What facilitation principles do you live by? In part 1 we looked at emergence, listening, and connection. Here are a few more for consideration.
Shape and Protect the Space
As facilitators, it’s our job to create the space, the environment, or the container that will allow for vulnerable, honest conversation to take place. It is only in this type of conversation, grounded in trust that disagreements will surface and understanding emerge. Shaping the space starts even before people gather with the expectations that we set and the mindsets that we invite into the room (real or virtual). The space we shape will determine how people interact, the safety they feel, the boundaries they respect, and the choices they make. Further, it’s our role as facilitators to fiercely protect this space and to ensure that nothing happens to damage or destroy the delicate environment created.
variety creates engagement
Full participation is the only way to achieve buy-in, and participation comes from getting people to “lean in”. Most meetings and workshops default to open discussions and presentations as their primary modes of engagement. However, these conversations structures encourage people to “lean out”, in these modes people are not wholeheartedly engaged or active in what is happening. Variety in conversation structures from individual thinking, thinking pairs, small dialogues are critical building blocks of engagement that should come before open discussion and/or presentation. Similarly, variation in the role we ask of participants from observer to feedback provider to co-creators are ingredients that influence buy-in and commitment. Variety in the flow, activities, and process are as important as the outcomes and products created.
conversations should be visual
It’s easy for participants to get lost, distracted and to take conversations down tangents when they all happen in a nebulous place. There is a limit to how much people can hold in their mind at any point in time, words get lost and forgotten after they are spoken, making it difficult to see connections and threads in a conversation. Making conversations visual creates an anchor point, a place where they take shape and where they become tactile. Integrating any form of visual capture into facilitation shifts the experience that the group shares. Visuals unlock emotion, energy, and connection – they create a frame for storytelling and storytelling invokes empathy. Intentional use of visuals unlocks themes, threads, and insights for the group.
hold lightly and let go
As facilitators, we spend as much or more time planning, designing, and even scripting sessions than we do “in-session”, it’s easy to feel passionate about our creations. And, we have to master the art of “letting go to let come” (words from Otto Scharmer). Inquiry and curiosity are key skills in “letting go” when we think carefully about questions we pose and the prompts we offer we create a space for the unexpected to occur. Letting go also extends to acknowledging that after all the planning, most times nothing goes to plan. So hold the plan lightly, know how it serves you and be willing to let go and make changes on the fly.
Written by Tricia Conyers, Founder Island Inspirations Ltd., INIFAC Certified Master Facilitator, and Certified Virtual Facilitator
