A colleague emailed today and asked me this question: “which tool do you use when you have to analyse the content of your harvest with groups?” My answer was that it depends on so much. Which means there is no one rule or tool but rather a principle. The principle would be this: “Participatory process, participatory harvest, simple process, simple harvest” The primary tool I use in complex decision making domains is diversity. A story. Once, working with the harvest of a a series of 4 world cafes that had about 100 people in each, I …
I am preparing some questions tonight for an exercise I am running, and I rediscovered this elegant and simple process for constructing questions that elicit stories, courtesy of the Ultimate Guide to Anecdote Circles. Build the question. People remember events when they can picture an image reminding them of a specific situation. Combine this idea with the suggestion of adding emotion and you have the two building blocks to create good questions. First start with an image-building phrase: “Think about…” “Imagine…” “If…” “Consider…” For example, ”Think about a time when you were given advice by your manager.” Add an additional …
Researchers working on communication with dolphins came up with this list of 20 questions to ask our ceteacean cousins should we every be able to conduct a conversation with them: What name does your species call itself? What is the social structure of your pod? Of your general species? What species of Cetaceans are able to communicate with each other? Why do entire pods strand themselves? Are there environmental changes are that concerning to cetaceans? What are the most important things that we can do to help you? Do you have some way of preserving your knowledge, such as an …
I think one of the hardest things to do as a facilitator is master the art of giving instructions. Even for facilitators, public speaking can be a stressful experience, and there is nothing worse than trying to give instructions to a group while your knees are shaking and your mouth is dry. But for all facilitators, and and especially those of us who work with radically new ways of meeting, this is a whole art in itself. Giving instructions poorly leads to confusion and chaos and can quickly erode the trust of a group. Being too direct can shut people …
On setting the physical container for good collaboration: In the 1960s, Timothy Leary coined the term “set and setting” referring to a context that influenced the outcomes of psychoactive and psychedelic drug experiments on his subjects. “Set” refers to ones mindset, “setting” refers to the environment in which the user has the experience. Now Im not necessarily suggesting that you administer psychoactive drugs to your participants, though Im sure that would make your job a whole lot more interesting. What I am suggesting is that “set and setting” play a significant, and often overlooked role, in your work as a …