Agendas and Outlines

Complex adaptive systems have an inherent order that is simply waiting to be unfolded through the experience of the system, but no one can know what that order will be until, in fact, it does unfold in real time.

—Ralph D. Stacey

For Facilitators

Here you'll find access to facilitator notes for the following workshops developed by Wanda McGee:

  • An agenda you can use to lead guided nature walks
  • Two workshop outlines designed for presentation to facilitators. Both use nature as a teaching tool, one more so than the other.

Guided Nature Walk Agenda

Download the .pdf file
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Before using this agenda (titled "Nature's Metaphors: Finding Meaning in the Chaos of Life"), please make sure you're comfortable with the ideas and processes found in the Resources section of this website, especially Obserflection and More. If you have questions, check the Nature of Heart blog. The book, Invisible Currents—Nature's Lessons for the Mind and Heart is used as a reference for this workshop.

Experienced facilitators with a love of nature will probably find using this agenda fun and easy. By the end of the walk, usually 3-4 hours, participants will have experienced personal growth and the power of natural metaphors.

A nature walk can also be part of a workshop for a wide variety of audiences. For example, a day-long workshop gave an audience of artists and writers a chance to:

  • Slow down and think at the speed of nature.
  • Observe the natural world and reflect on the meaning of what they saw as a way of enriching both their artistic expression and their relationships.
  • Activate body-mind circuitry for integrating their own artist and writer.
  • Learn a process they could use whenever they need a mini-vacation of the mind and heart.

Workshop Outlines

The following two workshop outlines, in .pdf format, may be of interest to facilitators. Workshops were designed to give as much responsibility as possible to the learner. Both workshops were a real challenge for most participants. There were moments of fun, struggle, and real “ah-ha.”

Metaphors for the Mind and Heart of Business

Download the .pdf file.

This workshop outline provides a set of self-facilitated activities that uses a train metaphor as a theme and nature as a resource. It was presented at the 6th Annual Conference of the International Association of Facilitators. The following activities may be of most interest.

  • Metaphors: Meaning and Importance to Facilitation
  • Exploring Business Metaphors: Past and Present
  • Using Events from Nature as Metaphors for Dialogue
  • Developing Your Own Masterful Metaphors

Self-Directed Facilitation

Download the .pdf file.

This workshop was designed so that participants could self-facilitate. The workshop facilitator's role was to introduce the workshop, determine participants' interests, point them to resources, ask questions to make them think, stay out of their way when they were busy learning, and facilitate a dialogue at the end. The downloadable .pdf file contains selected workshop materials.

  • Introduction to Self-Directed Facilitation
  • Creating Shared Meaning with Dialogue (ideas for using events from nature and dialogue to create new life metaphors)
  • Start with Chaos, End with Meaning

Invitation: We'd like to hear from you. Feel free to offer your comments. Also, check out the Nature of Heart blog.


  Inner Secret
  Cindy Mueller