Change happens at the level of the group!
Every decision that impacts society or an organisation is made in a meeting.
Making every meeting matter
Every meeting should matter. You are in a space with potential. What will you make of it? Every successful meeting relies on three fundamental ingredients – a good reason to meet, good planning and good facilitation.
About Me
I am Michael Donnelly. I design and facilitate workshops. During the last 25 years I have learned and tried many types of processes, working with groups in companies, communities, governments and NGO’s across the world on all kinds of issues, from working with farmers in Ireland on climate impacts to building peaceful coexistence in Darfur, Sudan. I love what I do – helping leaders and the groups they bring together to build their capacity to solve problems and make great decisions that get implemented. I am very proud to be Co Director of Future Search Network, a global community of practitioners who are leading systems change processes around the world on some of the most pressing issues of today.
Get to know
My Approach to Facilitation
At its heart facilitation is about helping a group of people to collaborate to achieve a task. I love working with groups to help them get somewhere new, somewhere helpful. I work a lot with Future Search and the P10 Principles of Facilitation. Future Search, created by Sandra Janoff and Marv Weisbord is a principled approach to strategic planning. With Future Search you can make real change to seemingly intractable and complex issues. I am experienced in processes like Citizen’s Assemblies, Design Thinking, Agile Scrum workshops, Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry, Deep Democracy, World Cafe, and Theory U. Having learned all these processes, I call on the principles and techniques they embody to offer tailored workshop journeys for groups. My work as a facilitator over 25 years has led me to value Future Search the most.
What I offer
How I work with you
I work with you until you have gotten the results from the process that you need. From the first conversation I help you get clarity on what is at stake and what it will take. Each situation is unique. For large complex issues, I support you to put a planning group in place, I work with the planning group to name hoped for outcomes, arrive at a clear task and identify the right stakeholders. I design an agenda with you and help you create the best conditions for success. I facilitate the meeting and help you with the follow up that is needed.
I understand that every leader faces circumstances and challenges that are unique. No two issues are the same, and certainly the way a group of people will decide to act and work on an issue is unique.
Designing & Facilitating Meetings
I work with you to help you plan your meeting to be a huge success. I support you to explore what you want to achieve, to clarify a task and to identify the people you need in that room with you to help make it happen. I support you every step of the way to make sure that you have secured the highest chances for the meeting to deliver on its promise.
Expert Advice for Leaders
I offer an expert service to leaders who are addressing an important issue in their work. I offer you access to my 25 years of experience in designing and facilitating meetings and processes so that you can think out loud, strategise, and make informed decisions about how to approach your question.
Strategic Planning and Systems Change
I offer Future Search as the world’s best process for strategic planning with the “whole system” involved. Future Search is stunningly simple in its implementation, taking only three days to work through highly complex issues to a point where there is unanimous agreement across the system on what to do and a plan that will be implemented.
Partnering for Project Proposals
Engage me to help bring the participation to your project team. I bring expertise to ensure your consulting team can put collaboration at the heart of your bid. I help your team understand how to engage stakeholders in any task – from design thinking workshops to leadership development retreats.
Inspiration
Every Meeting should Matter! My inspiration for my approach to facilitation is the work of Sandra Janoff and Marv Weisbord who integrated insights from the worlds of organisational development and social psychology to create a beautifully elegant and devastatingly simple approach to meetings and change. Their most famous creation is Future Search – the “Whole System in the Room” process that has enabled deep and purposeful change in every country including on profoundly intractable issues. They also brought to the fore an approach to facilitation that focuses on managing the meeting and managing yourself as a facilitator. I am as passionate and excited working with Artitude, a local collaboration using art as a way to bring awareness of climate change as I am working with a major corporate leadership team like Nespresso who are creating the conditions for success when opening a new manufacturing facility.
In the gallery
Featured Projects
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Testimonials
Our customers
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John Doe
Accountant
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Jenny Andersson
Graphic designer
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George Smith
Lawyer
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