childhood educators relate to the co-created learning principles of Remembering to Play. We co-create in a workshop just like an early childhood educator might co-create with children in a Reggio Emilia approach. People working in the early years love children and they love play. On some level people may be called to their work as a part of their own healing and growth – Remembering to Playadds to this healing and growth.

What currently has you jazzed up in your work? What is your focus moving forward?

I am expanding, reaching and teaching into further parts of Canada. I would love to expand into Europe and engage in more public workshops.

My focus moving forward is to refine, add to and deepen what I am learning about PLAY. I am the #1 student of Remembering to Play– it is my own path of healing and growth. I am teaching what I need to learn and I am good at it! I am fascinated by how much play is not just an activity but a way of living, being and co-creating. My workshops are about not working so seriously hard, they are about subverting the norms and shaking people out of monotony and routines. It’s a place where PLAY TRUMPS WORK!

To experience the spirit of PLAY with your group - contact Vince at:
  Vince Gowmon, CPCC, BBA
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach
Remembering to Play Events
http://www.rememberingtoplay.com
Off:  604-566-0868  Cell:  778-990-0868  Fax:  604-566-3880

RTV # 37 - Extra, extra..read all about it

A Year of Raising the Village - Week 37 - Extra, extra...read all about it


 We live in an age that media has a massive influence on what we focus on, talk about and believe. Isn't it fascinating what make the news?  Some days there is "scratch your head and wonder" kind of content - and other times there is emotion filled and paradigm shifting information.

Community groups can do an environmental scan of "what's making the news" and how it relates to the topic/issue/concern at hand.  Is your group focused on the early years, parenting, child rights, poverty, literacy or [insert your topic here]? Whatever your focus, try the following group activity to broaden perspectives about your issue by connecting it with hot topics in the media. You never know, it may also help find new partners or drum up some innovative community action!

What's worked for us:
Take a copy of a newspaper,  we use different sections of a big paper or the main sections of several different newspapers. You will get a slightly different flavour by choosing either local, big city and even foreign papers.

Have small groups cut out and paste their chosen articles onto flip chart paper and explore and record what ways they can connect the News with your community building focus.

Go beyond the obvious!! For example an article about prisons has an important connection with the early years. Related issues include prevention, resiliency, education, parent support and child protection.

Ask questions such as:

• what is going on in the news that provides a different perspective on community?
• do common themes emerge from this activity?

You can also find this activity in our book (pg 40), Raising the Village.  ***Our e-book Action-guide Series will be ready soon. There will be 4 books, all filled with our absolute favourite group activities along the following themes;

1. Dealing with Data
2. Village Raising Strategies
3. Projects from idea to evaluation
4. Sustaining your group and your work

 Stay tuned!

RTV #36 - 10 Secrets of Sustained Innovation

A Year of Raising the Village - Week 36 - 10 Secrets of Sustained Innovation in Collaborative Groups.

Ever heard the term "design by committee" or "coblaberation" or "groupthink?' Just because you gather a bunch of people together does NOT ensure that the resulting dialogue and action will be stellar. In fact, there is a danger that the sum won't even add up to the individual parts let alone exceed them! Someone recently told me that there is just as much chance that a group is defined by it's weakest link as it is defined by its strongest.

What's the lesson here?  Don't take group work for granted.  A community is not made just by rubbing shoulders together...nor is it evidenced by collective, unattached agreement. Partly based on the work of Keith Sawyer (Group Genius, 2007), here is RTV's insight into what activities keep groups innovative.

10 secrets of innovation in Collaborative Groups.

1. Build spaces for creative conversation - we dedicated a section of our book to this (pg 130-137) and provide ideas for framing talking time.
2. Allow time for ideas to emerge ...go slow to go fast, you can't rush creativity and innovation.
3. Balance improvisation with planning - sustain a core vision with long term goals to help avoid being fragmented with a million great ideas. Use that vision to intelligently select the ideas that have the most value and traction.
4. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - generate many ideas and keep several of them active. When times change, you'll be better prepared to be responsive.
5. Seek diversity - a wide range of knowledge, skills, experiences and perspectives in a group increases the chances for innovation.
6. Act like a network, not a clique. Once you head down the road of homogeneity with a "member" mind-set, the more you will risk group think and stagnation. Have fun together - but not too much fun. There is often an illusion of group effectiveness when group cohesiveness is high. Instead - grow, learn, adapt, connect, challenge and evolve!
7. Share leadership by ditching a rigid organizational chart - bring your strengths, not just your job title.
8. Measure the right things - evaluation has the potential to be a meaningful tool for sustaining engagement and blossoming further innovative ideas. 
9. Seek the unexpected - both your greatest success and your biggest learning (aka mighty disaster) are often things that weren't part of the original plan. Examine your experiences to find the differences that make the difference.
10. Know yourself, know your group and THEN pick your process.  ***

RTV# 35 ChargeYour Group B.S. Meter! Oh Yeah!

A Year of Raising the Village Week #35: Charge Your Group B.S. Meter! Bestow growing feedback.


Whether it is in a collaborative, a family or an organization, relationships can benefit from a little “call it like it is...if it comes with the good intent to call out the potential and growth in yourself and others that is.


In the book Awakening Corporate Soul, Klein and Izzo write a section on what makes an organizational group into a community. One of the interviews they conducted had a particularly eye brow raising success factor, a healthy B.S. meter (YES – how refreshing is that!). In this case the healthy B.S. meter refers to bestowing growing feedback. Here are some tips gleamed from the pages that speak to the giving and receiving this kind of feedback:

• Offer feedback frequently - so it becomes expected and familiar



• Know each-others professional and personal goals and help each other clarify these in times of lack of focus



• Appreciate each others' stories (including hopes, fears and goals)



• Give frequent heartfelt praise (filter out false compliments)



• Have an agreed upon commitment to growth –for group compassion and maturation



• Try a lively mix of intensity, honesty and humour (& be able to laugh at self)



• Understand that how we see self – is not always how others take us



• Practice feedback that includes both strengths and challenges... and all that lies in between. Leave out sugar-coated criticism



• Present open space – where people can speak without fear of judgment or attack
  

Your turn, think of an organizational group (or relationship) that you would like to bring a “community” feel to via a healthy BS meter. Use the above steps as a guideline in your feedback and start out simply.
First think about your admiration for the other person you are about to administer the voltage test with. Seep in (and ask permission to share to cut down on the "threat" or "here we go" response):

• What are the amazing qualities I see in this person?



• What might be holding them back from stepping fully into their potential?



• What could they acknowledge in themselves? Where might they grow? What feedback do they have for themselves?



• What impact are they having? impact on others?

And then, be ready to receive your feedback in return. Oh yes, this meter must be transferred both ways our village raising friends!

Imagine how healthy groups can be with this level of transparent communication and dedication to growth!
Village Raising Question: What are some good BS meter questions and phrases? How do YOU frame healthy feedback?

We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note or like the B.S. on facebook

RTV # 34 - Make the Invisible -- Visible!

A Year of Raising the Village Week #34: Make the Invisible--Visible!

Have you ever watched a video about “community” where the images stay with you long after the viewing?

Are you someone who promotes the power of social realities being spoken?


Well, watch these clips from The Wildflowers Institute and see what’s stirred for you. You can expect to see people constructing neighbourhood models that express their views so honestly that you are bound to hear some truth ring off the film. You can expect to see perceptions animated through interactive activity. And the real kicker, what you can expect to see is people helping to make the invisible, visible.


The first video in the series piqued RTV’s social radar years ago- http://www.wildflowers.org/bird.html In this clip a youth (Bird) explains his community model and his keys to living. In his own clear and crisp way he imparts his profound advice, “Knowledge doesn’t have a color, nor does it have a skin tone”.

Enough said. Watch. Let us know what you think.

For all video clips and the full report go to: Making Visible the Invisible Power of Community http://www.wildflowers.org/WFmonograph.pdf

We believe in these interactive ways of hearing and building community – check out our Collaboration: Authentic Engagement Workshops for the RTV version. http://www.raisingthevillage.ca/


p.s. (Listen for the above quote from Bird- it’s near the end of the video when he speaks of the importance of listening to elder knowledge).

Village Raising Question #1: Your turn. What’s a video you’ve watched that’s changed the way you’ve looked at community or a video that portrayed a social reality in an honest gripping way? Post your say on our facebook or twitter page.

Village Raising Question #2: What would your community model look like? What about your neighbour?

RTV #33 - Turning Cantankerous into Cooperative!

The glass is half full AND half empty!

A Year of Village Raising, Week #33. Turning Cantankerous into Cooperative.

It's a dangerous thing to look at community building through glasses so "rose coloured" that the complexities of human nature is dulled down to an insipid, pleasant monotone. People are COMPLICATED and working with people is COMPLEX! In your village-raising activities, keep your eyes wide open for personalities, characteristics and quirks that make life more interesting, and may create a little more work!

"Difficult people" is a common label used in group facilitation resources. We cringe when we hear that. Similar to parenting, it is the behaviour that might be difficult, not the person! Taking the time to understand why the behaviour is coming across as difficult is one of the keys to turning cantankerous into cooperative!

Think of someone that comes across as confrontational, disagreeable and contrary (at least sometimes!).  Ask yourself these questions to uncover their cooperative sweet spot.

1. Start with yourself - how are you coming across? Are you being clear? Are you threatening the status quo in a way that makes change scary? Are you consistently approachable, equitable and transparent? What is it about you that could be a trigger for this behaviour?

2.  Is the person in over their head? Is the behaviour a defensive mask of a lack of confidence and/or ability? Is there a way to offer training opportunities or group learning that evens the playing field?

3. Consider the strengths of the person, are they being used? Are the being used at appropriate times?  (first question: do you even know their strengths?)

In our travels, we have found that people who have amazing critical thinking skills, or those who are deliberative about risks or those who are involved to work, not to make friends often come across as "difficult" to others who are more idea driven, action eager and glass half-full. Make sure that there is a shared understanding of the various stengths that people bring, and USE them...otherwise, you'll find people fighting the process to try to get some kind of contribution in at all cost.

4.  A group check-in might be in order! Is the group's direction on the same track as when people first got involved? Or has it evolved and left some people out?

5. Is the difficult behaviour actually not difficult at all - but adding a dose of healthy conflict, richness, depth and diversity of thinking? If so, yet people are feeling "bothered" by the behaviour, it might be a time to shake things up. Don't allow group-think to alienate those that have the courage to think differently!

So raise your half-empty and half-full glass up to healthy conflict that keeps community builders on their toes!

RTV - #32 Break the Ice

A Year of Raising the Village: Week #32: Break the Ice

An opportunity for building connections in a community happens when a gathering of people shake off their formal, guarded, business-like demeanor and step lightly into personal topics. People feel good when they are able to share things about themselves. Brief, yet meaningful glimpses, into the lives of your neighbours, colleagues and even policy makers helps to identify what our last week's blog post talked about - the things that bind.



Here are a few easy, non-threatening and actually quite fascinating ideas of things to learn about and share with people;

• favourite children's song or rhyme
• favourite season (and why)
• location of early childhood home
• names of your ancestors 
• what makes your family unique and even "quirky"
• exciting initiatives going on in your organization
• ideas for reducing stress
• traditions  

How?

• If you are part of a work meeting - use these topics as a way of introductions.
• If you are a social media users (whether new or a veteran) - ask your friends and post your own response.
• In your social groups (book clubs, sports teams, service groups) - find ways to bring up more personal interactions formally or informally.
• or try being super random - ask the cashier at the grocery store one of these questions instead of chatting about the weather (imagine how many weather conversations she/he must have over the course of a day!)

As a "village raiser" - challenge yourself to be the first one to - break the ice.