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Good Enough Facilitation
Ditch the pursuit of perfection and get out of your own way
University of the Sunshine Coast
Glyn Thomas
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Good-Enough Parenting (Winnicott)
• Donald Winnicott (1896-1971)
• Ordinary mothers … not perfect
• Create a holding environment
• True self vs false self
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•Don’t get distracted by perfection.
•Be your true (real) self.
•Create a Holding group environment and trust it.
Good-Enough Facilitation
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Five strategies to get out of your own way.
1. Forego the mythical pursuit of perfection
2. Work on being your true self
3. Remember it’s not ‘all about me’
4. Be intentional
5. Practice mindfulness (self-awareness)
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1. Forego the mythical pursuit of perfection
• Your participants don’t need it
• Model the preparedness to fail
• Self-consciousness reduces free attention (Dale Hunter)
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2. Work on being your true self
• Beware the divided life (Parker Palmer)
• Be real (Rogers)
• Skills and techniques are what you use until the real
teacher/facilitator/leaders shows up. (Palmer)
• Do some innerwork – see a counselor/therapist
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3. Its not … ‘all about me’
• Facilitators are not the power of
outdoor/adventure/environmental education.
• Groups have amazing capacity to enrich, heal, stimulate, bless.
• Natural environments bring similar capacities.
• Facilitators are not the only smart people in the group.
• Get out of the spotlight – allow your students/participants to
construct their learning. (Dewey)
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4. Be intentional
• What guides your decision making in practice ?
• Espoused theory vs Theory-in-use (Argyris & Schon)
• Beware - your worldview leaks out.
• Intuition vs ‘thin-slicing’ (Gladwell)
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5. Practice mindfulness (self-awareness)
• “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; On
purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.”
(Kabat-Zinn)
• Birds-eye view.
• Notice and name.
• Interior Council (Jenkins and Jenkins).
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Dr Glyn Thomas
University of the Sunshine Coast
gthomas2@usc.edu.au
• New course starting in Semester 1, 2016
• Double degree in 4 years
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary) / Bachelor of
Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies
• Graduates can register with Qld College of Teachers in two
areas: HPE and one other
• 5 courses focused on outdoor environmental studies
