Using word clouds to find the core

I’ve thought of another use for wordle.

Geoff Brown and I have developed a training program called Insanely Great Slideshow Presentations. In this training we help people take all the information they want to present in a presentation and prune it to the core messages. For a lot of people this is very difficult. It’s a case of ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’. 

And while playing with wordle I wondered if it could be used to help highlight, at the very least, the key words – those ones that are repeated often (because wordle works by giving a larger font size to more often used words). So I took a paper I’d written about improv and spontaneity and tried it out. Here’s the result. It just may provide enough of a focus to kick-start the story-boarding process. Will keep experimenting – and if you try it out, please let me know if it’s helpful.

Word Clouds

This is brilliant (hat tip to Lynn Walsh) – Wordle lets you create word clouds from any text. Here’s one I did about Facilitating With Confidence.

And what, you might be wondering is the point? Thanks again to Lynn for this great idea. If you’ve done some work with a group to develop a document or strategy – anything really – and you want to share it with others, you could use a word cloud to capture the key words – as an image in a report or slideshow. Brilliant!

Inspiration and motivation

Feeling a bit down in the dumps the other day and unable to get myself motivated, I started writing this post.

I’ve always understood inspiration to be external and motivation to be internal. I’m finding lots to inspire me on the web, and in the world. What I’m struggling with is motivation. Any suggestions?

And that’s where I left it. I did a bit of a google search and found lots of stuff, but nothing that spoke to me. Then on Twitter the next day I found this. It’s a free e-book titled How to Motivate Creative People by Mark McGuinness. Perfect! 

Just ask. The answer might be ‘yes!’

Check out this photo.  

It announces some tour dates for Eric Bibb in Australia. Nothing strange about that. Now take a closer look. There’s a gig in Melbourne, capital of Victoria. Population 3.8 million. And another one in Hobart, capital of Tasmania. Population 205,000. And Meeniyan. Population 1006. Meeniyan. Where the hell is Meeniyan and why is it hosting Eric Bibb, arguably one of the world’s greatest acoustic blues performers? Don’t get me wrong, there’s no reason why Meeniyan shouldn’t host world-class performers, but doesn’t it strike you as strange? Doesn’t it make you wonder how this has come about? And I can disclose, this is not Eric Bibb’s first visit to Meeniyan.

I share something with Eric Bibb. I too have had a gig at Meeniyan Hall, albeit a facilitation gig. This is what it looks like.

It’s a typical Australian country hall. Wooden floor, stage with steps at one end, fading picture of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, lists of Hall Committee Presidents and Secretaries, a supper room out the back where, well, supper is prepared. In fairness, it’s quite some time since I’ve visited Meeniyan Hall so this description may not be absolutely accurate, but I bet it’s pretty close.

I remember Jeanette, a participant in one of my workshops. She attended one of Eric Bibb’s gigs at the Hall, queued up along the street with all the other locals, carrying supper and a bottle of wine. She said it was ‘the best night of my life’. She met Eric afterwards, he signed her CD. The Hall was packed to capacity. In a town with a population a little over 1000, in east Gippsland, about two hours’ drive from Melbourne.

This story epitomises community. A small country town is not daunted by its size or isolation. I bet someone once said: ‘why don’t we just ask?’ When I was organising a conference way back in the 90s called Live and Earthy (great name, don’t you think?) we wanted Campbell McComas – a consummate performer, public speaker, comedian and all round good bloke. He was way out of our price range, but I called him anyway. To my great surprise he answered his own phone, listened to my request and said ‘yes!’. Similarly the Coodabeen Champions also agreed to a whacky request to make a Landcare tape. I asked and they too said ‘yes!’.

So the lesson for me is that anything’s possible. And if you want someone’s help, just ask. The answer might be ‘yes!’.

Generosity

I enjoy generous people. I think generosity is something we can give without always recognising the impact that it can have on others. Stopping to listen – really listen – to someone’s story, or gripe, or idea. To share what we know and to help build – relationships, families, communities, organisations, governments. To provide a willing hand, or a suggestion, or even a criticism – all done generously. This is how individuals make a difference.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

Facilitators are neutral

Rubbish! To be human is to have an opinion. To feel. To emphasize. To be aware of what’s going on around us. Facilitators are all of this, and aware of influences that may affect the groups we are facilitating. That’s part of the reason why I woke at 3.30 am this morning to witness Barack Obama’s inauguration – especially his speech. Like it or not, agree or not – what he says is important. People take notice. It sends signals. I believe it’s important, and I enjoy, being aware of what’s happening in the world. What are the trends? What are the influences, and influencers? This is a service we bring to our clients – not as an expert, but as a conduit.

When facilitating I will keep my opinions to myself. I will be a vessel for the group’s opinions – to enable ALL to be heard. Facilitators are not neutral – we are aware, and we know when a well-placed opinion can help a struggling group move. For without movement there is no progress.

Inauguration Speech Cloud by Emily Chang on flickr

“Publish, then filter”

Ross Hill wrote in an email to the Creative Skills Training Council that said, in part: “the web works on the “publish, then filter” model, not the “filter, then publish” model of traditional media.”

I once trained, and worked, as a journalist. This is so true of traditional media – so many filters to get through before something is published. Now as a blogger I’m revelling in the freedom that ‘publish then filter’ provides. You, the reader, can determine if my writing is worthwhile or not. And provide instant feedback via comments. And I can do what everyone needing to hone a skill needs to do – practice. You can read more about facilitation as a practice art here.

Facilitation Training of all shapes and flavours

Thinking of some professional development in 2009?

If you’re interested in facilitation or doing insanely great slideshows or in learning about Open Space Technology, check the dates and information on the pages just over there on the left (or just click on the links).

And if you want something tailor-made, just ask. If I can’t do it I’ll probably know someone who can!

And don’t forget to visit my new, improved Facilitating With Confidence web site.

Leaders rule – differently, though

Keith Sawyer has an interesting post about the role of leadership and lessons learned from the impact of internet ‘democratisation’ and the emergence of ‘open source communities’.

Keith suggests that the internet has enabled ‘participatory democracy’ evidenced by Wikipaedia and Linux. The question remains however if there is a different form of leadership required in such communities.

What is becoming clear is that  “no new technology…changes the fundamentals of human social dynamics”. Citing a study by Siobhan O’Mahony and Fabrizio Ferraro of leadership structures that emerged over 13 years on the Debian distribution of Linux – with 100 developers in more than 40 countries, Keith concludes that a leadership style is needed that enables innovation to flourish. “It’s the kind of leadership that focuses on enabling the best innovation to emerge from the bottom up.”

And:

Another interesting finding from this important paper: developers who met more other developers face to face were more likely to get elected.  Even in geographically dispersed virtual communities like Debian, face-to-face interaction predicts community leadership.

What does this mean for those of us working with leaders, or exploring the role of leadership?

Apart from the obvious need for all of us to maintain that real-world face-to-face contact as well as social networking, I think it underlines the importance of generalist skills for leaders, as well as empathy, intuition, and, dare I suggest, spontaneity? For leaders to enable innovation to flourish they will need to be comfortable with messiness, uncertainty and whacky ideas. They will need to know how to accept offers, to keep the organisation moving, recognising that the direction and where it moves to is ultimately unknowable until they arrive. This puts processes like strategic planning exactly where they belong – in the meaningless time wasting basket. And puts improv skills front and centre. But then, I’m biased!

What I do

So I’ve been doing some exploring; reflection, I guess. Trying to figure out what on earth I actually do and if it adds any value. Most of the time I’m quite happy with the ambiguity and the adventures that that brings. Some days, like today, I’d like to be able to say something concrete, like “I’m a builder” or “I’m a writer” or “I’m a pastrycook” – anything that’s concrete, and obvious. 

I’m a facilitator. What does that really mean? I don’t think I’m alone either. There’s so many new roles emerging all the time, many of them are hard to describe. Blogger, social media expert, digital (anything). Roles I don’t even know how to describe.

It’s not so much a label as clarity that I’m searching for. I think I’m getting close. I started with what I love – improv theatre, ideas, creativity, play…

Then I thought about those times when I could bring them all together. Where was I? What was happening? What did I see and experience? Well, people working together, excitement, playfulness, self-reflection, learning and surprise. This is what I want to be able to bring more of to work. To my work and to the work of others. Whether that work is paid employment, working with the community, or in not-for-profits. There are many faces to work.

And, as usual, my friend Johnnie Moore says it so much better than I can!

I’m currently reading Everything’s an Offer, by Rob Poynton. He is probably the most articulate thinker about the value of improvisation in organisations. His book is a real treat.

I’m also reading Everything’s An Offer at the moment and I completely concur with these comments.

(Johnnie again) When I met Rob a few years ago, he said something that lodged deeply in my mind. He repeats in in his book (my emphasis):People laugh at improvisation not because it is funny, per se, but because it is joyful. If you go to an improv show and watch the audience rather than the players, what you will see is that they aren’t laughing at jokes.

Even though Rob told me this a long time ago, I still feel excited by this observation. Organisations are absolutely rife with demands for deliverables, for measurable and concrete results but take this too far and you easily miss the gigantic fuel that really keeps the whole operation alive – the interplay between participants.

That word joyful has sat with me for a while. For now, what I plan to do is ‘bring joy and enthusiasm to work” – to my own and to others’. I’m happy with that.