Reflection refers to thoughtfulness, concentration, meditation, contemplation - especially the calm, careful, continued consideration of something. Often it involves observing and coming to understand the functioning of one's own mind or heart (which is sometimes called self-reflexive awareness). (continue)

Facilitating with Ease! is an updated version of the best-selling resource that offers easy-to-follow instructions, techniques, and hands-on tools that team leaders, consultants, supervisors, and managers have used to learn the basics of facilitation. Complete with worksheets on CD-ROM that can be customized to fit your personal needs, it's a complete facilitation workshop in a take-home format. (continue)

The Institute of Cultural Affairs is one of the oldest and largest providers of training in facilitation. Their techniques are known collectively as the Technology of Participation, and they offer an extensive series of courses in the various techniques. (continue)

Experience has demonstrated that the Understanding Process is valuable as a mode of prevention as well as intervention in existing conflicts and is being used effectively in: improving public conversations about controversial issues, team and community building, leadership development, creative approaches to problems and issues, and working with groups as well as interpersonal dyadic communication. (continue)

Bringing Peace Into the Room examines the personal qualities that make a mediator effective. The authors of this volume go beyond traditional descriptions of academic training, theoretical orientation, and refinement of technique to confront issues related to personal temperament and the crucial psychological, intellectual and spiritual qualities of the mediation professional - qualities that are often the most potent elements of successful mediation. (continue)

A comprehensive guide to help you develop a community-wide study circle program from start to finish. Study Circles are at the heart of a process for public dialogue and community change. This process begins with community organizing, and is followed by facilitated, small-group dialogue that leads to a range of outcomes. Study circles don't advocate a particular solution. Instead, they welcome many points of view around a shared concern. (continue)

This Trainer's Manual, designed as a "workshop for public officials," provides essential information for any individual, agency or organization that participates in a collaborative process. The workshop is presented in eight modules, each covering an aspect of what has been found to be the "best practices" in participating in a collaborative or consensus building process. It is based on the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR) Report, "Best Practices for Government Agencies: Guidelines for Using Agreement-Seeking Processes." (continue)

This quick-reading 100-page book is a how-to collection of tools that have proven to be highly effective for facilitation of group conversation about difficult topics. The book shows how to help people hear each other when they feel like shouting; how to focus on the issues at stake rather than having a war of personalities; how to employ actual practices for better understanding (interviews, small-group discussions, role-reversal presentations); and how to move a group toward making a decision that all can honestly support. (continue)

When it was published in 1994, Roger Schwarz's The Skilled Facilitator earned widespread critical acclaim and became a landmark in the field. The book is a classic work for consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches--anyone whose role is to facilitate and guide groups toward realizing their creative and problem-solving potential. This thoroughly revised edition provides essential materials for facilitators and includes simple but effective ground rules for group interaction. (continue)

This paper considers citizen participation in technological decision-making through random selection deliberative mechanisms such as citizens' jury, consensus conference, televote and deliberative poll. (continue)