Posts made by Brenda Kaulback

Thanks for this great model, Derek. I find it rings pretty true to my experience in online dialogue. Do you see the role of the facilitator as fitting into the commentator column - in other words, do you distinguish between the leaders who are participants and the one or ones who launch the topic, monitor it, assume responsibility for carrying it forward (such as I assume Cindy is here) in the same category or a different one?
I agree that acknowledgment / validation are even more important online than in face to face dialogue, both in the education setting and the work setting. As facilitator of online dialogue in work situations, I feel successful in one part of my task when, as Lorie points out, the participants start doing this for each other. Recently, a colleague of mine who does transformative mediation (face to face - for court situations), was asked what was most important in successful mediation and she answered that the most important piece of her work as a mediator was to let the participants know that they have been heard. Since I heard her make that comment I have been noticing how applicable that is to so many situations - Is it at the beginning of Peter Senge's book (I don't have it handy to look up) where he tells the story of an indigent people who greet each other by saying, "I see you." Certainly even more applicable in virtual situations where our being seen/heard can only be known by a subsequent posting!