The Long Tail of Facilitation Questions

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Recently I was in a 5 hour meeting, planning a series of high profile workshops for civil servants and senior managers to explore the key features of a new Commissioning system. Don't worry, it wasn't in England! Two other professional facilitators/process designers were in the room, as were 4 or 5 policy people.

The meeting progressed quite smoothly. Time passed, with occasional bouts of tension and excitement and a few interesting design choices emerged. However, (and you may find this a little sad), energy levels went nuclear amongst the 3 facilitators when the question of whether or not to have appointed facilitators work with the 8 table-based groups popped up!

We (the facilitators) had different opinions and loved the debate. In fact we 'came alive'. Much better than discussing a boring old Commissioning system. The poor old policy people were bemused, perhaps rightly so? Eventually after 3 or 4 minutes of increasingly heated debate we came to our senses and suggested that we resolve our differences on this matter outside the meeting. The policy people signalled a huge sigh of relief.

For the record, three options were under discussion:

• Identify and brief competent 'table facilitators' from beyond the 40 invited participants in advance;

• Identify 8 people from the 40 participants in advance who we think would probably be competent as facilitators and ask them to do it, with a briefing before the workshop; and

• When the time for table facilitation comes, draw everyone's attention to a short list of facilitator responsibilities listed on the wall and ask each table group to  appoint someone from their table to act as facilitator.

 I was angling for option 3.  Which option do you prefer and why?

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Comments

[Harold Shaw]

I agree with option 3, it provides a sense of control for that table and the people within the discussion from what sounds like a bunch of people who are used to being in control. You as facilitators will see who wants the leadership positions or if one is "pushed" into it. I believe it would provide valuable insight to your group dynamics and help you facilitators move the agenda forward.

[Steve Pashley]

Thanks for your comments Harold. I like the point about option 3 being a 'comfortable or familiar' option for a table of senior leaders. Thanks Steve