For seven of the past nine days, I had the immense pleasure and
challenge of facilitating with four different clients; varied in numbers,
organization role, mission, structure, etc. Here are a few of the things I re-learned
from this intensive experience.
People truly have the best intentions about contributing to the group and
doing good work.
From politicians to volunteers to entrepreneurs to staff, each
person in the workshops and retreats worked really hard, listened with
intensity, offered perspectives freely and openly, and with great enthusiasm. I
asked participants to use the approach of listening to each other, and then building
on ideas by saying “Yes … and”. This approach challenged and changed
participants’ thought process.
Prepare, prepare, prepare … and then let go to meet the needs of the
group.
The facilitation sessions ranged from a four-day retreat
with politicians and senior leadership staff to a strategic thinking session
with four people to a one-day planning day with a volunteer organization and
finally, a half day team building session with staff, volunteers, and board
members. Obviously, all required different designs and activities to hold conversations
and make decisions. I worked long and hard to prepare; meeting and talking with
the clients and going through my extensive on-line and print facilitation
methods, and creating an overall design and specific activities that I thought
best matched the desired results. Then I invited participants to co-design with
me; discussing the intent of the overall session and the reason for each
activity I suggested. During the four-day retreat, we continuously adjusted the
topics and the timing to build on energy of participants, to follow important
ideas, and to best meet changing priorities. A half-day session requires less
flexing of the topic and I adjusted activities based more on my intuitive
reading of the group. For the strategizing session with four individuals, I prepared
several creativity exercises to encourage out of the box thinking. I determined
with the group that they really wanted to talk at length with each other; bringing
their natural creativity. I only used one of the creativity exercises and that
was fine.
People have very different knowledge and experience of facilitation!
The participants in one of the groups had never worked in
small discussion groups before. They willingly participated in various small
group activities: pair-talk-share; model merging; standing trio talks; walk and
talk; etc. At the end of the session, they said that they were impressed by how
people talked more freely in the small groups, how they delved more deeply into
the topics; and how similar ideas and themes were quickly identified when the
small groups reported back.
Work and Play!
People like to laugh, to move, and often to try something a
bit out of their comfort zone. Recreation breaks were so important; whether it
was three hours during one day of the four-day retreat or two minutes of a fun
moving activity during the half-day session. Sitting is the new smoking! Get up
and move! People might find a new idea when they do. I use images to get people
thinking about ideas in a unique and fun way.
Embrace emotions.
During the four sessions, emotions ran rampant in the best
way! Participants cried when talking about their personal experiences; spoke
passionately, challenged each other by saying “I don’t agree”; hugged each other;
said “This is such fun!”; said “I don’t understand and I am frustrated”. One group
agreed as a behaviour principle that they would never walk out of the room and instead,
could stand and announce the need for a time-out. All participants at the end
of each session applauded and high-fived each other and me. I re-learned again
and again the importance of acknowledging and accepting the emotions (Thank you for sharing how you feel. Take a
minute and then continue talking if you wish.) and inviting people to
explain their emotional reaction (How can
this emotion help us today as we discuss the topic?).
Make no assumptions; or if you do, understand you are making assumptions,
and then test them.
I know that I make many assumptions about participants; it’s
only natural. I try to identify my assumptions before facilitating and then test
them for truth during the sessions. Some of my assumptions as I went into the
seven days were that high powered decision-makers know facilitation methods; most
volunteer Board members of volunteer societies understand how non-profit organizations
operate; one group would embrace creativity activities; and people will want
long recreation breaks. Each of these assumptions was slightly off and I had to
adjust my approach to best serve the participants. I also asked participants to
state their assumptions about a topic and then ask each other what they thought.
(Here is what I think is going on; what
do you think?)
Pace myself!
While I had high energy and productivity throughout the
seven out of nine days, I know that I am better mentally, physically and emotionally
with more breaks between facilitation sessions. I loved all of this work and having
experienced it, will pay attention to how much I schedule facilitation sessions
in a short time frame.
My facilitation blog question:
What have you learned or re-learned from extensive and intensive facilitation
work held in a short time frame?
