Now Is The Time to Answer These Six Vital Facilitation Questions (Facilitation Friday #27)
Becoming more effective facilitators involves engaging with difficult and complex questions for which easy answers do not always exist.
The instances are still somewhat rare, but they are increasing in frequency: Hardened viewpoints. Dismissal of others’ perspectives. Less respectful challenging of opinions. Outright polarization.
Each threatens the equitable, inclusive, and safe climate that helps make it easier for better discussions, decisions, and results. When facilitating increasingly diverse participants and perspectives, knowing how to effectively manage these challenging conditions can be difficult.
No quick fix tool or technique is likely available for such a complex issue. And that is OK. Sometimes the best we can do is to thoughtfully contemplate our craft and then put forward our best effort, however incomplete or imperfect, and remain present, attentive, and responsive to what then unfolds.
Your mileage may vary, but I anticipate encountering these challenging conditions more often when facilitating meetings and workshops. If you’re like-minded in this regard, here are six questions I’m living with now (and in some cases, involving meeting participants in contemplating) in order to discover the best answers in and for the future.
Six Vital Facilitation Questions
Can we build containers for meaningful conversation if doing so asks some participants to endure speech that is marginalizing, dismissive, or oppressive of their very identity? Who, how, and when can make such an ask?
What does it look like in action if some participants spout lies, conspiracy theories, or other potentially harmful rhetoric and how might I react in that moment?
When individuals profess unwavering belief in, and/or commitment to, disproven information or irrational beliefs, what is the appropriate facilitative response?
How do we help group members enact a commitment to mutual respect if the beliefs or positions of some participants are inherently disrespectful of others?
How do we ensure that we do not become a unilateral moral arbiter for a group’s conversation instead of using our facilitation to help participants align their speech and other actions with the group’s stated and shared values and norms?
What speech, if any, would disqualify individuals’ right to be heard by other members of a group? How might we manage (and/or help the group manage) that in the moment?
Bottom Line
Becoming more effective facilitators involves engaging with difficult and complex questions for which easy answers do not always exist. Accepting that our facilitation efforts at times may be incomplete or inadequate can feel awkward or unsatisfactory.Having clarity about what values you most want your facilitation to advance in those moments can make it easier to accept the reality that in the future we may both do better and be better.
Getting in Action
What are you noticing about the “conversation temperature” in meetings or workshops and how might this inform your future preparation and facilitation?
On what topics, with what groups, or in what settings might you most likely encounter conditions that could impede an equitable, inclusive, and safe conversation climate?
To more effectively manage (and help participants manage) these threats to productive conversation climates and learning environments what skills might you need to (further) develop? What topics might you need to learn more about? How could you acquire this knowledge?
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