Our Offerings
Facilitation
We design and plan processes and gatherings to help groups achieve their desired outcomes. This includes designing, planning, and facilitating a session where the facilitator creates the container for participants to engage meaningfully with each other and with the content.
Facilitation is often associated with sticky notes and beige conference rooms. While we don’t shy away from those colourful post-its, our approach is so much more than sticky notes. We use our deep knowledge and skills, drawing on different worldviews and perspectives, developmental psychology, circle process and a mix of participatory tools and techniques to bring humanity into the conversation. We love that our clients explain it like this because we, too, can feel when the energy shifts and moments are magical, people feel seen as a whole. When a team becomes aligned, it feels good, different, collaborative and action-oriented.
We bring our values into all our work and can support organizations with:
Visioning, strategy and implementation planning
Multi-stakeholder dialogues
Community engagement
Conferences
Team and management retreats - Learn more here
Graphic Facilitation
Jessica, our resident graphic facilitator, brings a unique perspective to the conversation. Gifted in deep listening, she captures emotion and challenging information through visual storytelling. Illustration is the inclusion of a universal language that can build knowledge of a topic and/or a better understanding of each other.
We have seen how a visual translation invites participants to become more present with what is being shared during complex conversations and to truly feel they’ve been seen and heard.
Specialized Offerings:
Graphic Notetaking: Real-time drawing on a large canvas at your event (see Jessica’s portfolio)
Visual Tools to Support Inclusive Engagement: Translate complex messages into simplified communication materials (e.g., zines, and community posters)
Visual Communication and Listening Skills Workshops: This graphic facilitation training course explores diverse listening approaches where participants learn to utilize "Line as Language" and develop the skill of "Hearing the Undercurrent" through attentive listening.
PRO TIP: These graphics are also highly valuable as individual graphics, which can be embedded in future materials (reports, presentations, communication materials, etc.). The large canvases are also often kept as touchstones of the shared experience to be referenced for continued dialogue.
Jessica is seen here graphic facilitating while listing to a live Inuktitut translation for a community event in Inukjuak.
Training & Workshops
Our training equips you with the essential skills of being a bridge builder. We focus on practical tools and techniques for holding space, navigating emotions, leading courageous conversations, and creating a safe and inclusive environment for all participants.
Facilitation Skills: Learn to guide courageous conversations with empathy and structure.
Emotional Intelligence: Develop strategies to address and manage intense emotions effectively.
Cultural Humility: Acknowledge and prioritize the well-being of facilitators and participants with diverse backgrounds and worldviews.
Workshop Design: Master the art of creating engaging and impactful workshops that balance content delivery with interactive elements.
Whether it's a half-day workshop, a multi-day training session, or an ongoing community of practice for specialized practitioners, online or in person, our goal is to enhance people's skills so that they can become bridge builders themselves.
-
Coaching
Sometimes you don’t need to hire a facilitator, but you could pick their brain to help you design and deliver a gathering in a meaningful way or bring bridge building into your day to day lives.
Maybe it’s an hour to help you think through the purpose and get a general outline of an agenda
Maybe you just want to brainstorm how you might make your weekly team check-ins more energizing
Maybe you need some advice on how to deal with a divide in work or life that could use addressing
Whatever it is, we care about helping others heal divides, deepen relationships and lead action. Coaching hours provides you the support to do just that.
-
Convening
Bridge Building is useful beyond just the workplace and connecting with people who are different from us is crucial for personal growth and healing our fractured society.
However, in today's world, it's easy to stay within our comfort zones, missing out on valuable experiences and deepening the polarizing divides. So, how do we bridge these gaps, bring communities together, and broaden our perspectives?
As an experiment, back in 2022, we brought people together who were for and against the Freedom Convoy to just talk and listen to each other. Guess what? No yelling, just opened minds and hearts. Read here about “why we need to talk to people with whom we disagree here.”
There's plenty of work to be done, and we're just scratching the surface. We want to work with partners to support Bridge Building in communities, if this is part of your work too, let’s connect!