Don’t just do something, stand there!/Facilitate
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Don’t just do something, stand there! is based on ten foundational principles. Leading Meetings, or simply facilitate flourishes on the first six principles:
- whole system in the room
- Get the whole system in the room to understand everyone’s stakes, faster decision-making, and greater personal responsibility, as it:
- guides you to identify the whole system that matters, matching people and tasks, and managing the agenda while at the same time giving people enough time to express themselves; and
- provides ideas on what to do if you can’t get the whole system, e.g. 3 × 3 rule.
- Get the whole system in the room to understand everyone’s stakes, faster decision-making, and greater personal responsibility, as it:
- relax
- relax to control what you can and let go what you cannot, as it:
- helps you to stay away from micro-managing meetings
- allows you to still exercise control where it is important; and
- lets people self-manage when it is better for them to do so.
- whole elephant
- Explore the whole elephant to lay the groundwork for people to open up to each other, as it:
- advocates using our ancient wisdom and systems thinking
- refers to the poem Six Blind Men and the Elephant; and
- urges you to use a variety of techniques to explore the ‘whole’ during meetings.
- Explore the whole elephant to lay the groundwork for people to open up to each other, as it:
- people take responsibility
- Let people take responsibility to encourage participants to own their own meetings, outcomes, and future, as it:
- provides ideas on how to get people who are participating to adopt small group self-management roles to have a group take responsibility for themselves.
- urges you to be patient, let people hold on to their hidden agendas, and help them to self-manage and encourage dialogue.
- Let people take responsibility to encourage participants to own their own meetings, outcomes, and future, as it:
- common ground
- Find common ground to increase cooperation and fast action on matters of shared concern, as it:
- relates to principles that were expounded in the earlier book Discovering Common Ground edited by Marvin Weisbord, to hold off problem solving and conflict resolution and start a dialogue to find common ground.
- Find common ground to increase cooperation and fast action on matters of shared concern, as it:
- allies experience differences
- Master allies experience differences to set up conditions under which every person can be independent of group pressure, as it:
- provides ideas to take advantage of alliances that form naturally during meetings to help them become functional subgroups and to experience their differences.
- Master allies experience differences to set up conditions under which every person can be independent of group pressure, as it:
The other four principles help you Change or Managing Yourself.
Topics covered:
- retrospective prime directive
- focus on focus off
- whole system in the room
- are in
- responsibility chart
- match people to the task
- meeting length proportional to agenda
- time to express yourself
- differentiate to integrate
- 3 × 3 rule
- relax
- facilitator boundaries
- unity of purpose
- spectrum of views
- allies experience differences
- group report to the whole
- ample time
- healthy space
- working agreement
- whole elephant