It’s always a joy to speak with others about why I do what I do.

“Kelly Indira Buis comes to the Swamp to discuss the craft of group facilitation. Kelly is the founder of The Adaptation Company, based in The Hague, Netherlands. The work of facilitating groups of human beings is challenging. There are often multiple agendas and outcomes. Then there is the importance of getting all voices and ideas into the room and understood. Kelly has developed a clear process that help guide groups to outcomes they seek that lead to more helpful actions. She has mastered the craft of using the LinkedIn platform for sharing ideas, resources and her point of view.

“For people to collaborate better as a team, I have noticed that it is worthwhile to understand each other’s intrinsic motivation. An interesting method is asking people what makes them mad. This play on the word MAD, "making a difference," helps identify what drives people to change something in the world”

"I think the biggest challenge is to understand the people you work with; because it is interesting that we have instruction manuals for almost everything in the world, except for us humans. So it is important to me when I start working for a new organization to find out as much as possible about the people who work there. Their past, life journeys, what motivates them, what frustrates them, so that I can better understand who they are. Only when there is trust, will people share with you things that need to be improved within the team, as well as things they are proud of.”

“With the time, resource, and energy constraints that we face, I have observed people valuing facilitation skills as a success factor for getting unstuck, making progress, and delivering the work.

Luckily, intentionally designing and facilitating processes is something that is achievable for us all if we invest time to reflect on our approach and style, acquire the tools, and practice our facilitation skills.”


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