Around this time of year I usually write a post to look back on some of the great work we did this year. Sometimes the year can go by in such a whirlwind, I really appreciate taking this opportunity to see everything we’ve accomplished for ourselves and for our clients! Here are some of the services and projects we undertook in 2022, by quarter.
January – March
The first quarter of the year saw us starting work with the BC Fossil Management Office, designing and developing eight e-learning modules about fossil management in B.C. I also met several times with a new employee of a long-term client to teach them how to use Articulate Storyline, the content authoring software that we often use to create e-learning courses.
For the Local Government Management Association we carried out design and development of several e-learning courses on their Moodle platform. Val Cortes led the way for us to create a learning strategy for the Vancouver Division of Family Practice. I also did some short-term consulting with two different healthcare organizations to help them decide if they needed to create a course to meet a business goal they had in mind.
I also facilitated a virtual meeting for a nonprofit organization in Ontario, to help two teams in two different locations come together to discuss some challenges they were experiencing. We also continued working with Pain BC on the design and development of a set of e-learning modules and I facilitated the last two Liberating Structures sessions of a set that I offered to the BC Ministry of Health.
April – June
In this quarter I started preparing for my podcast, undertaking a weeks-long program with Mary Chan at Organized Sound Productions. I picked its name – Facilitating on Purpose – in June, helped along by several friends and colleagues from my facilitators group.
We started work to create an online course on Responsible Conduct for the Union of BC Municipalities and the Local Government Management Association. I also travelled to Ontario to facilitate a three-day Instructional Skills Workshop for the leadership team of STEM Camp, and I began a project with a BC-based municipality to design an orientation session for new staff. I also started work in this quarter on a project to redesign a short course on the topic of intercultural competency for WILL Employment Solutions in Ontario.
These months were also happily full with teaching about Liberating Structures. Leva Lee from BCcampus and I co-facilitated another version of the one week “microcourse” in Liberating Structures. I also co-facilitated with Susana Guardado the multi-week online course, Facilitating Online with Liberating Structures, for Royal Roads University. I travelled to Douglas College in May to facilitate a half-day in person Liberating Structures session for their faculty and staff. I also facilitated a short virtual Liberating Structures workshop for nonprofit folks through Pillar Nonprofit Network in London, Ontario.
July – September
In the summer we were able to take some well-deserved vacation but also continued work on some of the ongoing learning design projects mentioned above, including a sporadic consulting role with the Vancouver Division of Family Practice on implementing their learning strategy. We finished the Responsible Conduct course for local elected officials (see recent blog post we wrote about it) in September and we continued to work on several e-learning projects for Pain BC.
I launched the Facilitating on Purpose podcast in September, releasing two solo episodes that month. Carla Green happily came on board officially with me part-time as Communications Coordinator in that month as well. I also facilitated a short virtual workshop called An Element of Fun for staff at the University of Victoria.
October – December
All through this year I sold copies of my book, Design to Engage. I do love sending out signed copies to folks myself, even though it definitely is being sold at online bookstores around the world. It’s been great to hear anecdotally how much people love it! If you don’t have your copy yet, you can pick it up in paperback, hardcover, audio book or e-book versions.
I completed the orientation project for the municipality mentioned above and also worked with Victoria Hospice – a long-time client – on two small projects. I facilitated a two-session workshop called Next Steps in Liberating Structures for University of Victoria staff, which was very successful. I also supported some local entrepreneurs with course revisions and planning.
I also attended – for the first time – the 24 hour online conference for facilitators called Never Done Before. Now that was an experience! I holed up in a hotel room and attended sessions all through the day and night. I facilitated a short virtual workshop for Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada (VMPC) called Facilitating an Engaging Volunteer Orientation. I continued working on projects for Pain BC and also interviewed my family to be on the podcast. (Watch for that episode to release Dec 21.)
As always I continue to be grateful to get to do what I do, for some really great clients. And I’m really thankful that I have such a great team around me to help me do a lot of this work, particularly our work on e-learning projects. I’m looking forward to slowing down a bit over the Christmas holidays and getting a rejuvenating break – then hitting the ground running in 2023! Happy holidays everyone.