The Group Works card deck is a beautiful, contemplative tool for studying and designing group processes. Inspired by the architectural classic "A Pattern Language," fifty volunteers from a variety of disciplines spent three years studying best practices in facilitation and discerning the patterns and themes that are common to all good group dynamics. The ninety-one cards are grouped into nine categories: intention, context, relationship, flow, creativity, perspective, modelling, inquiry & synthesis, and faith. Included are suggestions for using the cards for teaching, planning,...
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A Pattern Language for Bringing Life
to Meetings and Other Gatherings
to Meetings and Other Gatherings
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Reviews and Testimonials
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From Lucas Cioffi
Co-Founder, QiqoChat
Submitted Mar 12, 2015
I'm absolutely impressed with the level of thinking that went into making the deck; it was a pleasure building on your work and I'm so thankful you made it available via Creative Commons. This deck is a vital piece of the facilitation community's knowledge and learning infrastructure, and there should be many other efforts to build out more of the community's knowledge in a similarly collaborative way.
From Sheri Wantland
Public Involvement Coordinator at Clean Water Services in Hillsboro, Oregon
Submitted Oct 3, 2014
Last week I was in a Board retreat of managers and engineers, and was delighted to see how quickly and easily the group focused on its strengths and opportunities using the colorful, thought-provoking cards. What particularly struck me was to see engineers and technical experts who identify as introverted left brainers who avoid "touchy feely" stuff readily embrace the cards. The Group Works cards instantly provide a safe place to start a conversation, and lead the group into exploration of diverse perspectives. These are a great tool for any group.
From Barr Houston
Camp Director at Camp Niwana
Submitted Jul 5, 2013
I used the deck for pre-camp training with staff mostly in their 20s, and it worked very well. This deck of cards is an effective way to help people learn the language and techniques of "group dynamics" as its own specific set of skills, by breaking down these concepts into small discrete pieces that are easy for them to understand, and hopefully later recognize and use when working with other groups (in our case, groups of campers). Highly recommended!
From Jim Clark
Jim works in Asia doing corporate training. He is playful, creative, and not afraid to take risks and challenge a group.
Submitted Jul 3, 2013
As quoted in Brian Remer's newsletter The Firefly News Flash (Oct. 2012):
"Want to sharpen your facilitation skills? Need a quick idea to untangle a tough group? Trying to analyze why that last meeting nearly went up in smoke? You can find answers to these challenges and many others in the Group Works Deck."
Reader Jim Clark commented (posted here with permission): “What an amazing resource. It was great for me to just go through the cards and see what are...
read more...From Daryl at Anecdote.com
Submitted Jul 3, 2013
From "Anecdotally" (the newsletter of the Anecdote consultancy in Australia) - August 2012:
http://www.anecdote.com.au/newsletters.php?nlid=51#Technique
"I recently had the opportunity to use the deck when I lead a peer-learning workshop on ‘facilitation skills’. The objective was to listen to stories and observe these meeting patterns, to reveal what skilled facilitators and other participants do to make things work (or not). It was a lively and engaging session."
From Karbyn Eilde
teacher & freelance writer
Submitted Jul 3, 2013
Just wanted to let you know that I did get the Group Works deck at last, and was entirely impressed. Fantastic! Great quality, beautiful and relevant images, perfect writing, 100% usable information, I was absolutely impressed all the way around, and I'm sure you are very rightfully proud of how things turned out, too.
I purchased the deck specifically to use as a tool for a presentation at a group that I am involved with that supports women's education. There have been several very tense moments within the past several meetings, when communication did not go well, and no one...
read more...From Frauke Godat
Initiator and Facilitator of Change Network, working with Art of Hosting in Berlin, Germany - See more at: http://www.incommons.org/user/6923/bio#sthash.Q2jnOJBS.dpuf
Initiator and Facilitator of Change Network, working with Art of Hosting in Berlin, Germany - See more at: http://www.incommons.org/user/6923/bio#sthash.Q2jnOJBS.dpuf
Initiator and Facilitator of Change Network, working with Art of Hosting in Berlin, Germany
Submitted Jul 3, 2013
Used the cards to map "Patterns I have appreciated, experienced, or wished for more" of during a one-week stay in Totnes for Transtion Town Launch Training:
http://artofhosting.ning.com/profiles/blogs/working-with-groupworks-patt...
From David Plouffe
Engagement Lead, Cultural Transformation at City of Calgary
Submitted Jul 3, 2013
At the City of Calgary we have been using the cards as part of an organizational cultural transformation within our "dream" phase [of an Appreciative Inquiry]. We have engaged over 1200 employees using the cards. I am going to share some videos/images and a report about our use of this fabulous tool when we are done. We have been using these cards from the start of the process (last Sept after I took the workshop in Seattle) for everything from planning our meetings to various engagement sessions. We have also used the iPhone app, especially the random card deal as how we start our day....
read more...From Laird Schaub
Submitted Jun 25, 2013
Laird Schaub has been exploring the Group Works cards at his Community & Consensus blog. Read all his responses here.
Pages
- Buy printed deck
- Download free deck
- Get the iPhone app (contact us if you can help us develop an Android version)
- Group Works YouTube videos!
- Slack integration
- Support us when you shop at Amazon
- Translations
Latest News
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On March 15, 2022, we migrated the Group Works site from Drupal to Backdrop, and are now using
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We are pleased to announce that anyone who's registered as a user on our Group Works website
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Dear Group Works enthusiasts,
While so much in the world is akilter and askew, we have
