“Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.”
Charles Kaufmann, Screenwriter
The Missing Tool
How can you hear from all of your team efficiently in meetings?
Anyone who has attended facilitation training with me, or has read many Yes! And. Blogs, is aware that I advocate you break a group in to small teams (preferably three in a team) for discussion and exercises and constant changing the structure of the teams. I bring the small teams back together as a group to share and consolidate their findings.
This approach encourages divergent thinking and allows everyone to participate and have their say. It has much more energy. Quieter people tend to become more involved. Moving people around provides variety and interest. It is usually quicker and more productive than whole group discussion. A wider range of ideas surfaces too because the group is not led by the thinking of just one person and there is less opportunity for people to be bored.
Recently though, I ran a workshop where the client wanted to ensure that everyone heard the opinion of each person in the team, at least once in the meeting, because it was a fairly new team. I thought readers might find it useful to know the two tools I used. Ralph Watson, a Blog reader suggested the name, “The Doughnut” for tool 1. Feel free to call them what you like.
So
Tool 1 – The Doughnut
There was a team of 11 people. They wanted to discuss what their focus should be as a team. I placed six people in a circle facing each other and had the rest of the group sit around the inner circle to listen.
The brief was that the six people in the inner circle would discuss the topic, followed by the people in the outer circle.
I facilitated the inner circle and started with a question (I used 5Ws and H – “Who”, “What”, “Why”, “Where”, “When” and “How” as a prompt for my questions) to encourage one of the team to begin the conversation. I encouraged the outer circle to take note of key points raised. This is not essential and not everybody took the notes.
As the discussion progressed, I kept a low profile, prompting only rarely with a question and only to involve anyone not contributing. When the discussion subsided, the outer circle team members swapped places with the inner circle and reversed roles.
As you might observe, I reduced the size of the team! The smaller circle makes it a more “intimate” conversation and easier to manage. People sense they will have an opportunity to speak so are less likely to interrupt and more importantly, it enables the outer circle to listen carefully and not think about a response.
Such a conversation tool as used in the circles is a divergent tool; it widens the thinking of the group. Next, there is a need to converge the thinking, to arrive at a conclusion of some kind.
Tool 2 – Focus Circle
To provide a respite from what is a reasonably intense activity, I asked the group to take a break and for individuals to consider what the focus should be, based on the discussion they had participated in and listened to. Unfortunately, it was raining; otherwise I would have asked them to go for a walk to clarify their thoughts. Walking clears the head, stimulates blood flow and helps people to think.
On their return, I had the group sit on the floor in a large circle and gave each of them the opportunity to state their viewpoint. Sitting on the floor is optional; I did it to add variety and make use of the space. You might have them stand up. To facilitate this tool, you can use a soft object, like a koosh ball (a ball made of rubber strands) and have people throw it to the next speaker – this breaks up the pattern of speaking one after another round the circle.
One variation of this tool is to give each person a time allocation to speak. I did not time people in this activity, as time was not too restricted
To capture what people say, you can either summarise it on a flipchart or have them summarise it on a Post-it Note. After this activity, I divided the group up in to small teams once again for the next exercise.
Action
Consider using these ideas in your next meeting. If you have additional tools for full group discussions, please do let me know. Enjoy your next meeting.
To Close
I have set up a Yes! And… Facebook page and have been adding the blogs from Issue 1 to that page on a regular basis. If you would like to see them, please click here, and “Like” the page if you like it!
PS
I wrote this article in Mumbai where I was working. En route from the airport I saw this quotation, written on the back of a tuk tuk taxi: “Free solution for all your problems by advanced astrology.” Brilliant. Fifteen years of teaching creativity and I find I have a key tool absent from my toolkit!
Being British, I said to the driver, “Would you mind just following that tuk tuk so I can get a picture?” Sadly, the tuk tuk was nippier than the cab so all I got was a group shot of tuk tuks as we turned left. Amazingly though, on the way back to the airport I thought, “I’ll have my camera ready, just in case I see the tuk tuk.” And I did! I shouted, “follow that tuk tuk” and snapped the picture. I was ridiculously pleased to get it!
May your wishes come true too, this week.
John Brooker I Yes! And. Think Innovatively.
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