The Focus on Facilitation (FoF) community of practice is a learning community devoted to strengthening member skills in the art of facilitation. Facilitation, in this case, refers to helping groups of people share ideas, do work, or achieve an outcome in a participatory and collaborative way. FoF began over 13 years ago and has grown to over 450 members from across the US. Most of our members are from the Dane County, Wisconsin area.
FoF meets on a monthly basis in the City of Madison during the school year and also provides a virtual option for members to participate. As of January of 2020, FoF will be jointly supported by three sponsor organizations: The University of Wisconsin-Madison (Office of Strategic Consulting), Madison College (Interest-Based Problem Solving) and Living Giving Enterprises (Journey of Collaboration).
We welcome you and invite you to join us in person, virtually, or to learn more from the resources housed on this website.
Darin Harris, Journey of Collaboration
Jeremy Kautza, UW-Madison
Darin Harris is co-founder of Living Giving Enterprises, an organizational and leadership development company that houses Journeyofcollaboration.com.
For over 25 years, Darin has led people, programs, and projects to unparalleled performance. Local, state, federal, and international public sector, non-profit, and private, for-profit organizations call on his expertise in organizational consulting and facilitation. He draws from a suite of professional skills including group facilitation and problem-solving, strategic planning, process improvement, project management, and policy analysis and evaluation.
His clients include X4 Health; Menasha Corporation; Washington State Employee Credit Union; Friends of the Pheasant Branch Conversancy; Wisconsin’s Green Fire; University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; University of Vermont; WI Department of Human Services; Madison Metropolitan School District; Middleton-Cross Plains School District; Williamson Street Grocery Cooperative; American Players Theatre; City of Columbus; Middleton Chamber of Commerce; International Crane Foundation; WI Department of Natural Resources; River Alliance; Wisconsin Environmental Initiative; and the Environmental Council of States (ECOS).
In 2007, he teamed with FacilitatorU to create a comprehensive, week-long facilitative leadership program called Journey of Facilitation and Collaboration (JoFC) that has drawn nearly 800 participants from across the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Darin is a speaker, author, and instructor who guest lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Edgewood College in Madison, WI and Northland College in Ashland, WI. He held a distinguished prefix title for his work at UW-Madison, where he worked as an internal consultant at the Office of Strategic Consulting for over 15 years.
Jeremy Kautza has over 20 years of facilitation experience in a wide variety of settings. He currently works as an internal consultant in the Office of Strategic Consulting for the University of Wisconsin where he brings in-depth expertise in strategic planning, conflict resolution, organizational change management, and participatory facilitation methods to the units he serves. Jeremy is also a trainer and facilitator for HueLife, a consulting company based in Minneapolis, MN whose mission is to educate, facilitate, and inspire human understanding and engagement (the HUE in HueLife) to transform communities and organizations for the greater good. Prior to his time at the UW and HueLife, he served as the director of the Office of Interest-Based Problem-Solving at Madison Area Technical College where he led a team of facilitators who supported individuals, departments, and cross-functional teams in policy writing, conflict resolution, strategic planning, process improvement, and issue analysis. Jeremy has also worked as a consultant for several public entities and non-profit organizations helping them resolve conflicts and make decisions that bring people together and move the organization forward.
Jeremy is deeply committed to the principles of inclusion and profound respect and is a Certified ToP Facilitator and Trainer. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and Master of Science degrees in curriculum and instruction and in educational leadership and policy analysis, all from UW–Madison.
While not at work, Jeremy officiates three-sports, serves as the social media coordinator and Assistant District Administrator for Little League Baseball and Softball in south-central Wisconsin, and is a self-proclaimed weather geek. He has seen a baseball game in 28 of the 30 active Major League ballparks and will challenge you to a Seinfeld trivia contest any time.
