November 2005

It's been a while since my last update, and I've finally got round to creating another one.

Facilitation Skills Workshop

Since I last wrote, I've run an open workshop on facilitation skills. It's designed for anyone who wants to work with teams of people more effectively.

Here's some of the feedback from delegates:

Thank you for a great day, I feel re-inspired about facilitation and about what interesting people you meet when you venture outside your usual professional circles - Helen Weavers, Planner

A real confidence booster. There was a good balance of practical exercises, discussion and opportunities to reflect. I left the workshop inspired and re-energised. I now feel more flexible as a facilitator both in group and one-to-one settings, with positive (and surprising!) results. Donna Trenholm, British Heart Foundation

Thanks for today. It was spectacular - fun AND challenging. I really love and respect your approach and energy - Mark Hodge, The Hub

I'm running another workhop, under the title of Authentic Facilitation, on January 9th in London.

Travels

I've also attended a couple of great conferences in New York, the Applied Improv Network and Performing the World. These reinforced my enthusiasm for using ideas from the world of theatre to helping organisations create more dynamic relationships, internally and externally. I was also one of the speakers at Our Social World in Cambridge and also took part in a one day conference on Social Computing and the Organisation at Templeton College, Oxford.

I helped to faciltate a lively debate on education sponsored by Channel 4, called Pollicy Unplugged.

Books

A new book, More Space, has just been published, which includes my chapter, Simple Ideas, Lightly Held. It's about how to create effective improvisation - and teamwork - in organisations.

I'm also featured in a John Winsor's latest book, Spark, about supporting innovation in organisations. The opening chapter is about how I work in this area.

Here are some of the things I've been covering in my weblog recently...

Dialogue

In his book on Dialogue, William Isaacs includes this great story of a charged meeting attempting to create a dialogue between Chechens and Russians.

At the first toast of the evening the negotiatior/facilitator of the session stood up and said: "Up until a few days ago, I had been with my mother in New Mexico... She is dying of cancer. I debated whether to come here at all to participate in this gathering. But when I told her that I was coming to help facilitate a dialogue among all of you, in this important place on earth, she ordered me to come. There was no debate. So here I am. I raise my glass to mothers." There followed a long moment of silence in the room.

It is in courageous moments like these that the promise of dialogue shows itself.

The more events I facilitate, the more I realise that it's these kinds of intuitive, authentic choices that really help shape the event - not sticking to some over-researched formula.

Getting honesty and keeping it fun

Tony Hufflet of The Fat Group makes this incisive comment on designing online surveys.

There is room for respondent dishonesty in any questioning environment. The level of dishonesty grows with the increase in boredom or disengagment.

Our experience tells us that dishonesty (in any environment) occurs when the questioner either bores the respondent or the tone is wrong. This is even more true on the net when respondents are not having to act in an acceptable manner before another person (in a face-to-face encounter or over the phone (which creates its own artificiality)) instead they are able to be truly themselves and show how they feel straight away.

So the key to on-line honesty is to be creative, make it fun and don't ask too many questions. If you still doubt on-line honesty you have only to look at the recent U.S and U.K elections. In both instances the web research came closest to the actual result. The reason: people couldn't articulate face-to-face or over a phone something they felt the questioner might find unacceptable (such as under 35 and voting Tory in the last election) but would be honest about with their impersonal screen and in the voting booth.

Less is more

Piers Young wrote a great summary of an interesting article in Wired, showing how the wisdom of less is more can be applied to improving road safety.

"The trouble with traffic engineers is that when there's a problem with a road, they always try to add something," Monderman says. "To my mind, it's much better to remove things."

Monderman was let loose on a junction at Drachten. Two busy two-lane roads (20,000 cars a day), plus thousands of bicyclists and pedestrians, and he replaced it with a roundabout. In the process he ripped out the traffic lights, the road markings and the pedestrian crossings but it apparently works well.

"Pedestrians and cyclists used to avoid this place, but now, as you see, the cars look out for the cyclists, the cyclists look out for the pedestrians, and everyone looks out for each other. You can't expect traffic signs and street markings to encourage that sort of behavior. You have to build it into the design of the road."

And the steps to building better junctions (for which I'm reading network hubs)

1. Remove signs: The architecture of the road - not signs and signals - dictates traffic flow.
2. Install art: The height of the fountain indicates how congested the intersection is.
3. Share the spotlight: Lights illuminate not only the roadbed, but also the pedestrian areas.
4. Do it in the road: Cafés extend to the edge of the street, further emphasizing the idea of shared space.
5. See eye to eye: Right-of-way is negotiated by human interaction, rather than commonly ignored signs.
6. Eliminate curbs: Instead of a raised curb, sidewalks are denoted by texture and color.

Caught in the act

Here's an impromptu demonstration - view a 5 minute video here - of a simple Improv exercise I gave in a dimly lit pub. Caught on camera by my friend Jesper Bindslev.

Thriving Conversations

Supporting really powerful conversation is an increasing focus of my work, both as a faciliator and marketing consultant. Too many organisations create ineffective communication when they duck the opportunity to risk a real, honest conversation - either internally or with customers.

I review an interesting academic, paper on what makes for thriving conversations here.

Silence

The value of silence in meetings is usually completely overlooked. I write about it here, here and here

Listenomics

A good article by Bob Garfield in Ad Age: Inside the New World of Listenomics (free registration required). A nice summary of how marketing must give up on bombarding us with messages and learn how to create real two-way conversations.

What stops collaboration?

Some thoughts inspired by an article on the conundrum of collaboration. Why is it so much easier to talk about than to do?