History
ICA Methods Development & Practice50 Years of Innovative Facilitation Methods
The foundation of EI/ICA methods is based upon a natural human process. We look at reality objectively. We step back from our observations and examine our responses. We step back again and make sense of our experiences. And then take a relationship to our lives.
Foundational Life Methods
The intent of the ICA Facilitation Methods Collection is to give insight into and access to individual and group methods which broaden and transform effective participation in decision making and deepen collaboration among people and organizations. Methods in this collection will give you a way to approach your work with individuals, groups, organizations, and communities: to help them receive all perspectives; acknowledge their current reality; be open to new possibilities; and to take steps to make necessary changes. The Ecumenical Institute (EI) and the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) experimented with and created these practical, applicable forms of social responsibility.
A Chronological History of the Ecumenical Institute and the Institute of Cultural Affairs 1952-1988. This is available in hardcopy from ICA-USA.
Foundational Undergirding of ICA Methodology by Patricia Tuecke. This brief paper drives home the source & importance of the four-level “metamethod” underneath all of EI/ICA methods, a phenomenological approach to life.
Relevance Today
Currently confrontation, positionality, individualism, and promotion of falsehood, point to a loss of the common good. Yet, there is evidence of an increasingly wide range of capacities and familiarity with basic participatory techniques. Organizations and sectors are rapidly developing highly collaborative work styles, teams, and ways of operating. Side by side,many institutions and sectors still seem entrenched in rigid, counterproductive approaches.
The Facilitation Methods collection brings insight into how EI/ICA methods build awareness & occasion transformation in groups and individuals. Most of the resources for this collection originated in a “living archive” of active networks, training systems and courses, current publications, studies and case examples representing the efforts of thousands of practitioners, facilitators, organizational leaders and trainers around the globe. Additionally, this collection is highly networked with other contemporary sources and approaches within the fields of facilitation, conflict transformation, and public participation.
The Collection Responds to Current Trends
- Blending of hierarchical and facilitative approaches
- Building individual facilitation capacities & skills
- Emerging requirements for increasing collaboration
- Face-to-face and online connections
- Facilitating diverse teams and/or dispersed teams
- Implementing, leading and managing multiple teams
- Shifting worldviews
ICA 25 Year Profile – An early written history from 1954-1979. For more information, see Collection 7– Institute Foundations.