Philosophy | Ethics & Sustainability

The Story of Zenergy

Zenergy Ltd is a small company providing facilitation, coaching, mediation services and facilitation and coaching training.

The story of Zenergy began with the friendship between Anne Bailey, Dale Hunter and Bill Taylor. These three New Zealanders met in 1978 at the John Heron Co-counseling Training Programme led by John Heron (on the first of many trips to New Zealand).

The friendship between the three continued during the next decade when they were all involved in Co-counseling (Dale and Anne as trainers). All three also became involved in the Landmark Education programme particularly the Communication Programme and the Team Management and Leadership Programme (TMLP).

In February 1990, Dale left her employment at Manukau City Council and began to work as a professional facilitator. Anne and Dale discussed setting up a co-operative team of facilitators and facilitator trainers. Anne had a contract with Workplace NZ (a literacy programme) as the programme co-ordinator at this time.

In 1990 Dale, Anne and Bill all travelled to an international TMLP Conference at Alcapulco, Mexico. David Duignan attended the same conference as an observer. After the conference the four hired a car and travelled from Acapulco to Oaxaca.

On the way to Oaxaca they had a conversation about the need for facilitation resources in New Zealand and how they wished that they had had access to some when they were learning how to facilitate. They talked about who they would approach to write some material. Finally they realised it might need to be them.

On the way to Oaxaca, David had a magical experience in which he became aware that a being - an older man was in the car too. At first he thought it might be his father but it wasn't. No one else could see the being. In Oaxaca the four were sitting in the plaza at a café when a young man came up to them and said he recognised them as magicians.

David and Bill left Oaxaca a day or so later and Anne and Dale continued travelling in Mexico driving down to Palanche and San Christobal de la Casas. Before they left Oaxaca they gave $500 US to a Mexican to get them some silver jewellery and he took off with it.

On returning to New Zealand Anne and Dale began to write a book on facilitation (The Zen of Groups). After writing a draft of the first three chapters they asked around to find out about publishers. A publisher Anne knew recommended Tandem Press and Anne and Dale went to visit Bob Ross. They liked him and he said he was interested in the book. "Bring it back to me when you have finished and I will see if I can publish it".

With this encouragement Dale and Anne continued writing. They got bogged down a few times. After one of these times they asked Bill who was also a journalist to help them get it finished. He managed them, helped with the style and language and also some of the content. He became a co-author.

When the book was finished the three of them took it in a woven flax kite to Bob Ross. He read it, liked it and published it in 1992. He also sold the rights to Gower Press in Britain and Fisher books in US and later to Troquel Editorial in Argentina (in Spanish). Anne, Dale and Bill were international authors.

Dale and Anne decided they would set up a company to work as facilitators and facilitator trainers. They held a fateful meeting at a waterfront café and drew the image of the company as a picture of a boat on a serviette (which they still have) This was the start of the company.

Anne was living at this time in a rented place right on Cheltenham Beach. It had previously been rented by Bill. One day Dale and David were visiting and they all got talking. They asked David to join them. He agreed to help set up the company and to work with Zenergy for 3 months. Bill was also interested but decided not to become part of the company.

After The Zen of Groups was published a book launch was held at Ellen Melville Hall in Auckland City. It was very interactive with lots of flip charts and newspaper and activity. It set a trend for later book launches.

Dale, Anne and Bill also took the book down to a Workplace Reform Conference in Rotorua in September 1992. They were planning a book launch there but at short notice it was cancelled because the organisers thought it might lead to commercial advantage. They took the books down anyway and held an unofficial book launch.

On the way back they had lunch at the Luge Restaurant just North of Rotorua and while eating and drinking wine came up with the name Zenergy for the company. They were very pleased with it and stopped in the Glade forest out of Rotorua and marked the choice of a name by peeing under the trees.

In May 1993 the company Zenergy Ltd. Was registered with David, Anne and Dale as Directors. The company was based in one medium sized front room at Dale's house in Mt. Eden Road. It was a bit of a squeeze. Later they moved into the large front room as well.

The first strategic planning session was held on a boat in the harbour with a facilitator. David held the key to the vision on the day and has always been recognised by Dale and Anne as the vision holder. The vision was articulated as "A major shift in world consciousness to living co-operatively as one family". Later was added "A world culture of co-operacy".

David and Anne worked part time at first and became full time in 1994. David continued on past his initial 3 months and continued to work as part of Zenergy until 1999. The first facilitation training course Anne and Dale ran was in late 1994. This was made up of 8 weekly evening classes plus 2 Saturdays and was called the Advanced Facilitation Programme. It was attended by 12 facilitators and was followed by a Master Class weekend which included a day with John Heron as a guest.

In 1993 the second book, The Art of Facilitation was written and published in mid 1994 with a breakfast launch at The Big Apple in Mt. Eden Road. The book was launched by John Heron and Colin Dale, City Manager of Manukau City, was also present and conducted a mock orchestra. John said that emotional competence was missing (fancy leaving that out)? The rights for this book were also sold to Fisher and Gower.

In 1995 and 1996 facilitation training programmes prospered and became the basis of a 2 year part time Diploma of Facilitation which was established in 1997. The number of graduates of Zenergy programmes grew and by 1998 there were 500 graduates.

The facilitation practice also developed with Dale and Anne as practitioners. It was a struggle to cope with all the administration and enrolment needed to maintain the business. The first of two apprentices, Rebecca Williams spent a year with Zenergy in 1996 bartering administration work in return for training. A second apprentice Hamish Brown began in 1997 and continuing his training to a Zenergy leader of the facilitation programmes. In 1997 Hamish Brown was the first person to complete the Diploma of Facilitation followed by Helen Paterson and Sandra Davis in the following year.

During these years the book Co-operacy - a new way of being at work, began to take shape. Anne and Dale undertook training with John Heron in the co-operative inquiry method. A co-operative inquiry into co-operacy within Zenergy, facilitated by Peta Joyce, contributed to the learning. Processes such as creation meetings at the beginning and completion meetings at the end of the week were instituted with a theme being taken on for each week to keep the team aligned. Business meetings used the rotating facilitator approach and all decisions were taken by consensus. Clear accountabilities and choices were made. Strategic plans were developed and reviewed periodically and at the end of the year. They would mark the implementation of the strategic plan as a percentage and it was often about 60% of what they had taken on.

Peer coaching was developed, peer support groups, team projects, mentoring and breakdown processes - all of that is written about in Co-operacy. Co-operacy rights were sold to a South African publishing house as well as Gower and Fisher.

Dale, Anne and David all gave much of themselves to keep the business going, in time, energy, money and lost sleep. Dale had a bout of breast cancer, Anne had a gall stones operation and David left for several months in 1998. It was not easy and Zenergy did not make a profit in any year. Anne and Dale had difficulties in maintaining their relationship during this time and this often affected others in Zenergy. However they never gave up and their commitment to Zenergy and its vision was always strong. Facilitation programmes were extended to Wellington and the South Island during this time. Some facilitation work was also done in Wellington.

Zenergy people were good at celebrating successes. Three balls were sponsored or hosted by Zenergy at the Hyatt (organized by Diana Elliot and then Liz Gleed). Christmas parties and Zenergy birthday parties were held and the book launches were also memorable. A Wellington book launch of Co-operacy at a leading book store attracted a number of MPs from several parties and was launched by Roger Blakely the head of Internal Affairs Department. A glass of wine got spilled over some 20 books and we nearly had to pay for them.

A particularly special Stage 2 programme took place in 1996 at the Auckland College of Education Conference Centre and had a big affect on Zenergy. It also became an important contribution to the fourth Zenergy book, The Essence of Facilitation. Participants all got a sense of the contribution they were and could make to the world and the magnificence and bigness of each person in their fullness. Almost all of the 13 participants on this Stage 2 programme have maintained strong ties with Zenergy and 5 of them are part of the Zenergy trainer and facilitator teams.

One participant, Liam Forde, bought a ¼ share of the Zenergy company in 1997. Other people who were on that Stage 2 and became involved were Leonard Jeffs, Claire Edwards, (who was employed for 6 months as the Training Manger) Marney Ainsworth, Denise Langlands, and John Kennedy.

In 1996 Dale and Anne took a trip to US and UK to see what the demand for Zenergy courses might be. They created a seminar in Austin Texas with the help of Leonard Jeffs (who was visiting his brother there) and with the help of Liam Forde in London and Bill Berret in Yorkshire. On the way home Anne and Dale also ran a seminar in Melbourne at KBA consulting company.

In 1997 a new initiative saw a number of Zenergy graduates wanting to train to lead the Zenergy programmes. The first weekend together of this group was held at Aio Wera Retreat Centre near Bethels Beach. The group grew to 12 by 1999 and five of the trainers, Helen, Hamish, Liam, Anne Hiha, John Kennedy and Megan Dallas were accredited to lead Stage 1 or 2 programmes.

Towards the end of 1998 a 2-day Coaching Programme was developed as a fund raiser for Zenergy. It was successful in attracting 29 participants and so became added to the Zenergy ongoing programmes. The books were now being sold on the internet on amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

In 1998 at a meeting of Zenergy trainers and management the functions of Zenergy were "thrown up in the air" and everyone invited to say what they wanted to be involved in. Out of this meeting the company was reconfigured. It was decided to split the company into 3 with Zenergy Ltd remaining as a holding company and looking after global interests, the database, the website, research and quality control. It became known as Zenergy Global and was managed by Hamish and Dale. Anne chose to base herself in Wellington and establish Zenergy there. David and Sandra Davis set up Zenergy Auckland through which all the Auckland and South Island training and facilitation would be traded. This way we were able to use resources better and allow everyone to fulfil their dreams.

Zenergy Auckland moved out of Dale's house in January 1999 to offices over the road at a legal practice. Zenergy Global activities remained in Dale's house. Anne rented a lovely apartment in Oriental Bay, Wellington and lived and ran Zenergy Wellington from there.

Anne and Dale's work as facilitators continued with a range of clients from the public, private and community sectors. They made several attempts to involve others in the business as facilitators. In 1999 a team of facilitators was finally established. The invitees were all Zenergy graduates and mostly knew one another well. Facilitators were from Wellington (Nige Cox and Anne Bailey), Hawkes Bay (Collin Littlewood), South Island (Helen Patterson), Rotorua (Denise Langlands) and Auckland (Hamish Brown, John Kennedy, Debbie Fong, Sarah McGhee, Jan Eggelton, and Dale Hunter). David took on managing the team.

In 1998 and 1999 representatives of Zenergy attended the first Australasia Facilitators Network Conferences in Melbourne and Sydney and Dale embarked on study for a PhD researching co-operative processes in organisations.

In September 1999 a breakdown in financial sustainability was called and out of this some more major changes happened. Sandra and David decided to take their company Transformation Pacifica in a different direction and go into partnership with another company which sold programmes such as Money and You. This led to a split with Zenergy who withdrew the agreement to provide a licence to David and Sandra to manage Zenergy programmes.

Anne, Dale and David declared that the original vision of Zenergy was now complete. A new vision was developed by Helen, Hamish, Anne and Dale. This was "Whole people co-operating in a sustainable world".

Zenergy Auckland crossed back over the road to Dale's place (now called Zenergy House). Zenergy programmes continued in Wellington and Auckland. Occasionally programmes were also held in the South Island and smaller centers such as Palmerston North, Rotorua and Hamilton. Marilyn Hunt and Deborah Rangiwhetu joined the Wellington team in 2000.

Zenergy hosted the Australasian Facilitators Network Conference at Waipuna Lodge in September 2000. This was attended by 80 people from all parts of New Zealand and Australia and was facilitated as an open space conference, introducing this method to many New Zealand facilitators. This method was then used and adapted by Heart Politics at their twice yearly gatherings at the Tauhara Retreat Centre at Taupo as well as other Zenergy facilitated events. Helen Patterson in particular embraced this method in her work.

Dale and Helen Patterson attended the International Association of Facilitators Conference 2000 in Toronto and led two workshops including a two day pre-conference workshop on the Essence of Facilitation. Dale also attended IAF Conferences in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and became the Regional Representative for Australia and New Zealand from 2001.

A website www.zenergyglobal.com was set up with the help of Katrina Jeffs, Len Jeffs daughter. It was hosted by a USA server, Mindspring. The website became increasingly important as a means of publishing Zenergy services and programmes world wide and also was a way for participants to register on our facilitation and coaching programmes. The Diploma of Facilitation became established and participants worked through the 8 modules to train as professional facilitators. By 2002, 25 people had completed their Diplomas.

In 2001 Hamish Brown became a director of Zenergy along with Anne, Dale and Liam. At this time Karen Johns joined the Zenergy core team and Sarah McGhee joined and unjoined a number of times. Important support functions were carried out by Carol Rewega and Carol Spalding (in Wellington) and Stephen Thorpe (computing). Hamish bought David Duignan's ¼ share of Zenergy in 2002.

A number of facilitation training programmes were held in Australia from 2001, led by Anne in Melbourne and Hamish in Sydney. Dale attended the AFN network conferences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (also Stephen). Zenergy was beginning to have a more constant presence in Australia and Hamish had some good facilitation jobs there.

In December 2002 Deborah Rangiwhetu attended her last meeting in physical form. During our week-long Zenergy Team meeting we were able to be with Debs and acknowledge her generous contribution to Zenergy. Deborah died on the last morning of our meeting. At this meeting Hillary Williams joined the Wellington Regional team. Earlier in 2002 one of our Diploma graduates Raewyn Togolea-Cobb also died. Both Deborah and Raewyn had had breast cancer.

In the period 2000 - 2003 Dale undertook and completed her PhD in social ecology from University of Western Sydney (Hawkesbury) with a thesis entitled "Facilitating sustainable co-operative processes". Hamish completed his MBS (Dispute Resolution) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources from Massey University. Stephen Thorpe completed his Bachelor of Business with First Class Honours from Auckland University of Technology and embarked on a PhD. Dale also took on the office of Regional Representative for Australasia on the Board of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) and in 2003 the role of Vice Chair International.

In 2003, the first Zenergy gathering was held at the Tauhara Retreat Centre, Taupo to celebrate the 10th birthday of Zenergy. The story of Zenergy was produced as a booklet and given to all the 40 plus graduates that attended. Liam brought his two children with him and they had a great time. They wanted to come back so the following year the graduates led by Mark Allen and Andy Bell and supported by Karen Eriksen and Hamish Brown created a Zenergy community gathering which was attended by 30 plus people including 3 pregnant women. The gathering decided to keep the annual event happening.

In 2004 Anne Bailey returned to Auckland after 5 years and successfully setting up the Wellington Branch which was left in the capable hands of a team of four: Marilyn Hunt, Karen Eriksen, Hillary Williams and Lis Gleed. A new era had begun.

The Auckland team was now Anne Bailey, Hamish Brown, Dale Hunter and Tina Miller who replaced Karen Johns (she left in December 2003). Support people were Stephen Thorpe (Technology Expert and general good guy) and Flora Lau (our accountant and financial everything). With two branches, an enlarged turnover and another programme Advanced Coaching, being invented, we were on a roll. Some larger in-house contracts were implemented particularly in coaching skills both Auckland and Wellington.

An Open Master Class was held featuring Glen Ochre from the Groupwork Institute in Australia and her method "Community of Selves" featuring her "working bears". It was great to have Glen but we realised yet again that our method was such that people needed to learn it by attending a basics Stage 1 before attempting the senior classes.

During the years 2000-2004 we tried a number of ways to enter the Australian market without a lot of success. Getting the required numbers to run programmes was difficult though the people who did come loved the programme. We decided to change our approach a train up a few Ozzies to become leaders rather than go back and forward ourselves.

Written by Dr Dale Hunter and updated 1/9/04.