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From
the Publisher:
Hello MFJ Readers. This issue explores a fascinating approach to
facilitation called "graphic facilitation," developed
by The Grove Consultants
International. Be sure to visit their website
packed with great facilitation resources and information.
We've also decided to share the concept for "FacilitatorVille,"
a new Virtual University for facilitators that's in the works.
Please review the info provided below. We'd love to hear your
comments and ideas on it.
If you or your colleagues are interested in submitting an
article for consideration, please email
your ideas. I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading!
Steve
Davis |
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Skill |
Facilitating
with Pictures
A picture says a thousand
words. How are facilitators using them to help their groups see
the bigger picture? |
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The
Point |
Getting people to work together effectively is one of the biggest leadership challenges in today's organizations. Leaders have to know how to gain the active participation and committed support of team members who are often involved in other work that competes for their attention. Facilitation is the art of getting people to work together effectively.
Graphic facilitation brings the power of pictures and visual thinking to the meeting room. Graphic facilitators use a whole "keyboard" of strategies (the Group Graphics™ Keyboard) to make group process visible so that people can see what they are doing. Participation, systems thinking and continuity are some of the consistent results-along with real increases in productivity and the joy of creative work.
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Application |
Graphic language, like music, has predictable, dynamic characteristics when it is used, or "played", quite apart from the specific content. These patterns flow from the process of creating the display, and the process needed to read it. At the Grove we've found that all variations are reflections of seven, archtypal patterns which are laid out in the Group Graphics™ Keyboard from simple to most complex. Learning these is a key to improvising actively with graphic language. They are:
Posters - which focus on a point
Lists - which generate a flow of points
Clusters - which active spatial comparisons of points or lists
Grids - which cross formal categories of information
Diagrams - which grow understanding through branching
Drawings - which animate meaning through metaphor
Mandalas - which show unity by centering all information
Each pattern is an artifact of the active process of creating it and has a built-in power which makes it more useful for some purposes than others. For instance, single images focus attention and are great for title posters. Lists flow in a linear fashion, and are therefore excellent for brainstorms and action lists. Clusters create a "space" where items are juxtaposed near each other, without connections. This invites the viewer to explore potential links and compare items.
Facilitators use the keyboard to think through a meeting or process design much like a composer might think about music, matching the formats to the different objectives of each stage. Since the simpler formats can nest into the more complex ones, there are many combinations and variations which is why graphic facilitation is such a rich, improvisational form.
Adapted from Grove
Consultants International. Go to www.grove.com
to learn more about their approaches to facilitation and check
out their secure online store of facilitation products and other
tools.
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Action |
How
might you use graphic facilitation, or at least more graphics in
your facilitation to be more effective with your groups? I'd
love to hear what happens for you. Please email
me your comments.
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Resource
Grove
Consultants International
The Grove Consultants International is a process-consulting firm that teams with organizations and communities to achieve results through effective collaboration. They have pioneered the use of graphic techniques that stimulate participation,
focus big-picture thinking, enhance group memory, and win commitments. The Grove partners with clients on projects, conducts training
workshops, designs communications media, and publishes graphic process tools and templates.
Click here to check out their website.
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Reader Survey
Styles of facilitation vs. Myers-Briggs type.
We're wondering if any of
you familiar with the Myers-Briggs temperament profile have used
it to correlate facilitator Myers-Briggs type with facilitation
style. In other words, how does an INFP facilitate differently
than an ESFJ? Is one type better than another depending on the
type of facilitation that needs to be done? Does one type do
better under certain conditions, with certain types of groups,
etc.? We are interested in hearing anything you know on this
subject. Please email
me
your responses and I'll send you all of those I
receive.
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