Two Days, Twenty Two People, and One Big Learning Curve

In this blog, Albi reflects on his first experience of Groupwork Centre’s Facilitation Training, discovering the wisdom of groups, practising micro-skills, and learning the power of self-awareness.

Took a selfie with amazing facilitators, Nancy and Janoel

What’s the best part of working in an organisation that trains others how to be great facilitators? For me, it’s getting the chance to learn it myself! Well, I’m not a facilitator (at least not yet!) and more like a communications and marketing practitioner who happens to work at Groupwork Centre. So, when I was tasked to join the two-day Facilitation Training Short Course, I went in simply wanting to experience the product I help communicate.

What I didn’t expect was how deeply I would learn, or how personally it would land.

I still remember walking in on the first morning. I arrived around 9:20am, stepped into the room at the beautiful CERES Community Environment Park, and was immediately greeted by a small table with tags to write on my name and pronoun on. As I looked around, the room was already alive. People were chatting, introducing themselves, making early connections. Twenty participants in total, a full house. I hugged Nancy Nunez and Janoel Liddy, my colleagues and the facilitators for this training, and wished them well for the day. I was nervous to join this training, but seeing familiar faces made me feel the warmth and energy that would shape the next two days.

The day started with check-in and centering around a beautiful flower altar in which we call it centre piece, these are things I’ve now come to recognise as part of Groupwork’s rhythm and ritual. The routine sounds simple, but it works. As we lower our gaze or close our eyes, and breathe deeply, we can connect with the ground beneath us and put our mind in the moment. This really helps everyone to land and arrive. Then, the initial check-in helped us hear each other’s voices and set the tone for groupness, something essential for any collaborative work.

Training without slides? How is it possible!

And when the day continued, came one of my first surprises: the room was completely low-tech. We sat in a circle, there were no computers, no slides, not even PowerPoint around – just handwritten posters, butcher’s paper, markers, and even tactile materials we could play with. And when Nancy took us to peek behind the curtain and let us know the reason, everything made sense.

The circle is a representation of how we, as humans, tell stories to each other and share wisdom. The wisdom lives in the group, and by sitting in a circle, we gently offer our knowledge – which, when combined from everyone in the room, adds up to centuries of collective experience. And as we began gathering our thoughts and naming our learning needs, the walls slowly transformed into an evolving archive of everything we were experiencing. It was eye-opening to realise how freeing it is to learn without screens!

The course had a beautiful flow, really. It was a mix of theory, discussion, experiential activities, movement, fun, and plenty of reflective time. Nancy and Janoel shared with us about Groupwork Centre’s Model of Collaborative Practice that explains the values, practical principles, self-awareness, and then the communication micro-skills and processes for working well together, before allowing us to practice it ourselves.

The group practical exercises were powerful, pushing me (gently!) out of my comfort zone and helping me speak and practice with new people. Sometimes, we were broken into pairs, or groups of three, or even groups of four, where we can put our learning into practice. We took turns in trying to facilitate some scenarios while the other listened, observed, and learned. I appreciate that the people I worked with in the group were really kind and patient, when I tried some micro skills to practice as someone who was completely new in this field. The space felt safe, inclusive, and deeply human.

I also appreciated the solo reflections; they felt like a deep breath out and helped me sink more deeply into my own learning. In a world where everything moves so fast, we’re often pushed to keep up. So being given time to pause, reflect, and connect with myself was such a valuable experience.

The Community of Selves and the voice inside us

What struck me most was how much authenticity both facilitators brought into the room. I’ve known Janoel and Nancy for a couple of months now, and I already knew they were lovely humans. But seeing them facilitate – seeing their craft, presence, and heart – was something else. They have this gift for making everyone feel seen, heard, validated, and valued – a quality that clearly comes from their decades of experience and the wonderful work they’ve done. They modelled micro-skills constantly – not just teaching them, but demonstrating them in real time, and explaining the “why” behind each move.

The content itself was also incredibly practical. The micro-skills, the tips and strategies, the resources, the role plays, the tailored adjustments they made based on our needs – it all felt accessible and immediately usable. I especially loved the Community of Selves. The way Janoel explained the “bears” and the “wise owl” inside all of us was so brilliant it made so much sense. She shared it through such a beautiful storytelling performance, even mimicking the bears and owl, giving such an immersive experience to understand such a beautiful yet complex concept.

By learning that, now I understand that we all have reactive parts, scared parts, self-doubting parts. But we also have the wise one. What I appreciated was that Groupwork doesn’t teach us to fight or silence the bear(s). Instead, we acknowledge it, even appreciate its gifts, and learn how to call on the owl. This focus on self-awareness and emotional regulation is foundational for good facilitation, and honestly, for life.

A continuous learning

For me, joining this two-day short course was transformational. I learned so much – not only about facilitation, but, more importantly, about being aware of myself and treating myself and others with kindness and compassion. This course completely changed the way I understand the word “facilitation,” revealing a depth far beyond simply delivering a session. And the bonus was the community. By the end of the two days, we weren’t twenty strangers anymore; we had created a sense of “groupness” that allowed us to connect better with each other.

I’ve been with the Groupwork Centre for a little over two months, and I can already feel how much I’m growing. During my interview, I told Gini, Tanya, and Uschi that the biggest thing that excited me about this role was the room for improvement I could see for myself. After this course, I feel that even more strongly. I know I will change a lot and I am happy to welcome it.

Everyone always talks about how good Groupwork courses are. Now that I’ve experienced it myself, I can understand why.