While we all work to listen, and listen well, there are always challenges! Julian Treasure has some answers for us in this TED talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better.html
Increase your ability to listen and to focus. Check out how!
Tara
Speaking of graphic recording…check this one.
Not to mention the topic is one of interest for most of us in the learning world–Enjoy!
Local events, global events change brain states. Last Friday, my facilitation class members came in subdued, looking gaunt, shell-shocked. Not the norm for this group. It was 8:30 am, I had been planning process for the group—no news of the disaster in Japan.
People started telling their stories. Most had friends or family in Japan or on islands in the Pacific that were likely affected. We could have spent the day on stories and fears and worries, as with any disaster.
What we did instead was to do a check-in with each person, less than a minute each. All the worries and fears were acknowledged, phones on vibrate…just-in-case any calls came through. We did a group meditation allowing everyone to be present in the moment. Our group was able to refocus and move forward to achieve their goals.
You may not be able to help in any material way, you may not be able to relieve pain, you may not be able to ease worries, but you CAN help people move to a productive mind set. You CAN acknowledge the gravity of issues and still move forward. We did have a very productive day, people did achieve their goals.
If we hand not done the check-in, and shared a few moments of reflection, we would probably not have been able to move through our day with as much ease. It’s like naming the elephant in the room. If you don’t do it, the group is still affected by it. Acknowledge it, and move through it. A check-in can be a very powerful tool in your facilitator’s toolbox.
Take about 6 minutes to check out this TED talk on meaning and the brain:
For those of you who are graphic facilitators bravo! You are helping us all create meaning through shared mental models. Words are wonderful and help maintain group memory. Words and pictures help create shared meaning.
During my last 3 days of facilitation, ending on Academy Awards night, there was an illuminating discussion of appreciation. How powerful it feels to be appreciated, how much more one is willing to contribute when one feels appreciated, how much more creative, how much more willing to take risks. Effective appreciation must be both authentic and personal.
Bright lights and red carpets are not the usual venues for facilitation, at least, not mine. However, there was a great illustration of appreciation. As the Academy Awards approached its crescendo with the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, I was struck by the difference between Jeff Bridges’ introductions of the actresses, and Sandra Bullock’s presentation of the Best Actor awards.
Jeff Bridges’ introductions were personal, authentic, and gracious—nicely written, delivered beautifully. In Sandra Bullock’s introductions, the writers were apparently trying for a bantering approach. The differences were distinct. I am VERY clear on the approach I prefer!
It was a good lesson and reminder about what works well for most of us. It was certainly a great validation for our facilitation discussion about appreciating each person’s unique contribution.
For Facilitation class participants (and others if you wish) please post your tips to this blog. All tips are for sharing and are due by Sunday night. Enjoy and learn!
We know the brain loves novel things: color, sound, games, competitions, surprises of various types. While the outcomes are key, keep your facilitations engaging to get the best outcomes.
A rich environment and diverse activities help groups work through issues, make decisions and achieve broader reaching, more robust outcomes. And that, of course, is what we are trying to do—make it easier for the group to achieve what it wants to achieve.
In a recent public process, the facilitation design took a wrong turn with facilitators who did not know how to facilitate and did not understand the purpose of the design. As a result, the richness of the information was severely limited. Some of the most unfortunate effects of a failure of facilitation:
• Group members not all included
• Information not clarified
• Information restated to fit “facilitator’s” view
• Some participants shut off/shut out of process
• Most vocal participants take all the time
• Outcomes are biased by the omission of information
Results were widely skewed, depending on the abilities of the leaders of each group. Outreach is an important part of public process. Effective facilitation can make a big difference when outputs from meetings are read by others. All viewpoints need to be represented, not just the most vocal or points that meet the leader’s view.
It is the same in groups. Those who are not heard or feel cut off from, or out of, the process can become cynical. In the worst case they can sabotage the best intended outcomes. We owe it to ourselves and others to facilitate well, whatever the situation.
What makes us remember? How can we help ideas to stick? Can we engage brains and enrich processes and outcomes?
As you facilitate, you know that keeping track of ideas, comments, issues, etc., is key to group memory. How you keep track of ideas, comments and issues matters, too. If you want to engage your participants use color, use shape, use images. Make it easy, or at least easier, for people to interact with each other and the issues.
We relate to the world through all our senses, and one of the most powerful is sight. Sight tells us what we are looking at, where we are standing or sitting, and has the power to move us emotionally. Scribe for your group in ways that engage emotions through vision. This can move your groups to outcomes more effectively than discussion only.
Even if you are not a graphic facilitator, use color, use arrows and bullets. Use different color combinations for different topics. Use a different type of header for titles for different segments of the process. Make an agenda like a road map. Give people some memory anchors as you scribe.
Now we have some scientific verification of what we all know empirically! Check out this TED presentation: http://tinyurl.com/2ctzgq5
Got your tip? Leave your comment below.
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