From clients and colleagues
In the hands of a skilled facilitator, Dynamic Facilitation is the most potent process I know for transmuting intractable conflicts into breakthrough insights, solutions and possibilities. Among DF facilitators, I consider Rosa Zubizarreta an experienced and grounded practitioner and a uniquely thoughtful trainer, theoretician and innovator. It is my privilege to give her work my highest recommendation.
Tom Atlee
Founder of the Co-Intelligence Institute
Rosa was phenomenal! She coordinated public think tanks, volunteer sessions and community forums, while also listening closely to the committee’s conversation and drawing out key points. Without her, I don’t think we could have pulled our work together as well as we did.
Deborra Zukowski
member of the
Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee Newtown, CT
Rosa’s process as a facilitator is to make space for everyone to share their thoughts and be heard, and to encourage us to “unpack” issues that seem to have some tension or energy behind them. It helped us clarify and talk directly about some of the key, creative tensions that are at play as we make decisions, both big and small, about our next steps as a business.
Some of the comments were hard to hear, and I know that they must have been hard to say, but it feels incredibly helpful that they are now out in the open where we can all engage with them directly. Not everything was hard–there were a lot of fun and encouraging ideas as well. The meetings helped me get a new sense of who we are and what we’re capable of as a group.
Nadav Malin
President, BuildingGreen
Your facilitation of the Board and your pre and post notes and comments are nothing short of transformational. We had what I experienced as another quite satisfying meeting… I am so relieved with the new sense of a functional process, of making progress in a careful way, and of the accountability we are having to each other and to our members.
Joan Klagsbrun, Ph.D.
Psychotherapist
Rosa is enthusiastic, inclusive, and engaged – she had a genuine interest in us and our work. She cares about what’s going on. Our people noticed this about her and trusted her immediately. We were all very satisfied with the experience.
Going into this as the leader, I figured I was going to be making all the decisions in the end anyway. But, by the end of it, I was confident in the decisions the group had come up with and they felt like the right ones to me! The employees felt heard in terms of the direction the company was heading, and they enjoyed the energy of it. The nature of the conversation allowed people to jump on board. It was very positive, and about 80-90% of what we came up with was implemented.
Eric Thoreson
President, ETA
Accounting Software Specialists
I got a great comment from one of my staff yesterday afternoon — he stopped by my office and said, “Wow, this is a lot of fun!” I think that the process you’ve led us through is really helping to empower our team.
Michael Parker, President, Clarity, Low Vision Products and Low Vision Aids
“Rosa’s workshop was transformative! I was able to apply what I learned right away, in a conflict situation with a small team within the Department of Human Services where I work as a case consultant. The interpersonal issues had confounded the staff and their managers as well as involving numerous people around the state for a long time. The conflict was resolved and the agreements kept. Everyone was amazed!
I am called upon to facilitate, coach and mediate regularly. This approach provided a real shift in the work I do with groups.”
Taylor Kohn
Department of Human Services
State of Oregon
“I really enjoyed experiencing a decision-making/choice-making model that rests on the creative potential of conflict. As a choice/decision making process I found it more fun, flexible and energizing than the standard cooperative problem solving/consensus building that I have used. The process felt like an especially good fit for groups that have begun in dialogue to bridge deep differences, but want to move into discussing actions and making decisions. I’m definitely interested in learning more!”
Mary Jackstreit
Consultant, Facilitator & Mediator
Collaboration, Engagement &
Conflict Management Associate
Public Conversations Project
“I found this work breathtakingly simple to grasp conceptually, and complex to live. I was grateful that we spent the majority of time in practice. […] From the training, I have a sense that I can apply the principles as I live, and am looking forward to more practice so I can more effectively facilitate the process as a whole. I recommend this training very highly.”
Shulamit Day Berlevtov
Psychotherapist, Focusing teacher & NVC trainer