Posts Tagged ‘Facilitation’
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPF
We held our first IAF Chicago Chapter Event on December 9th. I want to thank Gerald Haman, of Solution People for donating the space – Thinkubator in Chicago – for our first event. Those of you who attended, I’m sure, found the space to be a wonderful experience – not to mention having amazing views of the Chicago Skyline (see photos that follow). I also want to thank:
• Kelly Ross and Margaret Sullivan for their efforts in setting up the event.
• Paul Collins and Dan Heck for getting the word out via the Midwest Facilitator’s Network. Paul also got us in contact with Gerald Haman.
• Lee Crumbaugh and David DeWitt for their help in setting up the IAF Chicago Chapter – legally and fiscally so that we could pay for the event.
• Sean Rush and Alvaro Rush for taking care of the venue, food, and logistics.
• The Solution People for their help with the logistics, etc. at the event.
• Everyone else for attending, participating, and bringing their colleagues.
We had 34 people attend the event. The event ran from 4:00 until 7:00 and people networked until about 8:00. I kicked it off with an exercise to gather ideas on how to ensure appropriate solutions – both from the Facilitator and from the client. Rocky Romero guided us through Business Modeling. We concluded with discussion about what we learned and about our next event. Some items of note:
• Our next informal meeting is on January 20th.
• Our next event is March 23, 2012. The topic, time, and venue are yet to be determined – we could use volunteers to help set this up.
• We will hold elections in March for the positions of President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Events Director. Send me your nominations and we’ll plan for the elections in February. All positions are for a one-year term.
That’s about it for now. I’ll keep you posted about our upcoming meetings and events. All y’all have a wonderful Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year. See y’all in 2012.
 IAF Chicago Chapter Event  IAF Chicago Chapter Event  IAF Chicago Chapter Event  IAF Chicago Chapter Event
Tags: Chicago, Chicago Chapter, Conference, Facilitation, IAF, Keynote Presentation
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Sunday, November 13th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPF
The IAF Chicago Chapter has its first event coming up on Friday, December 9th. The event is from 4:00 pm until 7:00 pm. It’s being held at The Thinkubator Innovation Center on 312 N. May Street, Suite 6D, Chicago, IL 60607.
This event should be very exciting. The topic of the event is Creating the Appropriate Solution to Ensure Success. We will begin with an exercise to draw out ideas from the attendees about what they’ve encountered and/or done about creating appropriate solutions. After that, Rocky Romero will step the attendees through the use of Business Model Canvas to design solutions to enable you to help clients create appropriate solutions. We’ll finish with an Open Space exercise to explore the topic in more detail. This event will be totally interactive and attendees will be experiencing ideas more than just hearing about them. Join us for this exciting event.
Tags: Chicago, Chicago Chapter, Conference, Data Modeling, Facilitation, IAF
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Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPF
Well, we had the Advanced Class (it went very well) and the FoCuSeD Facilitation Games book is now available for sale. The book is available from MGR Consulting, Inc.
We tested the book and the Participant Engagement Tools (PETs) in the Advanced Class. It was a treat to practice on people who were also learning the PETs. We also tested the PETs Behind the Agenda Steps that matches the PET to the need – it worked very well. In a nutshell, the book gives you lots of ideas for you to create or modify your own PETs as well as how best to use them in the workshop. That’s a big bonus as most books on games and exercises don’t fully explain when and how to use them.
Tags: Chicago, Class, Facilitation, Facilitation Games, FoCuSeD, interaction, PET, training, Workshop
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Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPF
My new book – FoCuSeD Facilitation Games. I’ve been working on this since April. Millie has finished editing it and I’ve received comments from Izzy Gesell and Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan – thank you all very much. I’m using this book for our FoCuSeD Advanced Class later this month.
I’m excited about this book. I like the name I’ve chosen for group facilitation exercises – Participant Engagement Tools (PETs). It resonates and captures what these truly are about. I have included every PET that I’ve used and found useful. In addition, I’ve thought through how to modify the PETs for different sized groups, face-to-face, teleconferences, mixed face-to-face and teleconference workshops, and others. I’ve also provided templates so that you can design your own PET. This book will make a difference for Facilitators – I’ve found no other book like it.
The best way to get the book is to attend the FoCuSeD Advanced Class on September 27th and 28th (contact me to register).
Tags: Alumni, Class, Facilitation, Facilitation Games, FoCuSeD, PET, teleconference, Thiagi, training, Workshop
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Thursday, June 16th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPF
It’s been a busy few weeks. Not only did we move at the end of May – and we are still unpacking, but in the beginning of June, I facilitated a panel discussion for Business Analysts at a company Area of Competency conference. After that, I spoke at two IIBA Chapter meetings – one in Buffalo, NY and the other in Rochester, NY. Then, I attended and presented at the DePaul Group Facilitation Symposium.
The Business Analyst conference was interesting. The panelists from IBM, Accenture, and Wipro answered questions about business analysis. Some of the insights were interesting. They all agreed that the best method to use was the one that fit the problem. In other words, following Agile for every project was no better than following a waterfall method. Both work when they fit. It’s much like one of the Facilitator Competencies – Plan Appropriate Group Processes. The competent BA should be able to select amongst numerous methods and select the best fit.
At the IIBA Chapter meetings, I met very nice people and enjoyed the sessions. I spoke about the BA being facilitative and the responses were good – the BAs all agreed that facilitating requirements would make their job easier and engage their clients more effectively.
The Chicago Chapter of the IAF. At the DePaul Group Facilitation Symposium, I initiated the Chicago Chapter of the IAF. Asking for interest, I had 30 plus people sign up as interested in participating in the Chicago Chapter. In late July, we’ll hold our first meeting and see if we can get this rolling. I spoke about Facilitating Change and Innovation sharing how organizations deal with change, the role of the Facilitator, and two processes that Facilitators can use to conduct innovation workshops. I also attended a session regarding using visuals – excellent – and one on involving participants using Improv – also excellent. Both concepts need to be incorporated into facilitation practices.
Well, a lot of activity in a short time. I’ll be writing about the lessons that I learned in the next eNewsletter. In the mean time, we are unpacking and settling in to our new home.
Tags: Business Analyst, Conference, Facilitation, Facilitative Project Manager, IIBA, Panel
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Monday, April 18th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPF
Hello. I just returned from the IAF North America Conference in Denver. We had almost 300 people attend the conference. It was wonderful to see friends who I get to see so seldom. One benefit of the IAF are the bonds and friendship you form with wonderful people from all over the world.
I was able to attend the conference sessions this year. For the past 3 years, I was so involved in either presenting or in chair responsibilities, that I didn’t get sufficient opportunity to attend sessions at the conference. This time, I took advantage of sessions. I attended sessions on listening, process modeling, strategic planning, and improvisation. As always, I was able to leave with exciting ideas and tips to help both my training and my facilitating. It’s always great to hear what others say and do and continue to remember that there are many ways to do something. Helen Wythe and Izzy Gessell gave me a ton of ideas to work with and I thank them very much. They both managed to get my head contemplating the many ideas that they presented.
If you haven’t attended an IAF Conference, you should plan to attend one. They are scheduled annually around the world with the next one in Bangalore, India in September.
This coming week, I’m off to Indianapolis, IN to speak at the Indianapolis DAMA (Data Administration Management Association) conference.
Tags: Business Analyst, Conference, Facilitation, Facilitative Project Manager, training
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Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPF
October has been busy with presentations. I had the opportunity to fly to Pittsburgh to speak at the PMI Pittsburgh Chapter meeting on October 14th. Sean Rush, my son, a FoCuSeD Facilitator Academy Alumni, accompanied me to meet the people and continue developing his skills in project management, business analysis, and other areas relating to facilitation.
The session was well run by the PMI chapter. They have a quite a few members and they are dedicated to improving project management and the jobs of their members.
I spoke about Project Managers needing to be facilitative – use more Facilitator skills in managing projects. The response was positive. The audience understood how important the “soft” skills are that Facilitators bring. Incorporating these Facilitator skills into their project management practice will greatly enhance their project management abilities.
Tags: Conference, Facilitation, Facilitative Project Manager, FoCuSeD, PMI, Project Management
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Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPF
Well, it’s been a busy month. After returning from Nigeria, Millie and I took a well-deserved vacation in Puerto Rico.
We returned and drove to Madison, Wisconsin for the 2010 WI BADD (Business Analyst Development Day) conference. What a conference. Over 500 people attended – making it the largest BA event in the country and in a down economy. The organizers did a fabulous job – people like Roxanne Miller, Dave DeBruine, Nora Medina, and the others at the various Wisconsin IIBA Chapters should be commended for the work they put into this conference. It was well handled, contained many outstanding sessions, and went smoothly. We had our booth there to show Business Analysts that gaining facilitator skills will greatly enhance their analyst capabilities and their relationships with their clients.
I attended an excellent session by Barbara von Halle and Larry Goldberg regarding Decision Modeling. The decision model, along with a process model and a data model, completes the picture of a business. Capturing business logic – what the decision model does – is very helpful and makes good sense. I’m going to be investigating this further. You can check out the ideas at www.TheDecisionModel.com.
In the afternoon, I gave my presentation – actually facilitated a workshop – A FoCuSeD Business Analysis Workshop. Along the lines of the fishbowl session in April, I asked for volunteers to be participants in a workshop to define processes and data needs for Conference Attendee Management. I set up the situation, facilitated the volunteer participants (who did an outstanding job), and closed with questions from the audience regarding the workshop. It went very well (even though I had contracted Dengue Fever and was just beginning my bout with it – it isn’t contagious).
 Gary facilitating the audience at WI BADD 2010 Next year, the conference is on October 11, 2011. If you are a BA or work with BAs, you should attend. I know I’ll be there  .
Tags: Business Analyst, Conference, Data Modeling, Facilitation, Fishbowl Sessions, FoCuSeD, IIBA, Workshop
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Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPF
I traveled to Lagos, Nigeria on September 4th to teach two FoCuSeD Facilitator Academy classes back-to-back to the people at Chevron Nigeria. It was quite an experience.
The news media doesn’t do any justice to Nigeria. When I met my contact from Nigeria – Ephraim – I knew that it was going to be a pleasant visit. The company bus drove me the 21 miles from the airport to the hotel (taking 2 1/2 hours due to the traffic in Lagos). I arrived at my hotel late Sunday evening, rested, then got up on Monday to get ready for the class.
I had no idea what the students might expect of me. When the students arrived, I knew this was going to be an excellent class, and it was. The students from Chevron were outstanding. They were hard working, curious, and eager to learn. They read every page of the FoCuSeD Guide. Needless to say, all did a great job.
Here is the first group of FoCuSeD alumni (left to right): Ephraim, Funmi, Moses, Ikhuoria, Yemi, Heather, Uzo, Agun, Christy, Dami, me, Onyia, Ben, Rolake, and Nathan
 Chevron Nigeria Class 1 Here is the second group of FoCuSeD alumni (left to right): Obinna, Daniel, Bunmi, Mimi, Tunji, Donatus, Ifeoma, Yomi, me, Bukky, and Wilson
 Chevron Nigeria Class 2 They were kind enough to take me to a conservatory sponsored by Chevron that protects the plants and animals. No human interference is allowed. The animals are allowed to live in the wild and the jungle is allowed to remain natural. It’s quite amazing and a wonderful way to protect the wild life. Next time, I’ll wear the appropriate attire. Wearing a suit in the jungle was not a good idea .
 Gary in the Jungle Tree House All in all, this was a great experience. Traveling was long – 3 1/2 hours to drive the 21 miles back to the airport and 14 hours flying time with a 5-hour layover in Frankfurt, but worth it. I wish to thank everyone and I look forward to my return visit.
Ciao,
Gary
Tags: Academy, Alumni, Class, Facilitation, FoCuSeD, Nigeria
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Friday, July 16th, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPF
I just returned from facilitating a data model workshop. We’ve been working on this since January with three face-to-face workshops and interim teleconference workshops. It’s interesting that the client, who is very experienced with teleconferencing, felt that the face-to-face workshops were essential to the success of this effort. I agree. The teleconferences were beneficial and worked well in developing pieces of the model, but a model is very visual. Even with good Internet tools and the ability to view desktops, etc., the group needed to see the entire model (very large) and get up and move elements around – something you can’t do as well via a teleconference. So, while I support the use of teleconferences, and they work well when properly facilitated, there are still times when we need to get in a room together and work things out. It is still nice to connect with others by seeing them in person and chatting with them during breaks – face-to-face interaction is still key.
Tags: Data Modeling, Facilitation, teleconference, Workshop
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Newsflash
We are a GSA Contract Holder!
On May 31, 2011, MGR Consulting was awarded a GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) contract to deliver our on-site classes and provide Facilitator services to any Federal Government or Department of Defense (DoD) agency. In addition, if you are a Federal Government or DoD employee, you can more easily register and attend our public classes. Please Contact Gary for additional information.
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