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.