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March 11, 2005
Notes from the 3.11.05 Open Space
What is the purpose of facilitation?
* Get away from the "enemy/other people's problem images"
* Harvest collective wisdom & make it explicit
* Identify common interest/collective agenda
* Allow leaders of group to be participants instead of leaders
* Bring more objectivity to the process
* Process of slowing down to get in touch with "What Is" that allows ground to be built
* Creates order to the process and allows order to emerge from multiple fugures
* Moves the process along in a timely way
* In a constructive, respectful manner, allows others' input to augment ideas of leadership
* There is a deeply spiritual dimension to good facilitation - it uncovers the deep connection that we share ... wow moments
* Good meetings don't just "happen" - it takes training and skill
* Good meetings create time and money savings and increased innovation resulting from idea sharing
How do we quanitify value?
* Before/after surveys of participants
* Follow up well after 3-6 months
* Is there a way to get independent feedback?
* From who's point of view?
* The positive effect of good facilitation is very subtle
* Clients are more willing to try facilitation if they've seen it work
* How can we showcase facilitation more in the business community?
* Maybe have more facilitated pieces at big suit/panel/powerpoint events and meetings
* The drivers: stuck crisis > quantifyable result
* Challenge: managing expectations up front
* After Action Reviews - learning organization; everyone takes of their "stripes" - group consensus about what worked
What is the demand for facilitation?
* Sometimes we need mediation before facilitation - we need mediation to create the "space" for facilitation
* Demand is difficult to recognize - people tend to have lost the skill to have "conversations"
* Conversations are messy
* Political leadership is driving away from conversations - not toward it
* People want to connect - people want conversation
* "Consumers" need to know how to "ignite the fire"
* Demand arises when people begin to see the value of conversation
* To see the value they must experience it
* People who need it the most demand it the least
* Facilitation sometimes leads people to "uncomfortable" places, when they shut down and withdraw from the conversation
* The demand for "community engagement" is sometimes disingenuous
How to sell facilitation as a stand-alone service/product
* A $3M question in NE Ohio
* 1/3 prep + "x" + 1/3 report - it's more than the facilitation event ("x" = activity)
* Legal questions are one of the few places where it's clear a facilitator is needed
* Often confrontational situations don't want a facilitator because people would have to air their issues
* This however is a positive - facilitation as a way of supporting greater group honesty/authenticity and responsibility than it would have otherwise
* We need to have a concrete focused endeavor/product to have someone (e.g. jane Campbell) see the need for facilitators to work on it - that is, sell the product - doing specific proposal
* Present stories of successes to sell your skills
* When attendeed leave a facilitation session feeling good about themselves and what they've created, they will "buy" the product of facilitation
Posted by jack at March 11, 2005 11:16 AM