Millennia Consulting ICA Affiliation

by Jim Troxel

Millennia Consulting, LLC, was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1996 by three individuals who were affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Affairs. Karen Snyder and Jim Troxel had been staff members for 30 years and Ken O’Hare, while serving as head of the Chicago Mayor’s Office of Training and Development, had invited the ICA’s LENS team to conduct a ToP strategic planning retreat for his agency. After a change in mayors, Ken attended the ICA’s Global Academy upon which he sojourned in the GreenRise for six months.

The firm achieved over a million dollars in revenue in its second and third years of operation and invited other experienced consultants to join the team. One of them was Mirja Hanson from Minneapolis, Minnesota, also a veteran ICA member. The client focus of their work was with civil society organizations such as nonprofits, education, philanthropic and governmental organizations.

With Karen, Ken, Jim and Mirja, many ICA methodologies found their way into the Millennia work culture, products and services. Most often they were delivered in combination with other organization development techniques such as Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering, Appreciative Inquiry, and so forth. Since Jim and Karen were also adjunct faculty members with DePaul University’s School for New Learning, it, too, benefitted with the insertion of ICA methods and models inside its academic curriculum.

Later, Millennia, in conjunction with DePaul, attempted to forge a certificate program in group process facilitation. That program, spearheaded by Jim and Karen, lasted a few years before both parties moved on to more lucrative ventures. The three founders have all retired from Millennia which still functions in a virtual mode.

Many of the modules, curriculum, papers found in this section of the Methods Collection are a result of the merging of ICA techniques into Millennia’s menu of services. You are invited to survey these materials and it is hoped you will benefit from seeing these innovative applications of ICA methods.

Links to Documented Applications

ORID Conversation 4 x 4  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Action Planning – Training Module  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Affinity Process, The – Power Point Slides  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Bibliography for the DePaul Facilitation Program  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Contradictions Workshop (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Force Field Analysis Blurb  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)  

Group Facilitation Certificate Program  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)  

Guided Dialogue – For Releasing Depth Wisdom (Jean Watts))

Intro to Group Facilitation  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Leading Lively Meetings  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

ORID by David Dunn  (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Stages of Group Development (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Strategic Directions – Five Working Groups – The Five Perspectives (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Supervisory Course Guide (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

EI Team Process, The, – Employee Involvement (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Total Quality Management – A Means to Change and Reform Public Organizations (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Cultivating Collective Consciousness – with Transcendent Self-presence – A Guided Dialogue Method (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Statement Template (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Active Listening – Increasing Team Effectiveness – 

The Power of Being Attentive (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Affinity Process, The – A Method of Organizing Many Ideas into a Few Categories (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Being a Change Agent (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Brainstorming (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Building a Vision (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Certificate Assessment (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Decision Making Process (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Five Types of Strategies (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Focus Question Worksheet (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Graphic Recording and Organizing of Facilitated Sessions (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

IAF Ethics (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/22030.pdf

Identifying Root Causes (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Relationship Styles (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Role of the Facilitator (Troxel-Millennia Consulting) 

Stages of Group Development (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Strategic Directions – Five Perspectives for Brainstorming (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

Supervisory Course Guide (Troxel-Millennia Consulting)

ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS & RESULTS

Participation Works, Case Studies from Around the World, Synopsis, James Troxel, 1993

NOTE: All articles in Participation Works were written by ICA Colleagues

Government Works: Profiles of People Making a Difference, A Synopsis

James Troxel, 1995, General Editor  

 Articles below were written by ICA Colleagues:

• Chapter 3 – Winds of Change n the Valley of the Sun, Shirley Heckman and Tammy Bosse, p.41
• Chapter 7 – Building the Habit of Transformation in the State of Minnesota, Mirja Hanson & Sue Laxdal, p.131

• Chapter 9 – Reshaping a Judicial System, Heidi Kolbe, p. 183

• Chapter 10 – A Tribal Nation Moving Into the 21st Century, Kim Alire Epley and Jackie Miller, p. 205

• Chapter 14 – The FDA as Maze and Model, David Dunn, p. 303

• Chapter 16 – Rallying to Save Louisiana Wetlands, 1995, Jean Watts with Kirk Cheramie, p.345

Affirmative Facilitation: An Asset-Based Approach to Process Consultation, Chapter 33, pp 591-603, James P. Troxel, IAF Handbook of Facilitation, Sandor Schuman, ED. 2005

1. Developing Adult Learners: Strategies for Teachers and Trainers, Kathleen Taylor, Catherine Marienau and Morris Fiddler, ed, Surface-to-Depth Discussion Method, Nicknamed ‘ORID’, Article by David Dunn, 2000 
2. Developing Adult Learners: Strategies for Teachers and Trainers, Kathleen Taylor, Catherine Marienau and Morris Fiddler, ed, Contradiction Workshop, Article by David Dunn, 2000
3. Theoretics and Practices of Facilitating Strategic Planning Workshops, 1991, Talk given to explain ICA Method of Facilitation, James P. Troxel 

FACILITATION PRACTICES- BOOKS: Skills and competencies

ToP:  Eradicating Meningitis, Marilyn Oyler and Gordon Harper, 2007

IAF HANDBOOK OF FACILITATION, Ed. Sandor Schuman, Jossey-Bass, 2005

Affirmative Facilitation An Asset Based Approach to Process Facilitation,

Jim Troxel, p 591

Operational Dimensions of Facilitation, Jon Jenkins, p.473

Facilitation from the Inside Out, John Epps, p.563