Dynamic Facilitation

I am still intrigued by Dynamic Facilitation. I was recently asked a question about it: What about facilitator bias? Made me think and I discussed this question in various places. Clearly there is a lot of skill needed in the facilitation, however it is a clearly prescribed process.

Several things guard against excessive dependence on the facilitator, and prevent bias.

  • The focus on the creative output. I imagine this is facilitated by the charts.
  • The equal weight given to divergent perspectives.

Then as I was pondering this a podcast arrived – probably had been on the ipod for a while:

Click to play, right click to download Psychologist interviews Jim Rough.  Shrink Rap Radio

 

It is an excellent interview, it is not full of technical details, the simplicity of the method continues to impress.

And on facilitator bias, Jim at one point shows how he does not say “I hear you … ” too much “I”, we want to leave that out. ”

Jim’s presentation makes what he does seem so ordinary and invisible that it is worth looking at Rosa Zubizarreta’s Manual for Jim Rough’s Dynamic Facilitation Method.

3 Replies to “Dynamic Facilitation”

  1. Can there be no bias with a facilitator? I don’t think so. One way or the other, the bias will show through, if not affirmatively, then negatively. By that, I mean by attempting to have ego sit out, shadow creeps in.

  2. Hi Robert, Makes sense. Yet, yet… as each contribution is valued, one will be the others shadow. And then there will be a sense of light, a break through, an “of course”. And that too will have its shadow. Did you listen to the Interview? Wha do you think of Jim’s response to the question of “hidden agendas” ? I was impressed. It seems ordinary, but the question: “What would you do if you had the power?” will attend to what might have gone underground.

    There will be shadow, but there is also the idea of attending to the shadow, looking at i, working with it. I think some approaches facilitate that better than others.

  3. Robert: I just read this item: http://www.co-intelligence.org/dynamicfacilitationRpt.html

    Some discussion re Shadow

    I am glad that I understood that part of the process is descending to a negative, dark level. We went there and came back up. In traditional facilitation I would actively move the group from this position. With dynamic facilitation the group used the insights from this unpleasant state to craft part of the solution.

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