Dynamic Facilitation

The Dynamic Facilitator maximizes the possibility for breakthroughs of both

head and heart. He or she helps people to think at their best.

The best way to reach consensus is to have a breakthrough. Then, groups can
quickly solve difficult issues. They also build trust and community spirit,
empower individuals, and transform the organization. It's exciting to be in
meetings with breakthroughs. Everyone feels involved and each person's
giftedness is appreciated.

With Dynamic Facilitation

€ Meetings arrive at better solutions, faster, with more consensus.

€ Groups achieve breakthroughs on impossible-to-solve issues.
€ People determine and resolve what's really on their minds.
€ The process builds trust, respect, and the spirit of community.
€ Everyone is enthused and committed to the results.
€ People grow in personal creativity and capability.

How is it different?

Rather than seeking to manage change, the facilitator elicits, sustains, and
enhances the self-organizing dynamic of change. He or she helps people to
figure out what they want and to get it themselves. The Dynamic Facilitator
works more completely with self-organizing change than the traditional
facilitator.

The traditional facilitator elicits self-organizing change in the realm of

what people think, talk and decide about, but uses the methods of control to
manage how they think, talk and decide: breaking big problems into smaller
ones, following an agenda or logical steps, and tracking progress toward
predetermined goals. This limits the possibility for breakthroughs. It is an
approach that minimizes what might go wrong.

The Dynamic Facilitator assures a self-organizing dynamic both in what

people talk about and how they talk. He or she follows group energy as being
more important than any preset agenda, expecting progress to happen in
"shifts" of insight, feeling and awareness. It leads to a creative thinking
process known as "choice-creating" and is an approach that maiximizes what
might go right instead of minimizing what might go wrong.

How Dynamic Facilitation Works

The Dynamic Facilitator helps people to determine a key issue to work on,
what is most important. Then he or she helps people to just be themselves
and to speak their minds and hearts. Normally, this can cause problems for a
meeting, but the Dynamic Facilitator shapes the situation so that each
comment contributes to the group and is appreciated. The Dynamic Facilitator
uses four lists to capture and value all comments: 1) Solutions, 2)
Concerns, 3) Data, and 4) Problem-statements. The high-quality dialogue that
results generates decisions which often happen spontaneously, which are
placed on a fifth list: 5) DECISIONS.
When to apply Dynamic Facilitation?

Most meetings mute the creativity and passion of people. They aim for logic
and reason exclusively. But this emphasis limits the potential of people to
solve problems and to form community. It's almost always important to lead
with creativity and to expect the group to "leap ahead." Dynamic
Facilitation is appropriate for:

€ Big-issue meetings ‹ dealing with difficult times, crises or "impossible"

problems; strategic planning; sparking a leap forward, visioning.
€ Heart issues ‹resolving conflict, building shared values, building
community and teams.
€ Dialogues ‹coachings, trainings, and personal development.
€ Straightforward meetings ‹quality improvement meetings, staff meetings,
simple decisions, presentations, planning, etc.

Dynamic Facilitation uses the appropriate Level of Thinking

Four levels of thinking capability are shown in the chart below. Each is
associated with a particular model for how change happens. Often,
facilitators focus on one model of change only, helping groups address
issues at that level. The Dynamic Facilitator starts from the highest level,
helping people to address the most pressing issue, but helps people use the
appropriate level of thinking.

Levels of Thinking Models of Change

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Level 0: Reacting ... Determined by the circumstances. No model of

change.
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Level 1: Decision-making ... Using a set of standards to separate good

from bad. It's choosing the best option from a selection.
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Level 2: Problem-solving ... Seeking to really understand the causes to

problems and to determine high leverage solutions. It's being able to
control change by setting goals and measuring progress.
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Level 3: Creative thinking ... Envisaging a desired future and relying on

unconscious forces to make it manifest. Brainstorming and appreciative
inquiry are examples.
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Level 4: Choice-Creating ... Addressing important issues creatively, with

open minds and hearts. Win/win breakthroughs are the natural result as well
as increased trust and the spirit of community.
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The Dynamic Facilitator will often list possible solutions, concerns, data,
and problem-statements as a way to value all people and all comments.
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Seminar topics:
Dynamic Facilitation
Choice-Creating
Self-Organizing Change
Transformational Talking

Articles:

* Dynamic Facilitation and the Magic of Self-Organizing Change

by Jim Rough (Published in the AQP Journal)
* Choice-creating and Dynamic Facilitation
From Society's Breakthrough: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virture in All
the People
* Choice-creating Overview
by Jim Rough (presentation at the IAF Conference Proceedings)
* Dynamic Facilitation
Tom Atlee's description at his web site (with articles)

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Jim Rough & Associates, Inc. - 1040 Taylor Street - Port Townsend, WA 98368
- phone: (360) 385-7118 - fax: (360) 385-6216 - seminars@ToBe.net
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