Context is everything. While the following description gives a general overview of the content of this workshop, I believe that truly meaningful training is adapted to your local culture and situation. In addition, I am fully committed to using my training opportunities to build facilitation capacity in local communities, and therefore prefer to co-facilitate with local experts – particularly people of color and women. Have an idea about how you’d like me to adapt this training to your community? Let me know!

Finding the best time to meet. Making decisions efficiently and equitably. Determining responsibilities among members in a group. Holding each other accountable. Even the most committed and forward-thinking groups can struggle with basic organizational challenges like these. But for every obstacle, there are any number of smart design solutions waiting to be applied.

During this workshop, we’ll learn how to nurture collaborative groups that can evolve – and thrive – like ecosystems. From consensus decisionmaking to human polycultures, from facilitation techniques to putting community members in charge, we’ll get on-the-ground practice in applying patterns of the permaculturally-informed organization.

Workshop topics may include:

• Active listening and conflict resolution
• Problems in meetings and facilitator interventions
• Mindfulness techniques
• Developing regenerative institutions that can thrive long after you’ve stepped away
• Strategies for empowering groups that are truly community-led
• Using “human polyculture” thinking to design and improve collaborative teams
• Decisionmaking techniques