Facilitation disasters - your stories please

[Allison & Jim Baensch]

Hi Robyn and all,
I had a situation with some similarities to and some differences from  
yours a while ago, soon after I first moved into a small town.

A community group asked me to facilitate a meeting, and their 2 main  
organisers met me a couple of times to make arrangements, at quite  
short notice.
I was happy to be involved.

My only concern was the length of time for the meeting, which I  
couldn't seem to establish, since the organisers would not say clearly.
They said something about 30 minutes, which I said was rather short,  
but then they thought 60 to 90 minutes would be possible.
I said people could go when they needed to.

The organisers and I set up a pre-meeting with the leader of another  
local group, which had similar interests and prospective members  
attending, but she didn't come to our pre-meeting.

On the day of the event, lots of people gathered, the 2 organisers  
summarised the situation to them, then I was introduced and got up to  
open the space.
I briefly described the principles and law etc in 5 or so minutes,  
and a woman I had not met stood up in the circle.
She turned out to be the leader of the other group.

She said the group needed to learn more about what had been happening  
about the topic for the gathering, and she didn't think Open Space  
would be appropriate.
Instead, the group needed someone to talk to them, she stated firmly.

I said I was willing to step aside, if that is what the group wanted,  
but asked if everyone was in accord with the one who had stood up to  
speak.
No-one said otherwise, so I sat down and let the meeting find its own  
way.

After the meeting, one or two people said they would have liked to  
experience Open Space.
The 'funny' thing was that the participants moved into their own  
informal Open Space, once the speaker sat down.

One of the things the organisers had been told they needed, was  
confirmation of what  local participants wanted.
The organisers wanted to take proceedings to the local council to  
back their case for being allocated some public land and so on.
Because the Open Space part of the meeting was so informal, no  
proceedings were written down.
But I imagine that whatever happened was the only thing  etc...

My main concern was that local folks might think less of Open Space  
and not use it in the future for other events.
I wondered what signals I might have missed when setting up the event.
(I haven't run many events yet, and hoped I hadn't 'let the side down'.)

And I was annoyed that the woman who stood and took over the meeting  
had not  attended the earlier meeting that was set up specifically to  
inform her about Open Space.
Without knowing of her existence and power, I am not sure which other  
way I might have gone, under the circumstances.
Any thoughts?

Allison.
PS Good on you, Robyn, for stepping aside.
I admire your gumption.
Best wishes with the week ahead.

Thanks for that idea of just standing there, Michael.
I think it would be a good idea for me to read the book you  
mentioned:  Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!


On 15/11/2009, at 11:44 AM, Robyn Williams wrote:

> Hi folks
>
> On Friday I was facilitating a 2 hour workshop primarily using Open  
> Space
> principles as requested, and as I would have suggested anyway given  
> the task
> in hand. My own 2 feet did the walking less than halfway through  
> when the
> 'person in charge', who I'd not met before, interrupted the process,
> criticised me, and gave me directions (in public) and not for the  
> first
> time. The agenda items were being announced, and her direction was  
> that all
> the issues should be dealt as a whole group and indicated that I  
> should
> facilitate that. I said no, thanked them for their time, wished  
> them well
> for the rest of the session, and left.
>
> Given the short duration and the task at hand, this had been a long- 
> winded
> arrangement which resulted in more questions than answers. Arranged  
> by a
> delegated person without authority, I wasn't able to ascertain who was
> really 'in charge' (I was told that it was a group project, ie all  
> team
> leaders) or get agreement for a meeting to clarify expectations.  
> The day
> before the workshop I contacted the Director of the department, had a
> pleasing chat, and arranged to meet before the session. That  
> session was
> cancelled later in the day, and a shorter session was re-convened for
> another time (when critical people could be available). Sure bells  
> were
> ringing but I started to think that I was being overly  
> consultative. I mean
> what could go wrong in 2 hrs? Right?
>
> On the way home I reflected on how it had unfolded and my part and  
> felt that
> I'd done as well as I could do under the circumstances despite my
> inner-critic suggesting that walking out was pretty extreme and  
> surely I
> could have done better. Needless to say I've learned lessons from  
> this and
> have damage control ahead of me this week (sigh).
>
> So what would you do, or have you done, when your role is undermined?
> And how did you reach closure with the client/s?
>
>
> Best wishes, Robyn
> Fremantle Western Australia
>
> PS WA colleagues - anyone available to debrief this with me?
>
> *
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