.jpg)
By the time I emerged from Nancy White's guest cottage in the morning, she'd rearranged the day's agenda for the Skagit County Master Gardeners—the one she’d been planning for months and that we carefully honed the previous day.
"I want to connect the participants to why each of them does this work," she said. "This is a group of volunteers. They could be in their home gardens, but they're coming to a strategic planning workshop. So why are they showing up today, really? Let's tap that energy and help them each articulate a personal purpose."
I asked questions of Nancy as she pulled me an Americano, helping her tighten this adjusted plan—and making sure I understood, so I could co-facilitate when needed. Morning light filtered into the tiny cottage's picture window, reflected up from the outgoing tides of Skagit Bay.
Watching Nancy in action over the next six hours during the workshop at Christianson's Nursery was a masterclass in facilitation and light-handed leadership.
Whether she was facilitating the entire group of 60, bringing me in to demo a conversation, listening to breakout groups, or directing me and our other fabulous co-facilitator, Morgan Ruff, to capture participants’ ideas, I watched Nancy adjust her own energy to modulate the energy in the room, always focused on unleashing everyone.
The thing that struck me most is how loosening the reins just the right amount—which depends on who’s there and what they need—frees a group to take what they create in a workshop and run with it. I suppose this is why the methodology we used is called “Liberating Structures.”
The follow-up Nancy shared from the gardeners' planning lead, Marlene Finley, brought the point home:
"Thursday was a turning point for SC Master Gardeners! ... we have some clearly emerging focus areas for our 3-year strategy. Participants are so energized, they are leaping out to schedule committee meetings, gathering in teams for next steps, and already jumping ahead to make changes in the way we work together and communicate! You made the magic! What a gift you, Emily and Morgan gave to us!"
