Co-Creative Power

Hi Myriam, Thanks for the mention. There's ...

2010-11-11T04:38:33.757-08:00

Hi Myriam,

Thanks for the mention. There's a neat categorisation of communications which I've been using lately:
* transmit ('straight comms')
* receive (extractive research)
* collaborate (co-create an understanding of problem, solution, implementation plan etc)

Of course transmit and receive absolutely have their place, and often a single event or process will include elements of all three.

I just have more fun with the collaborative stuff!

http://penny-walker.co.uk/blog/2009/09/listen-and-learn/

Penny

This is a great one to post on the wall! We are h...

2010-09-22T08:41:33.185-07:00

This is a great one to post on the wall! We are highly functioning in meetings, but we have a brief mention to begin of (1) the balance between being nicey-nice (head nodders) and agressive and (2) mentioning when our "duck is quacking" (which indicates to others you're getting hot under the collar. It's such an important piece inviting others to be themselves.

Hi, Companies do seem to be taking stakeholder en...

2010-03-12T09:19:54.064-08:00

Hi,

Companies do seem to be taking stakeholder engagement more and more seriously. The importance is definitely to show the value that comes out of their time and financial investment.

I was wondering if you might be interested in conducting a video interview with my team. We work on environmental regulations in Canada and more and more regualtions are pushing companies to consult.

You can see an example of an interview with a stakeholder engagement consultant here: http://www.nimonik.ca/2009/12/christian-matossian-on-stakeholder-engagement/

We would do this over Skype and promote it on our blog, twitter and main site.

If this interests you, please let me know and I can send you more details by email.

Warm Regards,

Jonathan

Myriam! Thanks for the insight. Shared your post w...

2010-03-04T17:57:42.467-08:00

Myriam! Thanks for the insight. Shared your post with my class at UNT here in Texas and added you to my RSS reader. Look forward to learning more with you.

John, In my world, clients pay big bucks for origi...

2010-02-27T12:19:37.181-08:00

John, In my world, clients pay big bucks for original, creative, fresh, out-of-the box ideas, that can lead to first to market products and services, and/or novel solutions to tough problems. In response to their needs, I've invented many different facilitation processes to help in-person participants to overcome the barriers that are listed in my blog, including including many zany, wacky, fun processes, inviting subject matter experts from completely different domains, and so forth. I find the results of this research to actually be very interesting, and wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it as you are. All the best, Myriam

I mean "findINGs" (not "finders&quo...

2010-02-25T14:11:41.988-08:00

I mean "findINGs" (not "finders"). Sorry.

Oooooh Mariam. No offense but it sounds like you&#...

2010-02-25T14:10:20.100-08:00

Oooooh Mariam. No offense but it sounds like you've drawn some rather broad conclusions from some very narrow research.

Who uses brainstorming to make decisions anyway? It just warms up the brain or gets some half-baked ideas on the table. If there's a really good context, diverse knowledgeable &/or experienced people in the room, and participants are provided with an appropriate comprehensiveness screen to stretch their brainstorm then they might do better. If the brainstorm is layered to allow for silent individual thought-collecting to start with then the quality of what is shared with the rest of the group increases too.

Beyond the how-to-s of brainstorming, quality results start to emerge when the group gets PAST the brainstorming, looks for creative gestalt among the ideas or some other next steps designed to deepen dialogue.

So for me the finders are no surprise and low relevance.

Great insight. I wonder how an employee is who ma...

2010-01-04T13:08:37.677-08:00

Great insight. I wonder how an employee is who managed from that "needs improvement" approach takes it upon herself to "work from my strengths" and still manage to appease the manager? I think that the going into "avoid the pain" mode is a natural response when your livelihood is at stake.

This statistic surprised me too when I came across...

2009-11-23T11:49:12.492-08:00

This statistic surprised me too when I came across it. According to Bob Pike, The Creative Training Techniques Handbook, 3rd Ed., participants/learners probably know 70% of what presenters/trainers plan to share; although sometimes they may not realize that they know. As you suggest Olivia, best practices for group interaction and engagement are in fact for presenters to tap that existing base of knowledge as soon as possible. Allow participants to explore what they know individually and as a group around a topic; encourage them to relate it to their own experience; and to challenge it, from whatever level of expertise they are starting from. The mistake that presenters/instructors often make is to assume little or no prior knowledge of the topic by participants. The result is a passive and lengthy lecture, with everything covered in unnecessary detail from the front.

An alternative strategy is to first engage the audience, discovering what they know, and then focus in on the vitally important 30% that they don't know, or can't figure out. Even if the % was only 50%, that is still a lot of content that participants can generate on their own! Sharon Bowman, in Training From the Back of the Room suggests these important elements to keep in mind while presenting new concepts:
- Focus on need-to-know information, only.
- Stick to the 10-minute rule for content delivery.
- Involve participants during presentation
- Use helpful graphic/visual reminders and note-organizers to help with understanding and retention (e.g., concept map of a complex topic).

Hi Myriam You've got some great points about ...

2009-11-21T11:20:16.393-08:00

Hi Myriam

You've got some great points about keeping participants engaged.

I'm intrigued by your statistic that on most topics participants already know 70% of what the presenter is going to cover. Do you have a reference for this?

I find it difficult to fathom how a statistic like this could be generalized across groups and across topics.

The critical question for SMEs is to find out how much the participants do know about the topics and then to carefully construct what they say to build on what the participants already know.

Olivia

Hi Myriam - Thanks for sharing this post. This i...

2009-11-21T08:12:43.425-08:00

Hi Myriam -

Thanks for sharing this post. This is excellent information!

I really liked this statistic: "on most topics, participants already know almost 70% of what the presenter is going over." I think with our improving education levels and improved access to information that this will only get worse.

- Sam

Twitter: @samueljsmith
Blog: http://interactivemtgtech.wordpress.com

Hi Myriam,
very creative is your blog and such!...

2008-10-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Myriam,
very creative is your blog and such! and how more apt this poem, by the fabulous Rilke. my favorite poem of his is the man watching: what we fight w is tiny, what fights w us is great!
i am at www.shiftinperspective, am exploring putting a blog together, am fascinated by the concept of co-creation in communities, art/dance, relationships of all kinds and group processes of all size.
thank you for your contributions!
michael gelbart

i really like the quote about leaping a 20ft chasm...

2008-10-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

i really like the quote about leaping a 20ft chasm in 10ft bounds. that one can relate to just about anything in life.

My chapter on The Operational Dimensions of Profes...

2008-08-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

My chapter on The Operational Dimensions of Professional Facilitation in the IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation might be of some help

"The profession of facilitation can be described as a set of polarities that determine how the facilitator intervenes and what process will be used in a group event. Every facilitator chooses a location along the spectrum between each of the polarities. This chapter will discuss several of these including: Content vs. Process, Instrumental vs. Developmental, Prestructured vs. Self Organizing, Scripted vs. Intuitive and Small Groups vs. Large Groups

"The client and their requirements predetermine the location on the spectrum between some of these polarities. For example, the size of the group can be expressed in a spectrum between small to very large scale. Some clients want to have workshops for groups of 2 to 8 people and never larger than 10. Others workshops have up to 5000 members. Techniques also limit the size of groups. GOPP (Goal Oriented Project Planning ), a popular method used in the European Community, is optimal when used in groups of around 20 people. Open Space Technology as a methodology works quite well with several hundred people, but while it can work with small groups, it is less than optimal when used this way.

"Some places on the spectrum between the polarities are determined by the particular style, training and expertise of the facilitator. Some facilitators are interested in, even require, more personal contact with each individual in a group. They tend to limit the group size to less than 20 people. Others are more comfortable with larger groups.

"Each of the polarities / spectra have methodological, personal and client boundaries that define exactly what kind of facilitation will be done and the style of the facilitator."

Jon Jenkins

Thanks Myriam.. a little ahead of her time I'd say...

2007-12-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks Myriam.. a little ahead of her time I'd say..

Dale

Dale, I've added a link to the book from which the...

2007-12-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

Dale, I've added a link to the book from which the quote is taken. Alas, my friend Ben has the book at the moment, so I can't provide the exact page, but the whole book is worth reading. All the best, Myriam

Just for the record, I think it's a continuum, not...

2007-11-30T08:45:00.000-08:00

Just for the record, I think it's a continuum, not a dichotomy.

The question I think is about whether mechanistic language serves to properly communicate a living systems practice, and is the WORD facilitator transcended by these new ways we have been doing things?

Myraim.. that's a nice quite from Wheatley.. can y...

2007-11-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Myraim.. that's a nice quite from Wheatley.. can you tell me what the source publication / context is?

Thanks!

Very cool Myriam. I've been waiting to hear your ...

2007-03-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

Very cool Myriam. I've been waiting to hear your impressions of the conference. This question is one I'm in too, and have been in with Peggy as well. I'll stay happily in that with you.

A video of the second Community Congress, presented by AmericaSpeaks and the Unified New Orleans Plan.

Also, readers may be interested in the prelimary reports of what participants said during these planning meetings:
* Community Congress II Preliminary Report
* Community Congress III Preliminary Report