Emotional judo throw

A cool name for working with highly emotional people. 

Coined by a fellow facilitator, Paul Micallef (‘mick-a-leff’, not like that bloke on the ABC) the title drew a curious group to our March session at the Victorian Facilitators Network (VFN).

As Paul said, facilitators are already pretty talented when it comes to managing the emotions of others. Self-awareness, regulating our own emotions, reading the 'feel' of the room - we all have these skills to some extent. But everyone needs to practice.

With no judo mats or white uniforms in sight, we threw ourselves into an experiential session, ably guided by Paul. What did we learn?

No martial arts experience needed!

Notice patterns. Stay grounded. Keep your balance.

Stay in the ‘ring’. Get a grip on the emotion at play.

High emotion doesn’t mean anger or negative energy. But it can still take up space and dominate a group (hands up who gets ‘into trouble’ for being ‘too enthusiastic’?)

Facilitators manage and work with emotion on behalf of the group. And that,

What’s your special interest? 

is a great question to focus a group of strangers who about to dive into a potentially tricky topic

Paul calmly took us through his step-by-step approach which aims to add a new level of conscious awareness to the strategies we already use. Paul’s careful preparation and structure created a safe space for us to explore a challenging topic.

If you’re disappointed you missed it, check out Paul’s video to find out more http://bit.ly/EIPaulMicallif.

Paul discovered he has Aspergers a few years ago, and has worked for the I CAN Network teaching parents, students, and teachers about Autism, and recently started his own online business teaching emotional intelligence in a way that is specifically designed to be Autism friendly http://bit.ly/PaulMicallef.

The Victorian Facilitators’ Network is lucky that Paul decided to leave behind is career designing aeroplanes to pursue a more empathetic career which makes use of his natural talent for communication and emotional intelligence.

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