GOVERNANCE
GOVERNANCE

Governance

The Association of Facilitators is structured, operated, directed and governed in such a way as to assure a high quality of service to Members.

The Directors are responsible for the Association's strategic direction and all operations and services provided to members.  They receive support and joint supervision from the Board of Reference and others as appropriate.

To date, four Board Members have been invited to join us as a direct result of their outstanding experience, credibility and reputation in organisational development, complex systems dynamics, facilitation and supervision. We are proud to say that they are engaged in and fully supportive of our vision, values and aims and stand by our provision of support, development, training and accreditation to the Association's Members.

The Association of Facilitators Directors and Board Members meet regularly, usually twice a year, to oversee our governance and to challenge and support us to:

  • Health and peak performance more than problems and issues.
  • Who we are more than what we know.
  • Lived values not spoken judgments.
  • Reviewed experience not expert opinions.
  • Empowerment and appropriate power dynamics not repression.

Members of our Board of Reference occasionally offer supervision or course modules to AoF members that reflect their specialist areas, particularly on the longer Certificate or Diploma programmes.

PROFESSOR PAUL BARBER

is Academic Advisor for two of Metanoia Institute’s Doctorate Programmes.  He is a Visiting Professor (Gestalt in Research and Organisations) at Middlesex University’s Institute for Work Based Learning, a Fellow of the Roffey Park Institute and a Visiting Professor in Psychotherapy at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia.  He is also Associate Editor of the British Gestalt Journal, and author of several books including 'Facilitating Change in Groups and Teams'.  As Paul works towards his retirement, he is more active in delivery of supervision and facilitation (e.g. on our longer courses) than in an advisory capacity.

DR DAVID BEST

has operated at the most senior levels of commerce for over 20 years providing strategic and IT advice in complex, international organisations.  He was a Senior Partner at Deloitte Consulting during the 90s where, as a member of the International Training Committee, he was responsible for training in the UK Consulting practice.  He is trained as a Gestalt practitioner and has considerable experience of applying principles of personal development and group dynamics from Gestalt, Integrative Psychotherapy and Transactional Analysis within leadership teams.

DR MICHAEL FIELD (OBE)

is a specialist in experiential learning and its recognition for accreditation. He has served as the Executive Director of the Learning from Experience Trust and as the national Chair of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. He currently undertakes research into improving board effectiveness and works as a trainer in corporate governance. He has wide experience as a director and board chair and is currently the Senior Independent Director of an NHS Foundation Trust. Michael was awarded the OBE in 2011 for his services to the voluntary sector.

ROBIN SHOHET

has been teaching supervision through the Centre for Supervision and Team Development in London and the Findhorn Foundation for 30 years.  He has been at the heart of the supervision profession as it has spread from the counselling, psychotherapy and social work professions into medicine, education and business environments. He is the author and co-author of a number of books, including the seminal work 'Supervision in the Helping Professions' now in its fourth edition, 'Passionate Supervision' and 'Supervision as Transformation”.   He has co-developed a number of core supervision models and practices, including the Seven Eyed Model of Supervision.