Comments on: Playful Facilitation

By: Facilitation - Evaluation - Beyond the Edge - Viv McWaters

Facilitation - Evaluation - Beyond the Edge - Viv McWaters — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:05:19 +0000

[...] I wrote a post about standing on the shoulders of others. You can read it here. So much of what we do we owe to those who have come before. Yet sometimes we can be caught in an [...]

By: Mike Wagner

Mike Wagner — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:07:50 +0000

Thanks for the Janis Ian’s lyrics! New to me.

We stand on the shoulders of others.

Keep creating…today’s masterpiece,
Mike

By: Viv McWaters

Viv McWaters — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:28:33 +0000

Thanks Heather
Ken Robinson’s talk is one of my favourites too. And I’m finding more and more cool links through Twitter. Thanks for pointing me to this one.
Cheers
Viv

By: Heather Davis

Heather Davis — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:57:52 +0000

Just had a ‘yes, and’ moment here seeing your fab post on playful facilitation. I think I may have steered you to this video via a recent ‘tweet’ and so yes it is indeed a joy to see someone run with an idea and push it further and connect their experiences to the original context, as Stuart mentioned above.

Ken Robinson also has a great TedTalk on creativity in education that you may have also seen? If not, I heartily recommend it for its content and brilliant delivery. I never tire of watching it.

By: Viv McWaters

Viv McWaters — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:06:48 +0000

Thanks Stuart, for reminding me of the power of ‘yes,and…’ These days I tend to hang out with people who subscribe to ‘yes,and…’ It comes as a bit of a shock to come face to face with blocking. Last week I received an email from a friend offering a week in a farmhouse in rural France. My first response was Yes! And now, how can I make this happen! The partner of another friend kept saying ‘but this…’ and ‘but that…’ and providing all the reasons why it wouldn’t be practical. Very demoralising and a good reminder of how deflating this can be. When facilitating I’m always on the look-out for the ‘buts’, and playfully, try and turn that around.

Good luck with having more fun – sounds like your boys are a great source of playful inspiration

Cheers

Viv

By: Stuart Reid

Stuart Reid — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:49:04 +0000

Great post Viv. I’m doing my best to have more fun at the moment, both in my work and when I’m not work. I think what I mean by that is very similar to what you mean by play and playfulness.

Both my three year-old and five year-old boys are very into making up imaginative games, with complex rules that grow more complex very quickly. Playing with them reminds me of the ‘yes, and…’ theme in improv, which you didn’t mention. There is a delight and a joy in seeing someone else take an idea of yours and push it further or build on it – in doing that they are paying you a compliment and letting you know that they have listened to you. When my children accept an idea of mine and include it in their game it makes me feel closer to them.

Thanks for the post,
Stuart