“This book provides the tools, techniques, and actual experience to truly practice shared leadership. Roger Schwarz and his colleagues provide not only the theory but the practical, hands-on experience required to develop high-performance teams.”

“Although I consider myself already familiar with Roger’s Skilled Facilitator approach, I was amazed at the breadth and depth this Fieldbook provides. It is a compelling resource for anyone interested in building his or her facilitative capabilities.”

“The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is a must-have for anyone serving as a third-party intervener, coach, consultant, or a manager with a desire to develop people and groups.”

“The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook truly provides the reader with an understandable ‘root cause’ perspective on why people interact the way they do and the means to create change. It goes way beyond the ‘memorize these rules’ approach advocated by many practitioners.”

Roger Schwarz is founder and president of Roger Schwarz & Associates, a consulting firm that is dedicated to helping people change how they think and act so they can improve their business results and relationships—often in ways they didn’t think possible. For more than twenty-five years, he has been helping groups and organizations by facilitating as well as consulting, coaching, and teaching and speaking on the subjects of facilitation, teams, and leadership. His clients include Fortune 500 corporations; federal, state, and local government; educational institutions; and nonprofit organizations. His book The Skilled Facilitator (Jossey-Bass, 2002) is a standard reference in the field. An organizational psychologist, Roger was formerly associate professor of public management and government at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his Ph.D. and A.M. in organizational psychology from The University of Michigan, his M.Ed. from Harvard University, and his B.S. degree in psychology from Tufts University.

Anne Davidson is a consultant with Roger Schwarz & Associates. She specializes in leadership development, facilitator training, and long-term organizational and community change projects. She works internationally with management groups, work teams, and nonprofit and local government boards. She increasingly coaches individuals who want to embrace learning and creative development in their jobs and personal lives. Her journey toward organization development and training started almost thirty years ago when she began teaching eleventh-grade English in South Carolina. Since that time, she has served as a media center director; a marketing and management instructor in the School of Business at Western Carolina University; the training and organization development director for the City of Asheville, North Carolina; and a lecturer in public management and government at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Anne learned the Skilled Facilitator approach in 1988 during the early phases of its development when the City of Asheville became a client of Roger Schwarz & Associates. She earned her B.A. in English and secondary education from Presbyterian College. She holds an M.L.S. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. from Western Carolina University.

Peg Carlson is an organizational psychologist who earned her Ph.D. from The University of Michigan. She is a consultant with Roger Schwarz & Associates and adjunct associate professor of public management and government at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She teaches, consults, and writes in the area of organizational change and development. She leads workshops on facilitation and facilitative leadership and frequently facilitates meetings for governing boards, management teams, and community groups. She has published articles on developing effective groups, assessing the chief executive’s performance, and multirater feedback. Peg started using the Skilled Facilitator approach with Roger Schwarz and colleagues Dick McMahon and Kurt Jenne when she joined the UNC faculty in 1992. She resigned her tenured position in 2000 to better balance work and family life.

Sue McKinney is a consultant with Roger Schwarz & Associates and independently. Formerly, she was director of organizational development for an international nongovernmental organization based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Sue developed her facilitation skills in the early 1980s while working for an international nonprofit grounded in the consensus decision-making process. She first worked with Roger Schwarz in 1990-1991 while serving as an intern to a county social services management team working with him. In 1997, she attended the two-week Skilled Facilitator class offered by The University of North Carolina Institute of Government and within one year began working with Schwarz to teach classes around the country. McKinney has practical expertise in leadership development, board development, mediation, facilitation, and training of trainers. She believes in the value of humor and play to stimulate creativity and productivity and is known for her energetic and humorous approach to working with groups. She leads workshops on a variety of topics, including facilitative leadership, and facilitates public and nonprofit board and staff retreats. Sue earned her A.B. in history from Duke University and her M.S.W. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a specialization in human services administration.

Matt Beane is an organization development, coaching, and training professional who helps individuals, groups, and organizations exceed performance expectations while increasing both the quality of their relationships and their ability to learn from adversity. His specialty and passion lie in helping people assess gaps between their behavior and their espoused values, allowing them to make more informed choices about their behavior and values in the future. He is an associate with Roger Schwarz & Associates and has worked with a number of Fortune 1000 companies in the financial, professional services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, hi-tech, travel, consumer goods, and hospitality sectors, with a variety of nonprofit and governmental organizations, and in the public workshop format. Before becoming an independent in 2002, he was independent workforce director at the Forum Corporation, a consultancy specializing in workplace learning solutions. Matt holds a B.A. in philosophy from Bowdoin College and has done graduate work at Harvard’s School of Education in Adult Learning.

Guillermo Cuéllar is an international organization development consultant, facilitator, psychotherapist, and artist who brings a unique multicultural and multidisciplinary perspective to engage others in the change processes. He is the cofounding president of the Center for Creative Consciousness. For over thirty years, he has guided individuals and groups in processes to develop creative intelligence and discover and use their talents and gifts. He has taught cross-cultural management at the School of International Training in the Program of International Management, in Brattleboro, Vermont, and at NTL Institute in Bethel, Maine. He has worked since 1990 for two consulting firms in the field of managing diversity: Elsie Y. Cross and Associates and Alignment Strategies. He provides professional services in both English and Spanish. Guillermo earned his B.F.A. and M.A. in counseling at the University of South Florida in Tampa Florida. He then earned an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts.

Diane Florio is the manager of human resources development for SpectraSite Communications, a wireless infrastructure company based in Cary, North Carolina. She is responsible for leading and implementing development initiatives in a fast-paced organization. She works with individuals, groups, and departments to improve services, teamwork, and leadership. Diane has worked in both the private and public sectors and has fifteen years of experience in the work of human behavior and professional development. She was trained in the Skilled Facilitator approach in 2000. She received a B.S. in health education from SUNY, Cortland in New York and her M.S. in human resources education from Fordham University, New York. She holds a business coaching certification from The University of North Carolina.

Harry Furukawa is an organization architect and a consultant with Roger Schwarz & Associates. He helps people design and transform the organizations in which they work in order to achieve better financial, environmental, and social results. He consults in strategic planning, values and culture identification and development, organizational change, and quality and productivity improvement. He has served as the associate director of the University of Maryland Center for Quality and Productivity and as the senior director for strategic planning at the American Red Cross. He also has served as examiner on the board of examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for five years (four as a senior examiner). He earned a B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University, a master of architecture from Harvard University, and an executive M.B.A. from Loyola College.

Peter Hille has been director of Brushy Fork Institute of Berea College, which since 1988 has carried out a unique leadership development program in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Peter has worked extensively in Brushy Fork’s leadership development program, recruiting participants, organizing workshops, and working with teams of community leaders as they carry out local projects. He has created custom workshops, designed and led retreats, and facilitated strategic planning processes for regional nonprofits, foundations, government agencies, and development organizations. He has also conducted community development workshops nationally and internationally, in Russia and Slovakia. In recent years, Peter has focused on building collaborative networks of diverse organizations serving the Appalachian region. A graduate of Swarthmore College, his background includes experience in grassroots environmental organizing and small business management.

Greg Hohn is the director of Transactors Improv Co., the South’s oldest improvisational theater, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He joined the company in 1989 and became director in 1996. Since 1998 he has been teaching Applied Improv in a wide variety of venues. He is adjunct lecturer in business communication at The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and a visiting faculty member at Baruch College, City University of New York. In addition to work in academia, Greg teaches Applied Improv, improvisational theater, acting, and presentation skills for businesses, organizations, and educational institutions across the country. As an actor, he works in film, television, radio, scripted theater, and industrial media. He has written for stage, radio, and periodicals and has written two books. He received a degree in English from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joe Huffman has served as a local government manager in North Carolina since 1990 in Elkin, Havelock, and Laurinburg. His exposure to learning organization concepts began with his employment in Laurinburg and has been augmented by his completion of The University of North Carolina Institute of Government course of instruction in group facilitation and consultation. Joe has served as a North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency commissioner since 1999. His current local nonprofit involvement includes serving as a member of the board of directors of the Scotland County Chapter of the American Red Cross. He received a B.S. in criminal justice and an M.P.A. from Appalachian State University. His professional training includes completion of The University of North Carolina Institute of Government Municipal Administration program in 1991.

Verla Insko was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1997; she represents the Fifty-Sixth House District in Orange County. She serves as chair of the Health Committee. Her other committee assignments are Appropriations (Health and Human Services), Education (Universities), Environment and Natural Resources, and Judiciary I. In 1998, House Speaker Jim Black appointed her as House chair of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse. In the 2001 session she was the primary sponsor of HB381, Mental Health Reform, which began a five-year process of modernizing the state’s system of services for these three disability groups. She has received numerous awards for her leadership, including in 2003 the Award for Leadership in Mental Health Reform presented jointly by six agencies. She has sponsored the Repeal Involuntary Sterilization Act, the Matthew Shepard Memorial Act, the State Earned Income Tax bill, and the Health Care for All bill.

Steve Kay is a founding partner of Roberts & Kay, a firm established in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1983 to provide interrelated services for clients that include facilitation, training, organizational development, and public policy research. His work at the local, state, and national levels includes serving as facilitator for multiparty groups with divergent perspectives or constituencies; training beginning and intermediate facilitators and coaches to guide sound public and organizational processes; building internal capacity to increase work group and organizational effectiveness; and providing analysis and technical assistance for complex, long-term change efforts within organizations and communities. He holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College, an M.A. from Yale University, and an Ed.D. from the University of Kentucky.

Jeff Koeze is president and chief executive officer of Koeze Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He represents the fourth generation of the family to have served as the company’s general manager. Before joining Koeze Company in September 1996, he was associate professor of public law and government at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In that capacity he provided consulting services and professional education on issues of health care law, finance, and policy. His work focused on issues of concern to public hospitals and public health providers in North Carolina. He is the author of several articles and other publications in that field. He has also served as law clerk to the Honorable Morey L. Sear, U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans. He received a B.A. in English from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Dick McMahon is a retired lecturer in public management from the Institute of Government, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During his tenure as a lecturer, he had extensive experience working with both state and local government organizations. He has conducted supervisory and leadership training for literally thousands of public supervisors and managers. He also worked with Roger Schwarz at the university in developing training programs in skilled facilitation. He is currently an associate with Roger Schwarz & Associates and has worked on a long-term organization development project with Laurinburg, North Carolina. He has worked as well with a number of other organizations on developmental projects using the Skilled Facilitator approach in his work. Since his retirement, he has continued to work as a consultant, facilitator, and trainer for public agencies. He received his master’s degree at Ohio University and did doctoral work at UNC Chapel Hill.

Betsy Monier-Williams is a process improvement leader for a worldwide aerospace and industrial supplier. She has over fifteen years of manufacturing experience, including twelve years of corporate training and over three years facilitating work groups. She has also coordinated large-scale change in proprietary information technology systems, lean manufacturing, and cultural transformations focusing on teams and facilitative leadership. Monier-Williams leads a variety of workshops including facilitative leadership, Ground Rules for Effective Groups, team training, and competency management. She is certified in lean manufacturing from The University of Michigan and in structured teamwork through Performance Resources. She earned her B.S. and M.B.A. from Medaille College with a specialization in operations management and strategic training and human resource development. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in human and organization development.

Tom Moore is director of the Wake County Public Library. He became interested in learning organization issues in 1993 and has studied them since. He has received extensive training in facilitative leadership and systems thinking as well as learning organizations. The Wake County Public Library is becoming a learning organization through training of its staff and reflective thinking about its actions and policies. Tom is a consultant with Roger Schwarz & Associates and has worked with the Institute of Government at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as several local governments, on training about facilitative leadership and becoming a learning organization. His bachelor’s degree is in philosophy. He has a master’s degree in library science and completed two years of postgraduate study in theology.

Dale Schwarz is the cofounding vice president of the Center for Creative Consciousness and executive director of the New England Art Therapy Institute, which she cofounded in 1981. As a registered art therapist and licensed mental health counselor, she has a private practice working with individuals of all ages. Her work has evolved to include personal and professional coaching and facilitating groups in developing their creative behavior, based on a method she designed. She also works with organizations as a management consultant to develop creative behavior in the leadership ranks. A key aspect of her work is helping people use metaphor and images to enhance communication and bring forth their unique talents. Interwoven in her work is the foundation of mutual learning and the core values of the Skilled Facilitator approach. She earned her B.S. at New York University and her M.Ed. in expressive therapies at Lesley College (now Lesley University) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bron D. Skinner is an educator in the family practice residency program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Family Medicine. In his role as the assistant residency director, he has lent his educational expertise to the development of its evaluation system and its curriculum. The department has been developing an approach to faculty performance reviews that emphasizes career development. As part of the new approach to faculty evaluation, the department implemented a 360-degree feedback system. Bron has conducted training for staff and faculty to teach principles of assessment as a learning process based on Roger Schwarz’s ground rules for effective groups. He has designed forms that emphasize this approach and been a member of the team that has converted the system to Web-based data forms. He has a Ph.D. in education from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. in music education from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Chris Soderquist is the founder and president of Pontifex Consulting, an organization committed to helping individuals, teams, and organizations in building their capacity to develop strategic solutions to complex issues. He uses his experience in systems thinking and system dynamics, group facilitation, communication skill development, and statistical and process analysis to facilitate the development of solutions that are effective and actionable. For over fifteen years, he has worked with Fortune 1000 companies, international development organizations, national and state government organizations, and communities to help them better achieve the future they desire. Chris is a contributing author to The Change Handbook (Berrett-Koehler, 1999) and has published several features in Systems Thinker. He has also been an invited speaker at conferences. He earned a B.A. in mathematical methods in the social sciences and a B.A. in political science from Northwestern University.

Susan R. Williams is executive editor at Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons. She attended a week-long Skilled Facilitator workshop with Roger Schwarz and edited the revised edition of his best-selling book The Skilled Facilitator (2002).

PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD are using the Skilled Facilitator approach to develop effective teams and organizations and generate open, honest, and productive working relationships. Since the publication of the first edition of The Skilled Facilitator in 1994 (and the second edition in 2002), we have been privileged to work with a number of them. Some attended our public workshops, others we coached, and still others invited us to help them improve their organizations. Our clients learned from us, we learned from them, and we have learned together. The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook reflects these lessons.