I never know what to expect when I co-facilitate with Ahmed (or Mr Bari Sir as many people call him here). He's a hugely charismatic speaker and a trainer with immense skills to be able to think of a physical representation of complex concepts. In the sessions this day he had a cell phone being passed around carefully, being treated as a customer would. "You wouldn't throw the customer, nor this expensive phone, would you?" He was so convincing that at one point I rushed to find another prop for this psycho-dramatic play. You got me Ahmed!

During the session he also learned that a pivotal plan for the week needed to change and would affect many other plans. He didn't bat an eyelid. OK, let's sort this!

The participants themselves were, I'd say, more than 90% of them into what we were doing: eliciting their voice about how things were doing in the organisation, opening the floor for ALL ideas and suggestions of what was needed, then focusing on how we are all different and that this is a good thing. Much laughter, a bit of poking fun at selves and many nods of recognition showed us we were on the right track. In the final success litmus test, the overwhelming majority were a solid thumbs up. Only a few dubious-feeling folk gave us the neutral "let's wait and see how this pans out over the full 3 sessions" flat thumb. 3 of the first round done. 4 more groups to go, then we begin again with the first group for session 2. It's gonna be an intense week next from Saturday.