Meeting Facilitation

We collaborate with clients to create an inviting environment for open discussion and the development of fresh thinking. We help groups stay focused, ensure everyone is seen, heard and understood, and we facilitate progress towards achieving a satisfying outcome.

We use artistic processes in concert with dialogue, weaving right-brain imagination with left-brain logic and analysis. Participants engage in deep and meaningful discussion through metaphor, storytelling, and envisioning new possibilities for the future.

Gareth Morgan has stated, "The images or metaphors through which we read organizational situations help us to describe the way organizations are, and offer clear ideas and options as to how they could be" (1986). “Here, the key word is metaphor--the shorthand expression that makes it possible for all members of the organization to understand history, present action, and future possibilities.” (Sackmann, 1989).

Through art we can make it safe ask the deeper questions that lead to the emotional truth about a situation. Art creates a bonding experience that facilitates collaboration and accelerates the ability to get to the heart of the matter. Visual thinking illustrates how differently we see things, and helps us appreciate that many points of view contribute to the whole. Images externalize the unconscious and make tacit knowledge visible.

These processes produce desired outcomes in dramatically less time than through traditional methodologies.

See also Mediated Dialogue

Outcomes

• Create a shared vision. Envision the future direction of your organization, gain consensus with little conflict and drive strategy from the top down and bottom up.
• Formulate a strategic plan
• Employee engagement
• Find shared values quickly and without the aggravating kind of debate.
• Prototype possibilities for future directions.
• Rehearse “what if” options that lead to meaningful insights regarding change.
  Create an aesthetic experience that helps leaders make tacit knowledge visible; e.g. patterns, processes and relationships.
• Brand development
• Nurture relationships between dissimilar groups, fostering an appreciation for diverse and pluralistic points of view.
• Being “Zen present” through ‘artful reflection’

Testimonials for Linda Naiman:

The University of British Columbia

The Department of Health, Safety and the Environment has had annual planning and professional development sessions for over ten years. In 2000 we experienced a significant turnover of staff and wanted to have a reconnect with the mission/objectives of the department and our role in the University. We also wanted to re-establish our organizational identity, agree on our core values and explore customer communication and recognition. From our previous experiences we knew that we wanted an open free flowing discussion.

Linda provided the vehicle, and through art activities and exploration of thoughts the full day session was very helpful. The department members have a broad range of backgrounds, education and experiences. The use of painting and images helped to broaden our discussions and was fun. The output of this session has been used to develop our departmental plans and individual performance plans.
Linda is an excellent facilitator and was able to bring out our best. All of the staff contributed openly and their ideas were incorporated into the results. A new feeling of unity and the desire to contribute to departmental success has emerged. Thank you.

Wayne Greene, Ph.D.
Director, Department of Health, Safety and the Environment
University of British Columbia

Corporate Off-site Retreat:

Linda,
I've thought a great deal about our experience with you and about art in business. You are involved in a truly pioneering effort to help us keep the personal, 'heart matters' in the foreground as we manage our increasingly 'technical' business. Successful pioneering in our own industry starts with the sharing of a new, different, and compelling corporate vision. A shared vision is possible only if each of our personal visions are brought forward, honored and made part of the whole picture. We can articulate our personal vision only as well as we can reveal our true selves. Revealing one's true self is an artful act, and a matter of the heart.

Your work with us showed this so well, and your quote from Gandhi --“If you want something really important to be done you must not merely satisfy the reason, you must satisfy the heart also” -- echoes the learning. For those who would ask, '... and just how does art benefit my business?', I would offer, "If your business has important, pioneering work to do, then develop artful capabilities in your associates just as well as technical skills, else you'll work at half-strength at best, and risk losing all the benefit of their passion." Now, there is a connection between art and the bottom line.
Albert Gibson, R&D Manager,
multi-national food products company

Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES)

I was pleasantly surprised how quickly and effectively Linda applied concrete meaning to our workshop goals and had us thinking both creatively and practically.
It was a wonderful blending of traditional and artistic approaches that produced viable feedback from participants in a fun way. I saw different sides of colleagues and myself. I would definitely recommend Linda's workshop for any group interested in creative approaches to working together. Very beneficial, thanks!”
— T. Keetch