|
Dynamic
Facilitation: Reports from the Field
Excerpts
from emails sent to Jim Rough
by graduates of his training in Dynamic Faciliation . . . They couldn't stop coming up with ideas, and the meat of the problems within the company really started bubbling up. First the hesitation, then the trust level rising in the room. As we came up with solutions, data, and concerns, the group became animated. Everybody had a solution, what works for them. The principals in the company were hearing, listening, and learning about what their management challenges really were. The group refused to stop at the designated time, and as I was rolling up the sheets people were still contributing ideas. The energy level was as if they were all standing and screaming, but they were sitting and allowing me to record the comments one by one. We go to part two in two more days to try to converge some of this stuff into what works for people as a solution. If those people could see themselves an hour earlier in this process, they wouldn't have believed it. I felt very successful as the facilitator. Thanks for everything! . . . We have begun to use Dynamic Facilitation on a large scale basis within Oregon State government over the last few months. After a few small but significant successes, I was allowed to use your techniques in far more serious and larger scale endeavors. The successes have been noted by executive management and the collaborative model is gaining the reputation of a prototypical example of a new way of doing business. Last week, I was asked to Dynamically Facilitate a series of meetings which will inevitably re-engineer how information technology is supported and implemented on an enterprise-wide basis within Oregon state government. After three years of effort, it appears we are beginning to turn the ship toward a vastly higher-quality and more productive method of communication. Executive managers who gave the go-ahead on the projects I mentioned above are advisors to the Governor. They are already noting these positive changes. Your techniques and our efforts are creating great good and a new way of thinking. I just wanted to let you know that the dynamic facilitation approach is alive and well in the corporate world. I just used it today with 12 disgruntled technicians that are responsible for setting the future requirements of the 220 technicians in a 1400 member plant. I alerted the team leader to the "technique" that I intended to use and warned him about the "chaos" that he would perceive until breakthrough was attained. He did a great job of keeping quiet and we achieved major breakthroughs. Throughout the session, I watched walls come down and trust go up. Rather than leave completing the one assignment we had, we changed the problem statement and have decided to completely revamp 6 different systems that will be synergistic and wholeheartedly supported by all technicians. There is no way that this breakthrough could have been achieved with our normal team processes and facilitation techniques. Thank you all for being a part of my learning process! I was one of four facilitators for small breakout groups from a larger group of about 40 people. I found that when it was time to take a refreshment break, the other groups were out of their seats and ready to scoot, while my group had a lot of energy to keep working and "solving the problem." When it came time to report, my group was the only one that had not only identified problems, but had also identified viable solutions to nearly every problem they identified! It was REALLY cool. . . . Wow, this stuff really works! This time the problem was properly defined . . . we discussed hidden agendas, egos, etc., the team renewed their commitment to the strategy and are moving forward with some pretty creative solutions. What fun! Our CEO is very committed to Dynamic Facilitation. I think he'll come to one of your classes next year. As the facilitator, I was amazed how quickly we drilled down to the core of the problem (breakthrough) and how the whole team ended up at the same solution! The planning team feedback continues to be very positive! The "Choice-creating" model continues to help me a great deal when trying to teach and facilitate many of the supervisors and managers at the shipyard. I use it often and it frequently helps get the message across where I often can't seem to otherwise. The benefits of and demand for team building and facilitation services are slowly beginning to spread throughout the shipyard. Those of us in my small group are busier than ever before. Other U.S. Navy shipyards are even asking for our help. . . . One of the other team members employed Dynamic Facilitation when working with a group that has a problem with declining on-time deliveries to our customers. James was called in by the department head to map out a standard operating procedure in an attempt to identify the problem. James turned the group loose with Dynamic Facilitation and uncovered the real problem. It has nothing to do with not having an SOP; instead it centers around some trust issues and willingness of individual department members to trust each other. They also identified the lack of training received for the redesigned jobs they went into last year. Needless to say, James was excited after he uncovered the "real issues." ========================================================== I was recently in Stamford, Connecticut participating in a consulting project with a non-profit organization. My group of consultants was working with a large group, 16 people, to redesign an employment center that they wished to reopen. We were to define important elements of the mission statement, identify what these people felt the center should look like, and then discuss how we were going to get there. We split them into two smaller groups to gather information. I facilitated one group while a 10-year veteran facilitated the other. He used the stoic, standardized process for brainstorming information and I used your method. Well, after an hour and a half we broke the meetings up. Later in the evening, our consulting group got together to compare data. Jim, not only had we completed all of the steps we hoped to get to, but we had a working model for the start up of the center. We came out of our small group with about 20 flip charts of well reasoned information. The other group came out with four pages of vague statements. The other facilitator was so upset with me that he couldn't even talk! He was livid because we used a different process and got a more defined outcome. He was upset because he wasn't sure what we would do at the next day's meeting because we had a model put together! So, we went back to the large group the next day and had them validate our information. The large group accepted the model as it was put together without any changes. When we left, they had a model, action steps designed around the model for implementation and were amazed at the amount of work we accomplished in such a short period of time! This experience made a believer out of me. Thanks for the method! |