Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision–Making

This book is an outstanding resource for tackling complex community and business challenges. Weve used it both at the City of Denver and at the State of Colorado. I keep a copy on my desk for easy reference. Roxane White, chief of staff for Governor John Hickenlooper, State Capitol, Denver, Colorado Sam Kaner is one of the worlds leading experts on collaboration. His grasp of the challenges and dilemmas of collaboration is superb, as are his models and methods for facilitating complex processes. Clearly written and wonderfully illustrated, this book makes difficult issues understandable and provides sound, practical guidance. Sandy Schuman, editor, Creating a Culture of Collaboration and founding editor, Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal It was a revelation to find the Facilitators Guide and realize someone had written down the way our organization was already working organically. Using this book has allowed us to put a translatable and trainable framework around what we do. Kaner and Fisk are masters at their craft. Harley K. Dubois, founder, Burning Man Project NCDD has long listed the Facilitators Guide as one of the best–of–the–best resources for practitioners. The field of public engagement has been deeply influenced by this seminal book. Sandy Heierbacher, director and co–founder, National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD) At Stanford University I convene an annual conference attended by hundreds of non–profit leaders. Sam Kaners keynote presentations, based on material from this book, are consistently top–rated and likely to inspire significant organizational change. Regina Starr Ridley, publishing director, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford University What a practical, sensible guide for helping groups work together in a realistic way! Marvin Weisbord, consultant and author, Productive Workplaces and coauthor, Discovering Common Ground and Future Search In cross–functional environments where diverse perspectives are intentionally brought together to produce high–quality thinking, a highly skilled facilitator can add great value, and Sam Kaner is one of the best. The Facilitators Guide provides a full set of models and tools to enable an organization to reap the benefits of a well facilitated, participatory decision–making process. Having seen Sams methods in action, I can attest to their power and effectiveness. Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman, eBay and Omidyar Network Our organization employs a staff of several thousand who touch the lives of hundreds of millions of people living in poverty, in developing nations across the globe. As we build our capacity to convene and facilitate multi–stakeholder processes, we have found Sam Kaners book and his teachings to be immensely beneficial. Jamie Watts, Institutional Learning and Change, CGIAR, Bioversity International, Rome, Italy