Wanna eavesdrop?

Johnnie Moore, fellow facilitator and improv buddy, and I found some time last night to chat about facilitation in relation to a whole lot of local and world events. Interestingly, our experiences are remarkably similar even though we’re operating from different sides of the globe.

We talked about the GFC (Global Facilitation Crisis or Geelong Football Club – listen and find out), strategic planning and control, Roland Harwood of NESTA’s model of conversations, relationships then transactions, local action and the idea behind We20

Oh, and we also explore complexity, letting go of the need for certainty, and standing on an enormous sea of jello.

It’s recorded as a podcast and you can eavesdrop, oops, I mean listen, here. (30 mins, 10.5 MB) Thanks to Johnnie for initiating this and doing the technical stuff.

Facilitators helping communities recover

Facilitator n. A person who makes a group’s work easier by structuring and guiding the participation of group members.

            Fran Rees, The Facilitator Excellence Handbook, Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer, 1998, page 11.

Bushfires, emergency response, media coverage, tears, volunteers, support, recovery, resettling, hugs, rebuilding. Then what? How do individuals and communities rebuild the bonds that make communities, well, communities?

Everyone is traumatised by a disaster – the survivors, the helpers, the professionals, the bureaucrats, the media. So who can work with, and in, communities to help with the long-term social reconnection? And why does it matter? Surely rebuilding infrastructure and getting homes and services operating is a greater priority?

I used to think that it was best that someone with my facilitation skills should stay out of the way and let the trained recovery people get on with it, to let the rebuilding begin. Then I learned that social reconstruction and building resilience is important too – and the sooner it begins the better.

 Social reconstruction is about connection, rebuilding the bonds amongst individuals and groups in a community. It’s important to help avoid secondary crises, where individuals become disconnected or isolated and choose to cope by making ineffective, often dangerous, choices, like using drugs, alcohol, violence or withdrawal.

Facilitators don’t have to wait. They can contribute right now, building the foundations for faster and more effective, recovery. A skilled facilitator can create a safe and caring environment to help people express their emotions and encourage connection through sharing of stories and experiences. A skilled facilitator can help create an awareness of what is possible; helping people recall their strengths and build new competencies as they and their community’s progress through the stages of recovery. And a skilled facilitator will be available when individuals and groups are ready to move forward, re-creating a new community based on the achievements of the past and the hopes for the future.

Facilitators, even those who are not members of the affected community, have the skills to build rapport with individuals and groups, creating a trusting environment where individuals can share their experiences. We know when to talk and when to shut up. We know how to listen so that others will want to talk, and how to guide when people are ready to listen.

Facilitators also know how to elicit meaningful recollection that increases people’s options as they consider their future. This is important for developing personal, group and community potential. We can hear when people are limiting their own options by their (verbal and nonverbal) language and gently help them reframe those statements in more effective, more positive directions. Facilitators ask questions that enable people to restructure their own language, and the stories they carry about themselves.

Dr. Gilbert Brenson-Lazan, an experienced authority on the role of facilitators in disaster response, describes social and group resilience as:

the ability to face internal or external crisis and not only effectively resolve it but also learn from it, be strengthened by it and emerge transformed by it, both individually and as a group.

What is the best we hope will emerge from a community struck by disaster? Rebuilding those bonds that define a community depends on the community’s ability to rebound as well as rebuild. This social and group resilience is an essential outcome to emerge from disasters. Groups or communities that have experienced a disaster such as the recent bushfires, have the knowledge, skills and resources needed for developing this resilience, but might not have the (facilitation) skills to recognise and hone the qualities and strategies they need to rebuild their communities.

Working with groups stimulates and reinforces not only those positive community characteristics, but also enhances and rebuilds personal identity, reinforcing self-esteem and self-confidence. Facilitators can be appropriately directive, consultative, collaborative and empowering all at the same time. Our job is not to lead but to develop leadership in the group.

When people are thrown together as a result of a disaster, some conflict is inevitable, often driven by fear, guilt or personal need. Facilitators can help avoid conflict escalation (different from avoiding conflict altogether which would be unhelpful) through dialogue and exploring flexibility and options.

Finally, skilled facilitators know how to recognise stress in others because we know how to care for ourselves. We know our personal limits. We know we all have personal limits. We know how to practice active grieving and how to develop a strong support network.

A facilitated group develops its own capacity to support itself. This type of help is very effective for minimizing (individual) dependence. The group develops strategies together, helps individuals define their own roles and the community can move forward together.

Facilitators bring an understanding of the innate power of groups, the importance of participation and the belief that groups have within themselves the resources they need for survival, recovery and growth. As communities affected by the bushfires navigate their way into their new futures, facilitators can help them form new structures for emotional and practical support.

More than 90 facilitators have registered to donate their skills helping those communities recovering from bush fires rebuild their group and social support systems. If you want to connect with a facilitator who can help, go to our web site www.fhcr.collectivex.com.

Book Review: ‘The Element’ by Sir Ken Robinson

We20 = community action

One of things I’ve learnt from Open Space is the power of taking responsibility for what we are passionate about. And as the world unravels around us, we can’t wait for others to solve our problems. This is why I’m supporting we20.

It’s in response to the forthcoming G20 Summit to be held in London in April. While the leaders from the world’s top 20 economies may well come up with ideas and solutions for the economic crisis, we can take some responsibility ourselves – by gathering  20 of our friends to talk about strategies and actions and how to support each other.

There’s a web site and a Facebook Group with more info.

And here’s short video with Paul, one of the founders of we20 describing what it’s all about.

Facilitation Trends

One of the joys of facilitation is the opportunity to work across organisations and communities and observe similarities and differences. I’ve noticed that there are a lot more similarities, especially in the challenges and aspirations, than differences.

And I wondered what some of my friends and colleagues across the globe were noticing about facilitation, particularly the trends, and their hopes for facilitation in 2009.

So a big shout out to Bob Dick, Brisbane, Australia; Jo Nelson, Toronto, ICA Canada; Nancy White, Seattle, USA; Mark Butz, Canberra, Australia; Brian Bainbridge, Melbourne, Australia; Shawn Callahan, Melbourne, Australia; and Tree Bressen, Eugene, USA, for sharing their thoughts. We’d love to hear your thoughts too.

Here’s a wordle made from the responses to facilitation trends.

Collectively we recognise the challenges of the current financial crisis, the pace of change, the complexity of the worlds we operate in and the challenge of sustainability. We also recognise that facilitators need to respond with doing our core work (enabling participation, allowing wisdom to emerge and encouraging partnerships and collaboration) as well as growing and developing ourselves. In various ways we fear that the current climate will enable the nay-sayers and control freaks to reclaim many of the advances made in facilitation over the last decades. I guess it’s up to all of us to be aware of this and respond appropriately.

Paying deep attention to attention – that’s a skill Nancy White thinks we will all need, especially during these economic hard times, and with our long to-do lists with more than can be done in any day (has she been peeking at my to-do list again?!). “We need to know how to best apply our attention as we interact with others. That’s something facilitation can help with.

“Enabling deeper attention may require a deeper understanding, and practice, of processes that open space for new thinking and innovation. It is clearly a time to get out of our ruts,” says Nancy who points us to Keith McCandless’s Liberating Structure.

And, of course, Nancy is a  master of connecting people and ideas and using on-line tools, so it is no surprise that she also believes that more use of on-line processes will be an emerging trend. She has a warning for all of us facilitators though: “I hope they think deeply about improving core practices, rather than moving dysfunctional processes online. This is opportunity, folks!”

Shawn Callahan’s passion is story. He believes that story can help us all make sense of the complexity we have to deal with, and maybe even pay more attention! More often than not, problems can’t be solved with a step 1, 2, 3 approach. And usually there’s no right answer either. So what to do? Shawn suggests that stories can be a trigger for deeper conversations and elicit insights. And a major trend for facilitators is using our skills to elicit stories compared with facts and opinion.

Shawn helpfully makes a distinction between ‘big S’ storytellers – who use structure and character and archetypes – and ‘small s’ storytellers who focus on anecdotes and experiences and half-told stories. Stories can be used to spark conversations, and facilitation can enable different emphasis and different uses of story, both ‘big S’ and ‘small s’ stories.

Fr Brian Bainbridge’s passion is self-organising systems. He believes that some of us are finally starting to get this, and that the top-down management approaches we’ve been trying for decades just don’t work – no matter how much we refine our processes! He is concerned that “some clients still expect facilitators will control the group and the outcome, that they will apply tried and tested processes which will be risk-free and comforting and non-threatening to the current processes and structures f the organisation.”

I must admit to seeing more of this recently and wonder if the global economic crisis and the increasing complexity we all have to deal with is causing some people to look for control and certainty wherever they can.

Brian also hopes that there will emerge (amongst facilitators) “a continuing awareness that change and changes will be ‘owned’ by the participants, that they will be recognised as self-organising, that organisations and groups will be more ready to cope with outside-the-square-thinking, which is actually already inside-the-group, but seldom allowed to emerge or be acted upon.”

Like Shawn and Brian, Bob Dick shares a passion for storytelling and complexity and understanding the dynamics of the changes we are currently experiencing. As well as the financial crisis, Bob thinks there may be other crises ‘waiting in the wings to pounce when we least expect them’.

And his fear is that these crises may allow “those who are autocratically minded will use the crisis to seize the reins more firmly. This will take us back to earlier and more controlling ways of operating.” Or, “people will realise that such a crisis responds well to cooperation and commitment, and these are skills that quality facilitation can help to provide.”

Mark Butz expects to see more attention given to participation as ‘a right, as a process and as a set of skills’ and that “the field of facilitation and its more capable practitioners are likely to be fundamental to seeing these processes to fruition – finding how the world can emerge from the current turmoil in a healthier and more sustainable place.”

Tree Bressen’s inspiration for her answers to my questions come from a discussion she had recently about faith, energy and spirit and some recent work with colleagues on ‘pattern language’ for group processes. It emerged from her conversations that “all of us (facilitators) relied in our work on tuning into energy or spirit or something like that. We acknowledged that although this is not often talked about among practitioners, and even more rarely discussed with students or clients, in fact our ability to work from and with this basis is central to our effectiveness.” Therefore, Tree hopes that facilitators will work to openly name what lies at the core of our work – whether that is love, energy, spirit or whatever else we perceive it as.

And as others have said in various ways, Tree also hopes we’ll “stand up for the life-centred values that called each of us into this work.” Hear, hear! That means avoiding using our skills in any ways that are manipulative or exploitive for the people involved.

And finally, Jo Nelson and her ICA Associates in Canada must have been thinking about the same questions. They did a workshop recently on trends that are affecting our facilitation business. You can see the full document here. It provides a good summary of what many of us are seeing in relation to the broader context of our work as facilitators: economic uncertainty. fear of job loss, competing pressure on governments, and strengthening civil society and short-term fixes versus long-term solutions. 

They also identify some of the key challenges and opportunities we facilitators face: providing high quality for less price, the need for full, complex processes, a higher value placed on partnerships and collaboration, and an increasing demand for on-line participation.

Another common theme across all the responses was the need for quality facilitation training. More about this in a follow-up post, as well as what differences we hope for facilitation in 2009.

Thanks again to you all for participating in my little research project on facilitation trends – contributors and readers – and let’s keep the conversation going.

Facilitators helping with bushfires recovery

In an earlier post I asked for anyone who was willing to donate time and/or skills for the community recovery process following the recent devastating bush fires here in Victoria.

My friend Anne Pattillo had the same idea with members of IAP2 (International Association of Public Participation).

We’ve been overwhelmed with offers. Thank you.

We’ve created a group site to bring us all together. Go to here to join if you can help in any way.

The heart of connection

I’ve just listened to a podcast with Johnnie Moore, Mark Earls and Rob Poynton about the benefits of not planning. This is what attracted me to the podcast initially, and while this is where it began, it’s where their discussion ended that excited me. Their conversation covered the dynamics of influence and control, how improv games can elicit insight, the legacy of mechanisation, facilitation and human intelligence.

Here’s some of their collective wisdom that I noted (I couldn’t always work out whose words were whose all the time, but it was a collaborative process so I’m sure they’ll all gladly take ownership).

Improv games bring us all up against our inner control freak … as a facilitator we’re always working with our own control impulse.

Improv enables influence, not power.

(In workshops) people over think, they work too hard. 

Reconnecting to my capacity in the moment – as a facilitator I can’t manage the group so I’m managing my own anxiety.

Intelligence is between us, not within us.

This last message was the most powerful for me.

I came away with the importance of connection – with people and with ideas and with myself – reinforced and affirmed. When facilitating it’s important for me to remain connected – to the group, to the purpose, to my own anxieties. And that connection often comes from being still, noticing more and doing less (as I’ve learnt from Johnnie and improv).

And I also came away with an understanding, at last, of what Dave Pollard means when he talks about his gravitational community. Johnnie is a friend, but I’ve not met Mark Earls or Rob Poynton (although I’ve read their books, Herd and Everything’s An Offer) and I certainly feel they could be part of my gravitational community, people whose ideas and conversations align and challenge, who are generous and willing to share not only their insights, but also their fears and anxieties, questions and musings. This, for me, is the heart of connection.

Launch of Communities & Networks Connection

You may have noticed the new badge over there on the left. It says Communities & Networks Connection – and it’s being launched tomorrow. WooHoo! If you click on it you’ll be taken to a cool new site developed by Nancy White and Tony Karrer. 

It brings together good content from bloggers and other sources around the topic of communities and networks.  The site helps to organize the content in a way that makes it easier for you, the reader, to go through and find content. It uses social signals to help determine what the best content is. And generally it attracts an audience that may not otherwise find each individual blogger. 

I’m really excited about being a part of this bold new experiment because it brings together an old and a new passion. I’ve always been passionate about communities and how they connect; and more recently the potential of electronic connection. Many of us are still learning about this potential, so I’m looking forward to the journey. I hope you’ll join us.

Nancy is a master of connections and Tony is the technical brains behind the project. No doubt it will grow and develop as we all learn together.

And there’s no way I’d miss out on such an opportunity – especially when Nancy and I share a really, really  important passion – for chocolate! (It’s a *proven fact* that chocolate makes for more sustainable, in-depth and rewarding connections!)

And in case you missed it, the URL is http://cc.fullcirc.com/

Torn by time

In improvisation, time has a different feel – it’s not that important, it seems. Improvisers work together to create without worrying too much if they have enough time. You rarely, if ever, here an improviser say ‘we could have done so much better if we’d had more time’. Accepting offers, doing something, being obvious, going down dead-ends, trying something else – all part of the improviser’s arsenal. And improvisers can create amazing, sometimes, magical things while the rest of us are still thinking about where we’d start!

Meanwhile, in a workshop people are in the process of creating a vision. ‘We need more time to get it right.’ Ahem – what’s wrong with this statement? Let’s ignore the ‘get it right’ bit for a moment and focus on time. How much time? How much time is enough for people to have meaningful conversations? Will they do any better if they have more time? Is asking for more time simply avoiding the inevitable, that is, making a decision?

If anyone ever asks you what’s so difficult about facilitating, see if they can answer the above questions.

Role of facilitation in disaster recovery

Back in 2006 BB (Before Blogging) I attended a training course for facilitators on the role of facilitation in disaster recovery. At the time I said it was probably the most significant training I’d ever done as a facilitator. I wrote an article for the Australasian Facilitators’ Network, to debrief my experience and to share what I’d learnt with others. I think it’s appropriate to republish it now.

My views on disasters and the role of facilitation have been both reinforced and changed completely as I reflect on a two-day workshop I recently completed called “Facilitating Psycho-Social Reconstruction” – and I’ll come back to what that actually means in a moment.

But first, a little background: this workshop was designed and delivered by the Global Facilitator Service Corps (GFSC) is a voluntary group of committed and passionate people who provide a way for facilitators to contribute our facilitation skills to disaster preparedness and recovery. It is ambitious, it’s altruistic, it’s voluntary, and organic.

The workshop was created and delivered by Gil Brenson-Lazan with help from BJ and Lenny Diamond who organised the workshop, provided behind-the-scenes support and developed the notes; and Mike Kane and Erness Wright-Irvin, both Hurricane Katrina survivors from New Orleans, who helped deliver the workshop. Their stories will remain with me for a long time.

The workshop ran over two days. There were about 14 of us – from across the USA, Canada and Australia.

Some highlights: Haiti-born Suze describing the chronic trauma of Haitian people living in the United States; Scott talking of his experiences as a 9/11 survivor; Erness describing her own immediate denial that there was any urgency to leave as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans; Mike describing his experiences of living with friends and his coping mechanism of either extreme activity or total inactivity. These personal, first-hand stories make the reports we see on our news come alive with a potency that is rarely possible via the media. Yet again, the power of personal anecdote was reinforced. And we all had stories to tell – maybe not of the same scale as 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina – but personal disasters nonetheless that underlined the common human experience, and needs.

I’d always assumed that the immediate post-disaster recovery was best left to experts, with facilitators coming in to help with longer-term reconstruction of communities. Boy, was I wrong! And I’d also assumed that disaster only meant the all-too-regular large-scale natural and human-induced disasters. Wrong again! And I thought that the role of the facilitator began only after disasters. Three strikes and you’re out! I was wrong on all three counts.

The experts, the recovery teams, the bureaucrats – everyone is traumatised by disaster and have similar, but different, needs according to their circumstances. And yes, that includes us, as facilitators, too. Facilitators can contribute straight away, building the foundations for faster and more effective, recovery.

While there will always be a need for facilitation around large-scale, high profile disasters, there are everyday disasters too – happening in organizations and communities. Understanding the psychological and social impacts on individuals and groups helps us as facilitators to respond better and appropriately.

And for me, the most exciting of all, is the potential for facilitators to help build resilience and local capacity in groups and communities – so that if and when disaster occurs the group or community is prepared for psychosocial reconstruction.

Now there’s a term you may not of heard before. It simply means the reintegration of individual with community/group needs. During chronic or after acute trauma, individuals respond by reverting to survival mode. The longer individuals stay isolated and looking after themselves, the more likely they are to become dependent and adopt dysfunctional strategies to cope and suffer secondary crises.

The model developed by GFSC explores all of this and much, much more: individual needs and responses, leadership styles, approaches, skills, what to look out for and importantly, crisis intervention techniques – building rapport, the power of language, debriefing after a critical incident, building group resilience, suicide risk and referral (there are some things well outside the realm of facilitation and should be referred to professional therapists), avoiding conflict escalation (note – not avoiding conflict); and caring for ourselves and developing personal resilience.

Why facilitation? What do we bring that others don’t to these situations? It’s simply really – an understanding of the innate power of groups, the importance of participation and the belief that groups have within them the resources they need for whatever it is they need to do for survival, recovery and growth.

At any time during the recovery process people can slip into ineffective strategies to cope – and while this model looks linear, it’s not really. Understanding this model can be helpful in responding as a facilitator – recognising what individuals and groups are going through.

Footnote: While I decided to help coordinate facilitators willing to donate their services to help in the recovery process for survivors of the Victorian bushfires through my blog and the AFN, Anne Pattillo in New Zealand had the same thought regarding IAP2. So naturally we’ve decided to work together. Stay tuned for developments.