The art of facilitation
Posted on December 19th, 2009 by Paul McArdle – No CommentsI believe in synchronicity. Yesterday, I experienced another small example:
1) As noted recently, we’ve streamlined our working week to set aside Fridays for working ON the business.
2) As part of Autopsy 2, we have all accepted personal responsibility for a range of tactically-focused projects designed to deliver “quick wins” within the scope of our current levels of competence.
3) Hence, just yesterday (Friday) we had a number of meetings organised by a couple of different people as part of their role in gathering input & stimulating discussion in their areas of responsibility.
None of the meetings were outstanding, in terms of the input received, or outcomes generated.
So it was a very welcome point of input to open Scott Berkun’s book “Making things Happen” at the place I had last left off (p206), and read the following:
Years ago, I remember being in a big argument over how we were going to architect an important part of Windows. I had arrived early and watched everyone walk in the room and take their seats, smugly confident in their own opinions. I watched them lean back in their chairs and run through their arguments in their minds before the meeting even started. And, of course, argue is exactly what we did. For 10 minutes, the discussion shifted back and forth in big waves. Conflicting diagrams were violently sketched out across whiteboards, hands flailed in disagreement and sarcastic statements and rhetorical questions abounded.
Finally, my group manager, Hadi Partovi, stood up. He quietly walked to the whiteboard at the front of the room.
Without saying a word, he wrote a list of questions. The room became silent. Everyone stopped arguing and watched what he was doing. When he finished, he asked if he had the right issues on the board. Everyone nodded. He then led us through them one at a time. There were still arguments, but when structured, they were dramatically less continuous. Hadi didn’t offer his own opinion (although I knew he had one). Instead, he used his energy to help the rest of us navigate through the questions we’d agreed on.
This is the art of facilitation.
I have added my emphasis to highlight what I believe are the core facets of facilitation.
These are areas we all need to improve in. And yes, I know that I need to start setting a better example, as well!