Learning and Reflection from JOFC

It’s been a few days since I came back from the US, it’s time to solidify my learning from the trip and reflect on it. A lot of friends have been asking me what program I was attending.

Answer: A 5-days program called Journey of Facilitation and Collaboration (JOFC). In short, it teaches people how to be a facilitator and collaborator using the Integral Model. If you are interested to know more about the model, click here .

Let me save you some time by giving you my understanding of it. Basically, the model consists of 4 quadrants.

Top Left quadrant: Self-awareness. It concerns with the inner state and values of the facilitator herself. It’s the starting point AND the ending point of any facilitation and collaboration works.

Top Right quadrant: Task Management. It contains the tangible “stuff” in any facilitation sessions, such as goals, time constraints, outcomes, venue, invitation, etc.

Bottom Right quadrant: Process Management. It’s the “How” of a facilitation session, such as what process and tools to be used.

Bottom Left quadrant: Group-awareness. The group dynamic, cultural norms and values, unspoken rules, elephant-in-the-room, trust and psychological safety all fall under this quadrant.

Now, here’s my learning and reflection from the program. Again, I will group them into the 4 quadrants (practice my learning right away!).

Self-awareness: This quadrant has been my weakness for a long time. By taking a mindfulness program earlier this year and taking the JOFC, I can confidently say that I gain better self-awareness of my inner state not only during facilitation but every part of my life. As the program has taught me, any group facilitation starts with self-facilitation. Before I facilitate anyone, I must first facilitate myself.

Task Management and Process Management: These two quadrants have been my forte in my facilitation work so far. However, the more you know the more you find yourself don’t know. I still learn a heck lot of skills and processes from these two quadrants to be put under my belt. Awesome!

Group-awareness: Again, it’s not my forte area especially for someone like me who has been working without an intact team for 5 years.

However, I saw how a group of complete strangers coming from zero bonding to becoming a high-performance team in a couple of days.

I got to experience first-hand how trust was created through vulnerability and genuine concern for others.

I saw how occasional tensions were resolved by sticking to the operating agreements which were verbally repeated and agreed every single morning.

I saw how participatory leadership contributed to group effectiveness.

I got to learn a thing or two about the differences between an in-house facilitator versus an external one.

In sum, I had a higher and better understanding on how human work together.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my trainers Darin Harris and Sandy who have been instrumental in my learning journey. Madison is a beautiful city with great people. I look forward to coming back.