Triratna News

Ecodharma offers EU-funded 'effective collaboration training' course

On Wed, 21 August, 2013 - 05:49
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lokabandhu
The Ecodharma Centre, a Triratna Buddhist Community initiative in the Catalan Pyrenees, has recently established a new training course helping people to develop the skills necessary to work most effectively with others in groups, teams and organizations. As part of their efforts to support one of Triratna’ European Chairs’ Assembly priorities – “The Power of Dharma to Transform Society” – Ecodharma are developing trainings to provide people with the essential skills to engage in collaborative endeavors. They have also connected with a European Union fund which can enable people to receive full funding to take part.

“In whatever way we envisage contributing to the wellbeing of our world, for most of us it’s going to mean working with others,” explains Guhyapati, who is co-designing and facilitating the course. “Effective collaboration,” he continues, “not only benefits the world, it can provide the vital context for our growth as individuals, offer a crucial means to share and live out our deepest values, and it can bring forth emergent and creative qualities that alone we could barely imagine.

“Of course, working in groups is not always easy. It can feel frustrating, draining and unproductive. Meetings drag, personalities clash, power conflicts arise, chaos reigns and all this gets in the way of achieving what the group or organization set out to do at the beginning.

“So, this Effective Holistic Collaboration training will help participants to learn how to collaborate, communicate and make decisions effectively. It will help them to draw out the best in themselves and others, to stay in healthy relationship, build teams based on shared values - and get things done! This course and related resources provides you with the tools and know how to make your group effective, fun, brilliant, and inspiring. These skills are applicable to Right Livelihood situations, Dharma centres, Sangha building and other socially engaged enterprises. It draws on key methods of group work, facilitation and organizing, bringing these into relationship with Dharma inspired approaches to self-awareness, ethics and going beyond narrow self into the creative space of interpersonal engagement.

The Ecodharma team will teach the course in collaboration with Nick Osborne, a respected international trainer working with the Transition Towns network, and will be hosted at Ecodharma in April 2014. However, the deadline for the European Union funding is September 17th 2013 - so, if you want to take advantage of the opportunity and gain skills to support your efforts to work with others don’t hesitate to contact the Ecodharma team at events [at] ecodharma.com”.

Course details can be found on Ecodharma’s website.

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