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Engaging Groups
Knowledge and Understanding For Groups
We all know that individuals have different areas of expertise. We also know they have different perspectives; and these two things can of course contribute to the knowledge needed to take a decision. This could be achieved through an advisory or consulting process. However, that kind of process is usually one-way; or hierarchical. If the group is to exchange ideas between experts a different sort of process is needed. Thus processes to promote understanding are different from processes to inform a decision making body.
And yet a different process is needed if the intent is also to have all the participants become engaged in and feel “ownership” for the choices that are being made.
This is where the inherent differences in perspective can also become a hindrance as people may not find easy agreement on what is appropriate. For a group to develop a coherent understanding also takes time. Time is considered a luxury in many situations, hence these processes are either avoided, or downplayed. At the worst, they can backfire as expectations of having a say in matters are not met and the activities of the participants simply go “underground”.
Open Space
Open Space is of the first, and still most popular meeting formats wherein a large group of people all have an equal opportunity to participate.
The basic principles (briefly stated below) reflect the total openness of the format. What I find particularly relevant is the “law of two feet” which tells people to leave if they find they are neither learning nor contributing. This puts the responsibility on them to engage.
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Whoever comes are the right people
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Whenever it starts is the right time
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Wherever it happens is the right place
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Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened
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When its over, its over
World Café
There are variations to this process, with apparently independent origins and similar names. My particular connection is via Juanita Brown who co-originated her version with David Isaacs based on conversations in her home in the mid 90‘s. Her book, “The World Cafe” (Berrett-Koehler, 2005) has a foreword by Margaret Wheatley and afterword by Peter Senge. Juanita’s principles for conducting a world cafe are:
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Set the context
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Create a hospitable space
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Explore questions that matter
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Encourage everyone’s contribution
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Cross-pollinate and connect diverse perspectives
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Listen for patterns, insights, and deeper questions
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Harvest and share collective discoveries
Team Syntegrity (Syntegration Process)
As the various links here describe, Team Syntegrity, or Syntegration was invented by Stafford Beer. It is a design for a non hierarchical yet highly organized meeting process which maximizes both the values of small group conversations and the sharing of knowledge among these groups.
A Syntegration is launched with a broad question or theme which might be some version of 'what is our future?' such as an effort by a group of stakeholders to define their common and disparate interests, or the conscious design of something which does not yet exist: a new product, a new perspective or a new organizational structure.
Thirty people are assembled at a site where they can meet for three to five days without distractions. They are joined, ideally, by several facilitators and a support staff which can record and distribute their output as it progresses. All the content comes from the ideas of the participants, so it is crucial that the thirty people chosen are a good representation of the variety of viewpoints on the theme.
Image Courtesy of Allena Leonard