what can/will go wrong part 2

In part 1 of this blog, we uncharacteristically wrote that bad things are likely to happen, so be prepared!

Preparation, preparation, preparation - need we say more? Ok, we will. At Raising the Village, we promote paying attention to three key steps BEFORE any group process to set the stage for a positive experience for everyone.
a) know yourself - what's your style, what are you comfortable with?
b) know your group - who are your participants and why are they togther and what do they need?
c) THEN pick your process

Along the theme of things going wrong, however, we've highlighted two more common challenges when faciliating a group. Learn the signs that something bad is brewing, try the tips to help AVOID IT as well as know what to do if it does actually happen (without panicking).

1.  SOMEONE DOMINATES THE ACTIVITY DEBRIEF DIALOGE

• the same person ALWAYS has an opinion, a story to tell or a question
• other participants are silent/silenced

Prevent it!

• regularly seek multiple responses for each question using a phrase like, "Another idea from a different perspective?" and directly asking what questions do (several) people have.
• Give others a space to respond.  Silence can be uncomfortable but if you immediately defer to the talker, no-one will feel they have a chance to get a word in.

Deal with it!

• try "What do the rest of you think?"
• call other people by name
• if it is REALLY bad, politely tell the talker that you are going to give other people a chance to add to the conversation.
• invite the participants to answer the talker's questions (that expands the situation beyond just you and' the talker)

2.  THE FINAL OUTCOMES ARE NOT WHAT YOU ARE HOPING FOR THE GROUP

• the energy is falling flat, fast
• likely there will be some confusion
• answers or deliverables don't match what you expected

Prevent it!

• spend that time before the activity to get yourself clear on learning objectives or activity outcomes
• don't rescue the group or hurry them along - with a clear purpose and instructions they will get there.

Deal with it!

• be honest and describe what you were thinking and what was the outcome - have a dialogue about why the disconnect
• focus on what they DID get out of the activity - perhaps it is just a smaller step towards what you had hoped.
• try it again with a few tweaks if necessary

Other blogs you might like:
Group Process tips - how to prepare for TIME flow
Why Bother with Group Agreements
Facilitators practice the art of letting go

Book review - Everyone Leads

With a title like Everyone Leads, this book caught our attention. A book claiming to inspire readers to see new leadership possibilities within themselves and their communities.. is definitely up our alley! 

The book's conversational tone makes it seem as if you are chatting with author Paul Schmitz. The first chunk tells the story of his innovative and  grass roots organization called Public Allies. It is, in fact, the organization that Michelle Obama worked in early in her career.  Still going strong across the United States (website), Public Allies identifies talented young adults from diverse and under-represented backgrounds who have a passion to make a difference, and helps them turn that passion into a viable career path.

The book, outlines the five core leadership values of this organization; 

1. Recognizing and mobilizing ALL of a community's assets
2. Connecting across cultures
3. Facilitating collaborative action
4. Continuously learning and improving
5. Being accountable to ourselves and others.

These are values that resonate with our work. In fact, much of the language and the "how-to" strategies run parallel with Raising the Village - relationships, leadership and strengths. Given our work with community collaboratives, we took a closer look at the chapter on facilitating collaborative action. Here are some of our favourite passages.

"Building teams is about building trust. 

Exercises and processes can help prevent common pitfalls..."

 "Leadership is inherently a collaborative process. 

Leaders inspire, persuade, and engage others to work with them on common goals." 

"Self awareness and interpersonal collaboration also extend to the formal and informal organizations that constitute communities."

"Being collaborative is a commitment."

The book offers an exercise that helps to identify and acknowledge strengths. Each individual writes the answer to the following questions and shares with a partner. We challenge you to answer them!

• What two gifts, talents or skills make you a valuable family member and friend?
• What two skills make you especially good at your paid or volunteer work?
• What talent do you have that not many people know about?
• What are your 2 or 3 favourite hobbies?

Let's take it farther!!  Here is a fun way to match your strengths and natural gifts to your role as leader and community builder.  Try our self-assessment quiz: What is Your Group Leadership Style. Are you a mover & shaker? a clarity seeker? a strengths creator? or (yikes) a group process killer?!

Embrace your strengths and offer up your gifts as everyone leads! 

Be directional - and use the right tools.

The most detailed map in the world will not be very helpful if the details don't tell you what you need to know. Consider kayaking through the broken group islands (gorgeous!) - if you grabbed an area map from the local gas station - you'd be in big trouble as you try to navigate between Dodd and Turtle islands - and all the rocks in the middle during a turning tide.   On the other hand if you had a navigational chart,  chances are you'd be safe in a kayak but get lost on the car ride home.

Consider the plethora of choices in choosing maps and charts. Knowing what you are going to do with data and information is half the battle - are you driving, hiking, boating, star gazing or drilling for oil?

In a recent survey of workshop participants hoping to increase their knowledge and skills around using data for community planning, a question was asked about HOW they typically used information. The responses described:

1. Making decisions about program priorities and project directions
2. Writing funding applications (justifying the "ask")
3. Seeing trends - how the context in which we work changes
4. Creating an advocacy arsenal in order to effect change with policy makers
5. Informing best practices
6. Celebrating success

Each use is different. Not every piece of information you unearth will be applicable for every purpose.

If information is causing you to be dazed and confused, do a double check. Check your sources. Is it enough?  Sometimes it is a matter of adding additional information to create the whole picture.  Is the information relevant? Other times, you need to be honest and not force a piece of data into a puzzle it doesn't belong in.

Be clear from the start - what are you hoping to do with what you learn?
And..at the risk of getting data obsessed, consider an evaluation process of your data exploration.  Learning from your experiences of what works and what doesn't as you gather, make sense of and apply information can be very useful learning!

RTV # 45 Tips for group toys

A Year of Raising the Village. Week # 45: Tips for Group Toys.

Toys, they are not just for children's play. Toys can increase participation in community or organizational meetings.

This list, from Meeting Excellence by Parker and Hoffman, contains several key toys whose use and interpretation are flexible:

• soft squeeze rubber ball


• Koosh ball, nerf ball


• slinky


• Rubik's cube


• yoyo


• wooden cup with ball on string


• train whistle


• clapper

In our bag of tricks we also tend to include toy animals, mirrors, Disney characters (big symbolism usually!) and blocks. We've used a ball to signal when it is someone else's turn to share/talk on an agenda (keeps people awake on on their toes too)! We've heard of people who use noisemakers to liven up the space and acknowledge each contributer with positive (and loud) feedback. "That was easy" buttons have been popular when decisions are made. We've placed play dough and pipe cleaners on the table to recharge mental energy and for a guaranteed splash of fun.

One of the most effective use of toys came in one of our recent workshops on Collaboration and Authentic Engagement, we asked participants to create group definitions using bags of toys/props as metaphors. The activity was challenging enough to stretch people's thinking yet fun enough to generate much laughter and creativity. One particularly intense group stuffed a slinky full of other toys in an elaborately explained process. The description unleashed a great dialogue that uncovered many of the key components of working together that people were wrestling with.

Toys, fun AND a massive adult engagement tool!

Raising Village Question:

What's one of your fav meeting "toys?"  How do you use it?

RTV # 38 - Remembering to Play (with Vince Gowmon)

A Year of Raising theVillage Week 38 - Remembering to Play

... an interview with Vince Gowmon - player, facilitator, coach extraordinaire!

Remembering to PlayEvents offer workshops that combine unique and fun experiential activities with open discussions and rich group learning – we mean really rich, wake you up learning. We took part in one of the PLAY workshops and were smitten with the soulful facilitated process and the skill of the person holding a respectful and fun space in the workshop room.
Who is the playful leader behind these inspired workshops? Meet Vince Gowmon and get a special peek into the spirit of the Play process...

Vince Gowmon, is the founder of Remembering to Play Events.  All his life he has loved playing, and since 1998, he has lived his other passion of supporting others to create their life with joy and purpose.  Remembering to Play Events is his opportunity to combine the two, giving people a playground to discover their authentic Self and laugh along the way!
We asked Vince to take us behind the scenes of his special workshops...
What is at the core of Remembering to Play?

The essence of Remembering to Playis remembering your spirit. It is taking the risk to be authentic (it can be risky to shed your fears and inhibitions). Many of us have SAS (serious adult syndrome) – we take ourselves and life so seriously that we forget the joy in the lighter side of play. Also at the heart of Remembering to Play is remembering what it means to be a child and connecting to the wisdom of a child-like heart. Children are present, engaged, intuitive, spontaneous, honest, expressive of a wide range of emotions without extra thought as to whether the emotion if permissible. Children are less attached to one certain way of being and are willing to be open and try new things.


When facilitating groups, how do you know when a group process is landing with people?

·      Take time to read the group. If people are not ready for a certain activity or process that I have designed, I will huck out the outline.
·      There is a dance between my prepared agenda and the participant’s needs and agenda. I’ve learned to limit the amount of content in my agenda – I leave space open for what arises within the group.
·      Another approach is to be curious around any feelings. I will name it (i.e. There seems to be some resistance here. What’s that about? What do we need more of? Less of?).
·      Ask – what does the group want?

How do you determine and design group activities that connect with people? What advice do you have for group facilitators and leaders who are looking for process inspiration?

I look at a workshop like a journey. First, meet people where they are – meet and honour their current reality. Secondly, layer activities that add a slow stretch to that reality. For example, I might not include movement and music in the first part of the workshop as that might be a large stretch.  Thirdly, I look to see that the foundational skill sets and values of Remembering to Playare present in the workshop activities. For example, one of the values is to “Be Present”, so I will choose activities that reflect “Being Present”.

Designing workshops is like creating stepping stones across a river. I could stand on one end of the water and point to the other side while people stand at the edge OR we can slowly lay out different sized stepping stones as the learning and growing unfolds. We can co-create, chisel, space out the steps and consider how strong the current is.  People will cross to the other side in their own way and contribute every step of the way.

Creativity is a big part of my process. For me, creativity is opening up to something bigger than self. It is new ideas and possibilities combined with education. I balance ideas and structures with things people can hold onto.

What personally brings you a “sense of community”?

·      People close by that I connect with on a spontaneous level while being authentic and real.
·      A sense of community comes with safety, nearby nature, knowing the people in my neighbourhood and delighting in running into them on the street.
·      I look at the harmony of a community and for me this comes with intimate connection between people, intimate connection within infrastructures, and intimate connection between products and intentions of the stores and services within my community. My values are embodied by what surrounds me.

 How can people who are working together in communities with a focus on the early years relate to the workshops and services you offer?

Many early childhood educators relate to the co-created learning principles of Remembering to Play. We co-create in a workshop just like an early childhood educator might co-create with children in a Reggio Emilia approach. People working in the early years love children and they love play. On some level people may be called to their work as a part of their own healing and growth – Remembering to Playadds to this healing and growth.

What currently has you jazzed up in your work? What is your focus moving forward?

I am expanding, reaching and teaching into further parts of Canada. I would love to expand into Europe and engage in more public workshops.

My focus moving forward is to refine, add to and deepen what I am learning about PLAY. I am the #1 student of Remembering to Play– it is my own path of healing and growth. I am teaching what I need to learn and I am good at it! I am fascinated by how much play is not just an activity but a way of living, being and co-creating. My workshops are about not working so seriously hard, they are about subverting the norms and shaking people out of monotony and routines. It’s a place where PLAY TRUMPS WORK!

To experience the spirit of PLAY with your group - contact Vince at:
  Vince Gowmon, CPCC, BBA
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach
Remembering to Play Events
http://www.rememberingtoplay.com
Off:  604-566-0868  Cell:  778-990-0868  Fax:  604-566-3880

RTV #33 - Turning Cantankerous into Cooperative!

The glass is half full AND half empty!

A Year of Village Raising, Week #33. Turning Cantankerous into Cooperative.

It's a dangerous thing to look at community building through glasses so "rose coloured" that the complexities of human nature is dulled down to an insipid, pleasant monotone. People are COMPLICATED and working with people is COMPLEX! In your village-raising activities, keep your eyes wide open for personalities, characteristics and quirks that make life more interesting, and may create a little more work!

"Difficult people" is a common label used in group facilitation resources. We cringe when we hear that. Similar to parenting, it is the behaviour that might be difficult, not the person! Taking the time to understand why the behaviour is coming across as difficult is one of the keys to turning cantankerous into cooperative!

Think of someone that comes across as confrontational, disagreeable and contrary (at least sometimes!).  Ask yourself these questions to uncover their cooperative sweet spot.

1. Start with yourself - how are you coming across? Are you being clear? Are you threatening the status quo in a way that makes change scary? Are you consistently approachable, equitable and transparent? What is it about you that could be a trigger for this behaviour?

2.  Is the person in over their head? Is the behaviour a defensive mask of a lack of confidence and/or ability? Is there a way to offer training opportunities or group learning that evens the playing field?

3. Consider the strengths of the person, are they being used? Are the being used at appropriate times?  (first question: do you even know their strengths?)

In our travels, we have found that people who have amazing critical thinking skills, or those who are deliberative about risks or those who are involved to work, not to make friends often come across as "difficult" to others who are more idea driven, action eager and glass half-full. Make sure that there is a shared understanding of the various stengths that people bring, and USE them...otherwise, you'll find people fighting the process to try to get some kind of contribution in at all cost.

4.  A group check-in might be in order! Is the group's direction on the same track as when people first got involved? Or has it evolved and left some people out?

5. Is the difficult behaviour actually not difficult at all - but adding a dose of healthy conflict, richness, depth and diversity of thinking? If so, yet people are feeling "bothered" by the behaviour, it might be a time to shake things up. Don't allow group-think to alienate those that have the courage to think differently!

So raise your half-empty and half-full glass up to healthy conflict that keeps community builders on their toes!

Take a Change-agent Challenge!

Your group or organization is about to undertake on a new project. As a group you’ve asked:

Why is this project important?

How does this project get to the change we seek?

What are our outcomes for this project?

How will these outcomes happen? (See the mini-steps from last week’s theory of change blog!).

There is excitement, creative brainstorming, goal setting, and a project vision that speaks to the proposed impact on the community. The group is poised and ready to “set out” and begin on the tasks of making the project happen. To-do lists are made, sub-committees begin to meet, and partnerships are a plenty! Awesome Village Raising stuff AND perhaps there is one more step to consider in this creative project process. Have you thought to ask others (beyond your group) about the impact, influence, and leverage of this project before you dive in to the nitty-gritty details?

We call this a theory of change approach or a “Change-agent Challenge” and it goes something like this:

1. For one week, speak to three people a day (including children and youth and family and friends, people on the street etc.) about the vision of your project. Do they understand the vision without too much explanation? Have they heard of your group and your mission before? What are their reactions?

2. Two weeks later – go back! Choose a sample of the people and go back and ask them to repeat the vision of the project! Do they remember the vision? Can they repeat it without prompts? How memorable is it?

3. Do these people feel the vision includes them? What part of the vision is open enough that it speaks to everyone? How is the language engaging and inclusive? Is it something they feel they can “get behind”? Why or why not?

4. Record all the reactions to the project’s vision. This input can provide valuable insight and evaluative “food for thought” for your collaborative group. How is the vision of this project inspiring community members to engage? How memorable is the vision of this project? Is there a need to “tweak”, add to, or simplify the vision of the project? Has anyone provided a comment that sparks a new idea?

Following these steps encourages the project group to look at that question of “How will we know if this project has impact” in a new way. Collaborative projects have the most impact when they nourish meaning and purpose for all group members and the broader community.

Village Raising Question
If you (or your group) had to identify in 20 words or less what this project stands for, what you believe, and what is truly critical about this work … what would those words be?

Village Raising Challenge
Talk to someone you have never met about your current projects! Rather than trying to persuade them to take part – listen deeply at their response. What is there to learn from this person? What lands as important (or not)?

Can technology and good ole' fashion face-to-face mix?

A colleague was recently at a professional conference with dynamic speakers and participants from far and wide. He came home feeling empty and unfulfilled. He described the use of technology during the event as excessive given that everyone was in the same room. People were not given the time or permission to dialogue with each other – they, instead, had to tweet their reactions. He groaned at the thought of putting his complex musings, stimulated by the dynamic speakers, into snippets of 140 characters or less.

At the same time – technology can add rich connections, creative twists to the ordinary and innovative sparks to learning and sharing. In fact, technology can actually build a profound sense of community among people around the world or down the block.

As community developers and group facilitators, we constantly search for tools that will help us spark a group into dialogue and inspired action. Sometimes these tools are props (like rose coloured glasses or devils forks) and sometimes they are high tech. We’ve played around a lot, some examples include smartboard technology, new powerpoint techniques, wordle.net, facebook, and surveymonkey - all with various degrees of success.

Tracy recently become the owner of an iphone and wondered if the app world had anything to offer. An app (application), downloaded onto a smart phone, is NOT going to facilitate a meeting, lead a workshop or mobilize social change. It might, however, give community developers and group facilitators a tool or two to kick start a group conversation, dig deeper and more creatively into complex issues and maybe even help to synthesize ideas into action. We thought we’d put the world of apps to the test! When we find some apps that have some community developer appeal – we will try them out and write reviews here on our blog.

Lets start with basic reading and reference resources. These are nuggets of information that are not necessarily interactive. Not having an ipad – the thought of reading a whole book on the iphone makes the eyes start squinting!  We downloaded three free reference books that caught our eye.  Following is our reviews:

Cloudbook: How Cross-boundary Collaboration is Transforming Business. This ebook written in 2009 by van Ommeren, Duivestein, deVadoss, Reijnen and Gunvaldson is literally 248 pages in an electronic form. We would have loved a way to jump around the book quickly – chasing the concepts that resonated with us most. It requires a lot of work to translate their business messages about change and collaboration to the social sector. Chapter 5 has some thoughtful content on collaboration and the mediums that we have used historically and those that we should concentrate on to improve collaborative efforts.  Interesting to note that our postal system has strong roots from 2400 BC!  Learning about information sharing is key in community development – and the faster technology influences how we share that information, the more we have to read to stay informed! Interesting read - but on an iphone – only in small doses!

Collaboration is King. This app is like shopping at Winners. There are some decent items on the rack but you have to take the time to sift and search. This app contains information about how to find collaborative ideas online, collaborative tips and tricks, online collaboration and more.  It is made up of, a collection of blog titles with links to the actual site, of which some of the links don’t lead anywhere. Once we get a couple of nuggets, this one likely won’t be saved on the phone.

Unleashing the Super Ideavirus (lite/free) version.  We love how Seth Godin has combined text, graphics and video in this “vook.”  The lite version only contains two of the 18 chapters available, the full version costs $4.99.  Each chapter has a great 45 - 90 second video clip including Seth Godin speaking to the chapter concepts.  The text is also scattered with hyperlinks to help explain background and context or…to be honest, to lose yourself in cyperspace. One link was for a Mona Lisa reference which took us to the Louvre website, which then had us planning a trip to Paris! The concept for this book is about marketing ideas (not products). “An idea that just sits there is worthless. But an idea that moves and grows and infects everyone it touches…that’s an ideavirus.”

Looking forward to reviewing other apps. We have found some on visioning, some related to group facilitation and lots that support creative thinking.  Stay tuned!

Village Raising Question

What’s your favourite “work” app?

Navigating the River (of data and dialogue)

Photo Copyright TSmyth

The word dialogue comes from the root words dia (meaning through) and logos (the word). It gives the image “of a river of meaning flowing around and through each participant” (Bohm, 1991).

Depending on the facilitator’s comfort zone, the topic and who’s in the room, that river could be a meandering trickle or a white water rush. A guide or method to approach holding a dialogue can sometimes be a welcome relief to a group facilitator as well as to participants (sort of like bringing a life jacket on your wet adventure).

In Raising the Village (2009), we dedicate a chapter to dialogue – how to create space for it, how to ask those phenomenological questions that rock everyone’s world, and how that leads to constructing a collective relevance. In community, dialogue can provide the opportunity to create shared meaning, to learn from each member of a group, and to jointly explore an issue. It is very different from discussion or debate, which includes both problem solving and seeking closure.  The issues that early years community developers tackle in community are complex and multi-factoral.

The Institute of Cultural Affairs created a method for guiding groups from discussion into dialogue.  It is called ORID and while a funny acronym that rhymes with horrid, it, on the contrary, may just help avoid a horrid meeting!

Each step in the method takes a group into a deeper level of conversation. It allows people to process and contribute their thoughts systematically. One excellent example of its use is for early years community developers who are faced with facilitating conversations around local data such as the Early Development Indicator. Without a guide to help “navigate the river of logos,” groups can be overwhelmed with complex information.

After some information is presented to the group, a facilitator can apply the ORID process. The first stage is OBJECTIVE. This level resists getting wrapped up in opinions and interpretations and focuses solely on the information. Questions for this stage might include:

What phrases or ideas from the presentation stood out for you?

What factual statements can you make based on the data?

The next step is to allow participants to be REFLECTIVE and contribute their initial reactions, both positive and negative.

Questions for this stage might include:

What gives you concern?  What gives you hope?

What encouraged you? What discouraged you?

How does this make you feel?

The third level towards dialogue is INTERPRETIVE. This now requires some critical thinking skills. Participants will be paddling into meaning making, finding value and significance. Questions at this stage may include:

What does this mean for the work we do together?

What new insights do you have?

What areas of need seem to arise?

Finally, the group reaches a DECISIONAL level in which collective opinion on next steps is the goal. A good question for this stage is:

How will we apply what we have talked about here today?

What are our proposed next steps?

Participants aren’t necessarily aware of the ORID process. When it has a free-flowing feeling, participants stay more activity engaged in the content instead of getting sidetracked with a structure. A strong facilitator will allow the questions of each stage to propel the conversation forward allowing participants to co-construct meaning in their logos.  

May your river of meaning be safely navigated!

Village Raising Question

In what situations do you see your community using the ORID process?

Derailed by Group Dynamics – get back on track!

Last week we shared a “real life” facilitator learning moment that sent us back to the books for reminders on group facilitation. Here are some tips we discovered that might help prevent being derailed by group dynamics.

1. In his book, The Secrets of Facilitation, author Michael Wilkinson offers tips for dealing with behaviors in a group. Catch participants being positively engaged and give them some attention, a head nod, a smile, or get them to have the floor to share an experience. People are more likely to engage if they feel they are contributing and offering to the process. Ask for their thoughts.

2. In the book The Skilled Facilitator, Roger Schwarz talks about two sets of knowledge and skills that assist a facilitator to help intervene in group dynamics. First, you need to know what type of behavior to look for…the ones that reflect key dynamics of the effectiveness of a group. Establish quick ground rules with every group- as the key way to know and identify a behavior that is in contrast of agreed upon principles. Second, a process for diagnosis is needed…figure out how you will observe and make sense of behavior. Facilitators have to deal with high-level inference (such as control and trust) that cannot be observed directly but must be inferred. The next steps are to decide whether, how and why to intervene. If you do intervene describe the observed behavior in an open and non judging way and share your intent in addressing the dynamic.

One of the learning’s we have taken away from our “de-railed” group facilitation is to remain grounded ourselves, stay curious with others, and clarify any behaviors that may be rippling in the room.

Raising the Village Question:

What are the behaviors that best boost a collaborative spirit? How might you discuss this regularly with your community group?

Group Facilitators – practice the art of letting go.

In life there are certainly times we have to learn to “let go”- of things, people, or circumstances. Take a search through a local library and you will find numerous books giving advice on how to “let go” on many topics and issues; grief, relationships, medical circumstances, stress, fears, addictions and phobias. For some, “letting go” signifies a time of healing, personal change, and transformative growth. 

Facilitators, group leaders and instructors benefit greatly from practicing the art of letting go. Part and parcel of letting go, however, is making sure that we capture and internalize the lessons.

We were recently presenting two workshops, back to back. The first one was to our peers (fellow Early Years Community Developers). We were excited to share our thinking and our approach (highly grounded in adult learning principles) by engaging participants in constructing knowledge. This philosophy results in highly interactive Village Raising workshops.  As we tapped into the energy in the room, we perceived a participant or two as being un-engaged with the information and activities we were presenting. On this particular day (for a slew of reasons) it was enough to take us completely off our game. We allowed our perceptions to change our workshop flow and timing, sap our enthusiasm and question ourselves. As veterans of group facilitation, we are aware of many different ways to react when folks are un-engaged, but somehow being with our peers on this day, changed our response. We left the first workshop feeling we had not fully played to our strengths or provided the space for optimum connection and Village Raising…big time bummer. So what are two group facilitators to do? Blame others and get defensive? Curl up in the fetal position? Or…practice that art of letting go? We chose the latter.

Luckily we had an evening between the first and second workshops. In that time, we worked hard at identifying what happened. We discovered, through participant evaluations, that the workshop was still highly regarded by the majority of people. In order to learn, grow and then build our confidence back – we employed strategies of letting go.

We...

• Accepted that it is impossible to meet everyone’s expectations (the 10/80/10 principle) and that people engage in different ways.
• Readjusted our timing and content to allow us to achieve a higher level of energy and participation sooner in the workshop.
• Celebrated the positive evaluation comments and allowed those to inform our reflections and give us the foundation to build from. “We want to give more…(you insert here)”.
• Asked ourselves: How do we want to act that is consistent with our Village Raising vision? What really matters about this workshop/meeting? We re-confirmed our focus.
• Laughed and laughed and laughed. At ourselves, at our vulnerabilities and at life’s unexpected lessons.
• Allowed ourselves the time to process, learn and then “let it go”…

The following day we delivered essentially the same workshop to a group of people who were our “target” audience. It was a phenomenal day, filled with deep sharing, a-ha moments and positive energy. As co-facilitators we found our chemistry, rhythm and presence. Sure there were probably a couple of people that were less engaged than the masses – but we were able to avoid being derailed by them and continued on the right path of delivering a meaningful experience for the rest.

            

When life throws you a curve ball, pay attention, be open, learn from it and let go.

Village Raising Question:

What group “curve balls” can you more intently learn from… and then let go of?

Watch next week for tips from other authors that help prevent being derailed by group dynamics.

Rethinking Group Values

www.wordle.net

Facilitators and community developers who work with groups often begin with the task of defining the group’s values. In the room there will be the eye rollers who mutter “good glory, can we just get on with it?” and the reflective eager beavers who are already waving their hands like primary school students wanting to be the first to say “respect, inclusive or honesty.”

Values are attitudes that motivate us to act a certain way. They are based on our ethical standards and are a measure of what is important to us. Values are going to be different for everyone. In a group, the process of defining group values begins to shape the common ground shared among individuals or organizations. This is important when people intend to work together on a project or share resources.

So how do you find the middle ground between the eye rollers and the eager beavers? Here is what NOT to do:

• Bypass the process completely to avoid ruffling feathers
• Skim the surface of the process and quickly gather the “off-the cuff” list of tried and true values that are, out of context, rather meaningless and not a reflection of the whole group
• Get all “existential” on everyone and immerse the group with lectures on ethical hierarchies, morality and anthropological lenses (yikes!)

To get to values that are useful during the course of the group’s work together and not just collect dust on an old flip chart paper or get buried in meeting minutes, try an adaptation of this 30-minute process.

• Let the group know that the next 30 minutes will set the stage for the working relationship of the group.
• Give groups a list of values (make sure there is space for “other”)
• Have people work ALONE, get them to mark the top 3 values that they feel are the most pertinent with the group and the project. To help people get into the value mind-set, ask a few questions such as: What does this group/project stand for? What do you see at the core of this group/project?
• Then work in small groups, have individuals share their 3 values and why they fit. Make note of ones that are the SAME and ones that the group really identifies with.
• Have the small group come to a consensus on the top 3 shared values from this collective list. Use your agreed upon consensus process. (See last weeks blog for more on consensus).
• Have each small group share their list with the whole group. After each presentation, allow time for people to pose questions about how each value relates to the group/project at hand.

For example:

Courage

What does this mean for safety? What are the fears about this project/group that would need courage to overcome them? What is at the essence of courage for you? What does it mean?

• Have individuals work ALONE again and cast a vote for their personal top 3 values.
• Have someone enter all the values into www.wordle.net to see both the collection of values that the group has identified surround the project and the values of highest importance (the top ones will be bigger – but the others won’t be lost).
• Post this, refer to it, and question it often. It can help during the group’s cycle of learning, planning and decision making.

Sometimes the most relevant group values are ones that not everyone understands how they fit at first glance. Through learning about and applying them, meaning emerges as people balance what resonates personally and what “fits” with the group or project.

Village Raising Question:

When was the last time you evaluated your own values?