Excerpts

The Transformative Power of Reflection — Foreword by Peggy Holman

Like many good things, I learned about Dynamic Facilitation (DF) and Rosa Zubizarreta through a friend. I met Tom Atlee because of a book I co-edited, The Change Handbook. It is a collection of system-wide change practices, and the first edition didn’t include DF. Tom was adamant that I learn about the process. Both Tom and I are long-time students of conversational practices that enable diverse, even conflicted groups to engage and reach useful outcomes. He insisted that Dynamic Facilitation was unique and that any compilation needed to include it. It took him a while to convince me, but I finally attended a workshop conducted by DF creator Jim Rough. Tom was right. DF brings some distinctive gifts to the mix of engagement practices. And Rosa contributed to Jim’s great creation by articulating a principle-based foundation. Her first version of the user’s guide that you now hold helped me to make sense of the process.