Difference between revisions of "Establishing Good Working Conditions"
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<div class=teaser-text>The more diversity there is within a group, the greater the potential for exchange, inspiration and learning from peers. People however are only willing to activate this potential if they feel safe and respected. Therefore before engaging more deeply with the content of a seminar, facilitators establish appropriate ground rules based on basic democratic and human principles. When facilitators demonstrate that they take the democratic principles they are promoting seriously through their actions, this raises the feasability that participants will as well.</div> | <div class=teaser-text>The more diversity there is within a group, the greater the potential for exchange, inspiration and learning from peers. People however are only willing to activate this potential if they feel safe and respected. Therefore before engaging more deeply with the content of a seminar, facilitators establish appropriate ground rules based on basic democratic and human principles. When facilitators demonstrate that they take the democratic principles they are promoting seriously through their actions, this raises the feasability that participants will as well.</div> | ||
− | ==Trust== | + | ==Trust and Transparency== |
− | Trust is important because people should feel safe, especially in heterogeneous groups in which participants and facilitators may feel uncertain. In this sense, we define trust as the certainty that at any stage of the shared learning process, everything will happen according to the values of mutual respect, autonomy, and personal responsibility. This necessitates that everyone monitor his or her own goals and needs and decides what to do based on these values. | + | '''Trust''' is important because people should feel safe, especially in heterogeneous groups in which participants and facilitators may feel uncertain. In this sense, we define trust as the certainty that at any stage of the shared learning process, everything will happen according to the values of mutual respect, autonomy, and personal responsibility. This necessitates that everyone monitor his or her own goals and needs and decides what to do based on these values. |
− | + | '''Transparency''' is needed to give orientation and therefore provides the basis for participation: Only those individuals who have all the relevant information can participate in an optimal way. This includes transparency in terms of our motivations and goals as facilitators. The second important aspect of transparency is clarity about conditions and rules. Both facilitators and participants have certain rules in mind, which is fine. But even if as facilitators we think that our rules might be the best for the group, what makes us think that way? Imposing rules on participants leads to an ineffective and dissatisfying cooperation. We should instead share our power and enable participants to discuss their own rules and goals. | |
− | is needed to give orientation and therefore provides the basis for participation: Only those individuals who have all the relevant information can participate in an optimal way. This includes transparency in terms of our motivations and goals as facilitators. The second important aspect of transparency is clarity about conditions and rules. Both facilitators and participants have certain rules in mind, which is fine. But even if as facilitators we think that our rules might be the best for the group, what makes us think that way? Imposing rules on participants leads to an ineffective and dissatisfying cooperation. We should instead share our power and enable participants to discuss their own rules and goals. | ||
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− | ==Ownership | + | ==Creating Ownership== |
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Revision as of 12:46, 16 December 2016
Trust and Transparency
Trust is important because people should feel safe, especially in heterogeneous groups in which participants and facilitators may feel uncertain. In this sense, we define trust as the certainty that at any stage of the shared learning process, everything will happen according to the values of mutual respect, autonomy, and personal responsibility. This necessitates that everyone monitor his or her own goals and needs and decides what to do based on these values.
Transparency is needed to give orientation and therefore provides the basis for participation: Only those individuals who have all the relevant information can participate in an optimal way. This includes transparency in terms of our motivations and goals as facilitators. The second important aspect of transparency is clarity about conditions and rules. Both facilitators and participants have certain rules in mind, which is fine. But even if as facilitators we think that our rules might be the best for the group, what makes us think that way? Imposing rules on participants leads to an ineffective and dissatisfying cooperation. We should instead share our power and enable participants to discuss their own rules and goals.
Creating Ownership
Name Games and Getting to Know Each Other
You’ve already learned a lot about your participants by discussing their needs and basic working principles. It is essential to a good working atmosphere that both the trainer and the participants know everyone’s names and the correct pronunciation. The deeper sense behind these name games is that learners may interconnect independently of the teacher, and that they build trust, which is a precondition for deeper experiential learning later on.
During:
Basic democratic principles
Ownership and participation
Getting to know each other
- Name Games
- First Evening
- Games for Getting to Know Each Other
- Creative Hunting
- Time Machine – updates in group