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From
the Publisher:
Hello MFJ Readers. I hope you had a fun and unlaborious Labor
Day weekend! This issue is about process. Now of course,
that's what facilitation is all about anyway. Right? It's about
creating and maintaining healthy group process. But today, I'm
talking about your process, and you as process, and how
that impacts your effectiveness as a facilitator. As always, I'd
love to hear from you. So please email
me your stories, comments, suggestions, and ideas.
Thanks for reading!
Steve
Davis |
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Skill |
You
are a Process. Honor it. |
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The
Point |
Effective facilitators spend a lot
of time preparing material and frameworks for setting up and
running effective group processes. They may put a lot of
resources together relevant to the focus of their group. And
they may even try to anticipate some of the problems, concerns,
and challenges that might present themselves from within their
group so that they'll have "ammunition" or
"responses" to some of the anticipated challenges. How do I know
this? Well, because I find myself doing it all
the time! And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.
But, here's another perspective.
We encourage our clients to "trust in the process"
that we facilitate in their behalf. What about our own internal
process as the catalyst of group process? What if we were to
trust completely in the richness of the moment to moment
experience? What if every challenge or problem came pre-packaged
with its own solution or right action? What if our awareness of
this solution or right action were only apparent when we empty
our minds of what we know from the past? What if you are a
living reflective instrument? An empty conduit through which group energy
is marshaled and evolved? What if this
required you to forget and surrender everything you've ever
known? What are the answers to these questions? Ahhh, nice try.
But sorry. No answers. I'm merely a process!
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Example |
Now if I'm to be
real with you. I must site down here to write this example with
nothing in particular in mind. I'm to simply sit here, in front
of my monitor, with the intention of providing you with a juicy
and relevant example to the aforementioned point. I will sit
here now without expectation, with only a clear intention, and a
willingness to trust my creative process. And from this place I
write:
Imagine yourself in a room full of clients who have entrusted
you with the management of a process by which they will take the
next major step as a business organization. A step on which
possibly the future of their company rests. A step with huge
potential risks and payoffs. You are being paid very well for
this. A lot is expected of you. You are serving as the catalyst
for a new tomorrow for this group of humble compatriots.
The group is stuck. Their hopes are dimming. They doubt their
abilities, their future, and at a time like this, so do you. But
you know that the work to be done is not yours. If you chose to
make it yours, it wouldn't be theirs and the sustainability of
their dream would be in question. You challenge them to hold
their vision clearly, to trust that it will show them the next
step, that the struggle they're up against is the birthing pain
of their vision. You challenge them. You are silent. And while
fully present, you wait...
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Action |
What could you do this week to more
fully trust your process as a facilitator, as a human being? Please email
me your comments.
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Reader Survey
What is the most important skill, attitude, or quality a new
Facilitator should know?
Please email
me
your inputs and I'll send the entire collection
to those who contribute.
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in
the