Articles and Resources
Fundamental Change - Free, Monthly Electronic Newsletter
We write Fundamental Change to help you create workplaces and communities that are simultaneously highly effective and that improve the quality of life.
Every month we:
- Address issues that are important to you as practitioners
- Share our latest learning, including client examples and case studies
- Offer tips and tools for dealing with challenging situations
- Offer resources to help you become more effective
Click here to subscribe; if you sign up, we'll include "Holding Risky Conversations", one of the chapters written for the Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook.
Fundamental Change Archives
Click here to visit our Fundamental Change Archives to read past issues of our monthly electronic newsletter.
Our Books
The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers and Coaches by Roger Schwarz
"Everyone wants to be a facilitator: consultants, managers, even teachers. What is desperately needed is a common, practical reference for understanding facilitation in diverse professional settings. No one has done a better job than Roger Schwarz of synthesizing the major theoretical underpinnings and translating them into clear, usable guidelines for practitioners."
Peter M. Senge, author, The Fifth Discipline
Since its publication in 1994, readers have regarded The Skilled Facilitator as a critical resource for anyone interested in helping groups and organizations function more effectively.
- For a free electronic copy of the first chapter of the revised edition of The Skilled Facilitator, click here.
- To read more reviews of The Skilled Facilitator, click here or surf at Amazon.
- If you want to purchase a hard copy of The Skilled Facilitator click here.
The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches by Roger Schwarz, Anne Davidson, Peg Carlson and Sue McKinney
We're proud that The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook has just been published. People in organizations and communities around the world are using the Skilled Facilitator approach to develop effective teams and organizations and generate open, honest and productive working relationships. Since the publication of the first edition of The Skilled Facilitator, we have been privileged to work with a number of them. Some attended our public workshops, others we coached, and still others invited us to help them improve their organizations. Our clients learned from us, we learned from them, and we have learned together. The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook reflects these lessons.
- For a free electronic copy of its first chapter, click here
- To read more reviews of The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook, click here or surf at Amazon.
- If you want to purchase a copy of The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook (either electronic or hard copy), please click here.
Our Chapters
These are the chapters that we have contributed to various books and publications.
The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation offers the need-to-know basics in the field brought together by 50 leading practitioners and scholars. This indispensable resource includes successful strategies and methods, foundations, and resources for anyone who works with groups. To learn more or to order a copy click here.
Read Roger's chapter from this book "The Skilled Facilitator Approach."
A practical resource, Creating a Culture of Collaboration integrates the underlying bases of collaboration with field-tested approaches and provides numerous examples of collaboration in action that illustrate the application of theory in practice. In addition, the book is filled with useful figures, exhibits, and tables that clearly illustrate that expand on the ideas presented. To learn more or order a copy click here.
Our Articles
"Ground Rules for Effective Groups." By Roger Schwarz. Describes how groups can use the set of ground rules in The Skilled Facilitator Approach to improve their effectiveness. Click here to order this article.
"A Consumer's Guide to Hiring and Working with a Group Facilitator" by Roger Schwarz. This article by Roger Schwarz helps groups understand The Skilled Facilitator Approach and what they can expect from a facilitator using this approach. To order call the Institute of Government publications office at 919.966.4119 or go to their website at: IOG Publications
"Consulting to Council-Manager Groups." By Roger Schwarz, in Public Administration Quarterly, Winter, pp. 419-437. This article applies the core values of The Skilled Facilitator Approach to working with elected governing bodies.
"On Becoming a Facilitative Leader." By Roger Schwarz in T+D Magazine includes a quiz and detailed answer comparison that can help you determine your leadership approach. Click here for a free copy of the article.
"A Model for Improving a Group's Effectiveness." By Peg Carlson, in Popular Government, Vol. 63, No. 4, Summer 1998 pp. 37-45. Peg describes the group effectiveness model and how groups can use it to diagnose their problems and devise strategies to improve their functioning. Click here for a free copy of the article. This article is Copyrighted by The UNC School of Government.
"One City's Journey toward More Responsive Government." By Anne Davidson and Dick McMahon, in Popular Government, Vol. 64, No. 2, Winter 1999, pp. 12-29. Anne and Dick describe how a top management team worked with two consultants using developmental facilitation to begin creating a learning organization. Click here for a free copy of the article. This article is Copyrighted by The UNC School of Government.
"Making Art Work" by Dale Schwarz (published in the Journal for the Association for Quality and Participation, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2001) A case for incorporating visual expression into the workplace. Click here for a free copy of the article.
Internet Resources
Group Facilitation Electronic Discussion Group
This moderated discussion group is dedicated to the discussion of issues related to facilitation. The group has several FAQs that provide useful background on facilitation.
Action Design
Our colleagues at Action Design do work that is based on Chris Argyris' research, and focused on theory-in-use issues.
SoL: The Society for Organizational Learning
This is a group that focuses and expands on the teachings of Peter Senge.
Pontifex Consulting
This is a systems consulting company which uses the Skilled Facilitator approach in its work.
An organization run by and for facilitators in the Midwest United States.
Southwest Facilitator's Network
An organization run by and for facilitators in the Southwest United States.
Mid-Atlantic Facilitator's Network
An organization run by and for facilitators in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
International Association of Facilitators
The largest and most well-known international facilitators' organization.
Books
These books are compatible with, or have influenced our approach. They have inspired us to continue our work and learning; we recommend them without hesitation.
Overcoming Organizational Defenses: Facilitating Organizational Learning: by Chris Argyris. This book continues exploring how to deal with defensive routines. It is a short read compared to other of his works.
Intervention Theory and Method: A Behavioral Science View. By Chris Argyris. This contains the chapter on the three primary tasks of intervention (valid information, free and informed choice, and internal commitment). It is one of the classics of intervention and consulting.
Reasoning, Learning and Action. By Chris Argyris. This book develops the three values and theory-in-use approach and shows it can be applied to help organizations.
Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method and Practice. Argyris and Schon's revised and updated version of their 1978 first edition, it applies the Model 2 approach to organizations. It offers an excellent description of double-loop learning.
Art and Fear. By David Bayles and Ted Orland. Developing facilitative competence is very challenging internal work. "This book is about what it feels like to ... try to do the work you need to do. It is about committing your future to your own hands, placing Free Will above predestination, choice above chance. It is about finding your own work."
The Consultant's Calling: Bringing Who You Are to What You Do. By Geoffrey Bellman. An engaging and personal account of what it is really like to be an organizational consultant and the joys, frustrations, worries, and issues that consultants face. Bellman helps consultants think about how to integrate their personal values and identities with their work so that they can live balanced, meaningful lives.
Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest. By Peter Block. Block explores the model of stewardship--the notion of accepting responsibility and accountability for the well-being of the larger organization while simultaneously giving up the need to control or take care of others.
Emotional Intelligence, By Daniel Goleman. Goleman writes clearly about how emotional intelligence is critical to effective behavior and how we can develop this set of skills.
Systems One: An Introduction to Systems Thinking. By Draper Kauffman Jr. This forty-one page, heavily illustrated booklet clearly describes and gives examples of the basic principles of systems thinking.
Selling with Integrity, By Sharon Drew Morgen. In this book, Morgen outlines "Buying Facilitation", an approach to sales that is highly consistent with the Skilled Facilitator Approach.
Open Space Technology, By Harrison Owen. This book outlines an effective, economical, fast, and easily-repeatable strategy for organizing meetings of all sizes.
International Association of Facilitators Handbook, edited by Sandor Schuman. Sponsored by the IAF, this handbook covers a diversity of viewpoints on facilitation methods and techniques, issues, competencies, and resources.
The Fifth Discipline. By Peter Senge. The chapters on mental models and team learning provide good introductions.
Articles
"Good Communication that Blocks Learning." By Chris Argyris in Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1994, pp. 77-85. Argyris describes how organizations solve problems in a way that prevents them from addressing the more fundamental problems that give rise to them-what Argyris calls double-loop learning.
"Teaching Smart People How to Learn." By Chris Argyris in Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1991,pp. 99-109.
"Unlocking Organizational Routines that Prevent Learning." By Bob Putnam in The Systems Thinker, August, 1993, pp. 1-4. Putnam describes how individuals think and interact to create organizational defensive routines that keep them from learning.
"Three Faces of Eden: The Persistence of Competing Theories and Multiple Diagnoses in Organizational Intervention Research" by Amy Edmonson in Human Relations, Vol. 49, No. 4, 1996. Amy compares the work of Chris Argyris, Peter Senge and Ed Schein, highlighting similarities, differences, and benefits. Contact Amy directly at Harvard Business School for a reprint of this article. June, 1991,pp. 99-109.