Facilitation – Designing for Wiser Action

At Courage to Thrive we believe there are better ways to tackle the complex issues faced by our teams and communities which help us unlock thriving for all. Rehumanising ways of enabling collective decision making, running meetings, facilitating team away days, consulting with stakeholders or employees and growing cohesive and resilient communities.

We are passionate about designing for wiser action, and we have a team of brilliant facilitators with a suite of tools and practices to help bring transformation to your team, community or organisation.

Most of us believe this to be a good ideal but are afraid of opening a can of worms; of overseeing a talking shop which leads nowhere or hearing the same voices dominate and crush quieter or apparently less articulate individuals. And so we settle for short term decisions which keep the status quo and act as sticking plasters over what can be deep and festering wounds.

Here at Courage to Thrive we know another way is possible. We’ve seen it happen, we’ve felt the transformation in a challenging situation and experienced the subtle but significant shift in the atmosphere which accompanies that.  We’ve seen the outcomes that are possible.

We invite you to exercise courage to explore whether another way could be possible in your setting – to explore doing it differently.

We use innovative and highly effective tools and practices adapted from Art of Hosting (also known as Participatory Leadership) and Time to Think.  These approaches address complex challenges by harnessing the collective wisdom of our teams and communities in ways which rehumanise and draw out the best in each person. Ways of opening up spaces based on respect, deep attention and a belief in the dignity of individuals of different socio-economic backgrounds, educational levels, genders or viewpoints, so that everyone can really hear each other and be heard.  It allows people to design solutions they genuinely believe in, rather than ones imposed on them from above.

Our society faces immense and complex challenges, whether at an individual, community, corporate or global level. We see them in all areas of society: social and economic inequality, poor rates of productivity and employee engagement, a tsunami of poor mental health, the rising tide of preventable lifestyle-related diseases, the stubborn gender pay gap, cultures of bullying in the workplace, poor social cohesion, climate change and other huge environmental challenges.

The depth, complexity and interconnectedness of these various challenges require a different set of solutions to the ones we have relied on in the past. The old solutions are not working! The old solutions often dehumanise and rob people of their agency. What if we could turn this around – for people to be really heard in ways which allow them to become part of the solutions to the problems they face?

Take a look at what others have said about the impact of Courage to Thrive’s ways of facilitating meaningful and transformative conversations, and get in touch to discuss what that could mean in your team or workplace or your community.