A Self-Organized Workshop for Leader Applicants
Vicki Parnell
Burnaby BC Canada
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 41 No. 2, April-May 2005, pp. 30-31.
Recently, I wanted to provide a new Leader Applicant an opportunity to connect with other Leader
Applicants. I decided to host a workshop so that the Applicants in our area and their sponsoring
Leaders could meet one another and complete some of their application work together.
The challenge was to provide an event that would adequately meet the needs of many Applicants who
were at different stages of the application process. I determined that the best approach would be to
give the Applicants the choice of deciding which topics would be most relevant to them. The workshop
turned out to be a successful day that was easy to plan and facilitate.
Before the workshop, only basic planning was necessary. I asked the Coordinator of Leader Accreditation
(CLA) to send me contact information for the Applicants in a wide geographic area surrounding my city. I
found a location for the meeting and set a date. I sent everyone invitations with directions, instructions
to bring any LLL resource books they owned, and food for lunch and snacks. I included basic information
about what to expect on the day of the workshop. I asked for a minimal donation to cover the costs of
putting this day together. The local Leader Accreditation Department representatives gave me valuable
feedback during the planning stages and helped me draft my invitation and hone my ideas.
The week of the event, I put together packets for the attendees. They included copies of the Leader
Applicant discussion checklist, Breastfeeding Resource Guide (BRG), Preview of Mothers' Questions/Problems
and Group Dynamics/Management (or Leader's Guide to the Preview for Leaders who were attending), and a few
other resources that might be helpful. Each packet also included a pen and copies of forms the Applicants
could use to keep track of what they discussed and completed at the workshop.
On the morning of the workshop, I set up the meeting room with a large circle of chairs in the center.
As each woman entered, she registered, made a name tag, took a packet, and joined the circle. We briefly
introduced ourselves and our children and got to know one another.
The next step was building our agenda for the day. On the wall I had used special masking tape (the
kind that won't damage paint) to create a large, empty grid. Because we had enough space for three small
discussion groups and enough time for three sessions, the grid on the wall had nine squares. Above the
grid I taped signs saying "Group A," "Group B," "Group C," and along the
left side of the grid were signs showing the times of the three sessions. I taped additional signs on
the wall in various parts of the room to indicate where each group would gather.
I provided markers and large "sticky notes" and asked our guiding question for the day:
"What would you like to talk about today to help you prepare to be an effective LLL Leader?"
I asked attendees to consider their answers to this question, write their ideas for discussion topics
on sticky notes, and stick them in the empty squares on the wall grid.
To get things started, I wrote "Mock Series Meeting" and stuck it into a square. I sat down
and waited. A few minutes of discussion and thinking passed before a small group of Applicants asked what
all the exercises in the packet were, as they were new to the application. I suggested that they offer
"Getting Started with the Application" as a topic. This seemed to be when everyone suddenly
understood what was expected of them and began scribbling down session ideas. Within 10 minutes, we had
created our agenda and were ready to gather in smaller groups to discuss the topics.
The topics that ended up on our agenda were:
- Active listening/communication
- Tips to expedite the application (related to time, writing, etc.)
- Mock Series Meeting
- Combining the BRG and Preview
- Ideas for Group organization and expansion
- Helping mothers with latch-on problems
- Handling our personal biases
- Covering topics on the discussion checklist
- Getting started with the application
As we separated into groups, the Leaders quickly conferred about their preferred topics. It was
important to ensure that there was at least one Leader in each topic group to provide an experienced
perspective. This worked well.
Once we had our agenda, I could participate in the discussions with everyone else. As workshop
facilitator, I only needed to keep an eye on the time and gently remind people when to wrap up a session.
Without preset session outlines and agendas, the discussions were free-flowing and relaxed, and the learning
was intense. Each person was discussing something that really mattered to her. To emphasize the flexibility
of our format, I reminded participants that people were welcome to move from group to group as they wished
and do what they needed to meet their own needs to learn and connect with others. If a session wasn't meeting
her needs, a participant could join another group, look at resource books, or make a phone call home. The
Leaders didn't feel pressured to "present" topics for a set period of time but could find out what
their groups wanted to learn or talk about and go from there.
I found two things interesting as the day progressed. First, the Preview was used more often than any
other exercise or resource. By the end of the day, many Applicants had completed significant work on it.
Although newer Applicants initially requested basic topics including "finding time" or
"getting started with the application," they ended up preferring to discuss topics that directly
related to leadership responsibilities. They wanted to work on application requirements instead of talk about
them.
At the end of our day, we came back together to share what we had learned and found useful. Everyone spoke
favorably about the format of the workshop -- they loved being able to request and talk about the subjects that
were most important to them. They were eager to repeat the experience and carry forward the connection they
had felt with others throughout the day. One mother offered her home for the next workshop, so we planned a
tentative date. As everyone left and I quickly cleaned up the meeting space, I felt happy and relaxed and I
realized that every other LLL event I've helped plan required more energy than this day did. It was a pleasure
to offer this opportunity to Applicants, and it was lovely to feel energized instead of exhausted at the end
of the day. I'm looking forward to making these workshops a regular event.
Editor's Note: Vicki hopes the information in this article will help others to plan and facilitate a
similar event in their locale. Contact Vicki at vicki@parnell.ca (email) for a packet in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, including to-do lists, shopping lists, a photograph of her
agenda wall, and basic forms for a workshop.
Vicki Parnell and her husband, Jeff Duncan, live in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada with their two
children, Megan (9) and Calum (3). Vicki is a Regional Administrator of Leader Accreditation for the United
States Western Division and enjoys corresponding with Leaders and Applicants all over the world. Monique
Kitts is the Contributing Editor for "Preparing for Leadership." Article ideas and submissions
may be sent to Monique at 3777 Cherokee Valley Road, Ringgold, Georgia, 30736, USA;
moniquek@fastemailer.com (email); or faxed to
253.645.2230.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:22 UTC 2007.
