Guest Blog Post from Aurisha Smolarski, Ron Milam Consulting’s newest Associate specializing in Mediation

Are you tired of those same tensions playing out at every meeting? Is your organization or board loosing momentum? Unresolved tension between co-workers, board members or board and staff gets in the way of productive meetings, wastes valuable time and energy and creates unpleasant office environments. These tensions often come from stress, misunderstanding, lack of communication or follow up, differences of perspectives, changes in leadership, and/or interpersonal resentments. Oftentimes when Ron facilitates retreats, some tension arises between participants. In his role as a facilitator, Ron can manage any conflict that arises within a group but in order to truly transform the conflict, Ron recommends the parties in conflict work to resolve their differences outside of a retreat during a mediation session. Click the "Read more" link below to view the rest of this post...

(I'm having some fun with Kevin from the LA Poverty Dept. during a strategic planning retreat I facilitated with their leadership)

Since launching my own consulting practice in 2005, I have served 70 organizations. Through my work I interact with passionate leaders working on a variety of issues throughout Southern California. Here's a list of all of the great organizations I have worked with (and here's a link to another blog post I wrote mapping my clients in Southern California). Click the "Read more" link below to see Ron's list of clients.

I recently facilitated my 14^th Winning Campaigns training for the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking in my hometown of Los Angeles. This fast-paced, interactive training focused on developing a strategy to win a local campaign. I’m thrilled with how the movement for livable streets has grown in Southern California and that so many dynamic leaders have emerged to work on these issues. I’m especially excited that the LA County Bicycle Coalition has taken a leadership role in supporting local affiliates. Check out this great blog post the LACBC wrote on the training. If you’re interested in attending a future Winning Campaigns training, meet me in South Carolina for the next one coming up soon (November 4-6). If you can’t make that one, the Alliance recently released the training dates and locations for 2012.

I recently co-facilitated a retreat for THE Impact Project with Michele Prichard of the Liberty Hill Foundation. “The Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project is a community-academic partnership focused on reducing the impacts of international trade on health and community life.” Over the course of a day, we prioritized the core areas for this innovative partnership to focus on as it moves forward. We succeeded in part because of our co-facilitation. Prior to the retreat, we worked collaboratively to develop an agenda that would help the group reach its goals. During the retreat, we led different portions that helped break up the day. When one of us led, the other took notes. We also split the group up and facilitated simultaneously, allowing the group to accomplish more in less time. For me, I really enjoyed working with Michele and look forward to future co-facilitation opportunities. 

 

I recently led a 1 1/2 hour training on teamwork for staff from Boys and Girls Clubs throughout Southern California. After facilitating a dialog about best practices, challenges and potential solutions for building strong teams, we practiced some team building of our own (with balloons!). We had a lot of fun with the "Boys and Girls Club Soul Train" (pictured above) where the 20+ participants had to work as team to stay together and keep the balloons from dropping to the ground. Afterwards, we had a great discussion about team building and how to take best practices back to their own work environments. Thanks to the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership for asking me to lead this workshop. If there any organizations out there that would like their own customized team work trainings (with or without balloons), please contact me. Thanks. 

I recently facilitated a dialog between public health officials, city planners and public works engineers about the soon to be released Model Design Manual for Living Streets. After a short overview by Ryan Snyder, who coordinated the whole project of creating the manual, I led a conversation that gaged from participants what parts of the manual they found most useful and how they might implement portions of it. It led to interesting conversations about how to change the culture of public agencies to transition from designing streets primarily for the car to roads that accomidate all users including people on bike, walking, transit, etc. The beautiful thing about this manual is that cities can cut and paste portions from this manual and incorporate it to help shape streets in their own cities. I’m optimistic that this manual will be a great resource to cities around the country and help them make the transition to livable streets. To learn more, check out the Living Streets Manual website, a LAStreetsblog article and/or attend the public launch for the manual at the MTA Board Room on October 6^th at 6:30pm.

 
I recently had the privilege to facilitate and participate in Liberty Hill's Wally Marks Leadership Institute for Change's Convening. The photo above is my view surrounded by inspiring, grassroots leaders working on social change throughout Los Angeles. A leader from each organization shared the story of how they became an organizer. They also shared how their organiation grew over the last seven months as a result of the three-day training they attended, coaching they received throughout the process and peer convenings. Pictured giving his presentation is Zach Hoover, Executive Director of LA Voice, the organization I coached for the last seven months. Zach celebrated the organization's first ever house party hosted by a board member that brought in 15 new donors to the organization and raised nearly $5,000. I'm thrilled to have played a role in making this year's Leadership Institute a success. I appreciate Liberty Hill's investment in its own grantees by developing a dyanmic learning environment that also builds a stronger movement for social change here in Los Angeles.  

What could you imagine along the LA River? This is the question I asked at least 50 people at the recent "Let's Talk River" fundraiser for the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation, a fantastic new organization charged with promoting responsible development, redevelopment, and revitalization of properties along the LA River corridor in accordance with the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan. Some shared their responses with me and I drew them while others happily took a marker and began drawing their own ideas. After an hour, we collected an inspiring set of ideas on a 25 foot long piece of paper, including a campsite, concert bowl, river rapids, farmers market, volunteer clean-ups, public access, bike sharing, a vertical farm on the old city jail, boat house, wine bar and so much more! This poster generated lots of conversation, ideas and networking. It also served as a great space to listen to people's good ideas. I really enjoyed this opportunity to serve as a visual facilitator and would encourage organizations to use this method to engage their constituencies in their work. To learn more about the LA River Revitalization Coporation, share your ideas for the River and/or volunteer, check out LARRC's website.

Here's a detail from the drawing (stitching together three different photos):

 

As a facilitator, I think about how I present information that groups generate when I work with them. More and more, I'm working to use alternatives to simple brainstorm lists. While using a list is a good way to generate ideas, 10 pages of lists posted to the walls can feel overwhelming. In the photo above, I use a simple grid on the left hand side illustrating different opportunities for a start-up organization I'm consulting for. The middle two pages use a mandala model, which illutstrate more complex ideas and their relationships to another. On the far right side, I created a more complex decision-making grid for the group to evaluate and rank various projects based on critieria they established. Above the decision-making matrix, I generated the categories based on a brainstorm group members wrote on post-it notes. On all of these pages, I'm also scribing various shapes and colors that convey/highlight various ideas generated. Using these various visual tools, the organization's leadership made a big decision related to its priorities in a very short amount of time. 

Last month, I co-wrote an article on the subject of planning successful retreats. Over the course of the next couple of months, I want to write a follow up article that focusses on the retreat itself and ways in which to make it memorable, transformative and valuable. 

I'm guessing many of you have spent time participating in a retreat. I would love to hear elements of retreats you attended that made a positive impact for you and/or your group? Was it informal time around a campfire? An innovative problem-solving technique? A fun ice-breaker? A beautiful setting? Delicious food? An afternoon break? Play? Singing? Story-telling? Visualizing information? Post-it notes?

Whatever it was, I would love to hear from you in the comments section below (which I know is a little clunky so I appreciate you bearing with me). Thanks!

(Bike Kitchen 2008 Retreat at Farmlab...breaking out into small groups under the Spring. St. Bridge)

Over the years, I have facilitated numerous retreats and meetings at locations around Los Angeles. Ideally, you want to “get away” for a retreat.  But sometimes, given time and travel restraints, groups need to meet within the city. I have facilitated retreats at the following locations in LA and would recommend them all. I would love to hear any additional suggestions you have for good retreat locations, either within Los Angeles or the nearby vicinity.

Angels Gate Cultural Center: This beautiful site overlooks the Pacific Ocean in San Pedro. They have 4 different rooms available for nonprofits ranging in price from $18-$35/hour. 

Audubon Center at Debs Park:  There’s two meeting rooms that can fit 10-20 people. Located in Debs Park, there’s a trail that starts just feet from the meeting room.

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook:  There’s an room inside as well as an indoor/outdoor room. Right outside the window are stunning views of Los Angeles.

California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities:  There’s multiple meeting rooms available to health-oriented organizations.  There’s also a great plaza and a delicious cafeteria with affordable, healthy food. In order to use the space (for free), you need to be a health-oriented organization.
  
Farmlab:  There’s an indoor and outdoor space in this industrial landscape bordering the LA river and just a couple hundred feed from the LA State Historical Park. The group I facilitated knew someone who worked at here so I’m not sure if it’s open for general retreats.

LA Eco-Village: There’s a spacious courtyard garden and an upstairs room to use in this transit-accessible Koreatown neighborhood.  The community reviews requests to use the space at their weekly meetings, and usually need to be sponsored by a community member.  

Mercado la Paloma: Just east of USC is Mercado Paloma which has a nice sized meeting form for rent that can comfortably hold 15 people. The best thing is right outside of your door is a thriving marketplace with delicious lunch options for your group to enjoy.

Outpost for Contemporary Art:  This is a small storefront space that can hold up to around 10 people for a meeting.  The group I facilitated knew someone who worked at here so I’m not sure if it’s open for general retreats.

In addition to these, I received several suggestions from friends that include: 

Atwater Crossing: This innovative space brings together a wide spectrum of people, institutions and organizations. It also has a conference room, tasty restaurant, shaded outdoor spaces and a bar.  

Doheny Ranch in Franklin Canyon Park: (suggested by @neighbor2neighbor on Twitter) "The middle of the city, yet tranquil”.

Kings Road Park in West Hollywood: (suggested by Ramon Mendez) “in the city, but miles away in a park setting".

La Casita Del Arroyo in Pasadena: (suggested by Kathy Perez) “Nice, good space with a kitchen.  Great views of the Arroyo.”

LA River Center and Gardens:  (suggested by Chris Tucker) This beautiful site adjacent to downtown LA and close the LA River provides an oasis of gardens and fountains.  Apparently, rooms are free for nonprofits

reDiscover Center: This creative space in Culver City has a good meeting room along with a giant back section filled with ingredients to help any group add some creativity to their discussions. 

Sierra Club Lodges:  (suggested by Matt Cooper) I walked by one of their Ski Hut Lodge during a recent hike up to Mt. Baldy.  This rustic lodge requires a hike of a few miles, but you’re rewarded with stunning views and a remote location.

The Factory in the Arts District: (suggested by Ryan Lehman) “cool potential spot in the Arts District...not sure how the space is set-up, but perhaps you could collaborate with them.”

Miguel Luna and David Pulsipher also suggested Audubon at Debs Park. 

I encourage you to always check with your own organization's leadership - someone might have a nice space they may want to host a retreat in or they may someone who might also have a great space to use. Tap into your networks. 

Over the last six years, I have planned and facilitated numerous retreats for a multitude of organizations. Through this work, I have learned some best practices that I’m pleased to share with you.  With my Associate Meg Wade, we put together this 13-page “How-to” guide for planning a retreat. For any of you planning a retreat, we hope this will give you some helpful tips to make your retreat a success. If you need any assistance at all with planning or facilitating an upcoming retreat for your organization, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I recently facilitated a very productive retreat with the Hollywood Community Studio, a fantastic organization working to engage communities in issues related to urban planning. One question that came up for the group, which comes up for many organizations, is what should the geographic scope of the organization be? Just Hollywood? North East LA where they recently secured a grant? Other communities?

Rather than talk about where they focus their work in the abstract, I drew a map of Los Angeles County on a large piece of brown paper.  I oriented the group to the map (with its mountains, waves and buildings for various communities).  I then gave each participant in the group a different colored marker and asked them to circle on the map where they thought the organization should work. For five minutes, they circled places on the map and when they finished, we reviewed the results together.

Based on the visuals we saw on the map, I could tell the group already reached consensus. Within five minutes of discussion, the group prioritized its geographic focus and we moved on to the next topic. Without the map, I’m guessing this conversation would have taken at least an hour if we just talked about it. But with the visuals of the map, we could quickly see the areas that multiple people shaded.

After the retreat, they asked if they could keep the map and post it in their office. I said absolutely! So if you want to see this map in person, check out the Hollywood Community Studio. Enjoy!

 
I recently facilitated a one-day planning retreat with the leadership of Clifford Beers Housing, a group working to develop supportive housing in Southern California. One of the outcomes of the retreat was reaching consensus on the organization’s long-term goals. We accomplished this goal by using gallery walks, one of the suggestions from my 10 Alternatives to Large Group Discussion blog post.

Gallery Walks help a group work on developing specific language on several different topics simultaneously. It's a great method to use when you need a group to decide multiple goals simultaneously. It engages more people in refining goals than a larger group conversation would and it also gives more introverted participants in a meeting the opportunity to shape a group decisions. 

Here’s how we did it.

After prioritizing a list of four general goal areas, I asked participants to pick one of the four goal areas to develop further. Based on people’s preferences, I split the large group into smaller groups of two to three. I asked each group to further discuss and refine each of the goals so that they were clear, measurable and specific. I gave each of the groups 15 minutes to develop a draft goals statement. Each group had a sheet of poster paper taped to a wall that they could write their notes on using markers I gave them.

After 15 minutes, I asked each of the groups to walk clockwise and review the draft goal developed by the group to their right. For five minutes, folks for Group A reviewed the draft goals of Group B and wrote suggestions up on the poster paper for members of group B to later review (Group B reviewed Group C, Group C reviewed Group D). After five minutes, I asked groups to move clockwise again and take another five minutes to review the next group. So this time, members from group A reviewed comments from Group C. Five minutes later, we did one more rotation allowing members of Group A to review the draft goals developed by Group D.

After 15 minutes of these gallery walks, each of the groups returned to their own draft goals and reviewed the comments from all of the other members of the group. I gave the small groups another 15 minutes to further refine their goals.

After this, we came back together as a large group and because of the gallery walks, the detailed goals were 90% complete.  As a large group, we made some minor variations and achieved consensus on the specific language for each of the goals! 

One reason why people don’t like meetings is because they usually take only one form – large group discussion – that can have several regular drawbacks. Often it can allow one person to dominate the entire meeting space, or it can just lead to physical and mental restlessness with all participants sitting and not able to participate at their fullest capacity. Yet there are lots of easy, fun alternatives to large group discussion that we don't think to use. Effective meetings often have a combination of group work/discussion along with some combination of some of the following group discussion alternatives, all of which can facilitate higher levels of participation, deeper levels of engagement and greater clarity:

1. Small Group Work: Splitting a large group into smaller groups allows the group to work on several tasks at once.  For example, if the large group prioritized three goals to work on, you could split the large group into three small groups and ask each to develop objectives to achieve the goal.

2. One-on-One Conversations:  Sometimes an issue is so heated that everyone has something to say something about it. Asking a large group to pair off gives all participants an ample amount of time to share their views and listen to the views from someone else.

3. Gallery Walks: A large group can split up into smaller groups and rotate to different parts of the room to review information put up on a poster paper.  At each site, the small group reads what is on the paper and adds its own comments to it.

4. Individual Reflection: A portion of a meeting can be used to ask participants to take a few minutes to write down their own views on a piece of paper. This is often a good strategy to use  as part of a brainstorming session, with people writing their ideas down on post-it notes that then get reviewed by the whole group.

5. Role-Plays: To gain a deeper understanding of the issues a group is discussing, participants can participate in a role-play to personally experience two different sides of an issue.

6. Go-Round:  Another strategy during discussion of a hot-topic is to give everyone an opportunity to comment on the issue being discussed.  Depending on the size of the group, you may want to set a time limit for each person’s contribution to the go round.

7. World Café:  Small groups form around tables where people have the opportunity to discuss an issue and write down their thoughts for others to later review. After discussing for a set period (20-30 minutes), the groups split up and move to new tables, allowing for quick cross-pollination of ideas.

8. Fishbowl: This method has two to six meeting participants dialog with each other to discuss/debate an issue in greater detail while the rest of the participants view it from the outside. This can help give participants a new perspective on the topic.

9. Walking meetings: This is a variation of the small group work method, in which groups both walk and discuss at the same time.  This activity is good for items needing further discussion as opposed to decisions that need to get made.

10. Draw Pictures: Giving participants the opportunity to draw images related to the discussion topic, whether it's done individually on a piece of paper or together on a giant piece of poster paper hung on the wall gives participants the opportunity to visualize the issues under discussion. Having people draw their vision of what the future looks like is usually a fun activity, and aids participants in thinking differently about issues in order to come up with creative solutions.

Special Note: If you decide to introduce any of the above suggestions, taking the time after the activity occurs to debrief is a good idea because these various small group activities usually generate a lot of ideas, thoughts and feelings. Bring the group back together and ask questions like, what did you learn? Or, you could have groups briefly report back on the work they generated in small groups and solicit feedback from the larger group. Make sure, as you carry out these variations on your typical large-group discussion, to tie the content and ideas that come up back into your decision-making process.

I’m pleased to report I’m now a “Certified Professional Facilitator” by the International Association of Facilitators.  Here’s more information about the program:

“The International Association of Facilitators (IAF) has met the need for standards in facilitator certification. In 1990, an international team of IAF members identified the core competencies required to facilitate group interaction. This team's efforts resulted in the IAF competency model and assessment process.

The assessment process is based on rigorous peer review of knowledge, experience and demonstration of skills. The IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator designation indicates attainment of these core competencies. The professional facilitator designation offers clients an assurance that those who are certified are qualified to design and provide basic group facilitation services.”

Here’s a section from the application I submitted to become a CPF which shares how I demonstrated the core competencies for facilitation with a client:

“From the start, I worked to create a collaborative client relationship. We reached agreement on our respective roles and responsibilities, along with my rate. We designed a retreat that would meet the organization’s goals based on their needs. I developed a detailed agenda, facilitated the entire day in a way that led towards effective group decision-making and allocated time at the end of the day for participant evaluation.

I worked hard from beginning to end to create and sustain a participatory environment. I affirmed the diversity of their group throughout the process and welcomed all of their ideas. I planned a group process designed to foster open participation from the diverse set of personalities that made up the organization’s board. I was already aware of the organization’s culture and could relate to it because I share many of the same values and had facilitated numerous similar organizations.

I dedicated myself to guiding the group in the direction of useful outcomes. I worked hard to guide the process so they reached useful outcomes. I laid out the process at the start and stayed with it throughout the retreat, ultimately reaching consensus on their vision, strategies and goals.

Reflecting in greater detail about this retreat and connecting it to IAF’s Core Facilitator Competencies has enhanced my potential for building professional knowledge and a wider range of skills. Over the last year, I have dedicated myself to building my own knowledge and experience by reading even more books and constantly reflecting on my practice. Attending the IAF Conference in Denver and applying to become a professionally certified facilitator is a natural follow up to this dedication. I will continue to model a positive professional attitude. I appreciate the role that this application is playing in building my own capacity as a professional facilitator. Thanks.”

I’m excited to earn the designation of a “Certified Professional Facilitato’r and look forward to serving many more groups as a facilitator. 

In an ongoing effort to work on my own professional development, I recently attended the International Association of Facilitator’s North American Conference in Denver Colorado.  Over the course of three days, I met facilitators from around the world and also learned numerous best practices at a variety of workshops. 

I met folks who had facilitated for the United Nations, for nonprofits and for various companies.  I had long conversations with folks about building consensus, listening, facilitating internationally, diversity awareness and growing a consulting practice. I also ran into my colleague Beatrice Briggs who I met several years ago when she facilitated a meeting for the Global Eco-Village Network in LA.  Last year, I sat in on her “Leading Meetings” training and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about facilitation.  Her company, the International Institute for Facilitation and Change, also has a great resources page on facilitation. 

I sat in on several sessions in the “Visual Meetings” track and learned a number of methods to introduce visuals into meetings.  I attended a Strategic Planning session to learn some more best practices that I could apply with the various clients I’m currently facilitating a strategic planning process for (LA Poverty Dept., Clifford Beers Housing and Museum Educators of Southern California).  I also attended a workshop that gave me lots of tips to protect my own voice, something I need to be mindful of as I facilitate more trainings and meetings. 

I also participated in a day-long session to become a Professionally Certified Facilitator, where not only was I tested for my own understanding of core competencies required for facilitation, but I also participated in sessions facilitated by other experienced facilitators and I learned from them.

Altogether, I learned a lot and look forward to bring many of the best practices I learned back to the various clients I serve here in Southern California. 

I recently facilitated a planning meeting with the Museum Educators of Southern California (MESC) Board of Directors. Over the course of 2 ½ hours, we prioritized three primary goals and objectives for the organization to focus on over the next two to five years that will strengthen the organization. The photo above is the group using post-it notes to generate and categorize possible ideas for goals to focus on. 

Since we had a large meeting room space, I did something I have never done before. Rather than have each person go around the table to introduce themselves and the museum they’re affiliated with, I asked them all to stand up and move to the center of the room. We figured out which way north was and I asked them to create a map of the region representing where they came from. Folks talked with each other and quickly figured out where they worked in relationship to each other. I can still visualize where folks where stood – from east to west it was Coachella Valley, City of Industry, Pasadena, LA and Santa Monica.  To the north we had Santa Barbara and to the south Orange County.  It immediately gave me a sense for who was in the room and it also served as a fun introduction activity.  It also gave us a sense for how folks came to get to the Skirball Cultural Center where we met. Finally, it helped me understand the geographical diversity of this organization. I would recommend this activity which could be modified to also show where people live, where people were born, etc.

Two other notes related to this meeting.  First, I biked to the meeting with my easel, poster paper and markers all the way from Echo Park along Mulholland Highway, the longest I think I have ever ridden to facilitate a meeting. Second, I want to thank Steven Bowers, one of my Associates, for joining me at the meeting and typing up the notes during the meeting and for snapping some photos, including the one above. 

Here's some blog posts sharing stories from some of the retreats I facilitated: 
LA Poverty Department
Echo Park Time Bank
Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust
Green LA Coalition
Public Matters
Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
Alliance for Biking and Walking
LA Urban Rangers (pictured above)

I recently started facilitating a planning process for a new client, Clifford Beers Housing, a developer of affordable, supportive housing in Los Angeles. When I recently attended their board meeting to review the planning process, I drafted up a simplified version of it on a piece of poster paper. Board members asked questions and four of them eventually volunteered to serve on the planning committee. 

Working closely with this planning committee, I will first conduct an organizational assessment, share findings with the group, facilitate a board retreat and then develop a draft and eventually a final plan for board approval. It's a relatively simple process that will lead to consensus on a set of new five-year goals for the organization. I highly recommend any organization go through a process like this. When everyone in an organization's leadership agrees what the primary goals are, there's a much higher chance of them actually coming to fruition.  

Here's a link to the full image above

I spend a lot of time facilitating groups that spend time envisioning the future. Every time I do this, I’m inspired about the infinite amount of possibilities that await us in the future.

I also spend a lot of time bicycling around town to meetings with clients. During my rides, I often envision what a more sustainable Los Angeles would look like. One thing I’ve given some thought to lately is the future of cars.  Specifically, I’m really excited about the numerous ways in which the nature of cars would change if they just drove themselves (which is something Google is working on that could be combined with the smart phone carpooling app that Avego is working on). Our streets would be safe and inviting for bicycling, walking and public life. Instead of driving, people could spend their time doing what I see drivers doing all the time: texting! Most exciting, we could have a 21’st century public-private transportation system that would be flexible, fast and convenient.

Using the concept of Mind mapping, I started to put some thoughts down on to reimagine how we collectively use cars (using a free program I downloaded called Freemind). I welcome any comments you have on this concept. Here's a link to the full image above that brainstorms various benefits of this potential future.  

What I like about the Mindmapping concept is that it’s a more visual way to link ideas together rather than the traditional listing format that brainstorms take. I encourage groups to try this out at future meetings to imagine the future, among other things. 

Working together with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (a leading environmental justice organization in Southern California), I’m thrilled to take my trainings to a new level, directly to the leadership of their organization during their actual meetings. 

It’s an exciting new format for me where at the start of four Steering Committee meetings over the next several months, I will present a 15-minute training that reviews best practices in facilitation. In each presentation, I go over specific tools a facilitator brings to help support productive meetings, such as facilitating a brainstorm or evaluating a meeting. I then ask for some folks to volunteer to practice what they learned during the meeting. 

I attended my first Steering Committee last week and gave my 15 minute presentation. After that, I observed their meeting and took notes. One member of the group facilitated a brainstorming process that yielded a bunch of great ideas. Two other members facilitated a process at the end of the meeting to evaluate what went well during the meeting and what could be improved (pictured above).  I asked each of the folks who facilitated to share how it went for them and also asked the group to give feedback. I then gave some feedback. Altogether, we all experienced a dynamic, hands-on learning experience where participants immediately put theory into action.  

Thanks to the many of you that responded to my earlier “What Frustrates You About Meetings” blog post. Based on you feedback, here are ten suggestions based on your feedback that will hopefully reduce the amount of frustration you feel at your meetings:

“When meetings last too long with no direction/or too many agenda items When side conversations occur during a meeting When everyone's full attention is not on the speaker (e.g., one person listening but in background prepping for lunch/next agenda item - trying to be quiet but being noisy instead)” (Submitted by Dawn)

1. Prior to the meeting, develop a clear agenda and stick to it during the meetings. Here’s a link to my top 10 tips for putting together a good agenda. 

2. Establish ground rules prior to the meeting and have one of them be “No side conversations during group discussion”. 

“Personality conflicts!” (Submitted by Chris)

3. A first step would be acknowledging the personality conflicts openly in the group. If there is a conflict, try to understand the source of it.

“When it is obvious that no one wants to be meeting in the first place, first and foremost the person convening it. As in " we have to meet to please John, Paul and Ringo at the next hierarchical level, but none of what we say will actually matter a whole lot". Then proceed to waste everybody's time instead of using the circumstance to make the best use of it.” (Submitted by Julien)

4. Before you meet, ask the question “Is this meeting necessary?”. Maybe a case could be made for not meeting at all, or making the meetings shorter and more effective.

When robert's rules are not followed (submitted by Marisol):

5. Thankfully, there’s alternatives to the very formal Robert’s Rules of order.  The majority of groups I facilitate decide to operate by consensus.  Here’s a link I found giving more background on consensus decision making vs. Robert’s Rules.

Meaningless fuzzy wuzzy teambuilding activities. If I go to one more inservice where they ask me to go to my "power corner", or build something out of tinkertoys with people I will never see again, I'll toss my cookies. (Submitted by Eleganza)

6. First, ask yourself if this is a group where introducing activities to build a stronger team would be valuable. If so, choose a team building strategy that fits into the culture of the organization (there’s a wide variety of team building activities to choose from). If you find team building activities frustrating, then maybe that’s an indicator that you’re frustrated with the team itself.  If so, figure out what’s frustrating you and work with the team’s leadership to see if you can resolve it. 

“Lack of Beer” (submitted by Geoff): 

7. Plan for an optional drinks after the meeting so you have something to look forward to.

8. Here’s a link to my 10 tips for saving time at meetings.

9. Here’s a link to my three tips for encouraging active listening. 

10. Here’s a link to my 10 general tips for facilitation.

I welcome any suggestions you have.  Thanks.

I recently facilitated a strategic planning retreat for LAPD (that’s the L.A. Poverty Department in case you were wondering). For the last 25 years, LAPD has engaged community members in Skid Row to create performances that address issues within the community.

Since I started this project late last year, I facilitated a board meeting to begin the planning and interviewed 10 external stakeholders from the community, arts leaders and supporting foundations. Most recently, I planned and facilitated a day-long retreat with the organization’s leadership in Yucca Valley, near Joshua Tree. 

With an inspiring landscape all around us, the organization’s leadership made progress developing its vision, values, five-year core strategies and goals. We spent some of the time discussing items as a group such as prioritizing core strategies and other times in smaller groups to draft out initial goals (pictured above). We had some lively discussions and used a variety of methods to prioritize and make important decisions. I look forward to working with LAPD’s leadership to finalize and ultimately approve a new plan for moving forward.

Throughout the process, I have enjoyed learning more about the issues surrounding the community and how the creation of art plays a critical role in building community and raising awareness. I attended LAPD’s recent State of Incarceration performance and would highly recommend you check out their work.

I recently facilitated a successful Board retreat for the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition.  In just five short hours, the group clarified its vision, strategies and goals. 

As a facilitator, I designed a fun, fast paced, engaging process for the group to develop its vision statement from scratch.  The exercise took two hours and resulted in group consensus around the key elements of a vision along with near-final language.  Here’s how I facilitated the process:

After quickly defining a vision for the group and giving some examples, I asked all of them to write down a few sentences that captured each of their own visions for the organization for five minutes. Based on this, I asked them to write five key words or phrases that captured each of their main points.  To continue the brainstorm, I asked for three volunteers to give a one-minute presentation (as a news reporter reporting on the community 25 years from now).  After each short presentation (which generated a lot of good laughter), I encouraged the other participants to write a word or phrase that came to them.

Next, I asked them all to stand up and post their eight post-it notes on the wall and for five minutes, connect post-its that related to each other in silence. I enjoyed watching them connect their ideas together. For the next five minutes, I encouraged them to continue connecting post-its while also talking with someone next to them.  I then asked the group if any categories emerged and seven key areas arose that the group agreed on (which took about another five minutes).

Based on the categories they develeped, I asked for two volunteers for each group and split the group into seven small groups. Each group’s task was to further digest the information from the category they volunteered for and write one vision-like sentence describing that category. I suggested the one extra person not in a group (the Executive Director) move between groups during this time. The groups met for about 15 minutes.  I ask one-member to write the sentence on the board and the other member to read it for the rest of the group.

We then reflected and commented on these sentences as a group.  Knowing that having a group of 15 to refine the language of a vision statement could take forever and also be a frustrating process to go through, I asked if anyone would be interested in refining the language further and propose some specific language and options at the next board meeting. Four people volunteered. I then asked the group if anyone had any major concerns with the concepts and language developed so far -   none were raised. I read through the draft vision statement and asked people to raise their hand if they supported the general concept and language so far, with the understanding that the group of four volunteers will refine the language by the next board meeting for a final vote.  We reached full consensus!

Having just returned from facilitating a Board retreat, I can tell you first hand there’s something very powerful about assembling your organization’s leadership to make important decisions.  Here are ten tips to make your retreats in 2011 a success:

1. Designate a Planning Lead or Committee:  The Executive Director, Board President and ideally another Board member should meet a couple of times before the retreat to plan a successful gathering. If you bring in an outside facilitator, they should also be involved in this planning process.  

2. Decide a Location:  Ideally, you want to choose a location that feels “far away”. Of course, you have to balance far away with what all of your leadership has the capacity to make it to. Here’s a link to 12 sites in Los Angeles.

3. Decide Who to Invite:  Will it just bet your Board of Directors or will you invite staff, volunteers and/or other community stakeholders? If you bring in non-Board members, be clear up front their role in the decision making process will be.

4. Engage Participants Before the Retreat:  Ask for their input in developing the agenda.  Run the draft agenda by them before the retreat and make modifications based on their input.

5. Develop an Agenda:  While there’s a time and place for informal chatting during a retreat, it’s best to develop a clear agenda with goals and outcomes.  Prioritize the three or four biggest decisions you need to make and give time for them in the agenda.  Here’s a link with more info on planning a successful agenda. 

6. Use Retreats to Make Big, Long-Term Decisions:  Retreats are great for strategic planning – developing your mission, vision, values, strategies, goals and objectives.  They are also good opportunities to discuss/resolve big issues your organization faces.  Avoid routine business at retreats.

7. Plan for Engaging Activities:  Don’t just plan one long group discussion – mix it up with small group work, one-on-one work, various team building activities, games and fun.  Tailor these activities to the folks that will attend.  I’m a big fan of two-day retreats that include an overnight, giving more time for folks to deepen their relationships with one another.

8. Plan for Meals and Movement:  Some of the most valuable time at retreats occurs during informal discussion during meals or physical activities like walks, bike rides or games.  Avoid “working lunches” and instead give folks the opportunity to chat.  Remember to take a 10 or 15-minute break after working for 90 minutes.

9. Allow for Flexibility:  Inevitably, some agenda items take longer and others take less time.  If you’re making good progress on something valuable to your organization but haven’t finished it yet, give yourself the option to work more on it.

10. Designate a Facilitator:  Either designate one or multiple people within your own organization to facilitate the actual retreat. Or, if you have the capacity to hire an outside facilitator, that would give everyone in the organization's leadership the opportunity to fully participate in the decision-making process. Professional facilitators bring a variety of tools and methods designed to provide a space for everyone to participate in the decision-making process. Even more valuable, a facilitator can help your group navigate through the sometimes-challenging territory of making tough decisions. Here’s a link to seven reasons why a facilitator can be of value to your organization. Please contact me if you’re interested in having me facilitate your upcoming retreat.  Thanks and happy retreating!   

(Erika Lindemann, Board President of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, facilitates a discussion during their retreat)

I value ongoing professional development and am usually reading some book to sharpen my facilitation skills. Below are quotes describing the role of the Facilitator from several books I recommend.

“A facilitator is the custodian of the consensus process, a servant-leader whose purpose is to help the group make the best decisions possible.” - Briggs

"The facilitator's job is to support everyone to do their best thinking and practice. To do this, the facilitator encourages full participation, promotes mutual understanding and cultivates shared responsibility. By supporting everyone to do their best thinking, a facilitator enables group members to search for inclusive solutions and build sustainable agreements" - Kaner

“Group facilitation is a process in which a person whose selection is acceptable to all the members of the group, who is substantively neutral, and who has no substantive decision-making authority diagnoses and intervenes to help a group improve how it identifies and solves problems and makes decisions, to increase the group’s effectiveness.” –Schwarz

"One who contributes structure and process to interactions so groups are able to function effectively and make high-quality decisions. A helper and enabler whose goal is to support others as they achieve exceptional performance" – Bens

“The facilitator impacts and guides the process but does not give input on the content of a meeting – that comes from the participants.  The facilitator’s job is to serve the group, not dominate it.” –Kelsey and Plumb

"Effective group facilitation is an artful dance requiring rigorous discipline.  The role of the facilitator offers an opportunity to dance with life on the edge of the sword, to be present and aware, to be with and for people in a way that cuts through to what enhances and facilitates life.  A facilitator is a peaceful warrior." -Hunter, Bailey & Tailor

“The Master doesn’t talk, he acts. 
When his work is done,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”
-Tao Te Ching

Ingrid Bens; Facilitating With Ease! (2000)

Beatrice Briggs; Introduction to Consensus (2000)

Hunter, Bailey & Tailor; The Art of Facilitation: How to Create Group Synergy (1995)

Sam Kaner with Lenny Lind, Catherine Toldi, Sarah Fisk and Duane Berger; Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making (2007)

Dee Kelsey and Pam Plumb; Great Meetings! How to Facilitate Like a Pro; (1999)

Roger Schwarz; The Skilled Facilitator (New & Revised July 2002)

Stephen Mitchell (Translator); Tao Te Ching (1998)

For even more books on facilitation, check out the International Association of Facilitators online library.  I'm a member of this organization and look forward to attending their conference this April in Denver. 

(Photo Yvonne Bambrick snapped of me leading a fundraising training at the Alliance for Biking and Walking retreat)

Does your organization's staff and/or board need to enhance its capacity to run more effective meetings and/or successfully raise needed funding? There are numerous nonprofit management centers here in Southern California that offer a variety of courses on a regular basis. I have led trainings at many of these, including the Center for Nonprofit Management, Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership, the Flintridge Foundation and L.A. Eco-Village.  I have also led trainings for the Liberty Hill Foundation, Alliance for Biking and Walking, Enterprise Community Partners and directly for numerous nonprofit organizations. My workshops are fun, fast-paced and very interactive. They usually range in length from one to four hours. Below is a list of 10 courses I provide (which I would be happy to customize for your organization). Please contact me if you would like to discuss further. 

FACILITATION 

I invite you to the next happy hour I’m hosting on February 3rd to celebrate the new year. As usual, expect 15-30 smart, civic-minded folks from the nonprofit, public and private sectors to gather for good conversation and a drink during the happy hour. 

Date/Time: Thursday, February 3 · 5:30pm - 10:00pm

Location: Weiland Brewery, 400 E 1st Street Los Angeles 90012

I’m choosing this location because it is across the street from MOCA and starting at 7pm that night, they will host an Engagement Party led by the League of Imaginary Scientists (I’m interested in checking this out because later in the year I’ll be participating in three Engagement parties with the LA Urban Rangers).

For those that can make it, I look forward to seeing you and introducing you to other folks I know. For those that can’t attend, no worries – another time.

I’m conducting an informal poll asking for you to share anything that frustrates you about the meetings you attend (whether they are meetings for work or organizations you volunteer for). These meetings could be regular, ongoing meetings you have or the occasional retreat. 

It’s perfectly normal to occasionally feel frustrated during meetings you attend.  Some things that have frustrated me in the past are meetings failing to start on time, one person dominating the discussion and meetings that meander because they lack a clear agenda.

I’m constantly thinking about how to improve the effectiveness of groups during their meetings and would love to hear from you. For each comment I receive, I will provide a quick response in the comments section to make your meetings more productive and will later write a full blog post with some more detailed suggestions to address the issues you raise. 

Thanks for sharing. I’m confident that most of the frustrations you experience in your meetings can be improved, either by planning ahead and/or effective facilitation.

On Tuesday, January 25^th, I facilitated a public workshop for the Park to Playa Trail Feasibility Study.  Over 50 people from the community came and spent the majority of the meeting in one of four similar break out sessions providing numerous suggestions and input on maps of the project area. 

After introducing the various project partners from a variety of public agencies and the planning team from Alta Planning and Design, I led the introductions in a participatory way that set the tone for the rest of the meeting. 

Rather than go around the room and have people say their name and where they lived sitting down, which I knew would take awhile given such a large group, I instead asked folks to stand up if the answer was yes to a series of questions I then asked the group:  Who here loves the parks within Baldwin Hills (everyone stood up!). Who here enjoys the Park at least once a year (still everyone stood up).  Once a Quarter (some people stared sitting down). Once a month? Once a week?  We all watched with curiosity and excitement to see who would be standing the longest and everyone clapped when only a handful of folks were still standing after we asked who used the parks on a daily basis. Lots of smiles. 

I then asked who lived within a mile of the park and who lived more than a mile away (nearly an even split, which was helpful to know).  We then asked some questions to get a sense of how people liked to spend time at the park (running, walking, bicycling, etc.). As we finished the exercise, I let participants know there would be plenty of small time in small groups for them to introduce themselves to each other during the break out sessions. 

In less than five minutes, we learned a great deal about who was in attendance and as one participant joked, we gave everyone a work out as well!  I would recommend this process to anyone needing to introduce a large number of people to each other in a short amount of time. 

We wound up having a tremendously engaging meeting that generating site-specific suggestions for Alta Planning and Design to now synthesize into the Trail Feasibility Planning Process.  We’ll have two more public workshops over the next several months and if you’re interested in this project, I encourage you to attend (you might wind up standing up several times as we introduce everyone to each other).  More info on the project can be found on the Baldwin Hills Conservancy webpage. 

I’m pleased to partner again with Alta Planning and Design to facilitate several upcoming meetings as part of their Park to Playa Planning Process with the MRCA and County of Los Angeles.  Above is the flyer for the first public workshop I’m facilitating.  I invite you to attend this meeting and/or fill out the online survey.  More info about Baldwin Hills and the various parks/trails within it can be found at the Baldwin Hills State Conservancy homepage.  
 

Last week, I facilitated another board retreat for the Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust that led to them deciding specific goals for their exciting work over the next year. 

The photo above is from a portion of the retreat we had where after breaking up into three smaller groups to brainstorm answers to three different questions, each group reported back to the larger group.  Since retreats can involve a lot of sitting, I suggested we move to a different part of the room and hear the reports standing up. 

This gave everyone a chance to stretch a little and see things from a different perspective. I would recommend an activity like this at least once during a day long retreat. 

In 2010, I celebrated my fifth year of consulting and kept very busy throughout the year. I’m pleased to report I consulted for 20 organizations, facilitated 35 meetings and led 26 trainings attended by 400 people. My role as a consultant helped strengthen the following organizations, which in turn all played a key role towards transforming Los Angeles into a sustainable city (links to these organizations can be found on my facilitation and fundraising pages):

FACILITATION
Alliance for Biking and Walking:  Facilitated a group dialog with over 100 participants at the Alliance’s retreat for this national alliance of bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations.

Alta Planning and Design:  Facilitated six focus groups related to bicycling for the City of Long Beach, one public meeting for the Culver City Bicycle Master Plan and another meeting for the Park to Playa Trail Feasibility Study in Baldwin Hills (if you're interested in connecting the trails within Baldwin Hills, click here to fill out a short survey).

Bikeable Communities:  Facilitated six planning meetings to launch a new sustainable city initiative in Long Beach.

City of Seal Beach:  Facilitated eight, three-hour long community meetings to resolve the issue of a polluting gas station.

Echo Park Time Bank:  Facilitated a one-day board retreat to develop annual goals for this local organization promoting an alternative economy.

LA Poverty Department (LAPD):  Began facilitating a strategic planning process for this 25-year old arts organization working to build community in Skid Row.

Liberty Hill Foundation:  Provided coaching on board development to six social change organizations supported by Liberty Hill and also facilitated a meeting with all of the coaches (organizations included:  CLUE LA, LA Voice, Black Women for Wellness, CHIRLA, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and the Jordan/Rustin Coalition)

Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing Developers (SCANPH):  Facilitated a board meeting and process to enhance fundraising for this association of affordable housing developers in LA.

Southern California Leadership Network:  Planned and facilitated three one-day seminars for a leadership development program I would highly recommend.

TEDxSoCal:  Facilitated five planning meetings to host a local TED conference in Long Beach.

FUNDRAISING
Housing LA:  I reviewed past grant proposals for this coalition advocating for progressive housing policies in LA.

John Burton Foundation:  I served as a reviewer for a round of grants they funded.

LA Voice:  I worked with their staff and board to create and implement a fund development plan for this congregation-based social change organization.

SOAR Charter School:  I worked to implement the fund development plan I wrote with them and successfully secured two state grants for over $450,000.

THAIS, INC:  I reviewed past grant proposals and worked with staff to develop new proposals for this organization providing needed health services to the Thai community in LA.

TRAININGS
Led trainings on facilitation, fundraising and/or board development for the Alliance for Biking and Walking (4 trainings), Flintridge Center (3), LA Eco-Village (4), Center for Nonprofit Management (8), Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership (2).  Also led trainings/discussions at the LA Streets Summit, Rail LA Pecha Kucha, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, THAIS., Inc and for the Venice Community Housing Corporation.

TRAVEL
For either work or play (I often get the two mixed up), I had the opportunity to travel to the following places in 2010:  Mexico City, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tijuana, Catalina, Denver/Rockies, Burlington, VT, New York City, Columbus, OH, Asheville, NC, Big Sur, Ojai, San Francisco, Chattanooga, TN, the following UC Natural Reserve Sites: Kenneth Norris UNRS in Cambria, CA, Dawson north of San Diego and Oil Point north of Santa Barbara

HAPPY HOURS
Six times over the course of the year I hosted happy hours that brought together a fantastic group of people.  Expect more in 2011!

GROWING MY PRACTICE
Early in 2010, I brought on Bob McKechnie on as an intern.  He quickly proved himself capable of assisting me with fundraising and I promoted him to my Associate.  I continue to value his work.

GIVING BACK
I gave over $1,000 to various organizations and also provided pro-bono support to three organizations.  I also continued my service with the LA Urban Rangers.

For all of the incredible leaders I got to work with this year, I want to thank you for all of your hard work to transform Los Angeles into a sustainable city. I look forward to growing my consulting practice in 2011 and serving even more organizations. If you would like to discuss how I might be of service to your organization, whether it be as a facilitator, coach or trainer, please give me a call at (323) 793-0591 or email me.

I invite you to join me for a happy holidays happy hour celebration on Wednesday, December 1st at the Spring St. Bar in Downtown Los Angeles (626 S. Spring St.). Since I don’t work for a large organization that has its own holiday party, this is my attempt to bring some of the many people I get to interact during the year here in SoCal together to celebrate and enjoy each other’s company. As usual, I’m guessing there will be a good crowd of 20 to 40 smart and passionate people who in some way work to make Los Angeles a more livable city (here's a link to the Facebook invite I sent out). The only agenda is to enjoy good conversation while sampling good ales (or wine if that’s your fancy). I always try to connect folks that don’t know each other so even if you come by yourself, it won’t be long before you’re engaging in some interesting conversation. If you plan on dropping by, I look forward to seeing you. If you are unable, no worries, there will be more gatherings in 2011. Feel free to invite a friend. Happy holidays!

I recently facilitated a planning retreat for Public Matters, a group I’m a part of. Public Matters works to engage communities around pressing issues using media technologies, often combining videos, mobile phones and the Internet. After launching several projects including Market Makeovers and PDUB Tours, we spent two days brainstorming potential areas in which to deepen the organization’s impact in collaboration with some other organizations.

As a facilitator, I enjoyed using post-it notes to brainstorm potential areas to focus on. The picture above shows retreat participants playing with different word combinations they generated.  I took the photo from the street looking into the Outpost for Contemporary Art in Highland Park, where we held the retreat. Throwing word ideas up on post-it notes gave the group to evaluate a number of ideas simultaneously and refine them in real time. It also provided everyone an opportunity to stand up and move around a bit. 

First, I encouraged everyone to write down key words they could think of on their own.  Then, we put all of the words up on the glass. I then encouraged folks to play around with the words, putting words together that spoke to them. As we did this, if folks thought of new words, I encouraged them to write them down and put them up. We narrowed it down to some options that spoke to us and wound up generating a name for this new venture along with a set of core values to guide our work. I would recommend this activity to any organization thinking of developing mission or vision statements.  Enjoy!

(view from the top of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook)

I’m thrilled to currently work on the development of two trail systems, one in Baldwin Hills and another in Downtown Los Angeles.

In Baldwin Hills, I’m facilitating agency stakeholder meetings along with the general public outreach meetings for the development of a Park to Playa Trail.  There will be a first public meeting soliciting feedback earlier next year.  I’m working with Alta Planning and Design on this and together we are working closely with the MRCA, Baldwin Hills Conservancy and several other stakeholders.  If anyone hasn’t been to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, I highly recommend this short trail with a spectacular view, especially at Sunset.

On a more creative note, outside of consulting, I continue to be an active part of the Los Angeles Urban Rangers.  With the support from the Orange County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles,  we’re developing a trail system in Downtown Los Angeles (yes, Downtown LA!).  These trails will explore different themes and hopefully deepen people’s understanding and appreciation of the downtown ecosystem. 

Developing trails are more complicated than you think.  Questions like who will use this trail, how will they access it and what will its route be all involve plenty of thought and planning.  I’m learning a lot through this process, which has given me a greater appreciation for all of the other trails I enjoy hiking in Griffith Park, Elysian Park, the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. 

If you have any suggestions for how to develop these trails, please leave a comment or contact me directly. Thanks!

(Representatives from the MRCA share their work to green the Pacoima Wash with Leadership LA Fellows)

Over the last year, I planned and facilitated three issue days for the Southern California Leadership Network.  For the Leadership Southern California program, this included a day exploring Land Use, Transportation and Housing along the Eastside Gold Line Extension.  For the Leadership Los Angeles Program, this included a day focusing on health care and most recently, last month we spent and entire day exploring one neighborhood in Los Angeles: Pacoima. Here’s a link to some photos from our day in Pacoima from the SCLN newsletter. 

I really enjoy working with SCLN and would highly recommend the program to anyone considering building their understanding of regional and local issues, enhance their leadership skills and strengthen their network with other civic-minded individuals. 

In the process of working with SCLN, I deepened my own understanding of the complexities and beauties of Los Angeles.  I also met an impressive group of SCLN fellows and community leaders.  This Wednesday, I look forward to attending SCLN’s annual Visionaries luncheon and invite you to attend if you’re interested. 

(A small group meets during the Alliance Bicycling and Walking's "Winning Campaigns" Training)

Ever been at a meeting that just dragged on? If the answer is yes and you’re looking for ways to save time at future meetings, consider these 10 quick tips.

1. Ask if the meeting is necessary:  Make sure the meeting has clear goals, outcomes and an agenda so its worth your time and energy.

2. Estimate the amount of time for each agenda item: Estimate how long each agenda item will take and do you best to stay on track during the meetings.

3. Use your limited time wisely:  Limit the amount of time for updates and announcements which can go on and on and instead use the majority of your meeting to discuss and decide important items.

4. Use a “Parking Lot” or “Bike Rack”:  If someone comes up with a great idea to discuss but it’s not on the current agenda, add it to a sheet of paper titled “Bike Rack”, which contains items to discuss at future meetings.

5. Start and end on time:  Starting late wastes much of meeting time – so does dragging on after the meeting should finish.

6. Designate a timekeeper:  Have a meeting participant watch the time and occasionally remind people how much time is left for each agenda item.

7. Gently interrupt the “talkers”: If your group has one member that talks for long periods of time, find a time while they are speaking to summarize what they said and ask if others have something to add.

8. Capture people’s thoughts on poster paper:  If an idea gets recorded on a large sheet of paper in front of everyone, it’s less likely to be repeated by another meeting participant.

9. Evaluate: At the end of the meeting, take a few minutes for everyone to go around and reflect on what went well and what could be improved and you’ll get some more ideas for how to save time at future meetings.

10. Hire an outside facilitator: A facilitator will work with your leadership to develop a good agenda and help your group stay on time during the meeting, often enabling your group to accomplish more in less time.

These are just 10 quick ideas – there are many more and I welcome your suggestions. I wish you the best as you work to make your meetings more effective and efficient.     

(Some recent facilitation I did at the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking Retreat...thanks Yvonne Bambrick for taking the photo)

I understand that nonprofits have limited budgets and are usually much more willing to hire a consultant to help with fundraising than facilitation in this shaky economy.  Let me attempt to make a case for why a facilitator can be a valuable investment for the leadership of your organization to make.  

The job of a facilitator is to increase the overall effectiveness of a group.  Specifically, a facilitator can help your group with the following:

1.  Improve the overall effectiveness of your meetings:  A facilitator works with your organization’s leadership to develop an effective meeting agenda beforehand and then works hard during your meeting to ensure the group achieves the goals and outcomes it set in its agenda.

2.  Help you make important decisions:  A facilitator understands the process of decision-making and can help move your group through that process in a structured way that engages everyone within your group.  

3.  Make your meetings more efficient:  Ever been in a meeting that goes off track?  A facilitator helps keep a group focused and intervenes when a group veers off track.

4.  Help you manage conflict:  Conflict can derail a group or be harnessed to help creatively solve a group’s problems.  A facilitator knows how to deal with conflict.

5.  Allow everyone to participate in the decision making process:  Facilitating a meeting is a lot of work and if a member of your group is in charge of doing it, it makes it harder for them to participate in the meeting.  A facilitator serves the whole group by allowing everyone to participate.

6.  Helps everyone be heard:  A facilitator listens to every word that is said and reflects much of it back to the group so the person saying it feels like they have been heard, and the group hears it again so there’s a better chance they actually hear it.

7.  Helps you solve problems:  Facilitators have a variety of tools to help a group creatively understand and solve problems that involve group activities and discussions.

While you probably don’t need an outside facilitator for all of your organization’s meetings, there are usually a few very important times where an organization could use an outside facilitator such as during a strategic planning process, board development process, annual workplan session or any other time where your organization needs to make a big decision, have a needed discussion or build a stronger team.

For more information about my work as a facilitator and tips on facilitation, check out my facilitation flyer.  If you would like to discuss further, please comment or contact me.  Thanks. 

 
Here's a link to my past email newsletters that I sent out: September + August.  If you would like for me to add you to my mailing list, please contact me.  

(Planting a the "Susie Forest" at the Alliance Retreat)

I recently spent four days in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking Leadership Retreat, attended by over 100 leaders from state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations. 

Having attended this retreat annually from 1998 to 2003 as Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, I really enjoyed reconnecting with some old friends and meeting a whole new generation of dynamic leaders from both the United States and Canada. 

During the retreat, I led an Advanced Fundraising session, facilitated a 1 ½ hour conversation with the entire group discussing engaging communities of color and provided one-on-one coaching to 15 leaders to discuss issues within their organizations in more detail.

I’m so impressed with how the bicycle and pedestrian movement continues to expand and am thrilled I could contribute to this through my work as a consultant. 

To close the retreat, we planted a tree in honor of Susie Stephens.  Susie helped launch the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking as its first Director.  She also played an enormous role in my life as a mentor and friend during my time at the LACBC. I still think of Susie all the time and this tree planting memorial meant a great deal to me.  I’m happy her spirit lives on!

(Photo of multiple small groups meeting from a large group session I facilitated at the Alliance for Biking and Walking Retreat)

I’m leading another Advanced Facilitation Workshop on Wednesday, September 15^th at the LA Eco-Village (117 Bimini Pl), from 7 to 9pm and invite you to attend. This workshop explores more sophisticated tools and strategies that facilitators use to ensure groups 
effectively reach decisions.  Participants will have the opportunity to practice facilitating challenging 
situations and receive feedback from the instructor and training participants.

Recommended pre-requisite:  Intro to Facilitation or some facilitation experience.

Fee:  $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required:  crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

Agendas help structure your time at meetings and play a key role in making your meeting effective.   Below are ten quick tips to help you develop agendas for your own meetings:

1. Plan ahead: Develop your agenda before your actual meeting.

2. Involve your leadership:  Have the organization’s leadership (often the Executive Director and President) plan the agenda together and forward it to other Board members before their meeting for their input.

3. Set time limits:  Estimate the amount of time for each agenda item to help keep the group on track towards making decisions. 

4. Have meeting participants lead different items: Make sure each agenda item has someone leading it and that they are prepared to present it.

5. Use your time wisely: Use your time together to make important group decisions. Minimize updates and reports.

6. Don’t pack in too much:  Prioritize the most important decisions you need to make.

7. Review:  Review the agenda before you start the meeting and make sure all are in agreement.

8. Stick to the agenda:  Many temptations exist to go off-topic.  If a good idea comes up, but is outside of the agenda, add it to a list of future agenda topics.

9. Plan for breaks: Give yourself some time to stretch, socialize and rest during meetings. 

10. Brainstorm future agenda items at the end of your meeting:  Use the end of the meeting to start listing potential agenda topics for your next meeting.

I hope these tips help and wish you the best as you move forward meeting in whatever group you are a part of.   If you need assistance putting together an agenda, please contact me.  

 
Every month I email out a newsletter with tips, updates, lessons and upcoming trainings.  Here's a link to the full newsletter.  If you would like for me to email future newsletters to you, please contact me.  Thanks and enjoy!

(I don't have any photos of Matt but I do have a photo of some of the
recommendations Alta presented at a recent meeting in Culver City)

I’m continually impressed watching the movement for a bicycle-friendly Los Angeles grow and prosper in Los Angeles.  Many people make up this movement and I’m writing to recognize one person who has worked hard over the last 10 years in the public sector, nonprofit sector and private sector: Matt Benjamin. 

After graduating from UCLA Planning School, Matt worked for the Metro in their Bikeway department and helped get numerous projects connecting bicycling with transit off the ground.  Just after I left directing the LA County Bicycle Coalition, Matt joined the organization as its Planning Director and led a major planning effort engaging low-income, immigrant bicyclists in the bicycle planning process.  Most recently, he led the LA office of Alta Planning and Design, working for clients such as the City of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Culver City. 

While I’m sad that Matt will be leaving Los Angeles, I’m happy for him and very appreciative of all of the hard work he’s put in to help make Los Angeles a better city to bike in.  Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Matt.  Most recently, I teamed up with Alta Consulting and facilitated six focus group meetings for the City of Long Beach and one large public meeting for the Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.   

I wish Matt the best as he continues his work outside of Southern California. I also look forward to a new generation of leaders working hard to continue transforming LA into a great place to bicycle, or as the LACBC puts it in their vision statement, "a great place for everyday, year-round cycling; a Los Angeles with healthier, more vibrant communities, where the air is cleaner, streets are safer and quieter; a Los Angeles where people can live, work and thrive."

(Photo taken of me recently by Tom Johnson, who just
opened his Lakewood Photo Exhibit in Long Beach)

I invite you to attend another Introduction to Facilitation workshop I'm leading at the LA Eco-Village on Wednesday, July 28th from 7pm to 9pm. Here's the summary of the training:

  
Facilitators play a key role in helping a group make decisions.  They help  create a safe environment where everyone feels like their input is valued. In this workshop, you'll explore the benefits of facilitation, explore the group decision making process, explore various tools a facilitator uses, and have the opportunity to practice facilitating a group (and receive  feedback on your efforts).

Here's a link to a two-page flyer I recently created that describes the facilitation services I provide along with 10 tips for successful facilitation.  Enjoy!

LSC Fellows look on as James Rojas, Co-Founder of the Latino Urban Forum
shows the model he created to showcase the future public transportation system
in Los Angeles as proposed by the Mayor's 30/10 plan. 

The Friday before I left for Mexico City, I facilitated a day-long seminar focussing on Land Use, Transportation and Housing for the Southern California Leadership Network's Leadership Southern California Class.  Here's a description of the day from SCLN's recent newsletter.  

Below that is more information about the Leadership Southern California Class, which is currently accepting applications (due at the end of the week).  A few years back, I participated in the program and would highly recommend it to build both your understanding of regional issues as well as network you with other civic-oriented leaders. 

Leadership Southern California 2010 analyzes the challenges and opportunities of Transit-Oriented Development One of the most difficult challenges facing Southern California today relates to land use, housing and transportation. As the region's population continues to grow, vehicle traffic, road infrastructure and uncertainty over the price of oil have become issues of concern. A shift towards transit-oriented development (TOD) and efficient use of land has led to new initiatives and projects, some of which were examined last week by the Leadership Southern California 2010 Fellows. "The federal funding strategy our region initiated has empowered local communities to raise transportation funds on their own," said Denny Zane, Move LA, on the significance of the 30/10 transportation initiative. "This has been seen by the federal government and other local governments as a template for projects nationwide." The Chamber is currently working with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office, Metro and Move LA on next steps for 30/10.  For more information visit www.leadershipnetwork.org or follow SCLN on Twitter@SCLN.  View photo gallery.   

Last Week to Apply for Leadership Southern California Class of 2011
With several exciting additions to the LSC curriculum, the 2011 class promises to be the most relevant, engaging program to date. The 2011 class will include a regional seminar in Ventura County, where participants will explore the people, places and trends affecting business and technology, coastal communities and agriculture; as well as a two-day seminar on natural resources management, with the new addition of energy. The new, two-day orientation session will feature activities focusing on the Internal Dynamics of Leadership, in partnership with the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. This new component focuses on executive education practices dedicated to managing one's self in the midst of dynamic, changing, challenging and sometimes stressful situations.  Please share this information with a colleague who may be interested. View more information and apply now.

For as much as I love LA, I also love getting away.  This weekend, I spent some time at a Pepper Tree retreat center just outside of Ojai.  Nestled in the foothills of the local mountains, it’s a relaxing place with an incredible view, especially at sunset.

I facilitate lots of retreats and while I know it’s hard for everyone to get away for an entire weekend, its well worth it.  You have time to build relationships with other folks in your organization.  You have time to rest and relax.  And most important, by not being distracted by all the pressures of the city, you can be fully present in the decision making. 

I encourage groups to plan in advance and schedule retreats outside of the city a few months in advance.  I experienced this recently when I facilitated a retreat for the LA Urban Rangers on a UC Natural Reserve in the hills of North San Diego County.

A small group of LLA Members meeting with the
Executive Director of Clinica Romero

Last Friday, I planned and facilitated a thought-provoking seminar for the Southern California Leadership Network's Leadership Los Angeles class.  Below is a description of the day SCLN wrote for their newsletter.  This week, I'm working on putting together another seminar for SCLN's Leadership Southern California Class focussing on Land Use, Transportation and Housing.  

Having participated in the Leadership Southern California Program, I would recommend the program to anyone interested in engaging more with regional issues and building a stronger professional network.  Right now, Leadership Southern California is recruiting applicants...check out their website for more info.

Leadership L.A. 2010 evaluates the impact of national healthcare reform on Los Angeles
The Leadership L.A. Class of 2010 continued its nine-month program with a session on Friday, June 11 focusing on health care in Los Angeles. The Fellows met at LAC+USC Medical Center with Dr. Hector Flores, Director, Family Care Specialists Medical Group to discuss the impact national reform has had on Los Angeles' local health care providers and practitioners.  As part of the day, Fellows also met with Jennifer Ybarra, Program Manager, The California Endowment, and toured the Legacy LA facilities and Ramona Gardens neighborhood.  Ybarra stated "it's not enough to have health insurance. A healthy community shapes an individual's quality of life. Lou Calanche, Executive Director, Legacy LA, highlighted key issues that still inhibit quality of life in Ramona Gardens, such as air quality and access to quality food. Excursions moderated by Pete Delgado, President & CEO, LAC + USC Healthcare Network, among others, gave the Fellows the opportunity to analyze three different systems used to provide medical services in LA: public hospitals, private hospitals, and community clinics. Read more@SCLN. View photo gallery.

Tonight, Tuesday June 15th, I'm leading a "Running Effective Meetings" Training at the LA Eco-Village, from 7pm to 9pm.  

This workshop explores the key components necessary to ensure meetings are effective and result in decisions that help an organization move forward.  These components include: developing an agenda, knowing people’s roles and responsibilities, having a decision making process, facilitation and good listening skills.

Fee: $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required: crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

Here's a link to my my Top 10 Tips for running good meetings.

For more information Ron Milam’s work as a facilitator, click here.

I will also lead another Introduction to Facilitation training on July 28th from 7pm to 9pm at the LA Eco-Village.

L.A. Eco-Village is located at 117 Bimini Pl. near 1st and Vermont in Los Angeles    directions

(David from Alta Planning and Design receiving
input at one of the break out stations)

Approximately 75 people participated in the bicycle and pedestrian planning process in Culver City on June 12th for a three-hour community workshop.  The workshop started with a presentation of the plan, presented by David Pulsipher from Alta Consulting.  The Public Advisory Committee, made up of community members, then gave their input on the plan.  One of the committee members, Ron Durgin, made the case for inserting a stronger vision into the plan.  He showed the inspiring, short Streetfilms video, Long Beach Shifts Cycling in to High Gear, which earned the audience’s applause.

For the next hour and a half, meeting participants shared their comments and suggestions for the plan, first by making general comments in front of the large group, and then by breaking up into four smaller groups to give input on proposed maps, programs, recommendations and a prioritized list of bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects. The meeting closed with David reviewing next steps, which incorporates the public’s input, the plan going in front of the City’s planning committee and eventually going before the city council.

It’s not too late to provide feedback on this plan – the deadline is June 18^th.  

I appreciate all the work that so many people have put into this process.  I also enjoyed facilitating this workshop and wish the community the best as they move forward.  

I'm looking forward to facilitate a community workshop in Culver City this Saturday.  Here's more information about the meeting from the Culver City website:

Community Workshop this Saturday - June 12th.  Please come to the final community workshop to discuss Culver City's first Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan.  The workshop will be held in Veteran's Memorial Auditorium from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. See you on Saturday!

The Draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is available for review on the Documents page. Please review it and come to the June 12 workshop to provide feedback.

Comments on the Draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan are due by Friday, June 18.  You can submit your comments here.

A little bit about the project...

The Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative aims to help residents and visitors overcome these barriers. The initiative will compile updates in policy, program and infrastructure into the City’s first comprehensive Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. This plan will guide the improvements for cycling and walking citywide.

Additionally, the impending 2010 arrival of the Exposition Light Rail Transit line and the bikeway alongside it, on the edge of the city, provides an excellent opportunity to enhance the adjacent area, promoting safe and comfortable non-motorized access to the station. The initiative features a physical project element that will focus on providing bicyclists and pedestrians with these connections—the Expo to Downtown Bicycle and Pedestrian Connector.

We hope you participate in this process to make Culver City a place that offers active, sustainable and safe lifestyles, where people bike and walk for transportation and recreation.

(photo from a recent LA Urban Rangers Retreat I facilitated)

This Wednesday (June 9th), I'm leading an Advanced Facilitation training at the LA Eco-Village. The following week on June 15th, I'm leading a Running Effective Meetings training.  I invite you to attend one or both of them.

Here's more information: 

Wed, June 9, 2010 from 7 to 9 pm at L.A. Eco-Village          directions

Advanced Facilitation 

This workshop explores more sophisticated tools and strategies that facilitators use to ensure groups effectively reach decisions.  Participants will have the opportunity to practice facilitating challenging situations and receive feedback from the instructor and training participants. 

Recommended pre-requisite:  Intro to Facilitation or some facilitation experience.

Fee:        $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required:  crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

============================================

Tue, June 15, 2010 from 7 to 9 pm at L.A. Eco-Village    directions

Running Effective Meetings    

This workshop explores the key components necessary to ensure meetings are effective and result in decisions that help an organization move forward.  These components include: developing an agenda, knowing people’s roles and responsibilities, having a decision making process, facilitation and good listening skills.

Fee:        $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required:  crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

I recently facilitated a one-day retreat for the Echo Park Time Bank.  I’m pleased to report their Board of Directors made a number of important decisions that will help them move forward. We focused on developing long and short term goals, which help guide any organization.  After brainstorming numerous possibilities, we categorized them and prioritized a few areas for them to focus in on. 

After the retreat, the founding Board members Autumn and Lisa emailed me the following “We want to thank you again so much for all the invaluable help you gave us last weekend. We felt incredibly encouraged and hopeful afterward.”

As always, I really enjoy facilitating groups and am always thrilled when participants leave the retreat more focused and energized about their work.  And for anyone living in or near Echo Park, I encourage you to check out the Echo Park Time Bank for an innovative means of exchange and community building.

For more info about the facilitation services I provide, check out my one-page flyer.

Five years ago this month, I launched my own consulting practice.   Since then, I’m pleased to report I have consulted for over 40 nonprofit organizations primarily in the areas of facilitation and fundraising. 

I love my work.  I get to work with dynamic leaders working on a variety of issues throughout Southern California.   With each project, I learn about my client’s work to create parks and open space, develop affordable housing, transform streets into bicycle-friendly places, create sustainable communities and so much more.  I also learn more about how to make meetings even more effective and how to engage staff and board members around successful fundraising strategies. 

To celebrate, I plan to hold another happy hour on Tuesday, June 22nd, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at Silverlake Wine.  As always, my happy hours are places where I invite all of my clients and friends to share a drink and discuss the issues of the day.   I invite you to join us.

We’ll see what the next five years bring.  I hope to serve even more organizations that are working to transform Southern California into a sustainable region.  Thanks for all of your interest and support.

As a consultant, I specialize in providing facilitation and fundraising services.  I recently made some changes to my one page flyers for both of these subjects and would like to share them with you for your review.  Please feel free to forward them on to anyone who you think might be interested in my services, or give me a call if you would like to discuss further. 
Thanks, 
Ron

Here's a link to the facilitation flyer.

Here's a link to the fundraising flyer.

I'm pleased to report the International Institute for Facilitation and Change has published another one of my articles in their online Bonfire newsletter - "Facilitation Skills - Listening".  I'm thrilled to contribute to a broader understanding of facilitation through this work and hope you find it useful, whether your facilitating a meeting or just spending time with people you care about. The International Institute for Facilitation and Change's website has a number of helpful articles on facilitation that I have found valuable and encourage you to check them out. 

 Here's a link to my March Newsletter with tips + updates

Facilitation plays a key role in my work as a Consultant.  I've faciliated numerous retreats, board meetings and community meetings.

This Thursday, April 1st, from 7 to 9pm, I'll be leading an "Introduction to Facilitation" workshop at the Los Angeles Eco Village. I invite you to attend.  

Here's more info about the training:

Facilitators play a key role in helping a group make decisions.  They help  create a safe environment where everyone feels like their input is valued. In this workshop, you'll explore the benefits of facilitation, explore the group decision making process, explore various tools a facilitator uses, and have the opportunity to practice facilitating a group (and receive  feedback on your efforts) 

I'm excited that the International Institute for Facilitation and Change included my Top 10 Facilitation tips in their recent Bonfire Newsletter.  This organization and newsletter is a great resource for anyone wanting to improve their facilitation skills.  

I'm also pleased to invite you to the following three trainings I just scheduled at the Los Angeles Eco-Village, which you are more than welcome to attend:

     (photo taken by Drew Reed)

Last Saturday’s LA Streets Summit, attended by more than 500 people, left me inspired and excited about the potential for LA’s growing movement to transform our streets into more livable places.  Janette Sadik-Khan showed that if New York City transform its streets, so can Los Angeles if we are creative, organized and unified.

In the afternoon, I facilitated a discussion asking the question “How can we continue to build the bicycling movement in Los Angeles?”  Approximately 35 people attended this session and all had great things to say.  As any brainstorm goes, the point of our time was to generate ideas, not evaluate or judge them.   

Here’s a summary of the ideas generated (I put the various ideas into categories):

BUILDING THE MOVEMENT

• Focus on what connects us
• Bring together existing leaders of various organizations for a day or two retreat to figure out the following: Overall movement goals, Time to share what each organization is doing, Discuss how to best support each other, Share lessons learned, Learn best practices from other successful leaders from other cities outside of region, Develop communications strategy, Create a central calendar, Existing calendars mentioned (bikeboom, LA Streetsblog, Bikeside, Biking in LA, LACBC, CICLE, socalcycling.com, socalcross, facebook), Get to know each other better, Figure out each other’s roles and responsibility in movement
• Need an effective coalition to put political pressure on
• Need to think beyond bikes and build connect with other organizations – gender/race/other communities: Such as public health, youth, college/universities, environmental groups, grammar schools, transit advocates, police, food vendors, neighbors, neighborhood councils, art organizations, LA River, chamber of commerce, bike industry - Shimano, park advocates, charitable organizations that do fundraising rides, bike shops, cyclecross community, developers, affordable housing, communications industry – KPFK, gas stations, AARP, AAA, farmers
• Need for both regional and local groups for people to connect with
• Monthly meetings?
• Have a regular “Bicycle Roundtable” where leaders from the movement can meet to discuss goals/problems – a current idea of bicyclingjustice.com
• Need to be clearer about what our overall goals are
• Rides that give people the opportunity to get to know each other better and also explore local riding conditions
• Have a TED-style conference for bikes
• We don’t have to all agree all the time
• Work to bridge gap between youth and radical bike advocates: More dialog & Tap into good energy

WORKING TOGETHER

• Work together to implement City of LA Bike Plan
• Work to support city staff working on bike issues
• Need an effective communications strategy
• Focus on motorists to get more respect

RECRUITING

• Need to organize and recruit cyclists
• Have more people involved with various organizations cooperate to come up with a flyer to leave at various bike shots that identify the variety of bike organizations
• Have a button on bike blogs that would go to a site showing various campaigns and/or organizations people could get involved with
• Offer to help fix your neighbor’s bicycle
• Recruiting social riders into movement
• How to recruit apathetic cyclists? Are there incentives?
• Recruit at the Tour de California (and/or partner with the Tour)
• Have something on the City Hall TV Channel
• Have a fix-your bike show/kids club
• Get more people on bikes
• 2% of overall population can change anything

NEXT STEPS

• Collect emails from people in attendance
• Send out a monthly newsletter
• Have a facebook Page
• Plan a conference to unify bike movement
• Other ideas?

I invite you to attend this weekend’s LA Streets Summit, which will bring together hundreds of people interested in transforming LA’s streets into more livable places.  After a great set of morning keynote speakers, the afternoon is packed with a wide variety of fantastic panels.  I’m excited to facilitate the following panel at 1:00pm:

Building a Stronger Bicycling Movement in Los Angeles
This workshop provides a forum for people working to transform Los Angeles into a bicycle-friendly city to identify areas in which we can strengthen our movement.  How can we work more effectively with each other, better communicate with each other and strengthen relationships among each other? Participants will brainstorm ways in which to strengthen our movement and talk about potential next steps after the LA Street Summit.

I invite you to attend my session and/or register to attend the Summit. 

I’m keeping busy this week with facilitation and am excited to have the opportunity to work with so many groups.  Here’s a quick glimpse of my schedule:

Tuesday:
-Facilitating a subcommittee of Green LA Coalition

-Facilitating a community meeting for the City of Seal Beach

Thursday:
-Leading a seminar at the Center for Nonprofit Management on planning successful fundraising events

-Facilitating a discussion with the Board of Directors of LA Voice

Friday
-Leading a seminar at the Flintridge Foundation on Researching and Cultivating Donors

-Facilitating a discussion with the Board of the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Hosing Developers

I’m thrilled to work with so many leaders of so many organizations working for positive change in Los Angeles. 

Here's a link to my February newsletter - enjoy!

I recently completed a consulting project that took several months for the Green LA Coalition.  Green LA works to build a strong movement to win campaigns that can transform Los Angeles into a sustainable city.

For this project, I collaborated closely with another consultant, Beth Steckler.  For this project, we interviewed over 30 people within the Coalition’s leadership and outside the organization, along with surveying the entire membership with an online survey.  Based on this work, we developed an assessment report and later facilitated a day-long strategic visions retreat for the Coalition’s Steering Committee.  From all of the information we gathered through these efforts, we presented a final report with recommendations for how the Coalition could strengthen itself as it moves forward so that it could have the greatest possible impact in making Los Angeles a more sustainable city. 

I’m pleased to report the Steering Committee approved the majority of our recommendations and has asked Beth and I to continue consulting for them to help them implement our recommendations. 

I also look forward to attending Green LA’s upcoming awards fundraiser on March 15^th, from 6pm to 9pm, and invite you to attend.

I’m very pleased to be working with the leadership at the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH).   SCANPH creates affordable housing opportunities for low-income people by expanding the knowledge, capacity and influence of the nonprofit development sector.  Over the years, SCANPH has championed affordable housing in Southern California and helped build a strong network of local affordable housing developers that have generated housing that’s affordable.   SCANPH also has some excited plans to green development in the future, which I’m especially excited to see happen. 

I’m working with the organization’s leadership to build their fundraising capacity so that they’re able to bring in the needed resources to do their good work.  I’m excited to attend their upcoming Board meeting in March to work with the entire Board of Directors on engaging in the fundraising process.  For some tips on how to build a fundraising Board of Directors, check out my recent blog post.

Many years ago, I benefitted from the work from an intern while directing the LA County Bicycle Coalition (my intern, Andrew, currently teaches in Mexico City and will someday be the Mayor of Detroit).  I later worked closely with an intern while working for Enterprise Community Partners in New York City (that intern, Matt, is currently in Law School and will someday be the Governor of Florida).   As Principal of my own consulting firm with a lot of work on my plate, I'm once again looking to bring on an intern to help me with my work.  In turn, I look forward to working with whoever I bring on to build their capacity as a leader in the nonprofit sector.  Here's the job description.  Please forward to anyone who you think might be interested:

Intern Job Description

 
Ron Milam Consulting is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Intern.  Ron Milam has 12 years of successful experience in the non-profit sector and has consulted for 40 nonprofit organizations since 2005.  His mission is to provide capacity building support for leaders working to transform Los Angeles into a sustainable region.  Ron specializes in the areas of fundraising, strategic planning and leadership development.  He’s a skilled facilitator, presenter, coach and project manager.   For more info, check out www.ronmilam.com.

This position is ideal for someone wanting to gain real world experience as a consultant working for some of Los Angeles’ leading sustainability oriented nonprofit organizations.  It’s also a good place to build your skills as a leader in the nonprofit sector, particularly as a fundraiser and/or facilitator.  As part of the internship, Ron will identify areas in which the intern wants to build their capacity as a leader and discuss it weekly with the intern.   This part-time position is ideal for current graduate students wanting to gain some real-world experience and additional income on the side.  Specific responsibilities of the intern are as follows:

Fundraising

• Research potential donors for Ron’s clients
• Develop/write/review grant proposals
• Copy-edit proposals Ron develops
• Assist with logistical details of fundraising work Ron does for clients (fundraising assessments, leadership surveys, draft plans, etc.)

Facilitation

• Record notes for meetings Ron facilitates
• Facilitate portions of the agenda
• Assist with logistical details related to meetings Ron facilitates

 Marketing

• Help research and identify new consulting clients
• Assist with social media marketing
• Assist with the development of marketing and training materials
• Data-entry

There may be other projects that come up outside of the areas of facilitation, fundraising and marketing, depending on the needs of Ron Milam and his clients.

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Passion and energy for implementing urban sustainability in Los Angeles
• Experience and/or interest in the nonprofit sector
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Detail-oriented
• Strong leadership ability and an entrepreneurial spirit that thrives in a start-up environment

Compensation:

$15/hour.  Part-time.  Flexible hours.

Application Submission – Deadline February 26^th, 2008:

Please email your cover letter and résumé to rpm@ronmilam.com.

Good listening skills are essential to anyone who wants to successfully facilitate a meeting.  It’s also my number one tip on my “Top 10 Tips for Facilitators”.

As a facilitator, you need to listen closely to what everyone has to say.  Since you are there to serve the entire group, you must actively listen so you can better understand where everyone is coming from so you can help them accomplish whatever they want to accomplish as a group.  Part of the trust you build with the group you facilitate depends on them believing you hear them.  Not only that, your active listening will help ensure other people within the group listen to each other, and actually hear what they have to say.  When folks within a group listen to each other, they are more likely to understand each other and that helps make it a little easier for the group to come to sustainable agreements.

Here are three quick and easy ways to listen:

1. Mirroring:  When someone says something (that isn’t too long), you repeat the words back verbatim to the person who said it.  This is a tactic I often use when I’m facilitating a br Save ainstorming session with a group.
2. Summarizing:  People often take a minute or two to make their point to the larger group.  If I’m facilitating a discussion, I’ll often quickly summarize what someone says to make sure I heard it right.  The point also gets reiterated to the group.   If my summary is slightly off, the person will correct me and then I’ll summarize it again.
3. Clarifying:  Sometimes someone will make a point that isn’t all that clear, or very general.  Before calling on the next person, I will often ask a clarifying question to better understand where they are coming from.  This helps them hear that their point is made and it helps other people in the group.

I recently used all three of these techniques for a community meeting I facilitated for the City of Seal Beach.  I encourage you to give them a try as you facilitate future meetings and see how it goes. 

I have a family member who did well running a successful company.  When I asked him why he succeeded, he said “I’ll tell you what everyone will say – work hard, never give up, have vision, etc.”  He paused for a moment, smiled, and looked at me and continued sharing “There was one thing that played a key role in our success.  Once a month, I would invite everyone in my company for a drink, from the most senior staff person to the most junior.  We’d spend the first part just mingling and socializing.  Once everyone had two drinks, I would bring out a note pad and we would brainstorm solutions to whatever problems we faced.  That’s where we generated our best ideas!”

In that spirit, I’ve hosted/facilitated a monthly happy hour for the last year which are not only a place to generate great ideas to improve the quality of life in Los Angeles, but also meet great people as well.  As a consultant, I interact with phenomenal leaders working on a variety of issues all throughout LA.  This is one way in which I bring everyone together and I welcome you to attend. 

My next happy hour is tonight, February 2^nd, starting at about 5:30pm at 7 Grand in Downtown LA.  The question I’m asking folks to consider is “what will you do to make LA a better place in 2010?”  We generally go until about 8:30 or 9pm. I’m looking forward to seeing who attends tonight and introducing some great people other folks they don’t already know.

Here's a link to my most recent email newsletter I sent out.  Enjoy!

Here's a link to my December 2009 Newsletter.  Enjoy!
Happy Holidays,
Ron

Last Friday, I facilitated another seminar for the Southern California Leadership Network.  This time, we looked at a specific neighborhood:  Koreatown.  I really enjoyed putting this seminar together, which invovlved developing the day's agenda and recruiting the speakers.  I especially enjoyed facilitating the afternoon debrief where participants talked about their experiences exploring various aspects of the neighborhood.   Here's a summary of the day that the Southern California Leadership Network just emailed out:

Leadership L.A. focuses on neighborhood development in Koreatown
The Class of 2009 learned how neighborhoods grow and develop in Los Angeles on Oct. 9 with Dr. Fernando Guerra of the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University, who discussed the DNA of neighborhoods in the city and his "5 Ds" that have driven what L.A. has become: decentralization, democratization, deindustrialization, development of land and demographic shifts. The case study focused on Koreatown, where Fellows met with Korean-American leaders, including Leadership Southern California alumnus Hyepin Im, Korean Churches for Community Development; as well as local business owners, developers, community organizers, historians and neighborhood councilmembers. The class closed the session at the new Solair Wilshire transit-oriented development with L.A. City Councilmember Tom LaBonge. Read more about the day on Twitter by following @SCLN. View photo gallery. 

Lately, I have been doing some consulting work for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, a fantastic organization that "facilitates the creation of small, accessible community green and open space, such as parks and gardens, to address the inequity of open spaces in Los Angeles’ underserved neighborhoods, and to ensure community participation and collaboration in every step of the process of creating these parks and community gardens."

I’m working closely with their board and staff to help them develop a strategy to implement their long term vision of developing 50 new parks throughout Los Angeles.  This work involves a lot of facilitation at meetings as we brainstorm and prioritize strategies. 

This is a collaborative consulting project for me not only because I’m working closely with their staff and board, but I’m also partnering with Steve Rasmussen Cancian, a former organizer turned into Landscape Architect that has breathed new life into neighborhoods with his engaging work to develop community living rooms, among other things.  Together, we are combining our talents and generating a lot of great ideas for how to generate community parks and open space in a 21^st century Los Angeles. 

If you know of any local community groups that are interested in having more parks and open space in their communities, please email me. 

I recently facilitated a day long planning session for the Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust, an organization working to exercise land stewardship as the basis for creating pedestrian-centered neighborhoods that emphasize sustainability-oriented affordable housing.

We had an especially productive retreat.  As a facilitator, I helped create a space for the Board of Directors to decide their organization's long-term goals, short-term goals and the beginnings of a 2009/10 workplan. 

At the end of the retreat, one of the participants shared a list she had been making throughout the day of “Ronisms”: little things I said to encourage the group as they made tough decisions throughout the day. 

Here are some of the things I said:  “Nice”, “Excellent”, “Good work”, “Awesome”, “That’s Great”, “Huge”, “Amazing”, “Lets Rock and Roll”, “Give yourselves a hand of applause”, “You folks have chosen well” and “We have less than 40 minutes people”.

I laughed as I heard this list and was reminded that part of my work as a facilitator is to help ensure full group participation in the decision making process, which is done in part by encouraging and affirming participation throughout the process.  By the end of the day, everyone was very happy with the results of their hard work and thanked me for my hard work as a facilitator. 

I’m here at LAX waiting to catch my plane to Toronto, Canada, where I will lead another “Winning Campaigns” training for the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking.  This highly interactive, fast-paced and fun workshop gives participants the opportunity to develop their own campaign strategy to win improvements in their local bicycling or pedestrian environment.  This will be the eighth training I have led, having also led trainings in the following cities over the last couple of years: Denver, Albany, Louisville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Flint, and Philadelphia.

As always, I’m excited to meet local advocates and have the opportunity to bicycle around a new city to gain inspiration for ways in which we can make Los Angeles a better place to bicycle. Later in the year, I’ll lead the same training in Denver and Little Rock.  If you’re interested in learning ways in which to make your own community a better place to walk and bicycle, I encourage you to attend.

(Here's a link to some photos from the training)