dynamic facilitation

[Raffi Aftandelian]

Susan (and all),

Your situation with strategic planning at your organization and the 
management's current unreadiness to work with OST suggests the 
question, "What can one offer as a facilitator when they (the sponsor, the 
organization) are not ready for OST?" (whatever "ready" means)

Typically World Cafe, Appreciative Inquiry, and a host (or combination) of 
other approaches are offered as alternatives.

I just recently completed two workshops in Dynamic Faciliation, originated 
by Jim Rough and have been rather intrigued.

I first heard of dynamic facilitation two years ago on the Genuine Contact 
listserv. It was framed as a means of inviting the male energy in the room.

I don't want to get into the details of DF, but some of the ways it  can 
assuage a sponsor by looking like typical facilitation include:

- it looks, to the unaided eye, like traditional facilitation: the group 
sits in a semicircle, a facilitator stands in front of 4 flipchart stands 
recording the discussion

- people speak one at a time

- meetings can be short, as short as one hour.

And the ways it's like OST include:

- there is no agenda

- the guiding principle in the meeting's "agenda" development is "follow 
the energy" (law of two feet?!)-- people talk about what they want

- there are no "rules" for the participants 

- it generates breakthroughs, gets to the bottom of issues

- it leads to inspired action

As someone used to participating in OST meetings, it is difficult to 
participate in a meeting where we speak one at a time, where the Law of 
Two Feet is not explicit.

*And* I think there are ways DF and OST can complement each other quite 
well.

It has been very fruitful experimenting with the approach in one-on-one 
sessions. Indeed, it has applications also in counseling, coaching, and 
therapy...

Curiously, "dynamic facilitation" pops up just 4 times in an archive 
search of OSlist...

Jim Rough's Society's Breakthrough! : Releasing Essential Wisdom and 
Virtue in All the People is a fascinating read, offering a very simple, 
(dis)passionate, and accessible analysis of the system we are in, (fresh) 
language that can also frame how OST and os fit in the practice of system 
tranformation.

Jim's book also is devoted in part to a very simple, powerful, and radical 
vision for democracy around the world, an application of DF, called the 
Wisdom Council.

There is lots more on the approach online - including - at 
dynamicfacilitation.com, tobe.net, and www.wisedemocracy.org/

The approach is also on pp.223-226 of your autographed copy of the Change 
Handbook : )

Warmly,
Raffi

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