At the 2025 Facilitation Lab Summit, Alyssa Coughlin led an engaging workshop that dove deep into the power of storytelling for successful change management. As the Director and Chief of Staff at Autodesk, Alyssa has seen firsthand how effective storytelling can drive adoption and align teams. Her session, titled “Storytelling for Change,” introduced attendees to the essential components of compelling narratives and their role in overcoming organizational challenges.

Alyssa’s approach started with an interactive exercise called “Color This,” which asked participants to pair up and practice storytelling by embellishing details to create engaging, personal narratives. Through this exercise, Alyssa emphasized the importance of reading your audience and knowing when to provide just the right amount of detail to captivate and maintain their attention.

Key Insights:

• Tailor Stories for Your Audience: Alyssa stressed the importance of crafting stories for specific audiences, highlighting that what you share with executives will differ from what you present to a project team. Simplifying complex concepts and making them relatable is key.
• The Power of Emotion: One of the most critical takeaways was how emotional connection is a driving factor for successful change management. As Alyssa shared, “People don’t have to agree with you to commit. They just need to understand why you’re making the change.”
• Addressing the “So What?” In any narrative, the “why” is paramount. Alyssa discussed the significance of explaining not just what is changing, but why it’s necessary and beneficial for everyone involved.

Alyssa’s session also featured playful and exaggerated examples of change management, such as the “toilet paper gamification” challenge and “spirit animal” identity exercises, designed to make change more palatable and encourage creative thinking. These exercises served as a fun yet poignant reminder that storytelling is not just about delivering information, but about engaging the audience, making them part of the journey, and ultimately gaining their buy-in.

Final Thoughts:
Alyssa wrapped up the session by challenging participants to reflect on past changes that were poorly managed and what key pieces of the story were missing. She encouraged them to consider how they would approach upcoming changes, with a focus on clear, empathetic storytelling that brings people along.

Alyssa’s insights left attendees with a renewed understanding of how vital storytelling is in the change process, offering practical strategies for facilitators to foster understanding, collaboration, and commitment across teams.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript of Alyssa’s Session:

Alyssa Coughlin:
So how awesome was Skye? What a great way to kick off the summit. So I got the memo on yellow, but I did forget to wear something I can clip a microphone into. So I’m going to try to use both hands, and it’s kind of this thing, but I think I got it.
So my name is Alyssa Coughlin. I am a director and chief of staff for Autodesk. Yes, yay, somebody out here likes Autodesk. Which means facilitation is a lot of what I do every day, and I’ve had a lot of lessons learned along the way and I’m really excited to share some of those with you today.

So let’s jump in by just putting our storytelling hats on. We’re going to do an exercise called Color This. So you’re going to pair up, you’re going to find a partner. You are going to think of a story that comes from one of these three prompts, and you are going to tell your partner your story. As you’re going through, if you get to a detail that your partner would like to know more about, they’re going to say, “Color This.” And that means elaborate, talk more about the details, the feelings, whatever comes to mind. And then after they’ve heard enough detail, they will say, “Advance,” and you continue the story. So we’re going to take about five minutes per person and then we’ll switch and we will rinse, wash, and repeat. And we’re just going to kind of warm up and get going with storytelling. So with that, find a partner and you’ve got five minutes for your first story.

All right, what did we take away from that? Did you learn anything with just silly stories? Okay, JJ’s a good time, kind of knew that. So when you’re telling a story, it’s important to read your audience and to know the right details to go into to really get that engagement. And so we’re going to hear about other ways to do this when we talk about nonverbal cues and just reading the room in general. But your story won’t go anywhere if you don’t find that hook that your audience cares about.

Okay, so here’s my personal story. This is everything you need to know about me in a nutshell. I live in Portland, Oregon with my partner Chris. I have a six month old puppy named Nandor the Relentless, who very much lives up to the name. And I have a cat named Kalinka, who has infamous RBF.

My professional story and how I got here today, being a chief of staff is actually my second career. I started as a pharmaceutical rep in the neuroscience space. So I can tell you useless information about things like pseudobulbar affect disorder. But that was actually a great way to segue into the career I have now because I learned to read the room, I learned to tell a story, I learned to tailor for various audiences.

And so it led to where I am now at Autodesk. Peter over there, we work on this project together. But I work in a deeply technical space, so I work on the platform team, and the biggest hurdle to having a platform is adoption, is getting your product teams to want to adopt whatever capabilities you’re offering them. And so storytelling is something I’ve been really working with my organization on because we have to give a compelling value proposition. Otherwise, we’re building stuff that nobody’s ever going to use.

And then of course here is my facilitation journey from my certification that I did last spring. So if you have any questions about that, feel free to let me know. Yes, everybody should have one of these. So if you haven’t done it yet…
So let’s talk about change management. There are a million different guidelines for change management. There’s the five Ps, the five Cs, XYZ. I follow ADKAR. It’s from the Change Management Institute. Okay. I have a certification from ADKAR, I’m sorry, from the Change Management Institute. And so they say for successful change management you need awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement.

What do you think is the hardest part of this formula? Exactly. You can tell people what the change is, you can give them the tools to adopt it, you can reinforce the change, but if they don’t want to change, if they don’t see the what’s in it for me, they don’t see the value in this change, it’s not going to last. It’s going to be one of those, like I told you kind of things. And have you ever seen a change where somebody’s like, “Because I said so?” Was it successful? Probably not.

So we’re going to double click on desire, and that’s where storytelling is going to come into play. And so my definition of a story is it’s a narrative that gives compelling information in context with reason. So it’s the why. It’s the why are we doing this? What led to this decision? What have you considered up to this point to come to this conclusion? And it’s how you’re going to get that buy-in from whomever you’re trying to bring along the journey. And the story can be about anything. And so we’re going to practice that some today. I’ve got some really silly scenarios for you. And it’s not what you’re saying that’s important, it’s just the practice.

And so the important thing on that journey is that you are taking your customer, your user, your stakeholder, whomever, with you. If you’re going along by yourself, you’re going to end up at the top of that mountain alone and you’re not going to have successful change management. Your story will have not done its job. You will not have a compelling value proposition. So a successful journey is when you bring people along willingly. And without the journey, there’s no understanding, there’s just that, “Because I said so.”

So how do you build a story? Well, first you have to know who the story is for, and you want to tailor your story to their specific needs. So for example, if I am building a story for a C staff, I’m going to have very different details and information than if I’m building a story for the execution team. C staff is going to care a lot more about the strategy, the business value. They’re not going to care as much about the actual solution and how we’re doing it, but the implementation team very much cares about that. So the story I’m creating is totally going to vary based on who I’m creating it for.

You also want to simplify complexity to just the basic ideas. What do you need to know? What does this group or this person need to walk away from this conversation knowing? If you give them information overload, you get analysis paralysis and they might miss the one important detail that you want them to know. What is the one critical thing that they need to walk away from after hearing your story in order to buy into it or at least to understand it? Because remember, the journey is about understanding. It’s not necessarily about they like it, but they understand how you got there.

You also want to make it compelling. So remember, your story is just one of many your audience will see, especially in the context of change management. So if you have a big organizational change, you know everybody’s talking about it, everybody has their opinions. They’re hearing this answer from this person and, “This is why we did it,” from that person. And so you need to make sure that your story is standing above the noise and that they are actually hearing the information that is important for them to understand the journey.

And you don’t want them to guess what you’re trying to tell them. Be explicit, be direct, say, “This is why we have made this decision. This is why we are implementing this change, and this is why you should care.” The corporate flowery words you hear sometimes, you’re just like, ah, I think I just got lip service and I don’t know what they’re saying or what it means for me, that’s not how you tell a compelling story. And so that’s something you’re going to want to avoid.
And then most importantly is the so what, the why, the what’s in it for me? It goes by a whole bunch of different names, but it’s that personal connection to the story where you’re really going to drive it home and that people are going to remember. It’s like the Maya Angelou quote. People are going to remember how you made them feel, and that feel is going to come from the why.

So I kind of break this down into three categories. Again, you want to be explicit and succinct, the what’s in it for me? And in order to do so, explain, connect, and remind. So explain what you want your audience to know in clear details. And then you want to connect what you want them to know to why they care about it. And then lastly, you want to remind them. Like we’ve all heard it, you have to hear things X amount of times before it really sinks in. So it’s not a one and done. If you want your change to last and to be successful, you have to revisit it and continue to revisit that why.

And so here’s just some examples, some notes. So Start With Why, Simon Sinek. If you haven’t read the book, you totally should. But remember, what does your audience need to know? Why does your audience need to care? What’s in it for them? Where is their so what? Is the goal of the solution clear? Did you cut through the noise? What do you want them to remember? And why does your story stand out? If you’re doing this in a presentation, my guidance is generally less is more. If you have a slide that’s super wordy, nobody’s even going to listen to you. They’re just going to be trying to follow along with the words, and your story and the details and the message you have for them will get lost in that.

Again, are the most important details obvious? So I will put certain words in bold or change the color or something to really draw their eye to it and be like, “This is what I need you to take away from this slide and this conversation.” Visuals go a long way. You have to remember, people are different kinds of learners. So some people are listening to you, some people want to see a chart. I would recommend you hit on multiple solutions. And then does it clearly serve the purpose? Did people walk away from this meeting saying, “Why am I here? That was not a good use of my time. This could have been an email,” or did they see the value and they walk away with understanding your journey and wanting to go along it with you?
So a common narrative or story arc breaks down the solution and the problem, and then in between is the why should I care. And that’s what we’re going to practice today. So obviously you start with just identifying the problem that needs to be solved. And then you want to figure out what is your current state? What is your baseline? Where are we now, and where are we trying to move to? Why is that current state a problem? Why are we changing this in the first place?

Then you want to propose your direction, your solution. And then this green box, which is the most important one, why is this better? Why did you propose this solution? Why do you want to go in this direction? And then lastly, summary. We all talk about the importance of closing and facilitation, bringing back that reminder. So you want to make sure that you’re revisiting.

So here’s what we’re going to practice. This is what we’re going to do for most of the time because I am really excited to hear the solutions you come up with. So each table has markers and a large sheet of paper, and you should also have a flipped over piece of just like computer paper. And that has a scenario on it. It is a ridiculous scenario. And what I’m going to ask everybody to do is to create a storyboard proposing your solution for your audience. For the purpose of this exercise, it is the general organization. You have a change that you were proposing at an all hands. And this is just from Luma. I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with it, but just an example of what a storyboard would look like. Consider it like a comic strip.
So then we’re going to take 10 minutes to create our storyboards. They do not need to be practical solutions. I encourage you to be as silly as you want to be with this. The point is that you’re going through the steps and that you’re finding the why within the story. And then we’re going to do lightning pitches. I’m going to give each table, send one representative, and you’re going to have three minutes to pitch your silly solutions and practice telling your story.

Give a round of applause for table one, who’s going to kick us off. So if you want to, you can send representatives or the whole table can come up. We have a second microphone over here that I’ll grab for you. The ask is to read the situation, the change that your table was solving for, and then present your story. All right, table one.

Speaker 2:
So do I have five or 20 minutes? Which one was that?

Alyssa Coughlin:
Two to three.

Speaker 2:
Oh, okay. So here’s the situation. Your company has determined that as part of a well-being initiative, they’ll be replacing all coffee and tea offerings in the break rooms with room temperature sparkling water. Sounds like it almost sold itself right there. So what we have determined is, I don’t know if you know about caffeine, but that’s a [inaudible 00:13:36] liquid, right? It doesn’t really refresh you. It’s dehydrating by its nature. So what we have are people who are completely dehydrated by coffee. We have dry eye syndrome, people are just breathing in dust, they’re showing up as raisins to work.

So we care about your well-being, but we also care about the planet. So what we have determined is that we’re working with some power plants and we’re taking their carbon and capturing it. So we’re doing a carbon capture technology, and then we have the whales take that carbon and ingest it. And then when they blow it out their blowholes, we capture that water as sparkling water, now with free mucus. And also antibacterial. And so we capture that and we put it into our break room. So we’re not only being healthier, we are actually saving the whales and the entire planet.

Alyssa Coughlin:
All right, way to go, table one. What do you think? Did they take you on a journey? Are you sold? All right, table two.

Speaker 3:
All right. Hi, y’all. First of all, some grace with my drawing. I’m a much better musician than I am artist here. But our situation is your company has determined that as an effort to develop an interest in business from an early age, they will be expanding their internship program to include kindergarten through 12th grade schools. Okay, that’s a tall order, I have to admit.

So first off, we have to know about the problem we need solving. So the kids, they’re just not interested in business, not interested. They’re more interested in being on their phones, more interested in playing with their dog, playing music. We need kids interested in business, stocks. Okay, yeah. So the current state of the market, market’s bad, people are crying. Not a good moment for this in the market right now. So this is bad because markets are low, stocks are low, things are not good. Money, not happening. Mushroom cloud, bomb going off. Bad news across the board. Everyone agrees on this.
So our proposed direction is that we are going to put these kiddos, as we call them, into our business, and this is going to be essentially K through 12 care. So we all know how expensive childcare is, and this is a big problem in our country. So put them to work. That’s what we’re saying. We love this. We love child labor in this country. So putting the kids to work, very essential.

And this is a good decision. It’s better for us because people love a job. People love going to work, people love that. But also it makes our wallets thicker. So we love money. So this is going to be good for the economy, good for the heart too. And people love a resume builder. So the kids are going to love having that first job on the resume. This is a win-win-win across the board. I see no problem with this.

And in sum, we have more money and also we get all the bright ideas. So we also said if anyone has a good idea when working for our company, we get a royalty on that idea. So in perpetuity, we get pennies on the dollar for any good idea from these children. So they’re going to be in our business for life. That’s a win. Anyone with me?

Alyssa Coughlin:
All right, table two, give it up for their story. Table three. Oh, it got so quiet. Make some noise for table three.

Speaker 4:
Our situation is that our company has determined that our February one team offsite should be moved from Tulum to Siberia, due to optics and concerns about the company meeting at a beach destination. So here’s a problem. People are very, very unhappy because they think that we’re not getting work done because everybody’s at the beach, enjoying themselves. However, because we made this shift where we’re moving the team to Siberia, our whole team is really, really unhappy and they’re just bummed.

And what’s causing it is that their productivity is just tanking. So we’re having a problem on our hands. Solution, we have to really sell Siberia to them. We have to make it really, really attractive. And so we go and hire a Voltage Control alumnus, alumna from Siberia, who’s got a special method of using vodka in her facilitation. The team rises to the challenge and their productivity goes back up, and the company and the optics are preserved.

Alyssa Coughlin:
All right, table three, thank you for your story. Table four, take us on a journey.

Speaker 5:
Situation, your company has determined that there is a need to cut costs due to the current macroeconomic environment. They will be closing the company funded doggie daycare and combining the dog and human daycare into one program. And now cutting over to our president, Rob, of the Acme Company.

Speaker 6:
Let me start you off by saying, who let the dogs out? Need help? They do too. Kids, dogs, and even grandma. So let’s say we’re going to do this in a different way. So let me introduce you to our team that’s going to take you on a journey, for Casey, who’s our VP of Doggie Care, and from Tamara, who’s our VP of human care.

Speaker 7:
Did you know that 38% of dogs say that smells at the office remind them of home? Did you know that 48.46% of dogs say that they get more treats and have an expanded network if they go to the office every day? Did you know that 92.7% of dogs that spend time out of the home report feeling better about themselves?

Speaker 8:
But wait, there’s more. Did you know that 85% of young children who spend time with emotional support animals actually read better? Did you know that kids who spend time with dogs and the elderly, yes, your grandparents, they have much lower cognitive, emotional, and behavior issues, and they’re also more likely to be kind? And of course, we all know, and research shows elderly people who hang out with kids and dogs are proven to live 20 years longer.

Speaker 7:
So our solution is that we combine the doggie daycare with the elderly and kid daycare, come up with a curriculum to help them support each other.

Speaker 5:
Problem solved.

Alyssa Coughlin:
All right. Oh, it comes with a dance. Thank you for sharing your story, table four. All right, table five. Yeah, table five.

Speaker 9:
POV, your company has determined that as part of their sustainability initiative, they will be moving from two-ply toilet paper to one-ply toilet paper and enact daily toilet paper limits per person. And action.

Speaker 10:
Hello, everybody. Thank you for coming here this morning. We have a very exciting announcement to make. So we took a look at our sustainability efforts as a company. We want to be carbon neutral by 2027. So we’ve got a couple years.
We’re not making progress towards that. And I know you know that paper waste leads to environmental negatives that impact us all in our home communities. So we want to be better as a company and do what we can every day. And so we’ve identified two-ply is bad for the environment, and you know going to the bathrooms, that there are long lines because our toilets are clogged. Our pipes are not able to flush the two-ply. So I know it’s super annoying. You have to go across the street to go to the other restroom when you’re like, “The restroom’s right there, why can’t I go?”

So what we’d like to try out is we’d like to do one-ply instead of two, so your toilets can flush and you don’t have to wait anymore. And we will enact a daily limit. That way people aren’t just stuffing toilet paper into the toilets and flushing. So this will mean you’ll have less wait for the restrooms. And we get to meet our sustainability goals.

And then in summary, all these changes, so two-ply and daily limits, will be better for our environment, meet our sustainability goals, and you get to be happier. So yeah.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Woohoo. I lost count. Thank you, table five. All right, table six, come on up, share your story.

Speaker 11:
Continuing on the saga of one or two-ply, this is option B. But to remind you of the situation, our company has determined that as a part of our sustainability initiative, we will be moving from two-ply toilet paper to one-ply, as you’ve heard already, and we’re going to enact a daily toilet paper limit per person. This is option B.

Speaker 12:
So yeah, we heard from our leadership that we really need to make a positive impact on the environment. It turns out there’s a global paper shortage. There’s only two trees left on the planet. And we really sort of leaned into this as employees. We’re seeing the graph of paper supply going way down. So we had a Voltage Control facilitator come and facilitate us through a co-creation workshop as employees. Lots of ideas down here. We were going to get bidets, poop at home, a clench and trade TP, charge for change eating habits, compete for lowest amount of paper use.

So yeah, we were really saying, okay, yeah, you said two-ply to one-ply. We are going to go all in on this thing. And any good co-creation workshop that has lots of ideas, we created an app to gamify all of these ways to reduce toilet paper. And it’s called the Paper Saver app. So we have an interaction screen here in the middle where you push buttons, and then of course whoever wins the gamified app thing gets a bunch of money. You win. So that’s our idea. We are super happy.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Thank you, table six.

Speaker 11:
In case you were not clear on how you win money, we also tied paper to performance.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Ooh.

Speaker 11:
You’ve heard pay for performance. Well, this is paper for performance. Thank you.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Thank you, table six. I hope your office has hand sanitizer. All right, table seven, come on up.

Speaker 13:
All right everyone. So our company has determined that in an effort to consolidate vendors that everyone must now solely use Microsoft Teams. So yeah, I know it sucks.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Hardest one of all.

Speaker 13:
We all don’t like it. So look, our problem right now is that everyone is using different vendors or platforms, communication. We’ve got John using Slack, we’ve got Bethany using Google Chat. It’s just all across the board too many things. We need to be more efficient. So sorry, the current state is that we are going all over the place. We’ve got everybody not knowing what to do. We’re missing deadlines. We’re losing revenue overall for our company.

So by centralizing, cutting out all our subscriptions from all the other platforms, we will not only be more efficient, but we will increase our revenue overall. And because of subscribing to Microsoft, we get a lot of new bonuses as a result from working with them. So first off, because of our efficiency, we’ll meet more deadlines, we’ll make more money overall. And because of that, we get more bonuses five times fold per year, which you make sure that you get all those [inaudible 00:26:42] Christmas gifts for your family at the end of the year.

And because Microsoft Teams is so nice to us, they want to give us all the money so we can go yearly to Disneyland, take the whole family, take all your kids, and have a nice time with us over there. And we all know that we like Taco Tuesday, but because of that extra money, we are able to get free lunch every single day at the office.

So as we all know about Microsoft Teams, we’re not all on the same board of that, but because of that centralization of communications, we will get more money in your pocket, more money as a cut for the shareholders, and all the nice trips, all the free food throughout the year. Thank you.

Alyssa Coughlin:
All right, table seven, thank you for sharing your story. You might even be able to afford more toilet paper with that. All right, table eight, let’s do it.

Speaker 14:
Picture this, your new CEO, Dwight K. Shrewt, has decided to replace free pretzel day with free beet day. He claims this will save money and improve company health. The beets are even from a local organic farm.

Speaker 15:
All right, so our problem is that the CEO is now saying we’re going to serve beets. And unfortunately, our staff are all on team pretzel and they’re not so motivated by this. So it is our job to convince everyone why this is really a great idea.
So I don’t know if you know this, but beets are actually super healthy. They’re good for your cardiovascular health, they’re good for iron absorption. So you can work those muscles. All kinds of good fiber. So beets, much healthier for you than pretzels, but we know that’s not enough. So we’re also, we are a pretzel company. I don’t know if we mentioned that earlier. And so this is really a problem for us. But we’re looking at the trends out there and we’re noticing there’s a lot of people with celiac disease, there’s a lot of people with diabetes who can’t eat pretzels. And there’s also a lot of people who are just trying to be healthier.

So if we want to follow the market trends, we really need to get ahead of it so that we can sustain our profitability and our market share as these trends develop. So what we’re going to do to help smooth this transition, we’re going to create a beet pretzel to help just smooth the way. And that means that we will all be healthier and wealthier altogether.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Woohoo. Thank you, table eight. Okay, table nine, what do you have for us?

Speaker 16:
Hello. All right, so we’ve got scenario three, your company has determined that part of the well-being initiative, they will be replacing all coffee and tea offerings in the break room with room temperature sparkling water. I know there was an earlier group, they missed it. Charles, sorry. We’ve got it. We’re going to give it to you.

Okay, so here’s our problem. Too much damn energy in the room. I like to come to work and feel mellow. I’m from California, I want to feel the groove.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Use your mic.

Speaker 16:
[inaudible 00:29:52] our current. Dull smiles, where does dull smiles come from? Where do dull smiles come from? Tea and coffee. So we’re part of the problem. We’re going to fix that. Insurance expenses for whitening are out of control. We’ve got an insurance expert at our table. That’s her point there. It’s out of control.
So our current state, way too much productivity going on in our group, just way too much productivity. We need people to slow down.

They’re not focused on their looks. I mean, everybody should be taking pride in their looks. What’s this stuff about whales? You need to focus on you.

The people that are producing and working really hard, what do they want? They want money. No money. No money. We make enough. So we’ve got this corporate wide ban on coffee and tea in the break rooms, okay? It’s going to improve glamour shots, websites, LinkedIn. You guys are going to sparkle like nothing. Who cares about that whale?
Better sleep. You’re going to sleep better. You know caffeine has a half life of 12 hours? We want you getting a good night’s sleep. And when it hits lunchtime or afternoon, we want you to have a quick nap. All right? We want you rested, calm. Does that sound good? Does that sound good? All right. But at the end, you get what you get, if you don’t fuss a bit. Bye. Thank you.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Thank you, table nine, for sharing your story. Table 10. I can’t … There we go. Thank you. All right, give it up for table 10. Take us on a journey. Oh, oh, they’re going on stage. They mean business.

Speaker 17:
Imagine a time when you’ve been faced with an incredibly huge challenge and you’ve had to make an enormous change to adapt. We’ve all had to do it here together at Guber Inc. We’ve weathered a lot of hard things together. And in this moment of difficult macroeconomic times, we all know that Guber Inc is being squeezed. And we care so much about you, about your pets, about your families.

And so because of that, because of that, we are unveiling a combined doggie and child daycare starting tomorrow. And what does this mean for you? What this means for you is better relationships. Better relationships. Because research shows that when children under the age of five spend at least 17 minutes a day within the vicinity of a dog, they are 75% more likely to be kind to their parents and to be a good human. And we know that when dogs look into a child’s face, they will live 13% longer. So we are thrilled to unveil this new program for all of you. And that’s it. And that’s it.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Thank you for sharing your story, table 10. I think we’re all better when we pet dogs. All right, table 11, take us on a journey.

Speaker 18:
Shout out for [inaudible 00:34:14]. So our situation, your company has determined that as part of their inclusion initiative, everyone must be addressed by both their name and their spirit animal. Accompanying interpretive dances are encouraged and we are making them required.

So as we were developing this, we came up with why do we want to bring forward our spirit animals? We have a problem. Our problem is we don’t understand each other’s work styles. I mean, imagine that your cubemate is a cat. They’re very busy chasing laser pointers, climbing on the laptop, putting their butt in the camera. You ask them a question, they swat at you and they hiss and then they run away. It’s not very productive.

You have your other cubemate, a dog. They are just way too happy. Somebody gave them way too many treats first thing in the morning. They’re chasing their tail. You can’t understand them half the time because they have this insatiable desire for peanut butter. And when a ball rolls by, you are just done for the day.

So what this causes is silos, confusion, swirl, missed deadlines, and miscommunication because your cat’s aloof, your dog just wants to play. And let me just tell you, it creates problems, especially when the dog wants to sniff the cat’s butt.
So these problems have caused issues with engagement, retention, and as I mentioned, HR and legal issues. So the new direction that’s been proposed about bringing forward your spirit animal is highly encouraged. Imagine Sarah is a cow. Using her pronouns she/her, always announces, “I’m Sarah, she/her, I’m a cow.” It gives you an idea of how she may be coming into a meeting.

And then you have John, who’s a goldfish, which explains why he doesn’t remember anything. And he shares his pronouns, he/they, so you know where he’s coming from and you know how to work with him. He’s very busy taking notes, by the way.

So giving this will help us understand how we work, as well as how we need to work with each other. So why is this better? It creates vulnerability. We’re all vulnerable with each other, sharing our spirit animals. We have a better idea of where each other’s coming from. Be more inclusive, higher retention, give each other grace, and it would be a lot of fun.
So in summary, we think doing this will move us from misalignment, we’re all headed different directions, we’re all speaking different languages, and we’re going to move forward together, understanding each other so that we can communicate better, have better human connection, and move towards alignment.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Woohoo. Thank you, table 11. Interpret dance off the stage. All right, table 12, take us on a journey.

Speaker 19:
So our situation is that your company has determined that as an effort to develop an interest in business from an early age, they’ll be extending their internship program to include K through 12 schools. Any parents in the room, any parents? So you guys get this. Kids keep pursuing unrealistic goals. They want to be marine biologists, they want to be doctors, they want to be nurses. But what the world really needs is more middle managers.

Here at Business Functions International USA Incorporated, we understand that problem. These kids are out here trying to pursue these lofty goals, but what we really need them to do is sit in a cubicle and learn business lingo. So that’s why we developed the Kid Internship Program. K through 12, we’re talking elementary school. Your third grader Sally could be a VP of product in no time. Timmy can ditch the slide and slide into his quarter four sales projections with ease. We’re creating a cradle to CEO pipeline. We’re increasing our kid performance indicators nonstop. And this pipeline will not only project these kids into greatness but our country into greatness. So join the Kid Internship Program, and like Ricky Bobby said, “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

Alyssa Coughlin:
Thank you so much for sharing your story, table 12. Last but certainly not least, table 13, take us on a journey.

Speaker 20:
Hello, everyone. I didn’t know that we had to be theater majors to be in attendance today. So thank you for all of you for putting on such beautiful shows. Our situation was very similar to the table two tables before us, but of course I forgot my sheet of paper because I’m a goldfish. We identified that our problem is that … Oh, sorry, yes.
So our situation is that people are not knowing each other well. And in order to solve that problem, we all are now going to be able to use each other’s names and our identity animals. We are using the term identity animals, that was a team choice, to talk about how we are able to relate with one another. So our situation is we’re in the office, we’re wandering around, no one’s using our names. No one knows anything about each other because we don’t have a shared language. We don’t have anything that keeps us together.

But what do we all love and adore? Animals obviously. Obviously animals. The fuzzy ones, the big ones, the mean ones, the cute ones. We love all animals. And that is our shared language with one another. And so instead of sitting in our meeting saying, “Oh hey, you over there,” and not talking to one another, we’re all looking on LinkedIn. We’re like, “Hey, indeed.com, I don’t want to work here anymore. They don’t feel me. They don’t feel my vibe.” And so at our next team meeting I say, “Hey, you know what, my name’s Samantha and I’m a manatee.” And my friend says…

Speaker 16:
I’m Tom, and I’m an emotional support bear.

Speaker 20:
And you know what? Manatees and bears have more in common than you think they do. We both don’t like the cold. We get into warm places over the winter and we hang out and we just vibe, we nap, we vibe, and we have a great time. And you know what? Now Tom and I are best friends. And no longer are we in our meetings job surfing on the internet. We are now sharing our connections amongst a group of two foxes, a duck, a horse, a chihuahua. And we would love to hear all of y’all’s as well. Thank you so much.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Thank you, table 13 for sharing your story. So of course these were all very silly. I got every table, right? Okay, these were all very silly, over-the-top examples, but the point is these were changes that would probably not be very well received. And so in order to get that buy-in from your organization, it’s really important that you go through the process and you sell them on why this is better. Why are you making this change? What is on the other side of this change? What’s in it for me?
Is there anything you all noticed throughout this process? Yes, emotion, absolutely. I mean these were silly, we’re laughing. But when you can make that human connection, when you can make something personal, you can make the change linger. It’ll last. People understand it. People have that value prop, people have that buy-in. Anything else? Yeah … You’ve got to wait.

Speaker 21:
So yeah, it was spirit animals, everything was a joy. As far as the humor thing, how do you know the line? And I know there’s just read the room, but I’m curious if you have any more advice in terms of more tactical, like if maybe you don’t always sense these things or know where that line is of when it’s appropriate to throw in humor if the topic is more serious or it’s something objectively bad that the company’s got to do. Do you have any guidelines or advice around that?

Alyssa Coughlin:
I wouldn’t say firm guidelines. It’s kind of situational. And so I try to think about, I mean this is a great place for empathy, too. So what would I want if I was on the receiving end of this change? Would I want you to just tell it to me straight because I’m really concerned? Or do I want you to make me laugh a little? This is rough, but how can we make it a little bit better?

There’s also just kind of the know your audience thing. So for example, when I’m working with my team, who I work with all the time, I know that I can joke around with them more. Versus when I am presenting to the CTO staff, I’m probably not going to make a joke unless the moment just really presents itself. But I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule. It is a tricky one. Humor can be tricky. But for the most part I just try to think about how would I want to receive this news?
Yeah?

Speaker 22:
I think it’s important. Our group was actually having a little bit of a hard time getting consensus on what the problem was. And I think oftentimes we just jump into what’s the proposed direction versus us saying what are we actually trying to solve? And I think it’s just a good meta reminder for me to be like, are we aligned on the problem as a group, as a starting point? Or is there one problem we’re going to tackle for this scenario because maybe there’s three, but for this situation, how do we differentiate before we integrate?

Alyssa Coughlin:
Yeah, absolutely. That is a great call out. I appreciate that.

Speaker 23:
I think it’s important to be real about the problem and to acknowledge that people, not everyone is going to be excited about the problem, but then I think it’s also really helpful to not give huge bonuses and so forth, but give, do something, have a company do something to lighten the burden.

So we had to move to a new area in the building and nobody wanted to move to the new area because we had to share desks and so forth. But they made it a really nice area and they added an outside area. They tried to make it as pleasant as possible, even though they knew there was going to be pushback. So just being honest. And then also give them something, like, we know this is bad, but we’re going to try to make the space really engaging and comfortable to make it a little bit easier.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Yeah, absolutely. And we kind of talked about it in the beginning around be direct, don’t dance around what you’re trying to tell me, even if it’s something I don’t want to hear. And that’s the beauty of the story, is you have that full context. Even if you don’t like where the journey ends, you at least understand how you got there. And a lot of the times in these difficult situations, people just want to be heard. Acknowledge that you understand why I am hesitant to adopt this change. And sometimes that’s enough to get them over the hurdle.

Katie:
I’m going to say something. Hi, I’m Katie. We just went through a really big change at our company and people were upset, very upset. I won’t get into it, but what they could have done, if you guys are doing any change management, is they could have said, “We are sorry for how this change has made you feel,” without saying, you know, “We know this is the right direction, but we are sorry for what this is causing you to go through.” And I think just speaking humanly to your people is really important. Okay, who’s next? Unless-

Alyssa Coughlin:
Could not agree more, by the way.

Speaker 25:
Hello. Something that I saw, which was just inspiring, was everyone’s different ways of communicating and telling a story. I mean, we all show up to the problem with different experiences. And everything we just saw on stage through 13 groups, it differed greatly. And whenever you are surrounding yourself with people who are tackling problems like this, you can gain inspiration from how they approach a problem. So yeah, keep your eyes open and watch how other people tackle similar challenges. And there’s a lot to learn.

Alyssa Coughlin:
I love that because we all were working with the same formula, but we all interpreted it and presented it differently, and it is so important to learn from others and to gain from their experience.

Speaker 26:
One of the things you’ve been talking about, what’s in it for me? Sometimes that what’s in it for me is, and I heard some of the stories, reframing it. So you’re reframing this situation for the folks so that they’re looking at it from a different lens.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s important to establish the lens you’re looking through when you make a change and when you make a decision. Because they might have a completely different perspective, and without the journey, without the story, they’re not going to understand why you’re making their life miserable, or not all change is awful, but you have to acknowledge they might have a different perspective. And so frame it for them. This is what I’m looking at. This is why.

Speaker 27:
Yeah, I mean I think, I know all of us probably liked show and tell when we were younger, and I think we sometimes forget to do that as facilitators, is to, if we’re not the presenters, to have our presenters do some show and tell. I launch new tech at my company, so I always try to have my storytellers or the people that are presenting with me to show the change.
And I think some of you that, I think one of you did the mobile app, I think sometimes you take things out of the conceptual and show it as a prototype if you can do it. I think that really helps. And I heard a story a while back, some of you may have heard of it. When Disney went to create Animal Kingdom, when they first pitched the concept to Disney executives, they were like, “We’re not a zoo, why would we want to have animals?” Because they were trying to pitch this idea of the majestic nature of some of these animals. So the next time they went into the pitch meeting, they put a lion literally on the top of the conference room table and brought the decision makers into the room.

And it was tame. But the point was they saw the powerful nature of the lion in the space. And now you can all go to Animal Kingdom and see some of these things. So I think it’s just the point that some of you showed, was see if you can do a little bit of show and tell. And I really enjoyed that today with everyone.

Speaker 28:
Just quickly picking up on the show piece, the visual aspect of this activity and the visual aspect of storytelling seems really critically important to not just align on what you’re talking about, but it is generative. Once you start making marks, it creates new ideas.

Alyssa Coughlin:
And I would echo that it is especially important in the virtual and hybrid world that we live in today because you don’t have as many human connections. And so it’s really important that you do share the why and that you do frame things as a story and as a narrative and journey when you don’t have the benefit of connecting in person as often. Oh, we had red glasses.

Speaker 29:
First of all, I am so moved by how we all leaned in. There was an experience, right? I’m still loving the dog with the hair and all the things. But I think that there’s an opportunity as facilitators, especially because we’re typically navigating a problem. So put that context into it, like say the big elephant in the room and then let’s figure it out. Bring people along.
We saw it multiple times. There was the pattern of the multisensory experience, there was the laughter, that was movement. There was I think some singing, dancing. We saw things. But the five senses, oftentimes when we’re trying to help people to transform because of a problem, if we just get back to the basics and engage those senses, close your eyes, get grounded, put your hands up, listen, sometimes that’s an easy way to help folks to experience it. And I just want to thank you all for being a part of it.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Yes, the engagement is so important and thank you all for it. When you have that engagement is when people actually start coming with you on the journey instead of staying behind and letting you go by yourself.

Speaker 30:
The question about humor made me think of something. If I was facilitating the team trying to figure out how to roll out the change, so this is sort of like the working group, I can’t remember the name of the practice technique, but it’s basically tell me all the ways this will fail. And if you did that and you allowed them to say maybe add one that’s really silly or something, you kind of allow them to go beyond the bounds, it might really trigger brainstorming because it can be really easy, especially if you’re in a high

stress, we’re worried about the change moment, that you don’t think about all the peripheral things that can happen.
And I think to the question of humor, if it’s the right group that might bring up ideas. Like who would have thought an app for toilet paper could be the next best thing? But we didn’t do that unless it was humorous and we had the bounds taken away. So just a thought on how that might help a certain kind of group.

Alyssa Coughlin:
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, thank you. So we have two minutes left and I want to close with a reflection. And I want to start with when you are sharing a story, when you are going through the change management process, people don’t have to agree with you to commit. They don’t have to like the answer, they just have to understand why that is the answer. We have a saying at Autodesk, you can disagree and commit, as long as it is safe to try.

So my challenge to you as we close out is to reflect. Think about a change that you’ve experienced in the past that was not managed well. What was missing from that change? What piece of the story would you have liked to have had, to have been brought along on the journey? And also reflect on maybe a change you have coming up. It could be real or hypothetical, and just how you would like to show up and how you would like to tell your story and bring others along on the journey.

The post Storytelling and Change Management appeared first on Voltage Control.

At the 2025 Facilitation Lab Summit, Dr. Karyn Edwards led an engaging and thought-provoking session that bridged the gap between coaching and facilitation. With her vast experience in both fields, Karyn helped participants explore how coaching techniques can elevate facilitation practices, encouraging a shift in mindset and perspective. Her session was not only educational but highly interactive, inviting attendees to reflect on their personal experiences and challenges.

The Power of Non-Directive Coaching

Karyn’s session began with an energetic icebreaker, setting the stage for the day’s exploration of non-directive coaching. By playing Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” and Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know?” Karyn invited attendees to consider which song aligned more with coaching frameworks. This fun activity underscored the importance of empowering clients to discover their own answers, rather than providing prescriptive solutions. As Karyn explained, non-directive coaching encourages a space where individuals can reflect, think critically, and ultimately find solutions that resonate with their experiences.

Interactive Activities: From Worst Facilitator to Best Solutions

Karyn used practical exercises to help participants identify common challenges faced by facilitators. Attendees were asked to brainstorm and share sticky notes about the worst facilitation experiences they’ve encountered or witnessed. This activity was followed by group discussions on how these challenges could be resolved. The collective wisdom of the group sparked deep conversations about the importance of self-awareness, energy, and how facilitators can create environments that foster growth and transformation.

Key Insights: The Role of Facilitators and Coaches

One of the central themes of the session was the role of the facilitator in creating an environment conducive to learning and growth. As Karyn put it, the facilitator is responsible for setting the container, but it is up to the participants to do the work. This shift in perspective was eye-opening for many attendees, as it emphasized the importance of trust, openness, and collaboration. Karyn also stressed the idea of “letting go” of the desire to control the outcome, allowing participants the freedom to explore and contribute to the discussion without fear of judgment.

The Intersection of Coaching and Facilitation

Throughout the session, Karyn highlighted the overlap between coaching and facilitation. Both practices require a deep understanding of human dynamics, the ability to listen actively, and a willingness to adapt to the needs of the group. The session also addressed the balance between structure and flexibility, noting that while facilitators must prepare and plan, they must also be open to adjusting the course based on the group’s needs and the conversation at hand.

Karyn’s facilitation philosophy aligns with the principles of non-directive coaching, where the coach or facilitator serves as a guide rather than an expert. Her emphasis on inquiry, listening, and creating space for reflection was a powerful reminder of how these skills can be leveraged to empower others in both coaching and facilitation contexts.

Key Takeaways from Dr. Karyn Edwards’ Session:

Flexibility and Adaptability: Understanding when to stick to the agenda and when to let go, allowing the group to steer the direction of the conversation.

Empowerment through Inquiry: The importance of asking open-ended questions that evoke insight and encourage participants to explore their own solutions.

Energy and Self-Awareness: How reading and managing group energy is essential for creating a productive facilitation environment.

Non-Directive Coaching: Facilitators should adopt coaching techniques that help participants take ownership of their learning process.

Creating Safe Spaces: How facilitators and coaches must ensure a safe, supportive environment where participants feel comfortable expressing themselves.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript of Karyn’s Session:

Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right. Well, it’s great to be here and thank you all for coming back and for being here today. I am really excited to share what I’ve learned about the similarities between coaching and facilitation. And I had some people ask me some really great questions this morning about how I’m going to do that. So I’m not going to give all that away, but this will be a highly interactive session for all of you. So my first question to all of you, when you think about coaching, what is it? Right? I’ve talked to some people, say I’m a coach, and I think to myself, I wonder if we were talking the same language. So I’m going to do this through a song. We’re first going to hear Lizzo, which is my favorite song of hers, which is good as hell. What I want you to be listening for in the lyrics is what she’s describing to you. Coaching. There we go. And dancing. By the way, get up. I’m not dancing by myself. Come on. Okay. That was weak dancing you all. Come on. Okay. All right. So now we’re going to listen to the Queen, Ms. Whitney Houston and her song. How will I Know? Okay, everybody up. It’s time to dance. Okay. You cannot listen to Whitney Houston and Not Dance. Okay, here we go.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
What is this? Come on.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Okay. Alright. So think about that. Have a seat. Good job. Nice job. All of you. That really put some moves out there. I appreciate that. Okay, you can scan the QR code up there. This is Slido. Which artist song is more aligned with a coaching framework? Annette. Neck and Neck. Really? Okay. So for those of you that voted for Whitney Houston, how will I know, tell me why did you select that song as more aligned to a coaching framework? Yes. Listen,

Speaker 3 (02:46):
I feel like when she says how will I know she’s putting the onus back on the other person and kind of making them think and reflect about what would achievement or success look like.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
I love it. So you’re looking at it from a perspective that she’s the coach, which I hadn’t even thought about. So that’s a new perspective. Excellent, thank you. Oh, right here. Or I’ll let the Katie decide who’s going to go next.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Exactly the same reason. And Whitney Houston as coach in this case, because that’s a classic coaching question I’m going to do. How will I know?

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, love

Speaker 4 (03:16):
It. It’s the follow up, the accountability.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Great, thank you. Are some other questions? Why did you pick which song you picked? I saw a few other hands who picked Lizzo? Maybe give us, what was it about Lizzo song that you decided was a coaching framework?

Speaker 5 (03:31):
I definitely did not pick Lizzo because I agree with them. Lizzo seems prescriptive, like she’s forcing her definition of what good is on the person or us. Also, Whitney’s just better and Lizzo is getting sued by a bunch of her dancers. So I don’t really trust her as an authority.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
I didn’t know that. So new information, yes,

Speaker 6 (03:53):
Counterpoint. I picked Lizzo because I think if I took it from the person who was being coached. So that’s the point of view. And it’s like if I’m feeling good as hell about myself and my day and what I’ve got ahead of me, I’m like on wings. I’m feeling really good about that. Nice. So confidence maybe could have been the one word answer.

Speaker 7 (04:17):
Great,

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Thank you.

Speaker 7 (04:18):
One more. So I chose Lizzo again from the perspective of someone being coached and it’s how do I show up?

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Nice. Okay, great. Interesting perspective. Let’s take one more and then we’ll talk about, is there a right answer here?

Speaker 8 (04:33):
Sure. I also chose Lizzo good as hell because as a coachee, I am the one that’s running the agenda and the discussion points with my coach of how I’m feeling, what I want to do, what I want to see where my path is going and my coach is there to help walk me side by side on how I see that path.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Nice. Thank you. Thank you all. I appreciate you adding your perspectives. So my perspective was that as a coach, Whitney is asking how well I know, right? And so as a coach, my question back to her would be, how will you know if he really loves you? And by the way, is there’s some emotional suppression in that song. I just want to point out, don’t trust your feelings. No, trust your feelings. Lizzo on the other hand is being what we would call in coaching a cheerleader. And so while that can be effective in what we sometimes think of as traditional coaching, an executive coach would consider that advice giving, right? If he doesn’t love you anymore, you walk your fine ass out the door, right? That’s advice. And so non-directive coaching is working to not give advice even though it feels good. That’s a feel good song.

(05:47):
I love that song. It’s a my go me collection of playlists. And so I just wanted to describe in a way that could bring it to life for you what the differences are and sometimes how we think about what a coach does. So today in our session, and I’m hoping my slides are going to cooperate with me, we’re going to talk about how do you apply this then to facilitation. So yesterday we had some great presenters and I did not get to see the last presenter, so I didn’t get to include the information there. But you notice that Eric started us off talking about listening, that we’re connecting, we’re building bridges. And Sky talked about listening without judgment. She talked about vulnerability is cool, and she talked about metaphors, analogies and reflection. And Alyssa talked about that change happens through story that we have to state the problem and that we get to play a little bit with the problem that we’re trying to solve. And then Kathy talked about the backpack essentials of curiosity, engaging, embracing detours, and making it real. And then I noticed the session in the afternoon had some things about breaking things down into smaller steps. All of those are fundamentals of executive coaching. All of them you could see even just through the facilitation that you’ve already been through, there’s a direct connection between the skillset sets of a coach and a facilitator.

(07:14):
So I appreciate them teeing me up so well. Yesterday Sky mentioned tris and actually I’ve used this several times. And before I started working with Voltage Control, I didn’t know what I was doing, I just knew I was doing things. And so it was really nice to put a label to some of the things that I was actually already doing. So I looked it up because I was like, what does that actually mean? It’s kind of an interesting word. And so you can see there, it’s a Russian word and a loose translation is the theory of inventive problem solving. And so what we’re going to do next is we’re going to talk about how do you look at counterproductive behaviors and figure out then how can you fix those. And again, we do this a lot in coaching as well. So you’re going to have an activity.

(07:57):
By the way, anytime you see red on the screen today, there’s something for you to do in your table group. So you’re wondering what are we doing? Or you step out for a second that’s going to be your clue to come back. So individually, I want you to take two minutes and I want you to get some sticky notes in front of you. And I want you to brainstorm. Consider elements that have been present when you have either seen the worst facilitator that you’ve ever seen, or you’ve been the worst facilitator that you’ve ever experienced. And I want you to write down, and I want you to be creative. I want you to not hold back what are the things that you see in the worst facilitation? If we could get some music while we’re doing this activity, one idea or one element per sticky note and just pile ’em up there.

(08:43):
And on your flip chart in the middle of your table, so by the fact that you’re still writing, I think we’ve all seen some pretty tough sessions. Okay, so you’re going to take your flip chart and I’d love for somebody to just draw a line down the middle on the vertical. And on one side I just want you to put all of your stickies that you observed where things did go so well. Okay, on the next step on the screen is I want your team to take a look at and examine and do affinity clustering of what themes do you see? So the ones that are similar are like put ’em on top of each other, put ’em together in some kind of cluster. Okay?

(09:45):
If you haven’t already, when you have your clusters together, give them a label of some sort and then move on to question two, which is what makes these hard as a facilitator to overcome. Have a discussion at your table, grip around that. And then the third step is you need to decide what’s your top challenge and elect someone to be your Slido entrant person who’s going to do that? And I’ll share the Slido in just a minute. Okay, so head on back to your work. All right, so there are 13 tables in here. There should be 13 items entered into what is the worst case scenario that your group selected. So just one representative from your table needs to scan the QR code and enter what is the worst case scenario that your group entered. So question for you all. When you look at that list, what comes up for you? And do we have our mics? Yep. Okay, we’re right here. Oh

Speaker 9 (10:54):
Gosh, thank you. I think all of those are tied to lack of self-awareness. So our table chose energy and from my experience with energy is that we as human beings exchange energy whether or not we know it. And so as good facilitators, one of the first things that you learn, or maybe it’s what draws us into this industry, is that we can read energy and some are better than others, and that’s tied to listening and willingness to learn, be vulnerable. And so I think that all of that negative is tied to not leaning into your authenticity and knowing who you are and how to change for the better and be a better energy space for other people.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, thank you. That was a good answer. Nice. Appreciate you for sharing that. Yeah, so as facilitators, we’re responsible to create the environment in which the learning takes place. The participants actually create the outcome. So if you learn nothing else from me today, if you remember nothing else, you job as a facilitator is to create the environment. You create the container. It’s the same thing that coaches do. We create the environment, the participant or the client does the work. Rule number one of coaching is the client does the work. Rule number one of facilitation is the audience does the work. You as a facilitator, that should make you less nervous and take a lot of weight off of your shoulders because they’re responsible for the outcome. You’re responsible to structure it and create a framework for them to work within.

(12:42):
Alright, we’re going to do part two, flip them back and forth here. By the way, I really appreciate all the work that you’re all doing. Give yourself a round of applause. Okay. Alright. So we did that. Did that. Okay, so now we have to design the fix. So from the one that you selected, I want you to ask this very specific question to your table group. What would it be like if this challenge was resolved? What would it be like in the sessions that you go to, if this challenge that you came up with was resolved, and I want you to do the sticky note activity again. Put them on the other side of your flip chart. Okay?

(13:30):
I’m going to read the rest of the instructions just so I don’t have to interrupt you as you’re working after you do step one, then I want you to, again, what’s your best rank? Those ideas that you have from best to next best, they’re all going to be great. And then I want you to vote on two solutions that you’re coming up with that you would submit into Slido. Alright, coming on back. Coming on back. So if you are the representative, Slido entrant for your team, you can enter the two solutions that your team came up with. There should be when we get done 13 line items in here. No instructions. All right, so as you look through these, and I’ll scroll a bit as we’re finishing up getting the last one or two in here, I’d love to hear what stands out to you. And again, this is what would it be like if we were able to design a fix for some of the most difficult things that happen as facilitators? Yes.

Speaker 6 (14:41):
So if in Dom’s session yesterday you heard him say one of the most important takeaways from the behavior design system is help people feel successful. And in his book, BJ names that emotion and he calls it shine. So it’s a feeling of success that both wires in the habit that you want and propels you to future action because if you’re feeling successful, you’re leaving that session and saying, oh my gosh, what else does Dr. Karen have for us? And let me tell you about the session I went to last week. So it’s the way that you feel shine, and we did have positive outcomes, but we just felt like shine and candor were the differentiators from our group. So that’s why we put it up there.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Love it. I’m just going to make a quick tie to coaching because when people leave a coaching engagement or even a coaching session many times, that’s the energy that’s actually creating the transformation and the energy that we create as facilitators is what creates the transformation. So there’s direct links almost. You can make a direct connection to me. Thank you for your comment. I appreciate it. One more, yes, over here.

Speaker 10 (15:58):
So I really love how you’re relating the coaching work with the facilitation work, and I’d like to hear what you think the differences are and just sort of building on what you just said because it sparked a thing with me. You get to the end of the last day of a workshop and everybody’s just all jazzed up. They’re pumped up on the thing and then they leave and then that’s when the work actually begins. I assume in a coaching engagement, you’ve got a longer term, you know what the next steps every step is going to be more or less. You’ve got a plan, I guess as a coach and you should as a facilitators, we should always have a plan after the workshop, but a lot of times you get engaged to do the workshop and create some outputs of the workshop and that’s where a lot of value gets lost. So I’m curious as to what you said

Speaker 1 (16:53):
About that. Yeah, I do think there’s a difference there in terms of the kind of once and done of what can be facilitation woes, I guess I’ll say, and the impact that you have when you do small incremental meetings over time with people because there’s an accountability loop that’s built into that. The plan, I just want to go back to that the plan comes from the client, right? Again, and that might be a slight difference in facilitation because you generally maybe have some ideas of things that you’re going to be speaking about. So there’s not a full, the group gets to decide what we’re talking about today. There’s some nuances and differences in that, but there’s many more connections than there are differences. I think that that accountability loop for facilitation is actually something that we all need to make sure we’re solving for and the work that we do as well.

(17:41):
Thank you for the question. Great question. All right. Okay. I’m going to move us forward to a little bit of part two here. So this is a great book. I’m a big book slash resource person, and Claire Norman has written a book called The Transformational Coach. I also like Marsha, I can’t think of her last name, coach the person, not the problem. Marsha Reynolds. So both of these books are great. This one in particular is really emphasizing non-directive coaching. So what is non-directive coaching? Non-directive coaching is really what the ICF, the International Coaching Federation espouses, which is that the coach is not a consultant. The coach is not going to be telling you what to do. The coach is going to be creating an environment and setting up these kind of foundations in coaching sessions. So one is really important that people are whole and capable and competent and resourceful and that they have within them everything that they need and that our job as facilitators and as coaches is to help clear the cobwebs and get through the mental hurdles that we sometimes set up for ourselves.

(19:02):
We build our own prison walls, I like to say. And so our job is to help people see things from a different perspective, give them an opportunity to sit down and work and do the work in a structured, sometimes unstructured environment. So that’s number one. You have to believe that if you don’t believe as a facilitator that your group is whole and capable and competent and resourceful, you really need to check and see. Are you actually then just training because you’re not facilitating If you’re telling them how to do what they need to do, you’re either consulting, which there’s nothing wrong with that, but you just need to be clear about what it is that you’re there to do.

(19:43):
The second is that it’s an exploratory approach and it empowers the participant and the client in this case to discover their own solutions. The fact of the matter is we can never really walk in someone else’s shoes no matter how similar you are, no matter how much your life experience. I have an identical twin, so I know I blew the bingo card, so I’m the facilitator that has the identical twin. And even though my sister and I literally shared a womb, right, we are very different. And even though we grew up in the same house, I cannot necessarily know what it’s like to live in her shoes every single day. So even people that are that close. And so when we put our ideas and solutions onto a group or an individual, I like to say we’re actually stealing a little bit of their power. There’s also a bias that we can work towards with us, which is that people love their own ideas. I mean, how many of you like to be told what to do? Raise your hand. Hi. Hi. Oh yeah, we all love it. And so if we come up with our own ideas, we are much more likely to implement those ideas and take them forward and break them down into small steps and do the work.

Speaker 11 (20:58):
Do you discern a difference between the athletic coach in English, the word coach in athletics has a kind of connotation? Is there a difference between that kind of coach as you see it and the coach in this setting?

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, so the question is, is there a difference between an athletic coach and a, what I’ll call a executive coach or a workplace coach? In my opinion, yes, because coaching in sports you’re teaching, you’re putting together a structure, they’re running drills, there’s certain plays. I’m not really that into sports, so I don’t pretend like I know what I’m talking about. I sound all like woo. So there’s definitely a difference, whereas a non-directive coaching, I’m going into sessions with asking the client, what is it you want to coach on? Today I’m going into facilitation session saying the thing that we’re going to be talking about is leadership traits. This conversation can go in a million different directions and it’s going to be up to you to decide which of those directions is most important and most impactful. So while I have a framework when I’m facilitating, I’m going to go where the group goes, and it’s part of that being adaptable and letting go of having to control the outcome, which is probably the hardest part in coaching and in facilitation that we are somehow in control of what’s going to happen. I have no idea what you’re all going to do with the next activity that we do, and I hope it goes well, but it’s up to you. So it’s letting go is a big part of this. I already talked about the client does the work, and then again, we’re responsible to create the environment. Yes.

Speaker 12 (22:31):
Good morning everyone. Just to point on that letting go piece, I think one of the things, and we were talking about this at the table, is if you understand to your point coming in asking, Hey, what do you want to get out of today? Sometimes it’s important to have data in advance, especially if you’re facilitating a session. If you know, all are seeing here are are your focuses for 2025, here were the problems, here are the gaps. What do we want to focus on today related to what you said you wanted to do? That’s very critical and important and it can empower you when you get to the end and do a survey. I love yesterday there was a session where the facilitator asked, give me feedback because we’re always improving ourselves as well. So just some points there. This has been great, doctor. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Oh, you’re so welcome. I love what you said. So the idea that I, I’m not just going in free styling, so I’m doing my homework, I’m doing my prep work. One of the things about data is I’m just going to tweak that just a little bit. It depends. Yesterday I was talking to a group about my doctor title and there’s some times where that works for me and sometimes where that doesn’t work for me because it can be intimidating to the group where they think, oh, great, this will be an academic boring blah, blah, blah, right? Kind of thing. No offense, Eric, but that can be a perception that it comes along with that title. And so knowing that I could go in and tell you, I could tell you all the neuroscience of why coaching works, and I could come in with loads of data and research and some of you would be like, yes, let’s talk about that. That’s exciting. And others would be like, oh, right. So we started off with Lizzo and Whitney Houston instead because we’re trying to engage in a way and teach in the debrief. That’s what I espouse is teach in the debrief, have people experience something and then tell ’em what they just experienced as opposed to telling ’em what they’re going to precisely how to do things. Again, just a difference. But thank you for the question. Great question.

(24:39):
Nope, that was right. Okay, so today we’ve been following a participative agenda and we’ve been doing things like the focus has been on the conversation that we’re having within a framework. So I had ideas of what you’re going to do, right? I’m using facilitative techniques, we use tris, we’re doing some engagement activities. The role of the facilitator again is to create the environment, but I’m not walking around going, oh, that’s that idea. No, don’t put that up there. That’s not exactly what we’re doing. I’m asking you questions and you’re asking me questions and we’re the experience that you’re having and it’s a partnership. We’re in a partnership together. I’m not in coaching, it’s also a partnership just because I went and got a coaching credential and I have all this stuff. I am on equal footing with my clients, which is different. When you go to a doctor, doctor, like a doctor that can help you, you’re going to probably take their advice, excuse me, or you’re going to seek maybe a second opinion, but you’re probably going to take the medicine they prescribe or you’re probably going to think about what they wanted you to do or you’re just going to go do it.

(25:47):
That is a hierarchical relationship. The coach and the facilitator, we are an equal footing. I don’t know more than you, I don’t have your experience, I don’t have your background, but we are sharing an environment together. So what I’d like you to do is stand up and I want you to find a partner, someone that you haven’t met, and I want you to decide how have we been demonstrating a participative agenda so far today in this session? Okay. Find somebody you haven’t met. Okay. I’d love just a few shares maybe from a table in the back that hasn’t shared yet today. What were some of the things that you came up with?

Speaker 13 (26:36):
So me and Harry were together and we were talking about that you set the stage from the beginning, you set the environment because I asked Harry, well, how do you create an environment? And then we talked about it and it was apparent you set the stage from the first of the training today that we were going to do the word, you aren’t going to do it. You’re not going to give us your list. And then we come up with our own list. That’s boring as heck, but you’re going to leave us alone and you’re going to turn us loose and we’re going to go save the world. And it was fun. Good. Anyway,

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Couple comments over here.

Speaker 14 (27:15):
So a meta question came up for me because we were talking about the dissonance between the two questions. What is the outcome versus what are the solutions? And then I saw you come over and it was like figure it out kind of thing. And so we were talking about creating this environment and does the environment look like a pool or rails? And I wonder if there’s matching the situation to the creation of that environment. Do you go into a coaching session where it’s like, okay, well declare your outcome and let’s see if we can get there versus wow, let’s just open up the floor and let it spill out. I dunno.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
That’s a good question. Yeah, it’s in coaching us a little bit of both. So there is a framework. So you’re asking the client what do they want to coach on? You’re asking them what they want to walk away with at the end of the time together that they don’t currently have. And you’re asking them, how will we know when we’ve gotten there? So those are just three very common questions at the beginning of a coaching session. And those are similar questions I ask myself when I’m facilitating, what’s the topic, what’s the intended outcome? Where does the customer, because we all, even though we don’t have a boss, we do have a boss. All the customers we work with are bosses and how are we going to know when we got there? And then the flexibility is if in a session something has drastically changed. We started off today talking about the differences on what’s working and what’s not working in facilitation, but I’ve noticed a shift and now we’re starting to talk more about coaching and how do we apply this practice and you just throw it out there and you give it back to the group.

(29:03):
So I’ve noticed a shift. We want to still continue on this topic that we originally were slated for. Do we want to shift over and really spend a little bit more time on this? What’s most important to all of you today? That’s how you hand it. You just adapt and flex in the moment. And you do have a structure and a framework that you’re working within and a way in which you’re setting up for people to feel safe that we can do that. We can adjust if we need to. And as a facilitator, that’s part of your role. Does that answer your question?

Speaker 14 (29:30):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Maybe not.

Speaker 14 (29:33):
I’m not sure if I had an answer.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Okay, well good. Yeah. But how much direction you give to when people doing activities, that’s a choice. Some people are very linear and they want to know they’re doing it right as opposed to there really isn’t a right way to do things. We’re trying to learn and have an experience. So you want to give them that freedom.

Speaker 15 (29:54):
So in our conversation, we got a little tripped up on the word agenda because we’re like, well, she kind of mapped out an arc that we’re following. So from that perspective, the road was laid and we’re building the content of the road perhaps. So that was one conclusion, which is, well actually we didn’t really wrote on the road, but the road was already there. But then we also saw, well, maybe the question is really have we demonstrated techniques of how we could build a Jenna that’s not fully fleshed out? So we sort of saw two different questions, two different potential meanings in the question.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, because in my mind, I have a certain timing that I’m sticking to and there’s certain things I want to get through. But my first slide, the agenda of everything we’re going to do and how it’s all timed out and mapped out, it’s not that specific. Again, it depends on what your goal is, what you’re trying to accomplish. Back here

Speaker 16 (30:57):
A little bit following up on the outcomes that maybe you were talking about earlier, Jacqueline and I had a conversation around you saying letting go of the outcomes and kind of a little bit of a debate. Do you mean letting go of outcomes or letting go of the outcome that you had in mind? In my world, I have to drive outcomes through co-creation participation as a product manager in software, I can’t just facilitate yay. And then nothing actually happens. The outcomes out of facilitation, whether that’s a roadmap, whether that’s a solution that’s technical, whether that is a new idea. So I’m kind of curious, did we read that right? Can you a little bit explore more on the outcomes and exactly what you meant?

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, so I would argue that there’s different types of facilitation. So most of the facilitation that I do is leadership. So if you’re in technology or doing scrum or those kinds of things, and there’s certain, and it’s not like I get to walk into a company and go, oh, that was fun, but there’s really nothing that got accomplished, right? There has to be something. Same thing with coaching. There has to be a change. There has to be a shift. The letting go of it is the feeling that you are responsible for it. The group is responsible for what actually gets created. That’s the outcome that I’m talking about. I can’t control what you experienced today. I can’t control what you walk away with. All I can do is set up the environment and have a structure of things that we’re going to be doing. But if it shifts, I also have to be adaptable and flexible to move with that. So I know that in organizations, especially if you work within organizations, I do too, but you have to somehow prove your ROI of the work that you’re doing then taking all these people away and you’re spending all this time. And I think that that’s important. But I guess I would say it’s letting go of the fact that you have to walk out with something concrete that everybody is going to go do next. That’s not necessarily the outcome that is in every session, but it could be in some, right? It could be in some,

Speaker 4 (33:13):
I love that you gave the name non-directive coaching because that’s my coaching background and it’s people who have more directive coaching styles. It’s just like how does that, so could we give a name to different kinds of facilitation, more directive and more, yeah, I mean rather than trying to figure out which one is right or

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah, I, so I think that, like I said to me, there’s different types. There’s different flavors for what you’re trying to accomplish. And similarly, when I’m a coach, I don’t always do peer non-directive coaching. There’s sometimes when people haven’t heard of something or they just don’t know or about a resource or something, and I will offer it to them and say, something’s coming up for me that might be interesting to you. Would it be all right if I shared it? So I’m asking permission before I’m giving advice or resources or what have you. Most of the time people say yes because polite and they’re not going to say no, but I think it is using those things like salt and pepper, right? Not if you over season things with too much of your ideas, it doesn’t go well. And people then start depending on you as a facilitator or a coach to fix everything as opposed to, again, rule number one is, oh, you forgot rule number one. Yeah, you do the work, the group does the work. Your question,

Speaker 17 (34:44):
Just want to say one quick note. Thank you for one of the lines you said was teach in the debrief, and I thought that was particularly helpful, so thank you for letting us steal that from you. But the other thing that I’d maybe offer to the group is the concept that I think I also use this as a norm when I’m facilitating, but I say the phrase, the smartest person in the room is the room. And I think that helps continue to create a space for, I didn’t create that by the way, so you can steal that, but the smartest person in the room is the room and kind of explaining like we are collaborating together. We are co-creating together. And so I love what you said, teaching the debrief and using that same methodology, and I think that’s what you helped us participate in this morning and we’ve been doing it all day yesterday, is this idea that we’re co-creating together. So thank you.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, I’m going to steal that back in return. Absolutely. I think she had a question over here too, if we can get her a mic. Yeah, go ahead Kathy.

Speaker 7 (35:38):
I didn’t have a question more than a comment, but when I was talking to Walter over there, we appreciated the non-directive coaching and whoever said smartest person in the room is the room. We felt that in our working with our tables so appreciated. You kind of gave that framework, but we were able to work together to determine what direction it was really going to go. And so how I’m thinking about how would I bring that back into my world also in the delivery space is making sure that space is such that yes, we have an outcome we’re driving to, but the answer sits with the team that’s working on it. So making sure they have that space to kind of do what we did today, kind of set the direction.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Yeah, I love that the facilitator isn’t the expert. They don’t have all the answers. I want to make sure we get to this woman in purple here.

Speaker 18 (36:26):
Thanks. Yeah. Building off of some of the other comments, I think it’s useful to think of these things as different tools, different approaches that exist on a spectrum. And when we understand the different ways that they can be used, we can then align those distinctions to the purpose. Kind of thinking back to one of the early comments about, well, what if I am responsible for the outcome or a conversation we were having? Well, what if you’re the team lead and the facilitator? So understanding is this a coaching moment, is it a mentorship moment, is it a management moment? I’m actually just communicating, telling the story about the thing that’s already been decided so that we can be intentional about how we’re approaching whatever that interaction that we’re having, again in the facilitation, this a purpose and a moment where full participatory agenda makes sense and works for everyone. Or being able to use that dial as a spectrum. How much do I need to direct? How much to leave it open? But just having the full range of those possibilities available to us.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah. Isn’t it nice to have options, right? Yeah. Thank you for adding that. Oh, up here. Yeah.

Speaker 19 (37:35):
I have a question. So I’m watching, I’m participating, but I’m watching the pattern of why we did this session and that’s what happens when you present to facilitators, right? We’re going to be watching the technique as much as we are a part of it. I’ve heard some comments that there’s different levels of experience in the room as facilitators. So some people might say, well, I already know what a facilitator role is. I already know that the audience or the group, the room is doing the work. Is that something just because all human beings and we’re not perfect, is that something like gravity that we have to watch out for because facilitators are going to get a lot of attention that we’re naturally going to keep leaning in towards we have the knowledge because experienced or blah, blah, blah. How do you answer the people that have been like, Hey, I’ve been a facilitator for a long time. I’m fascinated by that perspective. Is this something we have to watch out for?

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah, I think our own ego, for lack of a better word, is definitely something we always need to watch out for. And our propensity, if you’ve always been the expert or if you know a lot about the group or the room that you’re in, it’s challenging to not consult. What I would say is that if you learn the skills of non-directive coaching, you can turn that on when it makes sense and you can turn it off when it doesn’t make sense. But I think the experience of the facilitator and experience of the coach for that matter, I think you always have to put yourself in the learner’s mindset to say, I don’t have it all figured out. I don’t stand up here telling you I know every single thing about coaching and facilitation. This is just the experience I want to share with you. So I think that’s my answer to that is always be watching for that and always keep the learners’ mindset.

Speaker 20 (39:29):
If I could say something about that. The mic runner for us, we explicitly tell our participants, you guys are the subject matter experts. We work for a healthcare company. None of us are in healthcare. You guys are the subject matter experts on laundry spend. We are the subject matter experts in facilitation. And we tell them, you guys are the superheroes, we are the guys in the chair, and we run through action items with them at the end of the meeting. But once that happens, goodbye, they’ve asked us for 30 day follow-up meetings for them. But at least for our facilitation, once we end this session, it’s up to them. I hope that’s helpful.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Very helpful. Oh, one more and then two more and then I’m going to move us forward.

Speaker 21 (40:14):
Thank you for this experience. I’m going to verbally drift towards the question. There’s one here, I’ll get to it. I promise. You talked a lot about coaching, coaching and facilitation, and I think there’s also some nuance between facilitation and consulting as we’ve started to allude to. I think oftentimes in my experience, people, my clients hire a facilitator, but they expect a consultant, if that makes sense. So even though we bring that process neutrality, there’s always questions that are veering into that subject matter expertise. I personally am comfortable having that neutrality. However, one of the things we talked about at our table was that as facilitators, we often arrive in a spirit of service to other people in the room. And I think this is a room where you say empathy and compassion in humans, we’re humans and we nod because we respond to people in that sort of way. So double clicking way into the room, not the client conversation, but you’re in the room and you have those participants who want you to be the expert. They want you to tell them how to do something even though you believe they’ve got it in them. I’m just curious what tips or tools you would offer in terms of how do you help empower people in the room to believe it in themselves if they don’t have that already?

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Yeah, I love that question. I love the drifting to the question too. I’m going to steal that as well. My mind just immediately clicked into coaching because I have coaching clients too that will tell me what to do. I don’t want to think about it. Just tell me what to do. And so the way that I approach that is I say, well, there are ideas that I’ve come up with. We are all smart people. We all have had different experiences and been exposed to things. And I’ll just say, I have a few things I’ve come up for me. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share those with you. And then I’ll serve ’em up on a platter, like three things. One thing that’s come up for me is this. The next thing that’s come up for me is that, and this final idea, you don’t have to do anything with any of them, but that’s the way I handle it, is I just put ’em out there is, yeah, I have ideas and things like that. That doesn’t mean they’ll work here, because what happens is what the trap is, is you, especially if I don’t work in the company, I put my thoughts out there, well, that won’t work here because you don’t know anything about manufacturing corn syrup, right? Well, no, I don’t. And so if you serve it up in such a way that people can say, okay, she’s giving us her ideas, that doesn’t, I may have to tweak it or I may not like it at all. That’s the way I approach that situation. Oh, okay. Go ahead.

Speaker 22 (42:56):
I would add to that too, in the facilitation setting, when someone asks me a question as if I’m the expert, I always say I might want to take a pass at that in a moment, but first I would like to put it out there to the group and let’s hear from

Speaker 1 (43:11):
The

Speaker 22 (43:11):
Wisdom and the brilliance and the expertise from the group first.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
Yeah, I love that too. Yeah, throwing it out to the group, the collective, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
This is more of an answer than a question, but it’s a useful metaphor that one of my coaches used in certification, which was, I’m going to take my coaching hat off and put my consulting hat on right now and tell you what I might know about this, and then I’m going to take my consulting hat off and put my coaching hat back on. It just helps to keep it clear. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Absolutely. And

Speaker 4 (43:41):
It could be true, the directive coach too. I’m going to be a directive coach here. I’m going to be a nondirective.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
I like that too. I forgot what I was going to say. I’ll come back. Alright, maybe one more and then we’re going to wrap us up here.

Speaker 7 (43:55):
I was going to say, I loved how you offered out your ideas. I borrowed something, I borrowed something from a coach I have, and sometimes when I’m talking to her, I’m like, I’m really kind of stuck. Not sure where to go with this. Let’s go on a shopping trip. So I’m going to show you what the store has. You have to tell me what direction you want to go, what’s going to work for you, your or your situation.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
But

Speaker 7 (44:15):
Oftentimes we find ourselves on a shopping trip.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah. Another couple quick questions I can tell you back for facilitating and when somebody asks me for my opinion, I’ll say things like, well, what’s most meaningful or important to you? What would it be like if you were able to solve that? So I think throwing it back, trying to throw it back as much as you can to the room versus what you alluded to, and I didn’t get your name but is now I’m the expert, right? And you want to just watch how many times you put yourself in that position if you’re truly trying to embody the structure that we’ve talked about today. Well, my timer is timing down on me here. So a couple superpowers. Okay, superpowers that I know you all have. And that coaching really espouses, which is first one is listening. We listen on three levels as a coach, we listen for the facts, we listen for the emotions, and we listen for what’s not being said.

(45:18):
So when Whitney Houston was Kooning to us this morning, how will I know what were the emotions that are part of that song? If you had to just shout a couple out. Vulnerable, angst, vulnerability, despair. Despair, uncertainty, uncertainty, right? So there’s emotions behind the words that people share. There’s also connecting the dots. If someone is sharing something with you and it’s becoming a theme, you say, there’s a couple of dots I’m trying to connect here. Let me just ask you if this resonates and correct me with whatever doesn’t. So a lot of it’s in how you position when you are going to make a statement as a coach and then always follow up with or facilitator it. Did I understand that correctly or what’s your reaction to that as I share that with you? So these are just techniques and things that we use when we’re trying to understand and listen. The other thing is to create space and silence. Silence is underused in our world today, and I’m always amazed when I just pause and let people think that more and more comes out. And you notice that today people ping pong off each other and ideas get grown from that. My advice to any leader, including myself, is talk less and talk less. If I ever write a book, that’s probably going to be the title. So nobody gets to steal it.

(46:50):
So the more you talk, the less other. You create less space for other people to be with their own ideas. So short statements, short questions brief, and then mirror neurons. Who’s heard of a mirror neuron? What’s a mirror neuron?

Speaker 20 (47:10):
It’s when Well, oh gosh, now,

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Oh, on the spot Could help,

Speaker 20 (47:14):
Isn’t it? When it fires in both people at the same time, or is that totally off?

Speaker 1 (47:20):
That’s close. Mirror neurons. Stick to

Speaker 20 (47:24):
Mic running.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
It’s okay.

Speaker 18 (47:29):
I think it’s when the same neurons fire in your brain when you see someone else doing it as if you were doing it yourself. Is that correct?

Speaker 1 (47:36):
That’s close as well. Yep. You are very scientific. Alright, so it’s the idea that when we, so I want you to, whoever you’re sitting across from, mirror their body language real quick. Pick somebody and just do the exact same thing.

(48:02):
Okay? What that does is it instantly creates comfort. It instantly creates comfort. So when you sit down next to someone, if you want to create a comfortable environment, mirror them. If you’re talking to someone with their language, if somebody says to me, gosh, I’m really frustrated with this situation. I don’t say, oh, it sounds like you’re super annoyed with that. I say, tell me more about what you’re frustrated about. I use the exact language because it’s comfortable. It’s their language. Annoyance and frustration could mean two different things to someone. So mirror language, use people’s words when they share with you. And our second superpower is inquiry. So the process of asking questions, questions that evoke insight, short, brief questions, they usually start with what or how. And then I’ll give you the magical question too, which is, if you woke up tomorrow and this situation was all resolved, what would be different? How would that have happened? What steps would you have taken? Because it forces us into future thinking versus our challenges right here, right now, which we can get kind of mired down in. And then always, where we talked about this extensively is avoid leading questions, which it sounds like, wouldn’t it be great if you just tried to do this? That’s a leading question. Versus what might you try?

(49:31):
So starting questions with what or how. There’s all kinds of books out there on questions that you can use. But those are two superpowers. So I, I’m going to end with, we’re not unfortunately going to run out of time for this part, but I want to ask you, what were your key insights from today? In coaching, we always ask, what did you learn about yourself? What are you taking away with you? And what type of support might you need? So as you end your sessions in facilitation, I invite you to try on some of these questions. What small experiments might you make? And the last question that I always ask is, what else do you need from our time together today to feel complete? What else do you need from our time together today to feel complete? So in my last question to all of you is, this is a reflective question, what will you use from our session today immediately? So take a few minutes and jot that down. And I thank you so much for your time and attention today.

Dr. Karyn Edwards’ session was a powerful reminder of the synergies between coaching and facilitation. By blending non-directive coaching with facilitation techniques, she empowered participants to embrace a more reflective, adaptable approach to their work. Her dynamic, engaging session left everyone inspired to incorporate new insights into their own facilitation practices.

The post Coaching and Facilitation appeared first on Voltage Control.

At the 2025 Facilitation Lab Summit, JJ Rogers presented an exciting session titled Radical Acts of Delight, where he shared innovative ways to bring joy and surprise into every facilitated session. As a product designer and UX expert, JJ’s approach blends design thinking with facilitation, encouraging facilitators to create delightful moments that not only engage but also inspire participants.

JJ’s journey into delight began in the world of user experience (UX) design. In UX, designers aim to delight users by exceeding expectations and reducing friction in digital products. But JJ’s understanding of delight took a deeper turn when he learned from his UX research colleagues that delight isn’t just about ease—it’s about two key emotions: joy and surprise. As JJ explained, delight is a blend of these emotions, each creating a memorable and impactful experience.

Beyond product design, JJ found this concept of delight in the field of facilitation. Drawing inspiration from the book Play by Stuart Brown, he discovered that delight could be defined as the anticipation of surprise, leading to a joyful discovery. The key, according to JJ, is to build that feeling of anticipation, creating the perfect environment for surprise to unfold. This surprise, in turn, leads to joy—the ultimate form of delight.

During his session, JJ introduced three Radical Acts of Delight that facilitators can easily apply to their own sessions to create engaging, enjoyable experiences for participants. These acts are not just energizers or icebreakers—they are methods that can be integrated into the core of any facilitated session to spark creativity and foster deeper engagement. JJ’s acts are designed to help facilitators overcome resistance to activities that may seem too lighthearted or “fluffy” for professional settings.

Here are the three Radical Acts of Delight that JJ shared:

Metaphor Cards: Metaphor cards were used to help participants look at their facilitation challenges through a new lens. JJ provided a deck of random metaphor cards, each one representing a different concept, and participants were asked to relate their facilitation challenge to a metaphor. For example, how could a beehive or a sandcastle relate to the challenge they were working through? This creative thinking exercise forced participants to make lateral connections, uncovering insights they may not have thought of otherwise. The drawing element came back here, as participants were encouraged to sketch their metaphor-driven ideas.

Drawing to Communicate: In many sessions, facilitators ask participants for written or verbal input. JJ’s first act of delight encourages using drawing as a tool to get participants to think creatively and express ideas differently. Participants were asked to use a phone app to draw prompts such as a pig, a highlight from the previous day, or a facilitation challenge they were facing. The goal wasn’t to create art but to engage the creative side of the brain and communicate ideas in new ways. This exercise not only activated joy and surprise, but it also deepened the level of conversation and enriched the ideas shared.

The Twist: This act builds on the element of surprise. JJ encouraged participants to design the “world’s worst meeting” by coming up with ridiculous or counterproductive ideas. This inverted thinking exercise prompted participants to step out of their usual patterns and think about a facilitation challenge in an entirely different way. This unexpected approach—combined with the fun of imagining the worst—helped participants unlock fresh insights and ideas.

Through these radical acts, JJ demonstrated how delight, joy, and surprise could not only engage participants but also create a more impactful and memorable facilitation experience. By blending creativity and humor with facilitation techniques, JJ’s methods encourage facilitators to step outside their comfort zones and embrace new ways of thinking.

JJ’s session was a refreshing reminder that facilitation doesn’t have to be all serious and structured. Sometimes, the most powerful moments of connection come from adding a little delight into the mix. By incorporating joy and surprise into your sessions, you can transform the way participants engage, collaborate, and create.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript of JJ’s Session:

Speaker 1:
Radical acts of delight. Working title was The Random Acts. Changed it a little bit.
For the past 10 years, I’ve been on a mission to bring more delight to my facilitated sessions, and today I’m excited to share some of those methods with you. So, that you can learn a little bit about it too.

So, as Erik mentioned, I started as a product designer. Well, I’m still a product designer. I work in user experience design, or UX for short, where we’re designing products and services, and mainly digital user interfaces.

And within the field of user experience, we have this notion, this concept. It’s everywhere. I cannot escape it. It’s been with me for years. It’s all about delighting the user.

It follows me everywhere, and if you asked me a few years ago how I would define this, I might make up some answer like, “It’s about understanding the user’s needs and trying to exceed their expectations,” or maybe, “It’s about removing the friction. So, it’s a really easy experience.”

But I’ve since learned a much cooler definition for delight. And I got this definition from working with some of my colleagues in user experience. So, within user experience design, we have … Some companies, if they have the budget and the technology, they have specialists that work in research. These user experience researchers focus on understanding the humans, understanding their needs, their wants, their fears, frustrations, and what’s really cool is they can study their emotions, and try and learn what’s going on in their heads, and using technology to read their emotional state as they’re using our products and services. It’s pretty cool.

There we go. What is delight? Now if you asked one of my colleagues, my user experience research specialists how they would define delight, here’s what they might say, “Delight is not a singular emotion. Delight is two emotions. Delight is joy coupled with surprise.”

Surprise and joy, that is what makes delight. And I love this definition. I love this definition, because maybe as a product designer, or someone who is always trying to solve challenges, this feels actionable. Joy on its own, sure, we can have fun, but surprise me with it? That feels like a challenge.

I recently ran into this definition of delight outside of the world of product design, and I was really excited, because it was in an area that’s more closely related to facilitation, what we do.

I was reading the book … Well, I was skimming the book, I read a portion of this book, I don’t know if anyone’s heard of this book Play by Stuart Brown. Okay. I’m seeing some nods.

So, in this book Stuart Brown talks about the stages that humans go through in the state of play. So, when we’re in a state of play, we go through these specific stages. And I was really interested in the final stage, the final stage in our brains is the pleasure state. So, that’s where the joy comes from.

Cool. But then right before the state of joy, right before that pleasure state, there is a key moment, and that key moment that he talks about is anticipation.

Anticipation. And I actually have the definition. He describes it as waiting with expectation, wondering what will happen, a little anxiety, slight uncertainty. Now that, there’s a limit. Right? That cannot be so great.

But that is what leads to surprise, that unexpected discovery, or idea, the shifted perspective, and then the joy that we find in delight. So, that anticipation leading to the surprise, leading to the joy. There it is, the definition right here within the state of play.

So, let’s play all the time. Right? No. We have work to do. We’ve got to solve that problem, work with that person. How many of you have been told you have to innovate?

When I think about the state of play, especially, in the workplace, in a professional environment, it takes me back to one of my earliest core facilitator trauma memories.

I was working for a design agency in Austin. We were fun and funky. And we always insisted on having our product, or our client kickoffs in person. We always wanted to do these discovery workshops in person. Either we’d fly to the client, or the client would fly to us. It was a really exciting time.

Most of the project would be done remotely, or distributed, but those first few days together is where we would lay those bricks of trust early. And in this particular instance, the client was flying in from California. It happened to be a Saturday, which is very strange. We never worked on weekends, but that was the only time we could really make it happen.
So, we’re all there ready for this day and a half, two day work of discovery and learning together, and planning out this project. We were gathered around a conference table like this. And the project manager stands up, “All right. We’re going to do the icebreaker.” Without missing a beat, the client stands up, “I didn’t fly halfway across the country on a weekend to sit here and play games.” Tension.

Well, I look over and some people are slowly looking down, but peeking through curious, “What’s going to happen? How is this going to be resolved?” I would love to tell you that we leaned into that moment. We folded. “Oh, yeah. We don’t need to do that icebreaker. No. No. We’re fine. We’ll just move on with the agenda.”
Not only that, on the first break, I get with my colleagues, and we start going through the agenda, “Take out that. That’s a little too fluffy. Ah, that’s extra. Team building? No. Connections-focused, joy-inducing fun?” Crossing it all off. It was a sad day.

Silver lining, we did not have a long-term relationship with that client. But I tell that story not because it’s … Well, it is … I’m over it, clearly. I tell that story … It’s a very violent reaction to an icebreaker. It sticks with you.
But because the resistance is still there. I still run into that resistance. Maybe not in the same form. It just comes in slightly different language. Like, maybe, “How do we be more efficient? How do we be more on task?” And maybe you’ve run into some of this too, “How do you move faster?”

And so, that is why I’ve designed my radical acts of delight to be used with any facilitated session. So, these are not simply designed to be relegated to a warmup, or an energizer, which are fun. Don’t get me wrong.
These are things that you can infuse into your core purpose, into whatever your go-to method is. When I started developing this idea, I had a list of 10, or 12. And I called them my hacks for delight. Right? Like, “Oh, yeah. This little hack here. You can just apply that in there. It’ll be great.”

What we’re going to do, because we’re going to practice today, is I’m going to show you three. And we’ll practice those three acts of delight that you can adapt to any of your sessions. Are you ready for the first of three acts?
Okay. All right. Our first act is going to be drawing. So, Sarah can participate too over there. She’s already doing that hard work.

Okay. So many of our days are filled with meetings and maybe Slack messages, or I think Microsoft Teams some people use, and while even your sessions, I’m sure the number of times you ask participants to provide input, it’s either written, or it’s verbal.

So, what we’re going to do today is practice drawing. We don’t just draw to create art. It’s about communicating differently, waking up your brain, using a different part of your brain for the creative thinking side.

And so, that is what we’ll practice. All right. So, I would like everyone to take out your phones. Did you know you’re going to draw not by using pens and Post-Its, but your phones?

Now I will say, if for some reason, we do run into technical difficulties, or this app is slow to load … And I did test it out, it does take a little time to load, by the way, so, give it some time. If you don’t have your phone with you today, you can still participate in this session. You can simply use the Post-Its and the markers at your tables in front of you, and you will still get all of the delight of drawing.

Is it loading? Okay. Fantastic. I see many of you have scanned it already.

So, you’ll see the prompt. It opens in the browser. Your first prompt is to draw a pig, and you will have about a one and a half minute to do that. I’ll get my timer going.

Okay. You’re putting the finishing touches on your pig. And we’re going to move onto prompt number two. So, you can simply hit done in your apps. You’re going to draw your top highlight from yesterday. Ooh. This one’s a little more abstract. How are you going to represent that?

All right. We are going to do one more drawing prompt, and then we’ll talk about it. You thought the last one was hard? You have 90 seconds, draw a facilitation challenge that you are looking to overcome.

All right. Wrap up those drawings. Time is up. Time is up. Let’s look through some of these.
So, this prompt is … We’re not going to really go into that. We’re going to explore it later. But I wanted to prime your brains to start thinking about it. That’s the only reason it’s in there.

So, I’m looking at some of your drawings. Wow. I see a lot of detail, some people. Look at this. We’ve got a champion. Someone’s celebrating themselves. Oh. I think I see a safety net.

We’ve got a cluster of Post-Its, but look at the detail and the color, and the lines. They’re used.

Oh, what else? Someone went to happy hour without us all. Okay. Let’s look at the piggies, because that’s really what I’m focused on here. You know my grandfather owned the pig farm. It gave me special powers. I can interpret the meaning of your pig. The way in which you drew your pig tells me how others see you, and how you see yourself.

So, let’s see, if the pig is drawn towards the top of the screen … That one is in the middle. If the pig is drawn towards the top of the screen … If it’s drawn towards the top of the screen, you are perceived as a positive and optimistic person by others.
Now if it’s drawn towards the middle like this, you have good space on the top and the bottom, you are perceived as a realist.
If it’s drawn towards the bottom of the screen, you may have a tendency to behave negatively under pressure. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Okay. Now the direction of your pig is very important as well. If your pig is facing left, you believe in tradition, are friendly, and remember dates and birthdays.

If it’s facing to the right, you are innovative and active, but you have a poor memory for dates and birthdays. And, of course, if it’s just facing towards the center, well, you are a direct person, and enjoy stirring the pot. How am I doing so far?
Legs are very important as well. If you have shown four legs, as quite a few of you have actually, you are secure. You stick to your beliefs, and you’ve been told, at least, once in life that you are stubborn. And that would be me.

And if you haven’t shown all four legs, so, anything less than four legs, you are living through a period of major change.
The ears are also very important. The larger the ears, the better listener you are.

And last but not least, the length of the pig’s tail correlates to the quality of your personal relationships. Like I said, it’s a family trait. Hope I got all of you.

Okay. Let’s see if I can do this. All right. We’re back in action. Can you take that? Thank you.

The reason I chose this app, and I met with the founder of this app too, is because they’ve done their homework on what drawing brings to the table. This app is designed for conference settings. So, that everyone can contribute. And they’ve done … Remember our UX researcher friends, those that run their quantitative studies and are trying to understand the emotions of people, they’ve used that same technology and they’ve found that using this app, or drawing, or doodling just happens to raise two emotions, your joy and your surprise.

So, right there is the delight. This is a screenshot I took directly from their website. I didn’t doctor it. But when I saw it, I was like, “Yes. That is why I’m going to use drawing as my first radical act of delight.”
Now I will give you a pro tip as well. So, how can you incorporate drawing into your everyday facilitated session? And, especially, for folks that are very uncomfortable, they’re new to drawing, it feels like a very professional workplace setting, how can you make that happen?

A pro tip is to combine what they’re more comfortable with, the short words or phrases, with the little drawing. So, have them contribute both, the short word, or phrase, and the drawing to just elaborate more on whatever they’re contributing to the conversation.

Now as a designer, yes, we do drawing all the time. My team draws prototypes, storyboarding, very purposeful drawing to visualize something, but this is them just contributing ideas to the meeting, just contributing to the conversation in a different way using Post-Its and drawing rather than just verbalizing.

Now depending on the contributor, you get all kinds, but at the top right there where you’re seeing the white finger there, she’s describing breaking up work into smaller pieces, and how she would like that work to flow, and be categorized in different ways.

So, you can see that there’s a lot more rich detail that now we can hone in on, ask questions about, and bring into the conversation.

Or my other colleague here with the pink Post-Its here contributed, “Remove logistical red tape.” What does that mean? So, he’s drawn, “Oh, these are specific tools that are impeding me, and there’s actually specific people that are blocking me,” that he considers logistical red tape.

So, there’s more richness to the conversation. And sometimes when you do compare an idea that’s communicated verbally, especially, in workplaces where the jargon flows, some ideas can just fall flat and contributing by drawing just gives it that much more richness and detail to go on.

All right. Without further ado, we are going to move onto our radical act two. This one’s perfect for anticipation, or building anticipation, and then a little surprise.

Now I trust most everyone is here, or most everyone here is familiar with The Wizard of Oz. If you’re not, it’s the sequel to Wicked. But in this movie, in case anyone just isn’t familiar, there’s a character of Scarecrow, and the scarecrow is pointing in a very particular direction.

Dorothy comes in on the yellow brick road, sees the scarecrow pointing that way, something happens, or some distraction, I don’t know, probably with her dog, looks back up, “Well, that’s funny. Wasn’t he pointing the other way?”
And that’s exactly what we’re going to do with our teams. We’re going to set them up towards our goal, towards our purpose, point everything in this direction, and then go this way.

So, I got this idea when I found myself using certain methods often, and I was really leaning in on these methods, leaning on them to do a lot of work, and I … “Why do I keep gravitating towards these particular methods?”

So, I don’t know how familiar you are with these. If you’re not, Tris, which we practice today, pre-mortem, or crapstorm. What all of these have in common is this idea of inverted thinking. So, you’re going towards the opposite.

I actually changed the activity a little bit today, because it was very similar to Karen’s. But, hopefully, that adaptation is even better. So, yeah. If you’re not familiar with this, Tris is a liberating structure. You’re trying to come up with the worst possible outcome. A pre-mortem, I think it comes from Gamestorming. I used it a lot at my design agency. You’re trying to imagine something died, something failed, why did it fail. So, you’re really exploring that failure before you explore success.
And crapstorm is just, “Let’s get all the bad ideas out on the table. Get the bad ideas out,” and it brings in a little bit of silliness. And I think that’s why I was gravitating towards it, because the lightness that it brings in in the beginning, hopefully, carries over when you do go into the direction you want everyone to go into.

It also forces your participants out of their typical cognitive patterns, and if you have participants where there is a strong fear of criticism, or rejection of their ideas, this is a great one to start with. It’s a safer exercise to get started.

All right. So, we’re going to start, and we’re going to do a little twist. We’re a group of facilitators. What is something we can design? Oh, I know. We can design the world’s best meeting. We’re all here. We have so much experience. Let’s do that together.

Let’s design the world’s best meeting. Let’s design the world’s worst meeting. And we’ll go the other way.
This prompt is a little broad. It’s pretty broad, and as experienced facilitators, I think you can hone in on very specific aspects of, “What makes a meeting poor? What makes facilitation poor?” As we already did in the last session.
So, I’ve pulled out some of the nuggets that maybe I’ve heard in the last activity that we did with Karen, and we’re going to explore those in a solo activity to start with.

Okay. So, everyone get your Post-Its and markers ready. I’m going to do the first one with you. I’m going to show you a series of pre-written prompts like what you see above me. And you’re going to answer them. These are inspired by Karen’s session.

Now I already did the twist part. So, you don’t have to twist these. You’re simply going to answer the prompts. Using markers and Post-Its as a solo activity, I’d like you to generate ideas, as many ideas as possible for each prompt, writing one idea per Post-It.

Now, like I said, I’ll do this first one with you. How might we provide unclear communication, and really create that confusion among our participants?

We could whisper the instructions like the Telephone Game, and go around the table until everyone has the clear instructions. We could get really silly, and give directions using whale noises.

All right. So, you get the idea. We’re going to move fast, we’re going to go through four prompts. You’re going to have two minutes per prompt. Again, one idea per sticky.

Are you ready? And away we go.

All right. Moving onto prompt two, ah, oops. How might you avoid conflict, and difficult conversations altogether?
All right. Onto number three. How might you create a space that encourages silence and non-participation? How can you ensure there is no participation?

Okay. Let’s move onto the last one. Cutting this one a little short. How might you ensure your personal opinions influence the group’s decisions?

Okay. What we’re going to do is some table sharing. So, for your table sharing, I want you to look through your pile of ideas. You have so many stickies in front of you. That is a mountain.

And I want you to pick two. Now I want you to pick two of the most twisted ideas, the Cher-worthy ideas, the most audacious that you feel like contributing to your table.

So, once you have your two Post-Its selected, hold them up in your hands, and that signals to your table that you’re ready to share. When everyone at your table has their two up, then you can go ahead and start sharing. We’re going to have about 10 minutes to share at your tables.

Speaker 2:
Across all four questions, or two-

Speaker 1:
You can pick two across all four questions. Great clarity.

Now we’ll probably have time to share more. Just being honest. But I want, at least, two per person. So, everyone has an opportunity to contribute. And when your table is ready, begin.

All right. How was that? It didn’t take long for the laughter. The indicators of delight were there.
Okay. I’m going to twist the cap on this radical act. I want to ensure you’ve been given the opportunity to practice the actual twisting part of taking something, and then what is the opposite prompt?

And so, what we’re going to do to practice that is do you remember the third drawing prompt that I gave you? The challenge, what facilitation challenge are you looking to overcome in 2025?

So, I would like you to take two Post-Its, just two, lay them side-by-side, and we’re going to write our facilitation challenge for 2025.

So, here’s some examples. It could be really simple. Maybe your meetings aren’t starting on time. You want your Zoom participants more engaged. Or something loftier, creating a safe space for experimentation and learning.

Now to twist it, you can twist it any way you want to, but you’re really trying to find what is the opposite of that goal? So, here is the opposite. You can just usually change one word.

Or you can be a little more specific, if there’s a specific maybe aspect you want to change. So, create a safe space for experimentation becomes demonstrate it’s not okay to make mistakes.

This is your goal. You can do as you wish to twist it, but really trying to find what is the opposite of that?

So, I’ll give you not a lot of time, just two minutes, and I want you to write down your goal, and create a twisted version of your goal.

All right. We’re going to move on from the twist. Thank you for playing that. Actually, before we move on, I do want to say the reason that I love the twist is because, and I think I said this earlier, ultimately, when you do move the group towards the direction you want them to go, we went this way, and this created some lightness, it got a little silly, but, well, one, the conversations are more richer, because you can draw on what they learned when they went that way, but also all that lightness, all that trust that you built among the tables carries over into the next exercise.

All right. Let’s move on to creative connections. Now the two Post-Its you have at your table, the twisted opposite version, I don’t care about that anymore, you can throw that away, crumple it up, move it somewhere else, I want you to focus on your facilitation challenge for 2025 for this next activity.

So, creative connections. I first learned about this, or experienced this, in art school. Or maybe from Bob Ross. I don’t know what came first, but the idea of happy accidents. “Oops. I splattered the paint here,” and, “Oh, it’s really cool.”
Like, you can look at something more objectively, and go, “Oh, yeah. I actually want that now.” Or, in my case, I was more graphic. So, I’d be accidentally aligning graphics, and I’d realize I created something way cooler than I ever planned.
And so, that’s what we’re going to practice today, creative connections. It comes from this concept of lateral thinking. I Googled lateral thinking, I read a lot of descriptions of lateral thinking. It’s a hard concept to understand.

The easiest way that I found explaining this to my team was explaining a person digging. So, if you imagine … And, again, it’s the difference between … So, lateral thinking versus logical thinking is if you imagine someone digging a hole, they’re using their logical brain, and they’re connecting ideas that are very closely connected in their brain. It’s taking the shortest neuropathway. They’re things that already go together and make sense. And they’re digging that hole deeper, and deeper, and deeper.

Now lateral thinking is choosing not to dig deeper. Choosing to dig over here, and see what comes up, and then choosing to dig over here, and see what comes up.

Our brain doesn’t like to do that. It’s illogical. They’re not as closely connected in our brain. So, we have to coax it to do that, to make these connections that don’t typically go together.

And so, one of the ways we’re going to do that is … Oh, let me tell you an example I did with my team. This was fun. We used Tarot connections.

Speaker 3:
Yes.

Speaker 1:
Picking Tarot cards, and, again, this wasn’t just for ideation. This was just a team conversation around team dynamics, and issues that came up. But we used Tarot. There’s a GPT Tarot AI reader.

And you can even input the subject matter you’re talking about, and you get a pretty good reading on the Tarot card you drew, and the subject matter. And we use that as inspiration. It started different conversations. We thought about different areas we maybe never would have taken the conversation down before.

We are going to practice this today. Not with Tarot. Sorry to disappoint. Not with Tarot, or not using GPT AI. Instead, we’re going to use metaphor cards. And I have these at your tables in envelopes. These metaphor cards vary. Some are nouns, are some, like, professional roles, some are actions, all sorts of random metaphors.

And we’re going to help, we’re going to use these metaphors to help solve our challenge, your facilitation challenge that you have in front of you today.

So, you all have your personal facilitation challenge. What you’re going to do is take that challenge, and try and relate it to one of the metaphors, these random metaphors that you’re going to select. And you’re going to allow that.
Each metaphor card does have a little bit of a description. So, if you aren’t familiar with that thing, you can use that to help guide you in understanding what that metaphor card is, or you don’t even have to use it. Maybe you have your own ideas about what taking care of plants means to you.

Not only will we write our idea, we’re going to draw our idea too. We’re going back to drawing. Now the first time I saw this, the first time I was truly stunned actually by using metaphor cards, I was working with a nonprofit, and the CEO, or founder of the nonprofit, she was having trouble with her training program, just a heavy subject matter, post-partum depression, and wanted to just rebuild her training program, knew there was a problem there. So, that was her challenge.
And she drew a metaphor card, and got taking care of plants. And it was really amazing to watch her work, and explain this, but she pulled the metaphor card, and she came up with an idea.

She drew three potted plants, one little potted plant with a sprout, a medium potted plant that just needed some watering, and some maintenance, and then a bigger potted plant that needed pruning, or something.
And her idea was these levels of training. “Oh, well, we’re going to start with this really simple foundation training just like when you’re potting a plant, and you need to add the soil, and prepare the groundwork to get it to grow.” And then you know what? “We need a regular maintenance training. So, that we can bring in all the new information that we’ve learned recently, and really reinforce these ideas.”

And so, that’s, like, just watering a plant weekly. But then every so often, about once a year, we need a big reset. Things change within the organization, so, just like repotting a plant, we’re going to have that big reset training.
And just like that, she just rattled off her new training program inspired by this metaphor. And I was just like, “Who are you? Did you have this idea before?” “No. I just thought of it from this metaphor card.”

So, it’s pretty fascinating. Now not every idea is going to be a winner, and that is the point. So, we’re going to go through some rounds where you’re going to be able to choose different metaphors to help inspire your idea.
All right. Are you ready? So, we’re going to set it up like this. You have your challenge next to you. Now I’d like you to take your metaphor cards, and spread them out into the middle of the table. Like, a goldfish pond. Cards face-down. So, everybody can just choose one. Like, a goldfish pond.

All right. Everyone, choose your first metaphor.
All right. Now with your first metaphor, you’re going to use it to come up with an idea to solve your facilitation challenge. You will write your idea on a Post-It, but you will also draw it.

All right. We’re going to go pretty fast here. You’re going to get two minutes for a prompt. Your first two minutes starts now.
All right, everyone. Pass your card to the left. Pass it to the left.

And your two minutes on this new metaphor starts now.
Okay. Two minutes is up on that idea. For your next one, pass your card to the left.

Okay. Wrapping up this round, we’re going to do one more round of this. For this one, throw your cards back in that fishpond, and go fish. Pick any card you want, any card you want, and this will be your last round.

Okay. Pencils down, drawings down. Let’s debrief a little bit. I’m so interested to learn a little bit about your ideas, and, well, your facilitation challenge first of all, and then how these metaphor cards inspired a creative idea.

Were any of these ideas unexpected? Hopefully. Anybody have any click moments, or ahas?

Speaker 4:
Over here.

Speaker 1:
Yes. If you are compelled to share one idea, raise your hand.

Speaker 5:
First of all, I’d like to say, “Thanks, Skye, I appreciate that.” Putting me on blast over here. I did exclaim in the middle of this, I was like, “Oh, shit.”

I’m a notorious hater of cards. I think they’re weak and lazy. And so, I was coming into this with like, “Man, what is this nonsense?” To be fair, you’ve been the best of the whole thing, by the way, but this exercise. And your stupid-ass cards gave me, like, four ideas that I did not think I could generate.

And also I thought my problem was similar to others, which is facilitation I think is undervalued. It’s, like, where the magic is, but you get paid more for strategy, and reports, and all this. And I saw other people say that.
And so, I was like, “There’s no way this is going to work for that challenge.” And it seemed to have generated some things I didn’t think I could do. So, thank you very much.

Speaker 1:
Awesome. Very cool. Thank you.

Speaker 6:
So, my challenge was … Is this on? Oh, my challenge was pretty generic, full sessions of engaged people. And the different cards helped me break out of the container that I thought sessions needed to be in to think differently about what is the user looking for? Because the cards were all about giving the user more agency over how they interacted with a thing.
And it was a real good flip for me in thinking about just what does a session mean even?

Speaker 1:
Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Right behind you.

Speaker 7:
The Duolingo app helped me think about actually gamifying my client’s pathway through what I’m offering them. I’m really resistant to structure, and I want to play and be in the creative divergent space. And so, actually gamifying it, like, having a Candy Land-like thing that they move through is something that I’m going to do.

And then I want to mention the alarm clock. Convergence excellence, like, excellence in convergence thinking is something I want to embody this year. And I’m just going to set an alarm halfway through the session as my convergence alarm-

Speaker 1:
[inaudible 00:42:35].

Speaker 7:
… and it’s like, “Hey. It’s time to start whittling down. We need to get out of idea land, and put some stuff on paper.”

Speaker 1:
Great. Awesome.

Speaker 7:
There you go.

Speaker 8:
I love this, because I’ve done creative problem solving force connections, which is a group … Or it can be a group, or individual activity, but there are not all these prompts.

And what I really appreciated about the three different prompts is I didn’t take it at face value and go in a convergent kind of thinking. This created divergent thinking for me to get me into a different frame of mind rather than simply a, like, “Let’s play.” It was, “Let’s play and …”

Speaker 1:
Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

Speaker 9:
I really like this too, because sometimes you need something sticky to get people excited. So, that they remember, and so forth. By using this metaphor, you can frame it at the beginning of the workshop, and they can visually see like, “We’re going to start with a lot of little baby ideas, and then get bigger, and then weed, and then really come up with these big ideas.”

It’s just something to visualize. Like, the different sections of a workshop potentially.

Speaker 1:
Thank you for sharing.

Speaker 10:
I’m stuck in the messy middle. Over here on your right.

Speaker 1:
Messy middle? Okay.

Speaker 10:
My problem is making more clearer lasting decisions in an executive leadership forum. And my anti-pattern is just talk and don’t make decisions, and we’re stuck there right now.

What was interesting with the cards was I was trying to map … Like, I had a beehive, and I had a sandcastle, and a couple of others, and it was interesting to try to figure out, “Well, what is what?” Between the metaphor and my problem space. Like, in the sandcastle case, I was like, “Well, okay. Maybe the decision is the sandcastle,” which was a natural conclusion.
But then I’m like, “Oh, but then destruction.” So, the ocean taking it away is actually the communication, and the rollout, and all that. So, that was an interesting decomposition.

For beehive, I’m like, “I’m not sure.” I happen to be a beekeeper. So, I’m way biased on this one. I’m like, “Who are the drones and who are the queen …” But it was just interesting to try to use the idea spaces and the metaphor to map them to the problem space, because that brought in a whole bunch of other things I didn’t think about in the problem space. So, helpful.

Speaker 1:
Great. Thank you. And I use this as a solo activity. Primarily, because this is your challenge, and you’ve very familiar with it already. This is much more successful, if you can really understand the problem space. At least, in my experience.
And so, if I had you all just do one problem you weren’t as bought in on, or had the background knowledge, the ideas would have been a little flatter.
I think we had … Right there.

Speaker 11:
The metaphor helped me, I guess, because, visually, I was able to come up with specific behaviors related to that metaphor. And I’ll give you an example.

Speaker 1:
Okay.

Speaker 11:
Like, one of my cards was Uber ride-sharing app. And something on the card prompted me to write, “Request on demand.” And it was like, “Hello. I need a website.” Like, “How would people even ask me to facilitate something if they don’t know where to reach me?”

So, it was, like, that’s a very specific behavior, and then it might even lead to more behaviors I could do to get closer to that. So, I like the metaphor. It’s, like, it took the onus off me being the creative thinker, and just letting me think through the lens of Uber, “What are they doing that is replicable?”

Speaker 1:
I like that perspective. A couple more or … Whoever.

Speaker 12:
I got one over here. I, specifically, really liked drawing the pieces, because it shifts your mindset. I think if I were to do it again, I would almost draw it first, and then start putting words to it, because I think that takes your brain to a different space.

And, yeah. It helped me get to some solutions here, specifically, with the beehive, and the different compartments that are within it.

Speaker 1:
Awesome. Yeah. I agree with you there about the drawing. Yes.

Speaker 13:
They should have pushed-

Speaker 14:
I guess my question is how do you create these-

Speaker 1:
Yeah.

Speaker 14:
… prompts?

Speaker 1:
Yeah.

Speaker 14:
Because they’re very valuable clearly.

Speaker 1:
Well, I stole some of them. Yeah. I don’t know. Through participating in, I don’t know, Design-A-Thons, and things like that, there’s a couple of them I remembered, and then I just took the themes like, “Oh, this is an app. What are some other apps people are familiar with that are unique?”

So, then I created more, or, “This is a role or a job.” I also sometimes use ChatGPT. “Come up with prompts.” Usually, they’re very generic, and I have to edit a lot but …
Yes. In the back.

Speaker 15:
So, I’m going to try and connect three talks together. So, bear with me as I try and land this triple axel. So, I started off with a fear from Skye’s talk, which is my goal, what I want to tackle in 2025 is confidently leading a session without my more senior team members there. I can lead a session within there, fine, but I get nervous if I’m the most senior person in the room.

And so, linking it to the museum habit, or the museum card, I was thinking about the only way that I’ve been able to establish a habit for working out is by taking a picture every time I do it, and that’s, like, the museum.
And so, I’m thinking with this, “What if I had this area of all of the places where I’ve gotten nice feedback on my facilitation?” So, that, number one, I can show that to clients, and, number two, I can show myself evidence that I am actually a competent facilitator.

And just because the senior people aren’t there doesn’t mean they’re gone.

Speaker 1:
Love that. Love that. Thank you. All right. We are going to wrap up there. Thank you, everybody.
So, in closing, and as you practice these delight-ers, I started with something easy, drawing, and then moved it into some more advanced ones like the twist, or the metaphors.

But I want you to think about how these can be applied to any of your facilitated sessions. It doesn’t have to just be even for idea generation.

Now I want to leave you with this, thank you for showing up to delight your participants, especially, when it feels like there’s a lot of separation and conflict. What you’re doing to bring people together, lift them up, that is truly a radical act.

Thank you.

JJ’s Radical Acts of Delight offered powerful tools for facilitators to make their sessions more engaging and memorable. Whether you’re designing a workshop, meeting, or retreat, his approach to creating delight will help you foster a more dynamic and participatory experience for all.

The post Radical Acts of Delight appeared first on Voltage Control.

At the 2025 Facilitation Lab Summit, Skye Idehen-Osunde led an empowering session titled Building Trust and Credibility: Creating Psychological Safety in Facilitation. Known for her dynamic approach and expertise in fostering inclusive spaces, Skye’s session captivated attendees and offered practical insights into facilitating with authority and authenticity.

Skye began by energizing the room with a fun icebreaker, inviting everyone to stand up and move to the beat of a song. The lighthearted activity set a positive tone for the session and got participants engaged right from the start. Once the group was warmed up, Skye introduced the session’s main theme: how facilitators can build psychological safety and credibility within any group they lead.

With a focus on practical techniques, Skye guided participants through strategies to create spaces where everyone feels seen, heard, and respected. She emphasized the importance of being vulnerable and authentic as a facilitator—acknowledging when you don’t have all the answers and ensuring the room feels safe for all perspectives.

Skye’s session was rooted in the idea that credibility and psychological safety go hand in hand. She shared her personal experiences with pop-up rules, ground rules established at the beginning of a session to foster openness and trust. These simple agreements, she explained, create a foundation for vulnerability, inclusion, and active participation.

Throughout the session, Skye led participants in several interactive activities that demonstrated these principles. One of the most engaging activities, Likes and Dislikes, asked attendees to find someone from a different table, share something personal, and connect over their mutual interests. This low-stakes interaction not only helped people break the ice but also established the kind of environment where vulnerability and connection could thrive.

Skye also stressed the need for facilitators to be mindful of the group’s energy and to adjust their approach when necessary. Whether working with internal or external groups, facilitators must understand the dynamics at play and ensure that everyone feels empowered to speak up, especially when difficult or sensitive topics arise.

A powerful moment of the session involved an exercise where participants reflected on their own fears and insecurities as facilitators. Skye encouraged the group to write down their fears and then symbolically “toss” them away. This activity not only allowed individuals to acknowledge their concerns but also served as a reminder that facilitators must continually work to release these fears in order to show up as their best selves.

The session concluded with a Safety Net Pledge, where participants made a collective commitment to uphold psychological safety and credibility in their own work. Skye reinforced the idea that building safety is an ongoing process that requires reflection, adaptation, and a willingness to grow.

Skye’s session offered invaluable tools and insights for facilitators at any level. Her dynamic energy, combined with practical strategies for building trust and safety, left attendees with a deep understanding of how to create environments where everyone can thrive.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript of Skye’s Session:

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Thank you all. So I need everybody to stand up. Because it’s day one, I need you to do a little dance. Raise the roof. Do what you got to do. Let’s go. Y’all know this song, right? I feel like I need more energy. What’s your name? Danny? Danny. Come here, Danny. Danny… Danny… There you go. Oh. Oh, you out dancing me, Danny? I love it. All right. Thank you all for humoring me. Thank you, Steven. Give a round of applause to the DJ. Thank you all so much.

Again, my name is Skye Idehen-Osunde. I’ll be on stage, I’ll be down here, I’ll be walking throughout the crowd. But I’m so excited to be here tonight really talking about the safety net, what it means to build psychological safety and credibility as a facilitator. Anyone need that? A lot of us are internal facilitators. Some of us are external facilitators and consultants. And so there needs to be an air of what it means to walk in this space with authority and own it. Okay? So that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

One of the things I want to be able to do is just give you an opportunity to get to know folks at your table and in the space. And so we’ll be doing a lot of interactive activities. And so I would want us to kick off with an opener, which I like to call likes and dislikes. And what I would love for you to do is I want you to get up and find someone at a different table, because you’re going to be at your table a lot. All day, right? So I want you to be able to interact and get to know someone else in this space. It might also help with your bingo card, like take notes, [inaudible 00:01:49]. But I want you to just introduce yourself, your name, your current role, what you’re doing, what brought you here, and what you’re hoping to get out of the session. And one thing I want you to share is with one like and one dislike. So an example, which I’ll share in the next slide when we come back is one of my likes, I really love anime.

Lily:
Hey.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Sailor Moon is my jam. Okay? Inuyasha? Come on, we’ll talk about it. So I love anime. That’s one of the things I love that you would just not assume to me. I’ve been to Comic Con, like I just love anime, okay? And one of my dislikes is, has anyone heard of trypophobia? What’s your name?

Lily:
Lily.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Lily. What is that?

Lily:
[inaudible 00:02:38].

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Trypophobia. That’s a fear of holes, clusters. Anyone look at like an ant pile or honeycomb or speckle on the ceiling and you get goosebumps and immediately you have stop looking at it? Yeah, that’s me. That’s me. So that’s one thing I just don’t like, a lot of clusters of things. It’s just not my thing. So what I want you to do is I want you to go ahead and stand up and find someone in a different part of the room and go ahead and follow the prompts. You’ll have five minutes.

I’d love to hear one or two pairs. What’s one thing you learned about the person you just met? Who would like to share?

EJ  Peterschick:
EJ  Peterschick from the Seattle area. I got the joy of talking to Tamara from the county area, Arizona. We were talking about, as Eric alluded to, the need for this skill set in the world more than ever, and by many names. And so we were actually talking about ways that you can bring your acumen and room facilitation to the political space and maybe being a trusted advisor, consultant to people in that sphere. You don’t necessarily have to do everything, but we have the skill. So I’m pretty excited to see where Tamara is going to go with it.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Alright. [inaudible 00:04:15] Tamara’s way. [inaudible 00:04:15] Yeah, clap it up. Clap it up. Thank you for sharing. Do we have another pair? Yes. Galen, right?

Galen:
Galen.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Galen. Heywood?

Galen:
Heygood.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Heygood. Hey, good.

Galen:
So we got Annie Love there. So Annie’s loves with Annie Love. And I thought it was an interesting contrast. The thing that she loves to do is climb mountains and go to great heights. And you know those kind of people are ultra aggressive. No losing, not on my watch, but yet the things she came to this conference for was to become a better listener, so I think that’s [inaudible 00:04:52].

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Wonderful. Thank you for sharing. All right, so again, we want to continue building connections, getting to know each other, utilizing the bingo cards to use that as a breaker to engage in conversation. And so we’re asking for you to be open to that through our time together today. A little bit about me. My name is Skye. I do facilitation in my business that I’ve had for four years. I love what I do. I tend to work around creating psychologically safe spaces and ensuring that everyone that I interact with feel heard, valued, and celebrated. I’ve worked with a lot of great companies, lots of corporate, lots of non-profit. And so, one of the things I love about facilitation is that I don’t necessarily need to be the expert at the company or the work, but I need to be an expert at what it needs to bring teams together to make sure that people feel safe and heard and valued in interactions with me coming in as an external facilitator.

Some of the things again that I like, dislike, and get to be a part of the conversation is I love food, obviously. I love to travel. So if anyone’s looking for wish fairy, like the cheapest way to travel anywhere, come find me to work for a travel startup. I love community and my faith is really the foundation of everything I do. Dislikes, I don’t like anything from the sea. Okay? Don’t ask me if I like shrimp. Don’t ask me if I eat sushi. No, none of the above. Okay? Again, honeycombs, butterflies, birds, anything that flutters, we need a separate place. Just don’t let it be around me. Okay? You’re going to see me doing a little dip and a dive if I see birds or anything coming towards me. Okay?

So on today’s journey, we’re going to go ahead and talk about what it means to really create a safe space. So we’re going to talk about the importance and the purpose of pop-up rules. We’re going to talk about what it means to define psychological safety. We’re going to talk about what the safety net is and how credibility intertwines in all of that. And then we’re all going to end with a safety net pledge. Sound good?

All right, so pop-up rules are really an opportunity to create a safe space in a short, intentional way. And so I can create a pop-up for this particular session. You can have pop-up or ground rules or agreements for the day. And so for this particular session, I really want us to be in alignment and on the same page of being fully present. I know we’re using phones, all of that, but you need take a call, step out, no checking in on baby boy in the middle of the session. So really trying to be as present as possible, respecting all the voices and all perspectives. Really this idea, I don’t know if folks are on social media, this idea of listen and we don’t judge, right? So this is a no-judgment zone. So again, being open to hearing all those perspectives and when you’re hearing different perspectives and different voices, making sure that we’re not judging.
Vulnerability is the new cool. I love it. I love when people are able to be their most authentic selves. Going into, leaning authentically into this session and our time together. If you don’t know something, say you don’t know it. I’m a facilitator. If you ask me something I don’t know, I’m going to be like, “That’s a great question. I don’t have the answer for that, but I will follow up with you.” And so sometimes it’s really important for us to really be vulnerable and be transparent and lean into that fully. And then SpongeBob “facilitator” Pants. Okay? So just be sponge, just soak it in. Okay? I wish I had a SpongeBob outfit. I would’ve really put it on for this presentation, but I didn’t think it was appropriate. So that’s why I wore yellow. See what I did there?

All right. So are there any other pop-up rules that you feel like could be included or that you would utilize in spaces where you’re facilitating? Is it Lily?

Lily:
Lily?

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Lily. Go for it.

Lily:
I’d like to add to the we listen and we don’t judge self-editing. So don’t judge yourself, like come authentic, come vulnerable. Don’t edit what you’re going to say if you perceive you’ll be judges.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Yeah, that’s good. Can we snap to that? Because I think sometimes as facilitators, we are so much in our heads that maybe in the middle of a session we might’ve said the wrong thing or that phrase didn’t come out correctly or your slides messed up and you’re like in your head trying to be present and you’re like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I made that mistake.” And you’re hearing that talk throughout your time. And so we want to make sure that we’re releasing that and that we’re leaning into it is okay to make mistakes. It is okay to show humanity and humility in the way you show up as a presenter. That’s how you connect. That aids in how you are building credibility.

All right, so as we look at this really blurry picture, what do you see here? What do you see here? Look really close. If you squint your eyes, you could see it. What do you see here? Just shout it out. Frustration.

Audience member:
Chaos.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Chaos. Conflict.

Audience member:
Out of focus.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Out of focus. Look, you see what I did there? I didn’t do that on purpose, but I see how you came and saved me there. Thank you.

Speaker 6:
Angst.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Angst. Tell me about angst.

Speaker 6:
I’m looking at that guy in the back there. He looks miserable. Just not having a good time, not enjoying the time with this group.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Just angst. If you look at it really closely, it kind of looks like Eric. I did that on purpose too. I saw the picture, I said, “That’s the one.” What else are we seeing?

Audience member:
Laptop. Stand still.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Laptop. Stand still. Unengaged.

Audience member:
Unused sticky notes.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Unused sticky notes. Overuse of sticky notes, right? What’d I hear?

Audience member:
No facilitator.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
No facilitator.

Audience member:
No eye contact.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
No eye contact.

Galen:
This is what it looked like after we traded Luca Dungeon.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
I love it. So there’s a lot that we’re seeing in this, right? So as facilitators, in order for us to really come into a space and be credible and to create a safe space, we need to be able to really understand and curate what that space and energy feels like. We need to come in with our toolkit, which we’ll do a few activities today to prepare you for what that looks like so we never get to a space like this. Because how deflating is it as a facilitator to look at a group and they’re completely unengaged or they’re not really paying attention or they’re feeling the chaos in the space?

It’s not a good feeling. And then it goes back to that negative talk in life, the self-defeating feeling of like, I’m not meeting the expectations and I’m not getting closer to the outcome that I came here for. And so we want to move to a space, again, think of this as being blurry of, again, there’s engagement, there’s joy. Going what Eric said, we want joy in this space. What are some other things you see in this?

Audience member:
Shared ideas.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Sticky notes.

Audience member:
Shared ideas.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Shared ideas.

Audience member:
Feels effective. They’re listening to each other.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Effective. Effective listening. Listening to each other.

Audience member:
Smiling.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Say it again?

Audience member:
Smiling.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Smiling.

Audience member:
Eye contact.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Eye contact, right?

Audience member:
One conversation.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
One conversation. Collaboration. I heard that in the back. And so when we’re effective at creating this safe space, when we’re effective as coming in as the expert and being very credible and making sure that we’re connecting with people in the room, and we come in with a plan and a structure of what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and how we’re going to move the group towards their outcome, you get this. Right? And so we have to come in prepared. And so we’ll talk a little bit more about why it’s required to really understand what it means to bring in the safety net. So I want to bring up, I don’t know if anyone’s seen the session labs report of facilitation. Anyone’s seen that? It’s really good.

Since I was one of the thousand people who participated in it because I just love facilitation, and the research in that is really good. So if you have not seen the session last stated facilitation report, it just came out within the week. Feel free to look at that. So as Brene Brown says, “Who we are is how we lead.” Who we are is how we lead. And it says, “I would stretch it further to say who we are is how we facilitate.” So I don’t want to get in the weeds because I also do a lot of diversity, equity and inclusion, facilitation, but how we show up a hundred percent dictates on how the room moves. So what are we bringing in? What are the biases that we’re checking at the door? What is the knowledge that we’re bringing into this space? How are we holding folks accountable to harmful behavior? It really boils down to how we operate outside of that facilitative space.
And so we want to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to be reflective, to be self-aware, to really understand our triggers as facilitators, what are those sticky topics that you’re just fearful of or you don’t feel as comfortable with?

Really being very in tune to what that is then gives you an opportunity to then prepare for that. So what are your kryptonites? And really understanding that gives you the opportunity to then turn them into superpowers. And so you need to really understand who you are as an individual. You shape the space. As an external facilitator, internal facilitator, they’re looking to you for direction. And so when we think about that, we have to really have an understanding of what psychological safety is. So psychological safety at its core is really a shared belief that we’re creating a safe space, that we’re making sure people feel seen, valued, and heard.

And we’re doing it without judgment. We’re creating space for risk-taking, take pictures, do all the things you need to do, but we’re doing it without this air of embarrassment or fair. People at its core, when we’re bringing groups together, it’s a really special opportunity. I’ve always said this. When you go home to your dinner tables, when you go home to family holidays, gatherings, you’re likely not having really diverse conversations. And so when you have an opportunity to be in workspaces or in opportunities like this where you’re voluntarily coming in, it gives you an opportunity to stretch, to practice, to understand and hear different perspectives. And so the more you’re able to place yourself in these spaces, the more you’re going to be able to pick up the tools necessary to then inherently create those psychologically safe spaces. But again, it starts with you. If you’re not a safe person, you’re not going to be able to create a safe space. Okay?

So here’s some information on why it’s impactful. So 26% of employees feel safe to take risk without fear. Only 26%. It’s like one in four. So I want you to put yourself in this in your spaces, maybe where you’ve worked before, organizations you’ve been a part of, right? There’s probably been some hesitancy. I mean, it’s 2025, let’s be real. Woo, right? So we’re probably in spaces right now where we’re not really fully comfortable speaking up or speaking out or saying anything. We’re just kind of in observation mode right now. But there’s some people that perpetually stay in that. And so how do we reach those individuals to make sure that they feel safe enough to take risks and to have conversations or to ask the questions that they want to ask without fear of judgment.

76% of organizations have higher psychological safety and they see an increase in engagement. So that’s really important. If I feel like I belong in my organization or my team, or I’m an external facilitator and I’m creating a safe space where people are excited to just walk into the room and they’re like, “Ooh, I like this energy. I’m putting myself down. I’m fully engaged in this person,” they’re likely going to be more engaged. And so the more we can lean into that psychological safety, the easier it’s going to be for us to then show up as credible and as the leader or the expert or the authority figure in that space in that setting. Anybody got $1.6 billion in their account? I wish I did. But fear of speaking up. When we’re thinking about bottom line, when you’re going to your organizations and where you’re going to your teams, if revenue is everything, right?
Businesses will not survive without people and without the product or the service. And so if there are moments where we’re not coming together in collaborative ways where we’re talking and dialing into the bottom line, nothing is going to change. We’re going to risk losing profit and this is, again, data that shows that. So where does credibility come into play? Where does credibility come into play? I have a question. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Yes. What came first? The chicken? You sure? You sure? Well, what if the egg came first, right? It is a question. We don’t really need an answer, but it’s really this idea that they’re interwoven. It doesn’t really matter what came first. It’s the fact that you need both, whether you’re internal or external.

And so what I would love for us to do is I want you to be able to talk at your table, amongst your table. I want you to be able to think about your role, right? Show of hands, how many people work in corporations, organizations? Just so I know. Okay. How many folks are consultants? Cool, cool. How many people are kind of like, “I’m trying to figure it out”? Okay. All right. Anybody just start consulting? Okay. Clap it up.

Okay, anybody get a promotion to do more facilitation at work? Okay, clap it up. We got to go both sides, right? But what I want you to do is I want you to have table talk, and I again, want you to have toolkits that you can utilize. And so a lot of these activities that I’m going to do, I’m going to give you alternatives. And so you’re able to maybe do a 1-2-4-All structure or a TRIZ, which is a liberating structure. I don’t know if folks who know that, but a 1-2-4-All is that you have solo time, paired time, and four people kind of go into a small group. And then you have group discussion, and that’s timed. And that allows for diverse perspectives. It gives you time to have some solo thoughts. So you’re going to the group prepared with some ideas. And TRIZ really talks about this idea of what’s the worst possible thing that you can do as a facilitator to hinder psychological safety?

So it’s like you could be talking to me and be like, “Hey, stop talking.” I’m like, oh my God, no one else is going to talk after that. That’s like the worst thing you can do as a facilitator. So those are some examples of things you can do. But for our time together right now, I’d love for you to take about a minute to really do some self-reflection of what are some small actions you can take to strengthen psychological safety while also building credibility in your work, in your role. What are some things that you can do that you want to do, you have a desire to do in your role? And while we do that, Steven’s going to play a little light music, and then we’re going to transition into table discussion for about four minutes. So I’ll let you know when we transition for that. Okay? So your minute starts now.

So I would love to hear from a few tables on maybe what’s one thing that came up in discussion? Who would like to share? I’d love to hear from one of the back tables. Or the front, depending on where you’re standing. Yeah?

Harry:
I’ll give one example that was pretty interesting.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
What’s your name?

Harry:
Oh, my name is Harry.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Harry. All right.

Harry:
One thing that was really interesting was the idea of, I think it was bringing metaphors into the play of describing things in ways that people can relate to really easily. So it was asking if we were to look at our challenge currently as a diamond and be able to flip our perspective, allowing someone to think about flipping their perspective and the idea of holding a diamond or moving around and seeing it from someone’s new lenses just kind of allows people to feel more comfortable with the idea of these more general terms that we may say, like wear a new hat or flip a perspective. It just allows people to kind of visualize. I think that was one takeaway that I had from the group.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
I love that. You have to speak in the language where people are going to be able to understand it. And so if someone’s a visual learner, I love metaphors. And so usually when someone’s explaining something in a metaphoric way, I’m like, “Oh my God, I could totally see you in the boat, dude.” Thank you for doing that. So it helps for depending on who you’re working with in explaining it that way. So thank you for sharing. Who else would like to share? Love someone from this table. Let’s hear from your table. What was something that came up in your group? Oh, Erin, that back table. Mm-hmm. Y’all got saved. They were like, “Crap. They came back here.”

Speaker 8:
One thing that was shared here was just making sure that everyone in the room from the beginning understands that it’s also their responsibility to hold up that safety net.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Come on. Wait, say that again. Say that again.

Speaker 8:
That everyone in the room is responsible for, what’d you say? We bring the net, but everyone in the room is responsible for holding it up.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Okay. Put that on a shirt. Thank you. Everybody is responsible for holding it up. Thank you for sharing. Again, this is just a really good activity to hear different perspectives because you just never know what angle someone is looking at something or how they’re processing or understanding or learning. And it’s also a really great way to understand what people want to improve in. So if we’re talking about one of the actions you want to take to strengthen, that means that it’s essentially a kryptonite or area of growth. And so it’s really good to understand that about your colleagues. So thank you all for doing that.

So again, just to highlight that psychological safety and credibility really are intertwined with each other. So credibility builds on psychological safety, psychological safety strengthens credibility. And without psychological safety, credibility erodes. So we really, as facilitators really need to understand the spaces that we’re going into, understanding who’s in the room, understanding the outcomes, understanding the purpose of the space before we even get there, and then how do we make sure that we’re showing up as the expert and as that credible, reliable individual.

And so I want us to really talk about what it is to have the safety net in action. And that really talks about how do we prepare. How do we prepare the net? And so when you’re thinking about preparing for the net, I mean there’s so many different ways to think about that, but it’s like all of the things you want to do before you go to the session and using partners and technology and people to really understand what you’re walking into. And so it’s good to learn about the group’s climate. So you can do that by doing surveys, one-on-one interviews, really understanding why even why am I here? Especially as an external facilitator, what are your pain points? Why did you reach out to me? What are you looking to do? What are you looking to change? So really understanding their pain points, the challenges that they’re currently going through as an organization, as a team, as a group, it’s so important because then you know what they’re challenged with. And then you can come in with the solution. Okay?

You want to establish ground rules that promote inclusivity and trust. Going back to those pop-up rules, a really great way that I’ve seen, it’s like if you already have established teams or established groups, you’re like, “Well, how do I do that? We’ve been meeting for a year already.” Right? It’s time to have a reset. “Hey, guys, I went to this really great opportunity and I learned a lot about facilitation, and I’d love for us to do a reset as a team.” And so, one of the things I’d like for us to do is reestablish our purpose while we’re meeting, while we’re getting together. And I’d also like to reestablish what it means to meet in a safe way. And so I’d like to reestablish collaboratively as a team, as a group, what are some ground rules that are going to ensure safety, that’s going to ensure we feel valued as a team, that’s going to ensure that we’re learning together and we’re not working in silos.

Whatever that pain point is, the more you know, the more you can then curate what those ground rules or those pop-up rules that it’s going to satisfy and serve the group that you’re working with. And so the more you know before, the better. And lastly, it’s designing activities that encourage both divergence, so like opening up the conversation and then moving into that zone where you’re just collecting as much information as possible, but then bringing the group together towards decisive action. There’s no way you’re going to move a group towards decisive action if you do not know what their pain points are and why they’re even meeting. And there’s sometimes you don’t even need to meet. That’s another conversation. But really understanding what that purpose is and knowing that information before you step into the room or before you go into that Zoom or Microsoft Teams or whatever that platform is, the more you know, the better.

Everybody with me? Awesome. Next is really how do we strengthen the net? So what does that look like during the interaction, during the session? Start with low stakes participation? So the likes and dislikes, those openers, the bingo. This is a great passive. I love passive programming. So this is passive programming. You don’t necessarily have to have any lifting of this. It’s on the group. So you create the ground rule that says, “Hey, I want you to be fully invested in this opportunity. There’s a program. Take advantage of the bingo card so you can meet however many boxes here are people.” And so that gives you an opportunity to have some passive programming. One activity that I love to do, which I’ve shared with a few in this room, is when I do full day workshops, during lunch, there’s always programming going on. I don’t just let them hang out and hibernate.

No, we’re not doing that. So I like to do intentional interactions. And so just a simple list of questions that are specific to the group I’m working with. But sometimes people are awkward, especially if the group doesn’t know each other. They want to not be programmed to the entire day. But there’s moments where you can have some interactive or passive programming like this or having a list of questions. Douglas gave us a box of cards yesterday of deeper talk, like cards that you can bring in. So there’s a lot of things you can do, again, to create that connection that allows for people to feel safe with one another. The more I feel connected, the more safe I feel with you. And as a facilitator coming in, whether I’m internal or external, I’m bringing these resources to you. And as the group starts to build that space, guess who they’re going to attribute that to? Because they probably weren’t doing it before.

And they’re going to look at you as a facilitator, like thank you so much for being the solve to what’s been happening with our team, which again, builds credibility. Next, you want to monitor. It comes easier for some folks, that intuitiveness of when the group shifts in energy. Or it’s like, “Ooh, somebody just said a crazy comment.” And then you saw all the faces kind of shift over here. And so sometimes you have to pause as a facilitator to call out, speak to, address in a very nice and inclusive way, what just happened in the space. So it might be, “That was a really, really complex question you just asked, and I felt like the group shifted. Are there other thoughts around that question?” Or, “Wow, I didn’t realize your company is going through layoffs right now and it feels heavy in the room now that we’re talking about goal setting. Tell me what’s going on for the group.”

And this is real life examples. I’ve done that. “Well, we don’t want to talk about goals. We don’t know if we’re going to be here next week.” And I’m like, “That’s valid. Let’s talk about it. Now, let’s figure out how we can make some goals for the organization, but also for you personally in the event that you are transitioning. How are you going to be ready?” And so the more you know about what’s going on in this space, the more comfortable you are in really pulling those things out, the easier it’s going to be for you throughout the session to continue to navigate and adapt to what’s happening in the space and in the room.

And lastly, I want you to be able to use nonverbal cues that goes back into that intuitiveness and verbal affirmations to really reinforce psychological safety. So shoutouts to Kat, who’s going to be doing a presentation. Kat, wave to the folks. She’s going to be doing a presentation tomorrow around nonverbal communication and listening. But it’s really important for us to really understand that and to strengthen that muscle and that skill set because a lot happens between the lines in sessions, the little looks that happen, or you have an executive that walks into the room and everyone sits up, right? Like, “Oh, the CEO walked in.” And no one now is being authentic and everyone’s being politically correct.
And so I’m the facilitator. I’m going to be like, “Hey, CEO, thank you so much for coming and supporting, but I need you to go because I need this room to move towards decisive decision-making without the power dynamic influence that just popped up.” And so sometimes we really need to understand what that looks like. And one of the things I also like to say too is as you’re presenting, be mindful of how you engage with the group. So someone might make a comment and you’re like, “Man, that was really great. Thank you so much for contributing that.” And then the next person makes a comment, it’s like, “Thanks.”

So you want to be even keel in how you, again, that contributes to the safety of the space because now that person might feel, “Well, I thought I had a really good contribution to the meeting and I just got a thanks, and we just kept it moving.” And so making sure that we’re acknowledging folks. There’s even keel in our responses. I’m very high energy all the time, if you haven’t noticed. But I also like to make sure that when I feel someone’s being vulnerable or I see them challenging themselves, I say that. I say, “Thank you for being vulnerable in this moment.” I say, “Thank you for sharing,” a lot. Probably said it like 30 times. I don’t know if anyone’s written that down, but that’s one of the things I like to do because it takes courage to speak up in a group setting. Especially, do y’all know each other?

Exactly, right? So it takes courage to be able to speak in a larger group. And so being able to honor those folks who are speaking up. But then there’s ways in which I want to make sure that everyone is contributing. So there’s people who don’t want to raise their hand and don’t want to speak. And so that’s why there’s intentionality of making sure that you’re paired up or you’re partnered up and that you’re at least meeting one or two new people in this space before you leave in a session. So there’s intentionality behind how you make sure people feel supported, seen, and valued in and during the session.
All right. So one of the things I want to do, we will talk about how we close the session, but I just want to pop in an activity that you can do during a session that really helps to build credibility and really helps to build that safety. And so I like to call it the net of support, and it’s kind of like the trust the line activity. Anyone ever do the trust the line activity? So what I’m going to do is I’m going to ask you a series of questions that refer to psychological safety and credibility. And I want you to take note of folks who are standing up in some of the questions that I’m going to ask. I want you to make eye contact. I want you to be really aware. This is where that somatic stuff comes in. That was a lot of layers to facilitation.

Like how is your body responding in some of the questions that I ask? Is there hesitancy in even standing up? Because that also alludes to that vulnerability piece. How are you challenging yourself to step out of your comfort zone? Okay? Again, we listen and we don’t judge. There’s no judgment here, okay? I’m not also going to ask really scary questions. I feel like that’s what I’m prompting. I promise you I’m not. We’re going to keep it very light here, but in your groups as you are building. So I’ve had to do lemon squeeze conversations and lemon squeeze moments, and anyone ever have a lemon squeeze with the team? No one knows what that is? Okay? This is a higher ed. I used to work in higher ed.
So it is when you have to, the lemon is just so bitter. Everybody is just salty, bitter. Everybody’s being mean and nasty. And so we got to squeeze the lemon and turn it into lemonade because we got to move on, right? Whew. I have stories for days. I used to work at Temple University as a resident director. I had 25 RAs, I had 5,600 first year students, and I was a complex director. And the first week somebody stole a cop car. I said, “What did I sign up for?”

And so with 25 students, first, second and third year students, people dating each other, there’s just drama. This has nothing to do with the work. Stop coming to my office and gossiping about each other. We need to have a lemon squeeze. And so in that lemon squeeze, part of that is to make sure that everyone just has an understanding of who you are. And so we had really deep questions where people are like boohoo crying, but we’re not going to do that. We’ll save that for part two, this facilitation subject. So I would love for everyone as I ask questions to be able to stand. And again, I want you to take note of your energy, take note of your emotions that might come up. I want you to jot down comments or thoughts that come across, because then we’re going to do kind of an activity after that. Okay? Everybody with me? Everybody with me?

Audience:
Yes.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
So much better. Thank you. All right. So I want you to stand up if you’ve ever hesitated to share an idea out of fear or judgment. All right? Can we play a little light music in the background? A little low. Little low. Okay. Everybody, you making eye contact? My friend would be like, “Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes.” Okay. Stand up if you’ve had to navigate… Oh, excuse me. Sit down. Sit down. Sorry. Don’t read it yet. Don’t read it. Don’t read it yet. Don’t read it. How do I go back? Let’s go back. Don’t read it. Don’t read it. Don’t read it. All right. Y’all didn’t see it, right? Okay, so we got that. Everybody saw each other? We made eye contact. We good?

Okay, so I want you to stand up if you’ve had to navigate internal politics while trying to create a safe space. Let me come stand up on the stage at this point, right? Hold on. Whew, child. Let me tell you, I got stories for days working at some of the companies I’ve had to work at, right? Yeah. Are we looking at each other? Making eye contact? I want you to look at people at the back of the room, the front of the room. Okay. All right. Take a seat. Take a seat. Oh, my lanta. All right, stand up if you’ve intentionally ignored conflict in a space as a facilitator. People are already standing up like, “Whew, that’s me.” And kept it going to keep the peace.

“Let’s just move on. Ooh, I don’t like drama. I don’t want to run to the fire. Let’s move on.” Okay, making eye contact. Again, I want you to think of what memories are popping up for you. What emotion is coming up for you? What time are you going back? Someone’s clutching their chest like, “Oh, Lord.” Okay. All right. Have a seat. Stand up. If you’ve been in a meeting where an idea was ignored only to be repeated by someone else and praised. How dare they? Are you kidding me? I just said that 32 seconds ago, right? Make eye contact. Yeah, you can’t keep looking at the same person, y’all. Can’t keep looking at the same person. All right, take a seat. Take a seat.

All right. Stand up if you felt like you needed to prove your expertise as a facilitator. Stand up if you’ve needed to prove your expertise as a facilitator. Just a quick plug to Voltage Control. Get your certification. So you just pull the paper out, right? “Let me tell you something. I got a certification.” All right? All right, everybody seated? All right. Stand up if you’ve seen someone hold back from participating because they weren’t sure their perspective would be valued. All right, we looking around. Are we looking around? All right, take a seat. I want you to stand up… Oh, we did that one. Stand up if you’ve ever questioned whether a group you were facilitating truly felt safe to share openly.
Yeah, I do a lot of racial equity work. And whoop, “No recording, no AI, nothing. Changing my name. Black the screens out.” That’s exactly how the conversations are going now. Yeah. All right, take a seat. All right. Stand up. If you’ve ever felt pressure to balance inclusion with authority in facilitation. Oh, a lot of y’all took some deep sighs on this one. Okay. Write down how you’re feeling. Write down whatever just popped up for you. All right, take a seat. Stand up if you facilitated a group where people were skeptical of your role or expertise. It’s like, what is a facilitator?
I need to stand up because my mom was this morning like, “So what are you talking about? What is a facilitator?” I’m like, “Ma, I’ve been doing this for four years.”

Audience member:
I got a certification.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
Yeah, I got a certification from Voltage Control. All right, have a seat. Stand up if you’ve had to win over a tough group to gain their trust. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, we got a lot of laughs. Anybody else want to stand up? Any last? All right. Oh, we got one more. All right, have a seat. All right. Stand up if you’ve ever been challenged in a session and had to quickly adapt your approach. Ooh. Ooh, yeah. Are we looking around at everyone else who’s been challenged in the middle of a session? Ooh, Casey got a story. Okay? It’s like, “Halfway through they was trying to tell me all the things that I already knew,” right? All right. Have a seat. Have a seat.

So these are the questions that I want us to kind of process and marinate on because it’s really important to understand how we show up in facilitation. The more we can understand about the ways in which we’re triggered, or we have fears, or we have habits that maybe no longer serve us, like I avoid conflict so when there’s conflict in a session, I’m like, “Yeah, so how’s the weather? All right, let’s move to the next slide. Are we good?” Right? Versus leaning into that because sometimes you get the best decisions and the best connection sometimes through dissent.
And so we can turn the music off, my friend, maybe. Okay, thank you. And so what I’d love for us to do is really thinking about, so on your tables you should have, I’m going to use your table. So you should have, I wanted to be on brand a little bit. So we got a little basketball hoop, and then we have a soccer goal, and you should have a ton of pom-poms. Think of them as soccer balls and basketballs, and I want us to take… It is pouring. I want us to take an opportunity. So I want us to do about two minutes, and I want you to write down all of your fears, all of the things that have hindered you to being the best version of a facilitator that you could be. So maybe it’s negative self-talk, or maybe some of your fears is I run from conflict.

Or maybe it’s like, “Man, when they talk about politics, I tune out. I don’t want anything to do with it.” So whatever those fears are, this is for you and your table, but I want you to just list out all of the fears that you have when it comes to facilitation. Maybe it’s, “Man, I’m scared that my technology is going to crash on me as I facilitate. Man, I’m scared that I’m not going to have a Sarah,” because she’s doing a fabulous job. Can we give her a round of applause? I don’t have to take notes. So one of my fears, I’m going to be transparent, honest, and vulnerable, is sometimes I spell things wrong. And so I don’t need my credibility

to be knocked because I spelled because wrong, or I don’t know, a simple word that you should know how to spell.
And so I want you to really think about what are some of those fears that you’ve encountered through facilitation and through the work that you’ve done, and maybe current fears that you have and that you’re really maybe stuck in it and you don’t know how to navigate that. Okay? So I’m going to give you about two minutes to do that. We’re going to play some light music or maybe just listen to the beautiful sounds of rain. But you have two minutes that starts now listing all of your fears. All of your fears as a facilitator. I’d love for you to move throughout the space, and I want you to find two other partners. So we’re going to be triads as much as possible.
Take your list with you. All right. So what I’d love for you to do in your pods right now, in your triads, is I want you to lean into the vulnerability, right? This is a no judgment zone. I want you to be fully present. I want you to be listening to each other, and I want you to create safe spaces for each other and really sharing what are your fears. Okay? What are those fears? What are those hinders? What are those blocks that have been holding you back from being the best version of yourself as a facilitator? And then I want you, after that, what I want you to do is at each of the tables, there should be a few of these beautiful cups that my lovely friends put together for me this morning. And I want you to then throw away your fears or toss your fears.

Kobe Bryant, rest in peace. I want you to, someone to be the hoop or the goalie, and I want you to toss in your fears. Because at the end of the day, you’re not going to be able to show up as the best version of yourself. You’re not, again, going back to this idea of you bring the energy in. And so if you’re coming in blocked, if you’re coming in with this negativity, if you’re coming in with these fears, there’s no way you’re going to show up as the excellent facilitator that I know you’re destined to be. And so I want you to be able to toss away those fears. I want you to express them. I want you to let them go because there’s power in tongue, and there’s power in saying the things that are holding you back, but there’s also power symbolically throwing it away. Okay?

So we’re going to take about 10 minutes collectively to do this activity, and then we will move towards our close. Any questions? Y’all ready to share your deep, dark secrets? All right, your 10 minutes starts now. Thanks everyone. All right. If you haven’t already, start to toss your fears.

All right, everyone, has everybody tossed away their fears? Anyone feel lighter? Anyone feel like they’re going to the NBA or to play professional soccer? Anybody? Thank you all so much for doing that. I walked around and I heard some really great conversations. Thank you for leaning into that vulnerability and really trusting those that you were interacting with today. So with that, just give a round of applause, literally round of applause. Thank you for doing that. And so what I want us to do is I want you to spend, because we did the activity, but I’m always the facilitator to make sure we’re doing some self-reflection. And so I want you to take the next minute, first thing that comes to mind. What is the one thing you are going to be doing that’s going to enhance safety in the work that you do, and your credibility? What’s that one thing? I want you to write that down. That is just for you. First thing that pops to mind. What’s the one thing you’re going to do?
Something you’re going to do different. A new practice? Because fears will always be there, right? It’s mind over matter. Are you going to wake up today and say, “I’m going to choose fear,” or, “I’m going to choose faith,” right? Am I going to stay stuck in these maybe poor habits? Am I going to let myself fall into these previous patterns? Because you know better, you’re going to do better. And so we’re going to practice at least one new habit. And because we’re human, fears are always going to come back up. And so everyone should have a handy dandy stress ball.

In those moments where you’re feeling stressed or the fear is starting to creep back up, I want you to squeeze it and be like, “Mo more fear.” Just say it with me. Do it. Be silly. “No more. Ooh, go away fear.” Right?

Audience member:
No more fear.

Skye Idehen-Osunde:
No more, right? And I want you to do a little toss up, and that’s what I want you to walk into your meeting, your session with a new mind frame, a new mindset, knowing that you can do it, knowing that you could be successful, knowing that you have all the tools necessary to show up to be the best version of yourself as a facilitator. And one of the things that I want us to do, because that’s an activity that we can do during, but what does it look like when we’re closing the session? And part of it is sometimes you need to, I have Landy who’s in our facilitation program, and her name is Landy.
So I was like, how do we land the plane? So how do we land and close the session? Meaning, how are we going to make sure that people are reflecting on what they’ve learned? We’re not coming together for 90 minutes or a full day and you’re not leaving with anything. So we need to take moment of self-reflection and workshop time to really walk away with what’s something you’re going to do different? What’s something that inspired you? What’s something you learned from someone that you interacted with in this session? And so it’s really important as a facilitator that we’re always moving towards close. We’re always moving towards what are the next steps? What are the decisions that were made? And then we’re using tools to capture that.

Because we all know what happens when we leave a meeting, if it’s not on the calendar, if there’s not a follow-up, people just forget and there’s no action. So we always want to make sure that that happens, and that follows up with the following up. So as a facilitator, as the leader of the meeting, as the convener, we want to make sure that there is some sort of follow-up, whether it’s a thank you email or a thank you note for coming, shaking hands, making sure that you speak to everyone and have authentic relationship and conversation. It’s my desire in session to kind of listen to as many conversations as possible to be as present even throughout your experience. But we want to make sure that we’re closing that still maintaining those relationships, and one way is really just to send a thank you note for being a part of this.
And then again, it’s lastly ending with commitments. And so we already have the one thing that we’re going to do. And so when you’re closing out a session, making sure that there’s some sort of commitment, commitment to action that people are taking, or a call to action that people are taking once leaving that session. So with that, I want us to close with the safety net pledge. Not going to do a Pledge of Allegiance. There’s no flag. It’s 2025. We’re not doing all that. But what I would love for you to do is I’d love for you to stand up with energy as we come to a close with our session. And I want us in unison to read this pledge and to have this commitment moving forward from our time together today.
So with that, I’ll lead the way, but I’d love to hear all voices confidently and proudly because we’re all proud facilitators, whether we’re just starting out or we’re seasoned, everyone still needs to make a commitment to showing up as the best version of themselves. So with that, as a facilitator and a member of this community, I commit to fostering psychological safety in every space I lead. I will build credibility and trust with everyone I encounter. I will actively listen and model honesty and openness. I will empower voices and encourage engagement. I will use inclusive practices and tools that invite full participation. I will empower participants to transform insights into action, applying their learning to real-world challenges.

I will create an environment of continuous improvement. I will commit to continuous improvement by seeking feedback, reflecting on my facilitation, and adapting to evolving needs. I understand that creating safety is an ongoing journey, and I am committed to improving my approach to meet the evolving needs of those I facilitate.
And with that, I want you to remain committed. My favorite quote is, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” by the beautiful Maya Angelou. And so remember, as facilitators, we’re coming to the space. We are the change makers. We are the problem solvers. We are there to create solutions and also have fun, right? So with that, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you.

Audience member:
Great job.

Skye’s session at the 2025 Facilitation Lab Summit was a powerful reminder of how authenticity and psychological safety are essential to effective facilitation. Her session provided attendees with actionable strategies to create trust and engage with participants in meaningful ways, reinforcing the importance of credibility in any facilitative role.

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Facilitation Lab Summit 2024 was an extraordinary event filled with insightful sessions and meaningful connections. On February 6th and 7th, we hosted our annual facilitator summit, featuring a diverse range of speakers who shared their expertise and experiences. The theme for this year’s summit was COMMUNITY, emphasizing the importance of community in learning and growth.

The summit provided an invaluable opportunity for facilitators to learn, connect, and grow. We were privileged to hear from a diverse group of speakers who shared their experiences, insights, and strategies for facilitating impactful meetings and events.

Overall, the Facilitation Lab Summit 2024 was a remarkable and enriching experience for all participants. We eagerly look forward to next year’s summit and the chance to further hone our facilitation skills and strengthen our community. Read on for a summary of each of the workshops delivered by our facilitators.

Liya James

Relational Attunement: From Breakdown to Breakthrough

In Liya’s session “Mastering Inner Dialogues,” she explored the significance of our internal narratives in shaping our facilitation effectiveness. She provided practical tools for identifying and managing these inner conversations to improve self-awareness and decision-making.

Through techniques like mapping dialogues and practicing mindful reflection, facilitators can achieve greater clarity and presence. This session emphasizes the power of internal dialogue in influencing external interactions and offers strategies to harness this for more impactful facilitation.

Durell Coleman

Building Consensus Amongst Multiple Stakeholders: Current State/End State

During “Building Consensus Amongst Multiple Stakeholders,” Durell Coleman shares strategies for navigating the complexities of achieving consensus in groups with diverse interests. He emphasized the importance of understanding each stakeholder’s perspective and aligning on common goals.

Durell introduced practical techniques such as active listening, open communication, and structured decision-making processes to foster collaboration. He also highlighted the role of a facilitator in guiding discussions, managing conflicts, and ensuring that every voice is heard. By applying these methods, facilitators can help groups reach mutually beneficial agreements and drive successful outcomes.

Ozay Moore

What’s in the Soil?

In “What’s in the Soil?” Ozay Moore explored the metaphor of soil to illustrate the foundational elements necessary for effective facilitation. He likens healthy soil to a fertile environment where ideas can grow and flourish. Ozay emphasized the importance of creating a supportive and nurturing atmosphere for participants, drawing parallels between the nutrients in soil and the essential components of a successful facilitation process.

He discussed the need for facilitators to cultivate trust, encourage open communication, and provide the right mix of structure and flexibility. By understanding and enriching the ‘soil’ of their facilitation environments, practitioners can foster more productive and engaging sessions.

Dirk Van Onsem & Erik Skogsberg

Facilitating Change by Mapping Systems

During “Facilitating Change by Mapping Systems,” Erik and Dirk dove into the power of system mapping to drive organizational change. They explained how visualizing complex systems helps identify key leverage points for effective interventions. They highlighted the benefits of using system maps to understand relationships and dynamics within an organization, enabling facilitators to guide strategic planning and decision-making more effectively.

By mapping out these systems, facilitators can reveal hidden patterns, foster collaboration, and create actionable insights that lead to sustainable change. This approach empowers teams to see the bigger picture and align their efforts toward common goals.

Solomon Masala

Using Art and Conversation for Convergence

“Using Art and Conversation for Convergence,” found Solomon emphasizing the synergy between art and dialogue in facilitation. He explored how incorporating artistic elements into conversations can break down barriers and foster deeper connections among participants. Solomon highlighted techniques such as visual thinking and creative exercises to enhance engagement and idea generation.

By blending art with structured conversation, facilitators can create a more inclusive and dynamic environment, encouraging participants to express themselves more freely and collaboratively. This approach not only stimulates creativity but also drives convergence, helping groups reach consensus and achieve collective goals more effectively.

Lily Chong

A Design Thinking Deep Dive on Rapid Ideation

In Lily’s workshop “A Design Thinking Deep Dive on Rapid Ideation” she focused on harnessing the power of teams for innovation, and participants delved into a variety of hands-on activities and practical exercises. The workshop effectively demonstrated valuable techniques for facilitating ideation sessions, enabling attendees to unlock the creative potential within their groups.

Through this engaging experience, participants learned how to generate a wide array of innovative solutions to challenging problems. The session equipped everyone with the necessary skills and mindset to drive impactful change through rapid ideation, fostering a collaborative and creative atmosphere.

Erin Warner

Daring Dialogues: Refining Ideas and Embracing Bold Action

In “Daring Dialogues: Refining Ideas and Embracing Bold Action,” Erin Warner discussed the importance of engaging in courageous conversations to refine ideas and take decisive action. She emphasized the need for creating a safe space where participants feel comfortable sharing honest and bold perspectives. Erin introduced techniques for facilitating these dialogues, such as active listening, open-ended questioning, and fostering an atmosphere of trust.

By encouraging daring dialogues, facilitators can help teams move beyond surface-level discussions, uncover deeper insights, and embrace bold actions that drive meaningful progress. This approach not only enhances idea generation but also strengthens team cohesion and innovation.

Susan Wilson-Golab

Developing Narratives that Bring Voice to Targeted Audience

In “Developing Narratives that Bring Voice to Targeted Audiences,” Susan emphasized the power of storytelling in facilitation. She explained how crafting compelling narratives can amplify the voices of specific audiences, ensuring their perspectives are heard and valued. Susan introduced practical techniques for creating these narratives, such as understanding the audience’s needs, weaving in emotional elements, and maintaining authenticity.

By focusing on these aspects, facilitators can enhance engagement and connection, making their sessions more impactful. The session highlighted the transformative potential of storytelling in creating meaningful dialogues and fostering a deeper sense of inclusion and understanding among participants.

The Facilitation Lab Summit 2024 was a testament to the power of community. Each session offered valuable insights and practical tools that facilitators can apply in their work. We are excited to see how these learnings will shape our community in the coming year and look forward to the next summit with great anticipation. Thank you to all the facilitators and participants who made this event a success.

The post Facilitation Lab Summit 2024 appeared first on Voltage Control.

At this year’s Facilitation Lab Summit, Erik Skogsberg and Dirk Van Onsem delivered a thought-provoking workshop titled “Facilitating Change Through Systems Mapping.” The session was designed to help participants understand and leverage the power of systems thinking to drive change within their organizations.

The workshop began with Erik and Dirk highlighting the significance of seeking truth rather than being right, emphasizing a systems-based perspective. They explained that true understanding comes from recognizing the interrelationships among various elements within any context, challenge, or opportunity. This approach is crucial for effective facilitation and leadership.

The session was structured around five key elements essential for creating a compelling change story:

1. Future Vision: Participants were encouraged to articulate a clear and compelling vision for the future. This vision serves as a foundation for others to buy into and support the change.
2. Personal Connection: Erik and Dirk stressed the importance of understanding and communicating personal motivations for caring about the change. This personal connection helps build trust and emotional resonance with others.
3. Current State: Through systems mapping, attendees explored the current state of play, identifying the relationships and patterns that define the present situation. This step is crucial for grounding the change story in reality.
4. Stakeholder Engagement: Participants learned to map and understand the motivations and interests of key stakeholders. This step is essential for building a coalition of support for the change effort.
5. High-Leverage Interventions: By combining systems and stakeholder mapping, participants identified high-leverage interventions that could drive meaningful change.

Participants engaged in mapping exercises to visualize system relationships and dynamics. Dirk shared a real-world example from the sporting goods industry, demonstrating the practical application of systems mapping. In group activities, participants integrated their maps and shared insights, emphasizing understanding over perfection.

Erik and Dirk’s workshop showcased the value of systems thinking in facilitation. Participants left with tools to navigate and influence complex systems effectively.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript

Erik:

So I’ll give you just a moment if you haven’t already soaked this in a little bit. This willingness to seek the truth rather than seek to be right. And a core part of seeking that truth in many ways is taking a systems-based perspective, really understanding the relationships amongst all the things, all the people at play in any one context or challenge or opportunity.

Dirk:

Yes. And so just for anyone who hadn’t noticed, we knew we were coming right after Jose, who is an MC and who was an amazing DJ. So Erik and I were brainstorming what do we do to go after such a performance, so the only thing we could figure out was let’s make sure we match up.

Erik:

You see this system here?

Dirk:

I know we were subliminal, but we just wanted to point that out. It’s all in the detail, all in the detail. So just as a brief sort of connect between facilitating change as a workshop and what we’re going to do today is this belief that facilitation is a very core leadership skill, which I’m sure all of you agree as you are facilitators, but also a very, very important way in our view to really drive change. Facilitation of change is actually a core leadership skill and we do believe that actually a big part of that is having a story that other people can buy into. So the workshop that we’ve designed is actually a workshop that helps tell your change story in a way that brings others along. And the five elements that are part of that are on the screen.

The first is what’s my future vision, very much connected to what we’ve heard just now, the future state. Can you articulate in a compelling way the vision that you would like people to buy into? So that’s a core element of that.

The second is who am I and why do I care. The soil exercise we’ve just done is a way of doing that, obviously. But there’s multiple ways to try to understand who am I and why do I specifically care about creating this future. Why is that important? Because when you can touch others in a chord that touches their heart, very often it’s because you share vulnerably why you care. So the notion of digging in personal mastery and understanding this is why I care about this is actually a way to connect to others.

The third element is where are we today, which is bringing the state of play or the current state as we’ve just again today referred to. And this is the area that we’ll dive into today with the systems mapping. Then why should you care? We heard a lot about stakeholder mapping, convincing stakeholders. So why should you care is part of your change story, is identifying those important stakeholders and understanding deeply why do they care and how can I connect to them.

So then lastly, if you have mapped both the system and the stakeholders, you can identify high leverage interventions and make suggestions of what should be done. And if you would narrate those five topics in one go, you actually have your change story by which you can in a more confident way convince others to drive the change with you. So that’s sort of a little sort of setting on how we came up with facilitating change as a concept. And then within that, again, where are we today, the systems mapping is what we will dive into.

And systems, we hear a lot of people say it’s a systemic problem, it’s a system. But sometimes the word system or systems thinking can be a bit confusing or intimidating. And again, most, I assume many of you are familiar with it, but just to ground us in one of the definitions, and there’s multiple ones, but Peter Senge is obviously the person that started the academy for systems change where both Erik and I went and met each other actually the first time. This is his definition. It’s a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things. Seeing patterns rather than seeing static snapshots. And it’s actually very much looking at the space in between two things and the interrelation and the correlation between that.

And so the problem statement or the problem that we’re going to address today and tomorrow, we actually are going to have our first exercise today on trying to see the interrelationships, really trying to see the patterns rather than only the statements of what maybe is happening.

Erik:

So a couple further ways to provide some context and why behind seeing things systemically are so important. And as Dirk mentioned here, we’re oftentimes paying attention to the in-between, what’s happening in connections amongst different relational pieces. Because oftentimes when we’re working with complex problems, which a lot of us are, in fact most everything we talked about today is systemic, multi-layered here. And when we’re talking about systems, there’s oftentimes a delay, sometimes a pretty long delay between cause and effect.

So anytime you may have gone to, say, quickly try to solve a problem that’s actually systemic and find that actually your solution came back to you with something that’s actually making the problem even worse, that’s where understanding things systemically is really important because there’s this delay and a complex relationship between cause and effect.

Give you a couple of quick examples here that hopefully are recognizable or familiar enough. So a couple of basics here. And we’ll tell you this multiple times because we see it a lot when we first introduce systems mapping to folks, the point of today is not creating a perfect systems map. All right? So we can geek out on this stuff and it’s interesting to dig into. Take what is helpful for you. The most important thing is that we are starting to better understand the relationships amongst a bunch of different things.

So I’ll give you an example here of a really common loop that oftentimes comes up when we’re talking about systems. So feedback loops here can either be reinforcing or balancing. So an example of a reinforcing loop here would be like interest in your bank account. All right? So you have money in, interest is being accrued, and that continues to add money to that account.

A balancing loop here would be an example of a thermostat. So you have something set, a desired temperature, and ultimately there’s a gap between the desired and the current temperature. And that then responds to balance things back out, to bring things back into a balance to what you have ultimately set here. And this plays out in a lot of different systems, whether things are reinforcing and continuing to grow or ultimately trying to bring things back to some form of balance.

In systems work, we talk a lot about system archetypes, because there’s some pretty common ones that come up in complex systems, and one of those here being fixes that fail. So a good example here of where you ultimately try to implement a solution to fix a problem and that solution ultimately makes things worse. All right? So an example here of the problem, maybe there’s high interest on a credit card for example, and an initial fix being to balance that out. We’re going to take out an extra credit card to start paying on that. Uh-oh, we’ve got more interest coming. That creates more debt, more debt, more debt, and we ultimately don’t fix the problem. And again, these play out in a lot of different ways across the systems in the different challenges and opportunities in our lives.

Dirk’s going to take this a step further here with some examples from Nike.

Dirk:

Yes, exactly. So about three years ago in the job I’m in now, when I started that job, which was being responsible for sporting goods for EMEA. And the sporting goods industry, so basically Dick’s Sporting Goods is I assume a retailer that many of you know. So you could think of the equivalent of Dick’s Sporting Goods, but then in EMEA. And so I was handed over that team and that responsibility. It was the time that we were in this course, so I used that new job to try to understand how can system mapping help. And I want to talk you through that one example just to make it a bit more tangible and practical rather than maybe the theory about archetypes.

So what I found, and this is what we’re going to ask all of you to do as well later, you just start to write down things that you notice, not necessarily thinking about links between them, but what are the things that you notice. You know when you start a new job or a new assignment, you just ask questions. You interview people and you just start to, “Hey, that gets repeated. I’m going to note that down.”

And so basically I ended up having things like, okay, there’s low profitability. All those retailers have a tough time making money. That was one of the elements. For the sake of the time, we’ve put it straight away in a map today. So you will see how things are interlinked straight away. But another thing that I noticed actually was there was a lack of investment capacity. Someone else was telling me they just don’t invest in their stores, these retailers. They don’t invest. But obviously there’s a clear link between if you have no profitability, you have very little to reinvest in your business.

On top of that, they have very low digital capabilities. Again, linked to these lack of investment capacities. But the comment of low digital capabilities was a comment I got again from someone else. But if you map them, you can then see, well, if you have low digital capabilities today, consumers shop first on their smartphone. So if your websites aren’t great, and if you’re not really investing in digital capabilities, guess what? You don’t attract the consumer. If you don’t attract the consumer, you need to drive promotions to get people to your store to bring them in. Now you can imagine if you need to drive promotions, you have low profitability. So this is a typical reinforcing loop.

Now then as a company, we thought we were really, really smart, which happens very often if you’re inside of a company. So what do you do? Actually we say, “Wow, we need these retailers so we’re going to give them more discounts.” Because if we give them more discount, they’re going to be more profitable. It seems quite logical. They buy from you, you give them a higher discount so they can create more money. The thing that happened is actually as a result, many of the retailers that should have gone out of business because they were actually not doing a proper job in serving consumers, they actually stayed in business. What’s the result of that? Way too many competition. So what do they do? They need to promote to attract the consumer.

So this is how you see, even if you have actually think you’re doing something that makes sense. The moment I started to see, and this is only one very small section of the map that I created with my team, but just for sake of example, we realized we were doing this to ourselves. Or we had a very big role that we played in keeping this system turning in a way that wasn’t helping the overall consumer experience. So it’s by mapping and all of these points that are on here came from different interviews, and then we did the exercise of mapping it. How is this linked? Because now it seems very logical when I tell this story in this way, but it wasn’t when I started the role. So that’s just an example on how that works.

So obviously our role or what we want to do with you today is actually show how this process of mapping and again linking it to the facilitation summit, how as facilitators we can have ways to map complex systems with a large group actually and get to insights that we maybe didn’t have before doing this exercise. So obviously the core question, “How might we raise national awareness and adoption of the ACC Digital Fluency micro-credentials and certificates for military spouses?” That was the task or the prompt that we were given by the organization we’re working with. And so what we’re going to do today is map. What do we know of that system as a collective?

Any question before I hand over? We’re going to give a prompt in a second, but any questions on that intro first before we move to the next part? No? So I think we’re first going to give the prompt, right?

Erik:

Yep.

Dirk:

So the starting point is we’re going to replay the video. It was called out this morning. We are very sure all of you watched the video. We are a hundred percent sure. But just in case or just for your memory, we’re going to-

Erik:

Just a refresher.

Dirk:

A refresher.

Erik:

A refresher.

Dirk:

We’re going to replay the video that was sent out. That is also at the same time your solo time. So we were going to give you anyway solo time to reflect, so we’re going to play the video at the same time. If you’ve seen it, feel free to jot things down. What’s important is based on what you’re hearing or what you know about the situation or based on the workshops we’ve done already this morning that gave you additional insights, write down things that you notice that you think are part of the system of the issue. Important is to do one per sticky, so don’t list them on ones. We need one idea or one prompt or one thing you think is part of the system per sticky. At the moment, don’t try to find links in between. Just what you hear, note down what you think is important and relevant. And from there, we will go further.

Erik:

Yeah, cool.

One thing I’d say here is you’re diving in because for many of you, this is a new process. So I’ll just tell you, if you’re doing it right now, you’re doing it right. Don’t worry about creating a perfect map. Okay? The point here is that we’re starting to think more systemically. All right? And that gives us an opportunity to then have a conversation together. Back to Donella’s words, this allows us to build a collective truth together. Because then when that’s out in front of us, we can make better decisions together. So just start. All right? And I’ll keep coming back to that as a reminder.

So I’m going to pop up a video here in a moment, actually from some of the research that has been done with these military spouses about their needs and the challenges that are coming up in their lives and accessing some of these resources. And you can just note as you’re listening.

Speaker 4:

We were researching kind of how users currently find different resources on installations and what pain points that they may have been seeing. So we interviewed a lot of different people and surveyed several hundred more. And what we found was that people would just get stuff by word of mouth or via social media and it wasn’t always completely accurate information. We also talked to services and we use that to inform the features that we decided to put in our MVP launch for My Army Post.

So I think the biggest thing that we learned was that there’s not enough childcare providers on the installation to effectively provide childcare for every Army family. A military installation is ran by any of the military service, whether it’s Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, and it’s where all of the buildings are that are the federal government property and that’s where all the services lie for families to access.

And that was where a lot of the issues come in because it is cheaper on the installation for military families because it’s a little bit subsidized. So if there’s not a space for them on the installation, they have to go off-installation, which is a little bit more costly. And that’s where there’s not a little bit of a gap, a large gap that makes it difficult for them to find careers as the family member.

Something that is hard is finding those careers that can transfer to different places wherever we get stationed. And then building the community is hard. It’s the longer you’re in, kind of the harder it gets I feel like. I think some of the things that we saw in our research and that I’ve seen is that we are pretty good at getting training for spouses or for service members that are getting out of the military, but most jobs now require experience. And where can they get experience if no one is willing to hire anybody without experience?

Actually, you facilitated a little exercise at our kind of fair. I thought that that was an awesome program and I thought that it could benefit a ton of people. And the main person that came to my mind was my mother who is in her sixties and has a job that uses digital tools like Excel and Outlook and I’m just her tech support and she just calls me to get that information. But if she was able to get some sort of micro-credential that could help her understand it, whether it was actually getting that micro-credential or just the knowledge, I think that that could be very helpful and I can see how that would be helpful to military families as they’re moving throughout the states.

Speaker 5:

I also enjoyed it. I thought it was really, really cool because I was like, “Well, maybe I could do some of these things.” Because some of those skill sets transfer to a wide variety of disciplines. You can use it for a lot of different things.

Speaker 4:

I think the biggest thing that we saw as a huge pain point was advertising. The Army doesn’t necessarily have a large advertising budget to be able to market these different things. And so if ACC could take advantage of a way to market these better, I think that that would reach a lot more people.

Speaker 5:

For example, I was telling Celeste, I was like, “Hey, did you know there is a virtual internship for the federal government?” I did it for my master’s program. And she’s like, “Really?” I was like, “Yeah, you really just have to be a student and you apply at the US gov jobs, but then you get experience with the low-threat internship at the federal government working for almost every agency known to man.” But if you can scaffold on that and actually then, well, I worked for the VA virtually and then I’m going to apply for this job to build your resume up and say, “Hey, but I learned these skill sets along the way because I knew I was weak in some of these areas. ” I wasn’t really good at spreadsheet management per se or Excel, but through my internship and a program through ACC with building my digital literacy, I had another skillset.

When I actually applied, I had somebody who would vouch for me as a reference who already works in the industry and I have the skill to back it up. And I’m using veteran preference because a lot of jobs have that for spousal preferential positioning. And to leverage all those things into one to apply for some of these jobs I think could be super useful. And I think people underestimate how valuable those small state or federal organizations actually have impact. There’s a lot of job offers that come there. They say, hey, we need a public health person.

The job fairs are so important. Even if you are not actively looking for an actual job, you’d be surprised what you can land on and what you can find that can kind of fit the things you want to do by just asking people and just talking to them. I just think the whole scaffolding thing is the most important thing. So even if after they do their micro-certification, if there’s a way for them to connect with companies even for maybe just a week trial or two weeks and to say, “Hey, just let me walk around and just intern and see what I can learn from just being here on ground.” It’s low threat to the company because you’re an intern and they don’t have to pay you. But it also gives people experiences and to build that bridge and of course targeting people who are actively looking for people.

Erik:

Nice to hear the voices of folks closer to this challenge and opportunity. And I’m going to add a few more details here from another person very close to this challenge who unfortunately we were going to be doing an interview but unfortunately unable to be with us today, but I wanted to share her answers here with you. So just asked what they noticed is going on right now in this problem and opportunity space in and amongst this challenge. And she said, “Unemployment has remained the top concern for military spouses, especially since military families relocate every one to three years. And there’s been a real shift in the working world post-COVID. Employers have moved a lot more toward remote work.” And so that presents both opportunities but also challenges if you didn’t already have some of those digital skillsets, right?

I asked, “Why do you think things are working or not working at this point?” And she said, “This is a great opportunity for military spouses, especially for those that are looking for remote work. This allows them to focus on becoming more proficient in the digital skills they need in order to succeed in remote work environments.”

And finally, “What elements of this prominent opportunity space do you hope we, all of us here, most focus on?” And she said, “Since unemployment is a top concern nationwide for military spouses, how can we get national military organizations to subscribe to the micro credential digital skills program here at the college.”

Speaker 6:

I was also at the military families center ribbon cutting. And there’s one thing I noticed that I thought might be helpful to share which was a military spouse that had been invited to speak about her experience and she said something that was quite, it made sense in retrospect, but never hearing it before. I was never exposed to it. But the fact that as she moved around with her husband on different deployments into different installations, there would commonly be a really vibrant and strong and tight-knit military community that would be very supportive. So then they were to move somewhere, they would instantly have a lot of resources around them and they could lean on that and learn to depend on it. But not all installations are created the same.

And something that really was surprising for her when they came to Austin because her husband is actually attending the software factory, which is the software bootcamp for the Army. So these are active duty Army, they’re learning how to be software developers and UX designers. And so he’s attending that. They come here, Austin’s very widespread. There’s not a centralized base here. So everyone, while there is a vibrant community, it’s very spread out and it’s hard to tap into those things. And that’s one of the things the Military Family Center is striving to provide is that hub, that central spot. But she also spoke of, she first experienced it here, but there are other installations around that are more distributed so that centralized nature doesn’t exist. So that really spoke to me when I heard it, so I wanted to share that just in case it’s stoked any thoughts for y’all.

Erik:

All right, thanks.

Dirk:

Yes. So we’ll give you one more minute solo just after absorbing all of that and then we’ll go to the next section of that. So just one more minute to maybe finalize some of your thoughts, some of the things you noticed.

So we would like to move to the next part, which is pairs. So at your table, we’ll make it easy to start with, just look at your neighbor and together share the stickies, the things that stood out for you. And you start to create, if you see connections between some of the things you do, you start to create a very small map in between the two of you on the table. So that’s why we also asked to try to clean the table. So if there’s still a lot on the table, just try to move that a little bit. We’re using the resources that we have and if you see connections, if you see connections, you can also use a sticky in between the two points to draw an arrow. So we’re going to be creative here. So if you see a connection between two things, use a sticky to make the connection. So you get 15 minutes together to create one map with the two of you.

Erik:

Okay, move yourself to a pausing point. And then please direct your attention back up here. If you’re right in the middle of a sentence or in the middle of a question that you’re still wrestling with, that’s a great sign. That’s the kind of conversation we are hoping that you’re having. And if you’re coming in to have figured this all out in the next 90 minutes, you’re going to be disappointed. But hopefully you have some new understandings and some better questions and we have a better sense of those truths out there that we can operate with.

So in a moment, we’re going to shift to creating a group of four. So pair will join a pair right next to you and you’re going to then be integrating both the maps that you’ve created. And it’s going to feel a little messy. That’s the work. All right? Now if, and hold on one moment before … I know as soon as I said four, it’s, “All right, let’s get going. Let’s get a jumpstart. We can get the answer key down. This is going to be great.”

So as you move into your fours, you’re obviously going to have to integrate pieces. There’s probably going to be some duplication. So it’s like, “Yep, we’ve got this piece here.” You can bring those together. This is similar. Do we want to bring those together or keep those separate? Also too, this is the point, and I see some great examples here. We even have people tearing stickies to create arrows. It’s fantastic. No, it’s fantastic. So if you haven’t already started to think about the nature of those relationships, start to draw those arrows, which ones are particularly connected? Which one do you see may be acting on another? Are there potential loops here? And again, it’s not about perfectly identifying them, it’s starting to surface the nature of those relationships.

I’m going to share one thing that I always find really helpful when especially first engaging in this process here. So have a great colleague of ours in this space who has spent years doing systems work and systems maps. And so oftentimes, and we’ve asked what’s the step and are we doing this right? And she always returns us to, Darcy Winslow is her name, co-founder of the Academy for Systems Change, and oftentimes returns us to this quote from Alice in Wonderland in terms of the instructions for this. So as you’re doing this, begin at the beginning, and go until you come to the end, and then stop. That’s how to do it. So give yourself that grace. All right?

Now move to your group of four. We’re going to take the next 10 minutes in your group of four to start integrating those maps and thinking about the nature of those relationships.

Okay. Our final or almost final turn here. And again, the point is not to have these things absolutely complete, but as I’m listening across groups, it’s fantastic to see the nature of the conversation or witness the nature of the conversation. Each of you posing questions of one another. Well, here’s how I see this. How do you see this relating to this piece over here? Or is this really like this or should it be over here? Again, co-constructing a truth and an initial map that then we can gather around and further merge together.

Lilly, did you have-

Lilly:

I have a question.

Erik:

Yeah.

Lilly:

So really quickly, our group, I felt like at times as we were trying to create our map, we were also thinking of solutions. And I was curious, should solutioning come into this first pass of mapping?

Erik:

We’re not solving. We’re trying to understand. Okay? So it’s not that those solutions may not bubble up, but set them to the side for now because we’re not even necessarily clear on what the nature of the map is and the potential problem and opportunity space. So again, as is a hallmark of design thinking and in a lot of the systems work, let’s make sure we’re solving the right problem before solving a problem. Because that can then … If we were talking earlier about again, those solutions or fixes that fail, you could end up doing something that then ultimately makes your problem worse. And we’ve seen that in a lot of complex systems-based challenges out there.

Jimmy also asked in the back there about should we be mapping just the things that aren’t working or the things that aren’t working and the things that are working. Both. And in fact, I was mentioning back there, systems are working in the way that they were oftentimes designed. They’re working. They just may not be working to do the things that we want them to do. And so that’s where having the full picture, like these things are working, they’re working the way that we want, but that leads to these things over here not working. So let’s get the full picture.

Our final turn. I’m going to throw down the gauntlet here. It’s 10 minutes. Now, you’re going to have a facilitator at your table. And here’s how we’re going to side that. So whomever at your table has a birthday closest to today is going to be the facilitator for this final turn. Now, before you go to figure that out, here’s what I suggest. All right? Quickly have each group of four share briefly the story that’s there, and then you can be starting to combine things. We have that, let’s get that in the center. And again, clear the table. I see so many drinks out here. I don’t know, you’re going to have things spilled. All right? So make sure you have space in the next 10 minutes. Facilitators, help your group come up with a collective table map. Go.

Okay, move yourself to that pausing point and I’ll ask you to direct your attention back up to the stage here. Have a chance to hear from groups. I know it’s at the end of the day, and it’s so great to see people standing up around table … You’re leaning in, right? No, this should go, no, I think this is actually the nature of this. And this is for some of you a challenge that hits close to home. I know we have some military spouses in the room, people from military families. But also some of you, this is a problem that’s not even that closely necessarily connected to you and you’re leaning in, you’re building a sense of truth and surfacing something that people can work around, that starting point.

Key thing that we didn’t mention earlier, this process helps to surface what in systems mapping is called mental models. It’s kind of an internal ways that we view and order the world that until we oftentimes can externalize them in a way like this with our colleagues, it’s a filter that we’re not aware of, our colleagues aren’t aware of. And so this gives us an opportunity to surface, “Well, here’s how I’m seeing this. Okay, I’m seeing it this way. Let’s bring that together so that we can collectively act.”

So I’d love to hear from a group or two, hopefully from everybody. And facilitators, you’re particularly on the spot here. Would love to hear, I know you just did so much work on this. What did you notice as you facilitated this process? So there’s a couple of different ways into this prompt. Either you could talk about the process itself, here’s what it was like to facilitate that integration of ideas, and here’s what I noticed. And or wow, this new breakthrough surface, we didn’t realize this one piece and here’s what we’re thinking could be really important for us to think about tomorrow as we start moving to solutioning. So a couple of different either process or content or breakthrough.

Speaker 9:

I’ll be happy to go first. This is an awesome table because it’s humbling to facilitate masterful facilitators because you all facilitate yourselves. And as somebody that’s trying to step back and allow the dance to happen, what was really interesting is just understanding for ourselves what really is the place to start. Where’s the beginning? And I think we have this really interesting dichotomy or juxtaposition from what really is the beginning of this system between awareness, advertising, lack of budget. Is that the place to start? Or is it really the underemployment as the place to start? So it was very fascinating to see the differences and a little bit of the dance, but also some arm wrestling of where is it really going to go. And I think even though we didn’t fully combine what we wanted to do, I think just stepping back, observing and helping to facilitate that, I think we got a better awareness of, ah, I hadn’t thought of that perspective or hadn’t thought of it this way. Or ooh, there’s some commonalities, how do we bring this back together?

Speaker 10:

With the data we had, I found that there’s just more questions or hypothesis to prove out. We started creating assumptions. It was like, “Is that real or is that just what we think?”

Erik:

Yeah, which is a great outcome of an exercise like this. And obviously, people spend multiple months on these and in these kinds of conversations. Ultimately get to, Dirk’s map as a starting point, if he were to share other iterations, I mean multiple months there, but then that’s a powerful way for a group to move forward. And it does. That’s a really powerful outcome there. Wow, we don’t know about that. We need to know more. Okay, let’s go out and talk with some more folks that, again, surfaces that gap in a way that until that was out there wouldn’t have been apparent.

Dirk:

Absolutely. It starts the inquiry. It gives direction on where to inquire further and not just, again, to those mental models think that now you’ve mapped the truth because it hasn’t. So if you identify additional questions, that’s amazing. And to the point of where does it start? One of the core things of a system map is it doesn’t really matter where it starts. It actually doesn’t matter. When it’s mapped and you see the correlation, wherever, it’s all interconnected anyway. So just as an extra add-on.

Speaker 11:

Something that really surprised me was I started to get really wedded to the model that I was working on. And then when we had to join most recently, the whole table, I was like, “No, don’t cave, Phil. That’s the right one.” And I was like, I thought I was kind of an evolved human being, but it kind of surprised me and it took me back to the quote that you had about it’s more important to find the truth than to be right. And I’m still struggling with that right now because it really blew me away that I experienced this. I am just curious if other people had that too.

Erik:

It is bringing us full circle. Thank you for sharing. It’s bringing us full circle to our work with Leah this morning in a lot of ways as to what truths, how tightly we hold onto them, what does that mean about the different systems within us. Right? Other teams, would love … Yeah, Leah.

Leah:

Well, just on that point, it was a growing of the system in the group. So it started out with two, and then going back to what Ann said, you had maybe your attachment of the pair, and then the four, and then to the whole table. And yeah, it’s an interesting exercise of looking at the system and then being a part of a system trying to solve or trying to notice the differences and the differences of perspectives and not holding on too tightly.

Erik:

Which whether we have or recognize it or not, we’re kind of doing that every day in our companies and our organizations. We just are doing it with oftentimes a pretty blunt tools and hurting a lot of people in the process. So this just surfaces it in a way that can be more constructive. Others?

Speaker 9:

I was going to add on that. When we were merging the four of us, we said, “Well, we still have a gap.” But it was when we brought the eight together, we were like, “Ah, you filled the gap.”

Erik:

Cool, cool. There was here from a-

Speaker 12:

Okay, so I had the challenge to facilitate our table. Good reframe.

Erik:

So we had the cool table. That was the challenging table. We got the-

Speaker 12:

So what I noticed is that we, in terms of the elements in the system, we were almost identical, the two different groups. So I thought, okay, that’s a good starting place. Then though the relationship that the two groups of four had identified were … Well, we didn’t have a lot of time to actually process how similar or dissimilar the relationships were, but they definitely weren’t as similar as the elements were. And then to Ann’s point about wanting to be right or wanting to find the truth, I think our group was a little quick to gloss over the differences and just say, “Oh, it’s pretty much the same.” Which I think wasn’t like a deep commitment to finding the truth of the system.

Erik:

Was that a little shade there? That sounded like a little shade.

Speaker 12:

I wrote that as a facilitator because that was what I was hearing them say. I’m not necessarily endorsing that though.

Speaker 13:

Or we said because they’re so similar, just pick one because they’re both right. So we’ll just pick which one we were going to present as our map.

Erik:

Which I think is another good reminder here of not losing sight of the verb for the noun. Because in that example, you choose one, you’re going to follow that verb through, and if you’re truly seeking at the end of the day, the truth you’ll bring back in those other pieces. So again, don’t confuse the verb for the noun there. Yeah?

Speaker 14:

Yeah, I will probably just echo some of the comments you’ve heard. I’ve heard some labels for tables, and I do have a label over here as well. We have a lot of enthusiasm, and the great thing about being with a lot of design thinkers is the willingness to share ideas. So I’m going to call us the fun table.

Erik:

Perfect.

Speaker 14:

You want to come over here for some fun in building some systems. And really I think what we had in really seeing the connections evolve, and I think I kind of heard that throughout. But it’s really seeing the different connections between the different pieces and hearing the different perspectives and seeing how connections that you may have missed or didn’t know were there suddenly come up. So the system ended up changing and combining in a way that we think overall improved and gave a good overview of what we were looking at.

Erik:

Cool. I’m looking at our time here, and we’re just a minute over, just a minute or two over. So a couple of things.

This isn’t the end, obviously, in 90 minutes to have completely figured it out. I always tell folks in my sessions this is a launch. If you come thinking that this is the end, you’re going to be disappointed. So let’s get real about what we’re able to do if we’re actually going to tackle things in the ways that we need to. Hopefully you’re starting to see some ways to build some truth into the complex systems that you are a part of each day, and that you can take a lot of what emerged in this space into further building to the truths and solutions into our work for tomorrow. So thank you for your willingness to dive in and to seek that truth with each other, to develop this very scarce but important resource. Thank you.

The post Facilitating Change by Mapping Systems appeared first on Voltage Control.

At this year’s Facilitation Lab Summit, Erin Warner led a captivating workshop titled “Daring Dialogues: Refining Ideas and Embracing Bold Action.” Erin, known for her unique blend of movement and facilitation techniques, encouraged participants to engage physically and mentally throughout the session.

The workshop began with a lively introduction, where Erin emphasized the importance of community, movement, and holistic well-being. She shared her journey of integrating diverse experiences into her facilitation practice, highlighting the power of books like “The Art of Gathering” by Priya Parker and “The Joy of Movement.”

Erin’s session was structured around two core elements: trust and emergence. She introduced participants to the concept of embodied decision-making, explaining how our bodies can provide valuable insights into our levels of trust and enthusiasm.

Participants were invited to stand in a circle and make eye contact, gauging their trust levels with each other. This exercise was both meditative and revealing, helping attendees understand the importance of trust in group dynamics.

Erin then guided the group through interactive decision-making activities. One such activity involved physically moving to different areas of the room to express preferences for various ideas. This embodied voting method highlighted the significance of commitment and authenticity in decision-making processes.

Throughout the session, Erin encouraged participants to reflect on their experiences and share insights. The workshop concluded with a discussion on how to maintain a safe and productive environment in facilitated sessions, emphasizing the continuous nurturing of trust and openness.

Erin’s workshop was a powerful demonstration of how movement and embodied practices can enhance facilitation. Her approach left attendees inspired to incorporate these dynamic methods into their own sessions, fostering deeper connections and more effective collaboration.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript

Erin Warner:

Hello, everybody. Great to see you. Hope you had a good lunch. Very excited to share, yeah, those diverse things that I bring to facilitation with you all today. Thank you, those of you who danced with me yesterday, hope you had fun. I’m going to bring a little bit of movement into this session as well. Is anyone afraid that I’m going to ask you to dance? Is there anyone who’d be excited if I said, hey, we’re going to get up and dance? Okay, cool, well, we’re not going to do that, but we are going to move a little bit.

So just a few words about me. Where I am now really is the result of taking all these very disparate strands that seem unrelated and experiences and then weaving them into something coherent. So community is something very, very important to me. I absolutely treasure it, and this picture right here is actually the summit two years ago, and those are people that I went through the certification with. Of course, it was all online and that was the first time we met each other in person, so it was a really special way to deepen the community that we have with each other. These are the people that I danced with at the gym, and I always say it’s more than just a fitness class. We are really building emotional wellness and social strength through coming together and doing our physical fitness.

Some of my favorite books, of course, The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. I was talking to someone last night who hasn’t read it, and if you haven’t read it, I highly suggest it. It’s just a really beautiful book and very applicable to what we do. The Joy of Movement, it’s about, again, the three-dimensional benefits of movement, both on your physical well-being, but your cognition as well, your creativity, your sense of resilience, your sense of belonging, so it’s very holistic. I also facilitate a racial healing and racial justice book club. I feel just as an American, that’s part of our responsibility to educate ourselves and engage with those issues. So those are some of the books that we read together.

Yes, I used to be a lawyer and I’m going to talk to you all today about decision-making processes, and as a former lawyer, that’s just something I’ve thought about a lot. I think it’s really important and it’s the practical side of me. I have the fun dancing, all this, but also I really like results. I really like driving things forward, so I’m going to try to provide that today.

And lastly, this picture of colorful vegetables. I am really passionate about produce, fruits and vegetables, for so many reasons, but I’m just going to leave that there. If anybody’s curious about that or if you’re passionate about fruits and vegetables too, let’s talk. But I won’t go into that quirky side of myself, but I’ll just leave that there for anyone who’s intrigued.

The title I gave to my session is Daring Dialogues: Refining Ideas and Embracing Bold Action, and those are nice things to aspire to, but it can be daunting or scary. So we’re going to look at some things that support being able to actually follow through on that. And I wanted to give you an overview of what we’re going to look at today, and I called it Our Flow because I am very inspired by nature. And we may not get there in the way that I think, we’re going to go co-create this, but the water might go around that hill, it might come around it the other way. There’s even a little waterfall trickling over the top. But one way or the other, we’re going to explore these things. We’re going to flow through.

First, what I consider secret ingredients for successful group decisions because as we know, group decisions are very differently made than individual decisions that we just make on our own, and there’s different dynamics you have to take into account. We’re going to look at how we can bring our bodies into what they can tell us, how we can bring that into the picture. We’ll do some interactive demos of two exercises and we’ll reflect and share. I hope you all are on board for that.

So food is one of my love languages, so I like using the metaphor of secret ingredients. I like being able to share yummy things with you, like star anise or vanilla or cinnamon. This is what I consider two essential ingredients for successful group decision making. Well, actually, sorry, first of all, I wanted to define what I think is successful, because there’s the outward looking and then the inward looking. So it’s successful if it’s moving the organization towards its goals, right? Simple as that. But also when we feel strongly about something, we’ll engage in debate, but there could also be hurt feelings or I feel like I wasn’t heard, I wasn’t respected, they didn’t understand what I was saying. And then there can be, and I’ve seen and experienced this when I facilitated, there can be grudges, wounds. They’re not really surface, they’re just held. And so I think a successful decision making process protects the cohesion and the rapport within the group so that it can then continue towards its mission. So those are the two vectors of success that we’re going to be trying to work towards today.

We’ve been putting ourselves in the shoes of the user, and I want us now to shift to the point of view of the ACC decision makers, because they’re the ones eventually who are going to have to say, how are we going to promote this program? And there’s a lot of ways that we already know about how decisions are made. So I wanted to first just surface some of them. What are some standard ways that groups make a decision that we already know about? Just popcorn style. Sorry?

Speaker 2:

Voting.

Erin Warner:

Voting, yes, and then there’s so many kinds of voting.

Speaker 2:

[inaudible 00:06:43].

Erin Warner:

There’s majority rules, right, 50%, 51%? Thank you.

Speaker 3:

[inaudible 00:06:50].

Erin Warner:

Yes, stacked ranked voting. Yes. What else?

Speaker 4:

[inaudible 00:06:56].

Erin Warner:

Yeah, decider, decider. That’s nice and simple. Cool. Anything else? Yes.

Speaker 5:

Consensus.

Erin Warner:

Consensus, yeah. That’s always the holy grail if you can … Has anyone ever seen it. Jimmy? Consent, yes. Can you explain the difference? And Nellie’s bringing you a mic.

Jimmy:

Decisions by consent are like, I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I can consent to this.

Erin Warner:

I’m not going to veto it or block it. Thank you. Thank you. Monica?

Monica:

Not deciding anything.

Erin Warner:

Who’s seen that and experienced that? Man, that’s frustrating. Cool, thank you. So the next thing is, so we know these because we see them and we experience them, right? So does anyone want to make a case for which one is the best one?

Speaker 8:

[inaudible 00:08:00]

Erin Warner:

Yeah, and if you don’t want to make a case, would anyone like to talk about why you don’t want to say this one’s the best one? Over here.

Speaker 9:

I can make a case for having a single decision maker such as a boss or a manager, assuming that they have heard all of the feedback from everyone else in the group and they’ve taken that into consideration and answered questions, but generally having that single person helps present churn. And then of course you can be iterative, so if it turns out to not be the right decision, you can revisit it with the group later and pivot.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Thank you, and then I think your neighbor over here had an idea.

Speaker 10:

I don’t think there really is a single best one. It depends on the circumstances and the whole group dynamic. In some situations you might need to get a consensus, you might need to get the majority of people to agree on it. Or if you just need quick action, you might need just one person to say, we’re doing this, go. Even if it’s wrong, we have to go and do it, so it really depends.

Erin Warner:

Yeah, thank you for that. It depends, I think is where I come down on it and that’s why I want to give you these next two tools that no matter which decision-making process you’re going to use, there’s two secret ingredients to get back to that that will support the success of that decision-making process and one is trust and the other one is releasing that inner narrator. There’s always at least one perfectionist in a group usually, or maybe it’s in all of us, and allowing space for emergence. So if you have those two factors in place, then it really frees you up to do those things I started the talk with, which is bold actions and giving yourself space to refine your ideas.

And the reason why those two matter is even if you do disagree with the ultimate decision, if you trust the intention with which it was made, then it’s a lot easier to consent to disagree and commit to get on board if you trust the intention. And also if you trust and you know that it’s part of an emergent strategy, it’s going to be revised, it’s going to be checked, then again, because the thing is if we knew the right answer, it would be easy. And so all of us admitting that we need space to discover for a right answer to emerge will take a lot of pressure off. How are we going to decide?

So we’re going to look at those topics in two activities that will get us up out of our seats and into our bodies, but we hear that word embodiment a lot. I just wanted to see in the room what that word, what you think it means. So again, a little popcorn style, when you hear embodiment, anyone want to speak into that? Over here?

Speaker 11:

Mind and body connection.

Erin Warner:

Beautiful. Can you say more?

Speaker 11:

I think of embodied as an experience that you’re feeling inside of your body and then understanding it more from a mental capacity.

Erin Warner:

Beautiful. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Right now I’m feeling like energy in my body, everyone’s looking at me. I can feel like the blood coursing. Maybe you’re feeling something else because you just had lunch, but how is that affecting your experience? [inaudible 00:11:34] She’s bringing the mic.

Speaker 12:

The word that comes to mind when I hear embodied is becoming or to become.

Erin Warner:

Interesting. Can you say more about that? Because I’m curious.

Speaker 12:

Yeah, I think to embody something or a concept even in our earlier practice where we were to become or to embody the solution we had in mind with making the shape with our bodies of what this concept was, I think it provides a different layer or experience or a way of thinking about something when you internalize it that way and think about different aspects of the piece and how it translates to your physical body, so yeah.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Yeah, it definitely is another layer that we’re recently becoming more conscious of and trying to receive whatever wisdom or information it has for us. Yeah. Does anybody else want to talk about embodiment?

Speaker 13:

You could also think about not only do they say they’re willing to lean in and do it, but do they actually do it? So it’s actually attaching the willingness, but also the action, so you can actually see it. I’m not just saying it, I’m going to show you that I’m bought in and I’m going to be supported.

Erin Warner:

Absolutely. Yeah, I’m going to come back to that and underline that. Thank you.

Speaker 14:

When I’m thinking about embodiment, I’m thinking about giving form and shape to something that otherwise would be abstract.

Erin Warner:

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. So this very much aligns with the way I’ve summed it up, so thank you very much. You guys are really tuned in. So when I use the word today, embodied, I am really looking for congruence between what the mind is thinking and what the body is either feeling, experiencing or expressing. So it is taking the abstract of just what’s going on in your head and making it more concrete. I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name back here, who you said about … Yeah.

Speaker 15:

Diana.

Erin Warner:

Sorry?

Speaker 15:

Diana.

Erin Warner:

Diana, about actually enacting what you say you think or feel. So that’s how I’m using the word today, and that takes me to our first activity. So I’ve seen and experienced this being very powerful and it has to do with the secret ingredient of trust. And we’ve been doing a lot of, I think, activities in day one with the different facilitators building trust among us as a group. And I just want to invite you to look at trust now with fresh eyes as not just a team building thing or thing that has to do with morale, but that’s actually integral to decision-making that it actually frees up a group to be able to make a decision.

So I want you all to imagine that we are the ACC decision-makers, okay? So we work together on this project over time. We’re not going to just see each other today and tomorrow and never see each other again. We are a team. So imagine that, we have relationships, we have a history, and we also have a goal that we need to do together, right? So to embody or to examine the level of trust that we have, what I’m going to ask is actually for everyone to stand up and we’re going to make roughly a circle. It’s going to be similar to what Solomon had us do earlier in terms of a line, but it’s going to be a circle shoulder-to-shoulder. The key is that it’s an uninterrupted shape, whether it’s squiggly, awesome, where hopefully you can pretty much see everybody eye to eye if you were to look around the room. Beautiful, beautiful.

Okay, so imagine that we’re all in this team together and you’re about to make a decision together, and the invitation is to slowly look around the circle and look at people in the eye and feel into what’s true for you. Either you look at that person and you feel, I trust that person, and you believe it, you feel it. And if you don’t feel that, then I invite you to feel, I want to trust that person? Either it’s a question or it’s a statement. I want to trust that person. Those are the two options.

And if you feel I want to trust that person, then ask yourself, what would make that possible? Is there a rupture that needs to be healed? Is there just something you need to get off your chest or is it like I just don’t really know that person. We haven’t connected, so I don’t know. I want to, but I don’t yet. So this can be really powerful in a smaller group where you literally can look every person in the eye. This group is a little bit bigger, but I’m just going to give you the time to literally do that and listen to your body and what it’s telling you. It might be uncomfortable. That’s okay. Take a deep breath, shake it off.

Okay, now go ahead and go back to your tables. Thank you very much for trusting me to do that. Now I recognize that trust is something that’s built. Some of us know each other, but not so well as a whole group. But imagine doing that with your team, a group of people who you know maybe as well as dear family in some ways. I know yesterday I was asking some people to dance and I was like, they don’t have any reason to trust. They don’t know me very well. They don’t trust me well enough to do that. And then maybe they would again in the future if I asked them again. But having done this very simple activity that I’ve witnessed and experienced to be very, very impactful for groups, I’d like you to just, solo, take down your reflections on how that felt for you, good, bad, and ugly, and then we’ll share. So how did it feel to evaluate trust from an embodied perspective? What did your body tell you? Does anybody want to share how that felt for them? They could imagine using it if they had resistance to it.

Speaker 16:

I think I’m more willing to do it here, looking at people who are here for a shared purpose, with people I know less well than I would be back with people outside my team at the place I work for. Within my team, whom I know very well, I’d be okay, but with other people at my company who I know a little bit, I think I would feel more uncomfortable. I was more comfortable here among people I know less well. I don’t know why. There’s an inner narrator in there, I am sure.

Erin Warner:

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 17:

I trust very naturally. That’s just my general inclination is to trust, but I also recognize it can get derailed when I start to judge. I’m like, that dude seems pretty opinionated or something like that. So that’s where it gets sometimes in the way, and I need to go back to my defaults and start with trust.

Speaker 18:

I mean, in going around the room, I think for me it was a big difference of people who I’ve had a chance to engage with and people who I haven’t. And so primarily it was like I trust this person, I don’t know this person.

Erin Warner:

Yeah.

Speaker 18:

And it sounds funny, but there were a number of faces around the room that also felt like it was the first time I was looking at them because we are all at our own tables and they’re just like, oh, I didn’t know that person was here, and so that was very interesting for a group who doesn’t really know each other here. But something that it brings up for me is in an organization that I was recently a part of where a lot of trust had been broken and going through really difficult leadership transitions, if we were to do that activity, it would be a very high risk activity, and so I’m wondering how you move that. That is a very engaging moment that can have a lot of vulnerability in it. How do you actually move it to a place of trust when it is clear that there is so much distrust in that space?

Erin Warner:

Thank you for surfacing that because I think actually fully intended to share the context, at least where I’ve seen this be really powerful, because it was a similar situation where there was a lack of trust based on some experiences that had happened. So we used this after doing a really vulnerable unpacking where everyone got to say their peace and not be responded to, just be heard and received. And that was quite emotional, but also it surfaced the reason why there was emotions because everybody cared so much, right? So I think it surfaced that unity of purpose, disagreement about methods and not always communicating with the care, and then after that facilitated conversation, having the trust reflection.

And again, you’re not sharing it with anyone else and you’re asking yourself if I can’t honestly say I trust this person, the option I gave you is not, I don’t trust this person. I mean, you’re autonomous humans, you can make that choice, but the option I invited you to was I want to trust this person and what would make that possible? And again, you’re not sharing it with anyone, but now you have that knowledge. They’re like, I’m not so sure about her. Why, and what can I do about that? Taking responsibility also for trying to meet them. Yeah. Thank you. Anybody else? Julie.

Julie:

I want to tell on myself a little bit here. I found it awkward, but I also found it meditative and I was very sad when the exercise ended that I hadn’t been able to catch everybody’s eye. And something that hit me personally was if you had asked me to do this exercise 10 years ago, 20 years ago, it would’ve felt extremely dangerous to be in a room of so many people I don’t know, and make eye contact and set out that good intention. So I guess I just want to reflect that this practice of facilitation as a human being I think has changed that for me in a really powerful way.

Erin Warner:

Wow. Thank you. Thanks, Julie. Anybody else? Yeah, I definitely understand and expect that it can be awkward and some people might really love it and be touched by it. Some people might be like, there’s no way I would ever do that. I’m okay with that. It’s like the dancing, I did a little poll at the beginning of this session. Some people would totally cringe like, no, that’s not happening. And then other people are like, yeah, that’s for me. So I think that is as expected. Yeah, Leah?

Leah:

Thank you. I’m curious to learn more about when you do this exercise, because I saw you define trust with unity of purpose, and so what I noticed about this is first and foremost, to trust others, you have to trust yourself and so just how that shows up, because in the embodiment piece, it’s how do you trust your own body and trust your own thoughts? So I’d just be curious to learn more about if that comes in to these kinds of experiences.

Erin Warner:

So first about the unity of purpose. You can define trust in many different ways, and that’s the one that I think is crucial to being able to make decisions, and again, that disagree and commit. If you trust that their intention with which the decision is made, it’s easier to get on board. And then yeah, I think the embodiment comes into play because your body will tell you if you trust someone or not because probably, well, possibly you might think, well, I should. That’s your mind. And then I wanted to bring up the unconscious biases that we have too. We all have them. Again, we try to override them cognitively when we’re aware of them. So maybe actually you “should trust a person.” But some unconscious bias is coming up that maybe by sitting quietly, looking in their eye, you can notice that and say, oh, actually I have some work to do to not let that dictate my relationship with that person.

So the next secret ingredient is making space for emergence, and I’m very much inspired by Adrienne Maree Brown, who wrote the wonderful book Emergent Strategy. I mean it’s a concept that I think it’s expressed in many, many different ways, but what I found really resonated with me in her book and her perspective is two things in particular. One, she’s very, very inspired by nature and very clear on the fact that we are nature. So we’re not separate from it. Whatever we can learn and observe in what we say is nature is generally true on some level or in some way about us as well, and she’s also very inspired by science fiction in a very optimistic way that I love.

So basically if we can imagine and dream an alternate reality that we would like to see become reality, then we can work towards it, but it is an act of creativity, right? It doesn’t exist, so we have to dream it first. That’s the first step, so I love that about her. And just some axioms from her book that I think applied to the decision-making is moving at the speed of trust, again, to keep the health of the members of the organization, the rapport. Never a failure, always a lesson, we all know that one, small is good, small is all. The large is a reflection of the small, so it’s not insignificant, the small steps. It’s like the fractals and the microcosm. What you pay attention to grows, so we’re going to come back to that in terms of enthusiasm, and then change is constant, be like water, always be flowing, always be looking for a different path, and there’s multiple ways to get to your destination.

And another way of saying it that, I am very grateful to the certification process because I came up with this working on my portfolio and the certification process, is that small is better than not at all, direction is more important than the finish line and enthusiasm is the fuel. So we’re going to move into actually evaluating the ideas that you all generated in the previous session using this lens, this framework, especially, we’re going to focus on enthusiasm.

So I had to collect from you all high level the ideas that you all generated in the past session, and there were nine tables, but it seemed like there were basically five big ideas and I wrote them on the pieces of paper. So if you have the block paper on your table, could you just stand up, one person from each table, and say what your big idea was, very high level, what pain point you were solving for and what your idea was? And listen for these because I’m going to ask you to express your preference and your enthusiasm in a minute here, so it’ll be a form of voting.

Speaker 22:

So the pain point was geographic and cultural diversity, and what we came up with were gatherings, convenings, community gatherings at installments because, well, the spouses know where their spouses work and they go there every day. And how about creating community there as a way to share about these things in the way the military shows up and offers convening and gatherings and luncheons as a recruiting method?

Erin Warner:

Thank you.

Speaker 23:

So we focused on building a personal connection and what we landed on was partner with universities for belonging and prestige, so universities that carry a lot of clout in the business world, the Stanfords, Harvards, those kinds of universities. Not only could that help bring attention to resumes, but you also would start to feel a belonging with that university, like I’m part of Stanford or I’m part of Harvard, and so it helps build a community that’s global and really easy to plug into.

Erin Warner:

Thank you.

Speaker 24:

We focused on lack of trust and we thought that could be ameliorated by storytelling of the individuals who were in the program. So I started out with the same problem you had in terms of feeling lonely, not having childcare, and through this program I was successful. Also, on the employer side, I’m an employer. I hired these people and they were super successful in my organization, and so that kind of storytelling would help build trust if it was success stories.

Speaker 25:

So we started out with competing messages. As we started building this out, we’ve realized it might’ve touched on another. We were focusing on that one as our pain point, but we thought we would partner with a national corporate sponsor, for example, a big IT like an Oracle or a Google because they could help us with communication, outreach. They have the name notoriety, they have the bandwidth within their own company. They know how to do this well in terms of communications and branding and that kind of thing. And they also could help with funding with scholarships for the spouses, providing internships and potential job opportunities as they complete the program.

Erin Warner:

Thank you.

Speaker 26:

So we were focused on lack of trust and one of the ideas that we came up with was to create listening circles between the military spouses. So hosting some sort of event where it’s like a family night or something like that where people can all come together and share their pain points and what has been their process so far with their job search or whatever pain points that they might be going through.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Fantastic, and so I consolidated it to five because I heard a few similar ideas about partnerships and that kind of thing. So hopefully I captured most of the genius in the room. So again, we’re going to have to use our imaginations onto accounts. One, we’re going to imagine that we are the ACC decision makers and we’re going to do something to promote this program and it’s going to be one of these ideas, and we also are going to imagine that we’ve had time to really engage with these five ideas. So we’re really fast-forwarding to, after all that debate, conversation, exploration has been had. But I would like for you all to take about one or two minutes to reflect on these five ideas and which one you think is the coolest.

We’re just going to use enthusiasm along these three vectors if you think there’s potential here represented by that bud, that flower bud, or if you think it’s moving the organization towards its mission or if you just think it’s cool, you’re enthusiastic about it. So I’m going to go back to the five here because in a minute we’re going to get up. We’re going to move around the room and express our preferences by physically locating our bodies. Reflect on these five ideas and where your enthusiasm is and why.

So wait, wait, wait. So we have community gatherings and installments and listening circles. Is everybody who’s standing here saying I’m on board with both of those or should we keep them separate? I think let’s keep them separate for now. I’m going to ask you to choose, so Jenny [inaudible 00:34:05] further away.

Speaker 27:

Jenny, I’m over here.

Erin Warner:

Jenny, stand over here. Spoiler alert, you might get a chance to combine ideas, but work with me. Okay, thank you. So I would just like to hear what you all are noticing so far both in terms of what information you have from just being able to see how the people are distributed. And also I saw some people walking like, I guess I’ll go over here. So what is your body telling you about your true level of enthusiasm or what is it telling you? Does anyone want to respond to either of those questions?

Speaker 28:

My body brought me here even though this was our idea, over here because I remembered that we said we were supposed to be thinking about her, so immediate, something that’s immediate and personal, and I have personally benefited from these kinds of what it would be as a support group.

Erin Warner:

Nice. Thank you.

Speaker 29:

To be honest, I was thinking about it when you asked why I came over here and I think that I still feel somewhat disconnected from the purpose, and so I’m hoping that storytelling will help me feel more connected to it. And yeah, I mean I was thinking that even yesterday when we were doing the system mapping, more information, and so I enjoy hearing a story to learn more about why it should matter.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Okay, so we have five ideas and I’m now going to give the people who voted for the smallest group to now vote for one of the top three. Now I would like to invite the people who just cast their second vote, one person who did that to say why. So someone who’s at storytelling who was not there initially, would one of you please share why you decided to give your second vote to them?

Speaker 30:

You had me at purpose.

Erin Warner:

Is there anything from your original vote, any element of that that’s important to you that you would like to propose to fold in and add to this one? Margaret has her hand up.

Margaret:

So the two things are, one, we wanted it to be national, so it had to be something that could be broadcast and storytelling can do that via different media. The other one was, we can start this tomorrow. Our media students here at ACC can take these stories and film them or gather them. We can make an experience for the students too. So it’s immediate and national, which were two of the original goals.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Actually, could someone scribe that add to what Dan’s holding, just the immediate and national so that we’re capturing the new hybrid idea? Thank you. So someone who initially did not vote for corporate sponsor partnership but now has gone there, could you please share why?

Speaker 32:

As they say, follow the money.

Erin Warner:

Very good. You guys are both very concise in why you changed your vote. And was there anything from your original camp that you felt was important or special that you’d like to embed into your new camp?

Speaker 33:

I think the only other thing I’d want to bring is when we highlighted prestige, what I was thinking is if these people don’t have a lot of experience, they’re probably lacking confidence, and so just a name brand with some teeth that can make them feel more confident going into those job interviews and make them feel like they can really get this job.

Erin Warner:

Thank you, and then someone who was not initially at community gatherings, but who was there, what brought you over there?

Speaker 34:

Yeah, so I was just saying, yeah, with the community gatherings it is something that is low touch, high impact, whereas some of the other things like building out a partnership with the university or sponsors can be high touch, high impact, but it’s going to take more time. So yeah, this is grassroots, similar, you can get it started-

Erin Warner:

Similar to what we heard over there.

Speaker 34:

You can get it started immediately.

Erin Warner:

And someone who wasn’t initially in this camp, could you say where you were initially and something, an element of that you’d like to fold in?

Speaker 35:

In partnership with over there, it’s immediate and regional, but has the same spirit going, so regional and national has a nice partnership. Let’s get together. [inaudible 00:38:38].

Erin Warner:

Exactly. Exactly. Beautiful. Thank you. So you see how we could do this again until we got down to two or one, but we’re down to three, which I think is great. And you see how the process works, how you are able to build a hybrid proposal, bring in the elements that were appreciated and the ones that didn’t rise to the top and how you can build consensus. You can’t always achieve it completely, but you can build it a little bit and let everyone feel like their voices are heard. So I would suggest that we have come up with three really great ideas that could be a provisional, advisory opinion that we could provide to ACC for them to evaluate.

So that was really beautifully done. I’m actually really moved with the fact that we have … The lawyer in me is very gratified by the concreteness of what we just did, that we had ideas, we collaborated. They can of course be fleshed out. You all used your imagination and trusted me to go through this process that was a little bit sped up. And so the outcomes that we have is not two but three ideas that I want to hear your feedback, but the intention is that they’re selected inclusively, transparently and with consensus building. So is that landing? Do you think that’s what you just experienced or how did your experience differ?

Speaker 36:

Excited, to be honest. At first I thought maybe we missed the mark on the messaging and I was thinking through in my head, should I have elaborated more in some areas? But I think there was enough overlap with the idea we ultimately merged with that it made sense and it broadened the scope and the reach of what we originally wanted to do.

Speaker 37:

They were all generally really good ideas and we were able to let go of our ego.

Erin Warner:

Yeah, I think that’s right. There wasn’t too much attachment, but the idea of the process is that when there is attachment, that whole part of getting to say what you want to keep alive though from your initial idea can help go to assuaging any feelings of disappointment, loss. Exactly. So we did an embodied process of allowing ideas to emerge and co-creating ideas that weren’t there in the room initially, and I wanted to ask you to just reflect on how that felt. Again, we’re not super attached to this, but would it feel vulnerable to go and actually walk across the room when it’s more controversial, and I’m here? If it does feel vulnerable, is that a good thing in some ways and a bad thing in other ways? Just what does it mean to express yourself with your whole body?

And how did it feel if your idea didn’t become one of the top two? Did you feel included? I said inclusive, but that’s my aspiration. Does it feel that way to you? And yeah, how do you think trust is implicated in this experience? So if you all would take just a minute or two to gather your thoughts, because again, I want this to be useful for you. You won’t do it exactly the same way, but what here can you take and use? So our final share out debrief, and again, I would love to invite anyone who hasn’t shared to the whole group, we value your voice here. So we’d love to hear from anyone who hasn’t yet taken that plunge what you want to share. Go ahead.

Speaker 38:

When you were talking about when there is significant weight to the decision being made, there can be loyalties along team lines, and so it all goes back to that trust. If you didn’t have it in the first place, it doesn’t help to not have it toward the end, because you’re not going to vote authentically or really speak the truth if you know eyes are watching and you’re going to have to pay for it at some point, and it really reinforces for me the key critical importance of trust here.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Thank you for that, and that goes back to there’s no one best way to make decisions. So you obviously wouldn’t use this in every situation and that’s why there’s such thing as secret ballots. I mean that is very important to have secret ballots or to go in reverse hierarchical order when you express your opinion. So yeah, thank you for that. Hi.

Speaker 39:

As somebody who gets really sleepy after lunch, I really appreciated that we got to stand up and move around. And I think just in general in facilitating classes and that kind of thing, I’m always looking for that, an activity to do after lunch to get people up and moving around, so this was a great way. I mean, sure we could have done it still seated, but it was great that we were up and moving around.

Erin Warner:

Fun. Thank you so much. I’m glad that helps you. Go ahead, Mimi.

Mimi:

So something that I felt very challenged by in this on a personal level was just this desire to come to the true right answer and a desire to want to debate the merits of one idea versus another idea and go from five to three to one. Really, I wanted to stand for my idea and why it’s superior to all the other ones, which is probably also inner narrator stuff, but I think that thinking about using this strategy when you have to make a decision and you have to make a decision where you take it from there or where you sit with ambiguity, sit with a continued space of variation and iteration and when you have to get to the closing point or it seems like the push and pull there.

Erin Warner:

100%, and I think, yeah, this was a very truncated version. You could expand on this quite a bit, and one thing you could do is when people are doing their second or third vote and maybe they’re reluctant at that point, they’re like, no, I don’t really love this idea, and you can invite them to bring in something that’s important to them, it can be a time box on it or something that makes it iterative, something like, let’s try this for so much time, or let’s only invest this much money in it, that kind of thing to help them get on board to make them feel more comfortable or safer with it. Yeah, there’s a lot of ways you could go with this.

Speaker 41:

Erin, what struck me about this versus other voting mechanisms, and we’ve encountered people who were like, can I split my vote? Can I tear my sticky? Or I guess I’ll raise my hand for that, is that there’s a whole self-commitment. You cannot separate yourself from your body. So when you go to a place, you are there and it’s visceral, and I think someone mentioned the word authentic, which I also wrote down.

Erin Warner:

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

Phil:

On a quick yes hand on John’s commitment for our projects, when we get to those decision moments, we’ll talk a lot about, we want commitment over consensus. So I like you’re merging with this group and people know you’re coming in from the outside and you’re bringing something with you, but it’s like what makes you willing to commit to trying this? And if it doesn’t work, we’ll go back and we’ll try something else. But that diffuses, am I fully agreeing with this or am I just willing to do an experiment?

Erin Warner:

Yeah, thanks, Phil.

Speaker 43:

To add on the things that have been said, I also like the prompts of checking back in with your body because I tended to realize when you didn’t give that prompt to stick in my head and then start to argument why I would go left and right versus truly feeling, how does it feel to now stand here or leaving the idea you had at first and go there? So it’s one thing to use going somewhere to vote, but then to also maybe even suggest people to close their eyes and say, how does it feel? So I think there’s maybe even room to play with the embodiment.

Erin Warner:

Definitely. Yeah, add another layer.

Speaker 44:

Having people move was helpful because you get to watch people’s bodies as they move and you can see the manner in which they are voting because you’re asking them to check in with their body. You’re like, oh, that person is just moving along. But that’s helpful data for the facilitator to see, oh, there’s a lot of bodies that either they don’t give a shit right now or they’re really about this vote and they really committed. It’s interesting to be able to watch the story of voting happen as opposed to just, here’s the outcome.

Erin Warner:

Absolutely. Thank you for that. Yeah, and you can inquire into it. I literally noticed someone … I think they were undecided between two and their body literally was … They were going like this and like this, so that’s something I could have inquired into. It seemed like you were torn about which direction to go and it really … Yeah, there’s a lot of information there for the facilitator. Yeah. Thank you.

So thank you very much for trusting me and going there and knowing something a little different. Just to recap where we’ve been, and I don’t know exactly how we got there, but I introduced what I consider the secret ingredients for successful group decision-making, trust and emergence. We talked about when embodiment is, and then we experienced it. We did some interactive demos with the trust circle and expressing your preference with your body and we reflected and shared, so thank you all very much. I just want to remind you that I’m Erin and I would love to keep in touch. Community is such an important thing to me and that’s actually what I love so much about Voltage Control. I feel such a part of this community and now I’m so glad to be in community with you all. So please keep in touch. Thank you.

The post Daring Dialogues: Refining Ideas and Embracing Bold Action appeared first on Voltage Control.

At this year’s Facilitation Lab Summit, Solomon Masala led a dynamic and energizing workshop titled “Using Art and Conversation for Convergence.” Solomon, a renowned facilitator known for his vibrant and hands-on approach, guided participants through a series of activities designed to foster teamwork, creativity, and deeper connections.

The session kicked off with an interactive drumming exercise using colorful boomwhackers, immediately engaging everyone in a rhythmic and playful atmosphere. Solomon’s mantra, “Drumming is not a spectator sport,” set the tone for active participation. The room quickly resonated with synchronized beats, illustrating the power of convergence where individual contributions blend into a harmonious whole.

Solomon emphasized the importance of choosing activities that align with the workshop’s objectives. He introduced the concept of “FUNN” (Functional Understanding Not Necessary), highlighting that while fun is a key component, each activity must have a clear purpose tied to the desired outcomes. He shared his experiential philosophy, where activities serve as a vehicle to surface and practice essential behaviors relevant to the group’s goals.

Participants then engaged in a variety of exercises, each meticulously designed to balance didactic learning with kinesthetic experiences. One notable activity involved participants organizing themselves in a specific order without visual aids, relying solely on verbal communication and active listening. This exercise underscored the significance of clarity, trust, and collaboration in achieving collective success.

Another highlight was the “Five-Pointed Star” challenge, where teams had to draw a star using a contraption with strings, requiring precise coordination and communication. This task not only tested their ability to work together but also provided a rich debrief opportunity to discuss observed behaviors and strategies for improvement.

Solomon also delved into the concept of perceived risk, illustrating how creating controlled, safe challenges can enhance learning by pushing participants slightly out of their comfort zones without causing distress. He emphasized the value of reflection in experiential learning, encouraging participants to think critically about their experiences and draw meaningful insights.

The workshop concluded with a creative tableau exercise, where teams used their bodies to create a still image representing solutions to a real-world challenge. This activity fostered innovative thinking and a deeper understanding of the discussed concepts.

Solomon’s workshop was a testament to the power of experiential learning in facilitation. By immersing participants in hands-on activities and fostering an environment of trust and curiosity, he demonstrated how kinesthetic experiences can drive profound personal and collective growth. The session left attendees with practical tools and renewed inspiration to incorporate these dynamic methods into their own facilitation practices.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript

Douglas:

You never know what meaningful, experiential adventure awaits, and there’s always a promise of some fun. Solomon.

Solomon Masala:

Good morning. Drumming is not a spectator sport. You have on your table instruments. Those are tubes that are colorful. Here’s a quick lesson. Take the tube and hit it in the other hand. You are all now master boomwhacker players. If you don’t actually have a tube, there are some tubes that have strings that actually aren’t instruments. If there aren’t enough instruments there, I have placed some of those transparent cups so you get a pen and get one of those cups or anything else at your table.

And I want you to notice that without me having to say anything, we are in the beat. Let’s do a little call and response.

Hey.

Audience:

Hey.

Solomon Masala:

All right. Let’s explore. Where’s Durell? Durell used a really cool term yesterday to start us off called stoke. So we are stoking right now. All right. If you have a red boomwhacker, your part goes like this. Join me. All right, red, you are the pulse keepers. If you have an orange boomwhacker, your part goes like this. Yellow, with me.

Yep. Keep that going. Green. Keep it going. Convergence doesn’t mean that we lose the individual power of the perspectives. What it means is that as we come together and share our parts, that we create something we didn’t even know existed before, and that thing is greater than the sum of the parts. You can hear it right here. Keep it going. Let’s take that tempo a little faster.

And a little faster. One notch faster. And you can play whatever you like. On three, we rumble. One, two, three. Yes. All right. Good morning. Better than coffee. It’s always a delight and a pleasure to be in a room with facilitators because there’s this shared sense of commitment to moving things forward. There’s a shared sense of willingness to hear others. There’s this shared sense of we are serving. So thank you for coming together. I appreciate the opportunity and the honor to be in and amongst you all here today and the opportunity to even share something.

So hopefully, working my inner narrator here. Hopefully, what I bring to you here today, there are some gems that really serve your work in some way. As Douglas mentioned, experiential. So I’ve discovered that I really like when people are doing things. And in fact, in my earlier years as a facilitator, people would say, all right, Solomon, we’ve done enough. Can we just talk? So I recognize that there’s got to be both. There has to be a mix of the didactic experience and the kinesthetic. However, the kinesthetic really offers something quite powerful, so that’s where I’m going with us today as far as bringing us into convergence.

So a very quick wrap up, a summary on what I believe is important about when you’re doing anything kinesthetic. So the first thing is that you choose something that actually hits the objectives. Now, there is something called FUNN, functional understanding not necessary, warm-ups, getting folks ready for the day. However, if we just use those and then go, hey, wasn’t that cool and we just took an hour, we’re missing the point, I believe, of getting something experiential into the mix. So the first thing is always, what are my objectives?

What am I trying to get this group to do, and how does this experience actually call that forth? The second piece then is the behaviors. So what are the behaviors that are connected to? And this for me is the critical part. What are the behaviors that are connected to those objectives? Sure, we’re going to do X, but if I think about breaking that down, what goes into X so that I can actually successfully and functionally in a relational scenario meet that objective? So how does my exercise, my activity, actually get those behaviors to surface so that we can talk about them if they’re not functional?

And so that we can practice them if they are functional, so that we can create a kinesthetic reference point for the people we’re working with that says, yeah, when y’all did that, let’s talk more about how we want to do more of that in an appreciative way? The next piece then is immersion. So we want to have an experience where the intellect and the physicality as well as the emotional experience can be engaged. That’s part of what makes something a robust and valuable activity as far as putting it into the mix on your agenda. And this gets tricky.

Because as soon as you say, all right, we’re going to do a team building exercise, what’s the first thing everyone does? They roll their eyes and they think you’re going to do a trust fall and all these kinds of silly things because what has been lost is the meaningfulness around the experience. So if we bring that in and we demonstrate we are doing this because you all are saying you want to do this as a group, as a team, as a collective, and in order to do this, we’ve determined that these behaviors are necessary, let’s practice them.

I become who I practice being. The next piece then is, all right, how can experiment? How can we iterate? How can we innovate and how do we have the experience of diving in to do the thing that engages with all of these elements of learning? We want to have that present in whatever the experience and the activity is. Risk and failure must be somewhat baked into the experience, I feel. I think it’s important to set it up. So yeah, you could fail at this. However, the safety element is that it’s not emotionally or physically unsafe.

And I always ask my participants to join me in a commitment to that and sometimes we expand on what that is so everyone in the room knows what that is. So risk, yes, failure, yes, and especially perceived risk, that’s really good. So if you get people to stand on a cement block that’s only two inches or so off the ground and they’re moving a piece of wood that feels like, oh my god, perceived risk that truly they could just step off and be safe in the process. So those kinds of things are wonderful and can be brought into an experience because it heightens the learning process.

Again, not putting people in the crisis zone, we’re keeping them in the learning zone and the learning zone is outside the comfort zone. It feels a little bit uncomfortable, but that’s what happens when I’m engaged in my learning process. Like, oh wow, something else turns on. If we go to the last few, I think it was John Dewey that said something like, you don’t learn from experience, you learn from reflecting on experience, something to that matter. The reflection is critical. So being able to ask those good open-ended questions, I can never assume that just because we did this experience, the people in the room go, oh, look at that connection.

So the questions are part of what get them there and part of what deepens. This is where the critical thinking and the complex thinking process can get stoked up a little bit more. And then as much as possible, if it can be fun and it’s not always fun if there’s failure happening. So as a facilitator, I need to be able to hold that man, this group is not in a good happy place right now, but they’re learning. No one’s getting hurt. Harm isn’t being done to the individuals. They’re not happy about what they’re doing right now, but this is potent.

That being said, if we can bring fun into the experience, it also tags the learning with that much more of the neurochemical that helps me go, oh yeah, I remember that because I really enjoyed that experience. Thoughts, questions, comments. What questions have I generated thus far?

Speaker 4:

How do you match an activity to what you want to achieve?

Solomon Masala:

Good question. The question is how do you match an activity to what you want to achieve? You get a really big toolbox. What’s wonderful is our good friend, the internet. If you just start looking for exercises like I want to do this, that typically something will arise that even if it doesn’t meet it exactly, the more you experiment and play around, you’ll be able to modify it and customize it to your needs. So then the other piece is just talking to people. We have these hubs now. What a fabulous place to get on and like, I’m looking for this kind of activity.

I’ve already pulled a few off of it myself. So those are the ways, and then if there’s nothing out there, design one.

Speaker 5:

Hi, I was hoping you can speak a little bit more about perceived risk.

Solomon Masala:

Perceived risk.

Speaker 5:

It’s perceived, so.

Solomon Masala:

Sure. Perceived risk as in as I mentioned with the little cement block. So there’s one exercise, the classic exercise that comes from adventure learning. It’s called, what’s it called? It’s acid river. How many people have heard of it? Yeah, acid river. So the experience is I’m really only stepping up off the ground about this high, but because I’ve set it up of you can’t step off the block and you can’t drop the thing in the middle, I don’t tend to go with cheesy metaphors unless I’m working with fifth graders because they love that kind of stuff.

With adults, I’m just like, it just can’t drop it in there. It’s not acid. So you set up the parameters so that there are constraints. The constraints help make something as little as standing on a block feel like, whoa, this is really risky. That’s what I mean.

Speaker 6:

How do you in your experience set either the objectives and why you do the exercise upfront or you let them first experience without prompting too much, so the learning comes afterwards because you’ve embodied it versus already thinking about the learning? So how do you-

Solomon Masala:

Great question.

Speaker 6:

… Balance these two?

Solomon Masala:

Great question. I use both, and it depends on what I’m trying to do with the group and the nature of the group. So there are situations, most of the time, if it’s a group of adults, if it’s a corporate scenario, we are clear about the objectives. Because I feel like I have to hit them here first, get the intellect engaged so they feel that this is worth their time because now I’m making them think. And then from there, we set up, okay, this was what we talked about didactically, we’re working on more clear communication. Now let’s go practice it.

These were the elements we discussed. Let’s go practice it and see how we do. On the flip side, there may be groups where I have discussed with some of the folks coming into the room leadership, this is what we’re trying to have the group do, and then we do the constructivism approach where we put them into the experience and then through the debrief we go, what did you see happen? What did you see happen? Why did you think that behavior was there? How does that impact us as a team? How does this relate back to what we’re doing in the work world?

So, it really depends on what I think is going to be the, what’s the culture of the group, who’s in the room, those kinds of things. All right, one more question and then I want to move on to get to our experiences.

Speaker 7:

I was curious about if there are times you decide to share the objectives with the participants or not share the objectives. Do you want them to discover the objectives? Are there distinctions as to when you do that?

Solomon Masala:

Sure. Similarly, here, I am pretty transparent about objectives so that folks know why they’re in the room. And I think for adults that’s really … For all ages, that’s pretty important. I may not necessarily tell them the specific objective of the actual activity that we’re going to do, but the overall reason that we’re in the room, I like folks to know that so that it helps their amygdala calm down. Yeah. Good question. All right, let’s move on. Wonderful questions, y’all. So in the spirit of why are we in the room, here’s what we’re doing.

So I’ll pause for a moment so you can read. This is what we’re focused on. We’re wanting to converge today around this. Start coming up with some ideas, start iterating, start suggesting. So check me on this. How important are the skills that I have listed up there to that as our goal, which skill is not necessary, if any?

Speaker 8:

Finding alignment is not necessary.

Solomon Masala:

And please say why finding alignment is not necessary.

Speaker 8:

You can come up with solutions that may contradict each other that are valid.

Solomon Masala:

And they are valid. And how if they’re contradictory and still valid, how do we move forward with them?

Speaker 8:

Empirical. Put a hypothesis out, test it, like that.

Solomon Masala:

Totally. I’m with you on that. I’m totally with you on that. My reasoning for having alignment up there is with that I still have to go, okay, let’s try that. I have to get enough on the same page with you to feel like I can see, even though I’m coming at it from a different perspective. We at least need to be aligned to say, all right, let’s run it and see what happens.

Speaker 8:

I wouldn’t sacrifice it, but it’s the one I would throw out if I had to.

Solomon Masala:

Cool. I appreciate that. Thank you. I can see that. What other thoughts?

Speaker 9:

So I wonder about perspective taking because isn’t that inherent to fostering listening and curiosity?

Solomon Masala:

Yes, and cannot be assumed.

Speaker 9:

Okay. Well, we all know that assumptions make an ass out of you and me.

Solomon Masala:

Right. I mean think about our exercise yesterday again with what we did with Durell that there was a good bit of perspective taking that I needed to have in order to get a feeling for why would you come at this from that perspective. Let’s move into it. So here’s what I’d like you to do. I want you to have a 30 second, facilitators 30 second conversation with your elbow partner or partners to answer this question, what mindsets bodysets? When I say bodyset, what am I going to have to do physiologically? Like what’s the mood? What are the emotional elements I will need to engage?

What’s the spirit I will need to engage in order for this to be successful? So have a 30-second conversation with your neighbors. Go.

We’re going to jump into our first exercise. Some of you may have done this before. I’m hoping that it’s new to many people. If you’ve done this before, what I’d like you to do is use it as the experiment. This is a lab after all. I want you to notice what you’re seeing in the group think process and the individual personas that come into the room that either support or inhibit success. So if you’ve done this before, you get to study the people who are doing it. If you’ve done this before, I’m going to ask you to withhold information and just participate as a regular participant.

And at a certain point I will say, if you have prior knowledge, please go ahead and share your prior knowledge now. So here’s the task. In a moment, I’m going to distribute some cards. These are the cards. When you get your card, you’re going to hold it somewhat like this. You can also hold it like this. I’ve laminated it so that it’s foldable and can spread out again. The reason is under no circumstances should you show anyone your card. They should not see it. So that also means from an integrity standpoint, as we start milling around the room, if somebody’s holding their card and you could get a little glance at it, avert your eyes and remind them to hold the card close to the chest, as they say.

All right. So you won’t share your card by showing it to anyone. However, you can say anything you want to about it because your task as a group is to get yourselves in the correct order. That is your task, to get yourselves in the correct order. You may share whatever you like. You just may not show your card. That also means you can’t take a picture and digitally send it to someone. That would be the same as showing them the card. What questions have I generated?

Speaker 10:

So I’m able to share what my experience is of what’s on that card?

Solomon Masala:

Yes.

Speaker 10:

Okay.

Solomon Masala:

Yes.

Speaker 10:

Any way I want?

Solomon Masala:

Yes.

Speaker 10:

I could?

Solomon Masala:

Any way you want, just not visually.

Speaker 10:

Just not visually.

Solomon Masala:

Right.

Speaker 11:

Can you repeat that for the group?

Solomon Masala:

Yes. So the question is, question was I’m able to share anything I want about the experience of what’s on the card and the answer is yes.

Speaker 10:

Yeah, so we could directly describe what’s on our card?

Solomon Masala:

Yes, you can.

Speaker 10:

Okay.

Solomon Masala:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I would say let’s not draw because I’m sure there’s good artists in here. That would be kind of giving it away visually as well.

Speaker 12:

Will the meaning of the word order be obvious when we get our cards?

Solomon Masala:

It should become so and thus the challenge.

Speaker 11:

Yes.

Solomon Masala:

That’s what we’re working towards. Good question. Good question. What other questions? Okay. Because I need to distribute these cards, I’m going to start here in a moment just handing them out. Once you get your card, you may look at your card, but again, under no circumstances do you share your card with anyone. In order for this to start working as easily as possible, and we’re going to move around the room, let’s go ahead and stand where we are and make the best line we can around the periphery, which is probably going to cut in front.

Question?

Speaker 13:

Is there a clearly defined correct? How’s correct defined?

Solomon Masala:

Good question. Correct is correct. This is not up for debate. There is a correct order. That is a good question. There is a correct order. It is correct. If it’s not correct, you will see that is not correct. Cool. All right. Here we go. You can already start by just studying people’s faces as they receive this. What information are they receiving? Here you go. You have 15 minutes. Go.

Speaker 14:

Barnyard animals. Any barnyard animals?

Solomon Masala:

Let me have your attention for just a moment. For clarification, when I say correct order, I mean the whole room. The whole room. So, everyone in the whole room just in case there was a question about that. We have 30 seconds remaining. 30 seconds. Go ahead and take your final positions to the best of your ability. All right. Let’s see how we did. Let’s just see how we did. What I’d like you to do is you’re going to take your card, just set it down on the ground in front of you there, the way you look at it. And then we’re just going to have some folks, some folks can step inside to look and some folks can step outside.

Let’s go clockwise. Let’s move in a clockwise direction. A clockwise direction to see how we did. Clockwise direction. Yes, clockwise. We’re going to be moving this way. As I look around, I see this went pretty well, team. Nicely done. Nicely done. Let’s go ahead and gather around one of the tables with a giant marker in the middle. About eight to 10 people, about eight to 10 people. So there’s so many places we can go with the debrief on this. I’d like you to just turn and talk to your table or your table mates really quickly.

How did we do practicing the skills we discussed were necessary for success in the exercise we just did? How’d you do and what did you see happening that demonstrates that these skills were important? All right. Thank you. As we move to our next exercise, just a quick gentle reminder, we’re continuing to build and develop and work with those specific skills in this moment as we walk towards convergence. And to clarify bodyset, it was a question that came up earlier. So for me, bodyset like mindset, how I’m thinking, where I’m putting my thoughts, the processes I’m using.

Bodyset, same thing. How am I feeling, what am I doing so that I can be perhaps more present and engage in the room, the feelings and emotions, the somatic experience that I’m having also bodyset. Both of which I do have some control over. Let’s move to our next exercise. All right. In the middle of your table, you have one these contraptions. Here’s how this works. Each person at your team will hold the end of one of the strings. If you don’t have 10 people, you can decide which of the strings are not going to be used. You must hold the end of the strings.

Some of the strings have a little marker dot that show you you shouldn’t hold it past that. Some folks are going to do this. That ain’t right. You can’t do that. You have to hold the very end of the string. What clarifications do you need on that? All right. Everyone will be holding onto a string. When you feel ready to draw, your task is to draw a five pointed star as a team on the flip chart paper that’s in the center of your table. So you’re working together to draw the five pointed star. All forms are allowed. All forms are and are highly encouraged.

You’ve got 10 minutes. One more minute. One more minute. Remember to hold your strings at the end. Remember to hold your strings at the very end.

Speaker 15:

You get excited about the line with started to pull too far.

Solomon Masala:

Well done. Well done. This activity is based on all the numerous versions of being able to direct and work together and feel and sense. So again, lots of richness involved or available as far as the debrief goes. And this version just happens to work if you’re in a conference room rather than having to take people outside and do the big things. Home Depot, Office Depot, y’all. Pretty inexpensive. The main thing is get this kind of slippery stuff as far as the cord goes because when you wrap them up, then it won’t knot up.

If you use the cotton stuff when you’re packing this up and traveling it, you will have to start all over again. And to keep the strings where they’re tied from sliding down, you just put a little drop right on the knot, little drop of super glue and that keeps them there. There you have it. How did we do? Let’s turn to our neighbors and talk again real quick. We’re practicing skills. How’d we do? What did you see happening? Here we go. Our last exercise for the morning. Again coming into convergence, this one will give us an to really work with some of the specific things we’re talking about with respect to our ACC and military family challenge.

So here’s how this will work. You can work in the circles, tables where you are right now. That should be fine. And at a certain point, I’m going to have you get up and do something. So you’ll just do your best to find the openest space, the most open space in the room for your group to do your build. So if you need to scoot the table a little bit over or find some open spots, I trust we can problem solve that one pretty well. So the first step in this process, we’re going to do it two times. The first will be as an example. The second one will actually apply it to our content.

So the first step in this is you’re sitting in your circle. I want you in your circle to think about something that has wings. Think about something that has wings. You’re just thinking at this point. You’re not actually sharing any information. You’re not talking at this point. You’re just thinking. So think about something that has wings. I’ll give you about 10 seconds to come up with something in your mind. I’ll let you know when it’s time to share. In the spirit of total physical response, this is something that’s used in schools, when you have your thought at your table, go ahead and just cross your arms like this so I know you’re complete and your colleagues know you’re complete with your thought as well.

All right. Next step in the process is share. So here’s how this will work. When you share, you’ll basically just uncross your hands and say, I was thinking, and you’ll just share. We’ll go around the table. I was thinking. I was thinking. I was thinking. You got about 10 seconds. Go. Now we have to decide. So we’re going to spend about 10, 15 seconds in a group deciding. We’ve heard all of the things that everyone has shared. However, we can’t build all of those. We have to converge. We have to determine which will we build or how will we innovate based on what we were hearing.

So you’ve got 10 seconds. What are you going to build? 10 seconds. Discuss. Go. Now because we have so much alignment around your circle, if I was to come and point to somebody in your circle and say, what are you going to build? And then ask somebody in the other side of the circle where they’re going to build, I should hear the same answer. If you don’t think that that’s possible, I’m going to give you three more seconds to ensure you have that. Go.

Speaker 16:

Quit it.

Solomon Masala:

All right, here we go. We have what we’re going to build. All right. Now that you know what you’re going to build, the next step, we’re not actually building yet. So you don’t have to get up and do anything. The next step is what are the things we’re going to need? So for instance, if in my group we were going to build a wasp, I would say, okay, we need antenna, we need the head, we need a thorax, we need legs, we need a stinger, etc., etc. Right? So that’s all you’re doing at this point. We need. We need. We need. Go. 10 seconds. All right.

Now that you know what you need, the next step is to determine what part each person in your group is going to play. What part will they be as we get ready to build? So that’s all you’re going to do at this point is I’ll be the, I’ll be the, I’ll be the. You’ve got 10 seconds. Go. Here’s what’s going to happen next. We’re moving to our build phase. We are creating what’s called a tableau. For those of you who know what that is, this is a picture. It’s a still picture, and we’re using our bodies to create the tableau.

So in a moment, when I say go, I’m going to give you about a minute to create your picture because you have the thing you’re going to build, you know what parts you need and you know who’s playing what. Here are your constraints. First of all, time. One minute. Secondly, in your tableau, you cannot have everybody standing and you cannot have everybody down on the ground. You must have people at different levels in your tableau. And by the time I count down to zero, when we get to zero, you must be frozen in place. Nothing can be moving, not even your hair, and you can’t use any props.

When I get to zero, everybody has to be still and frozen in place. Nothing moving, not even your hair. You cannot use any props. You have 60 seconds. Go. Five, four, three, two and one. Freeze. Freeze. Let’s see. Let’s see. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Well done. Well done. Nicely done. Woo. All right. Well done. That was fantastic. All right, so that was our practice round. Now let’s put this into experience with our content. So let’s think about some of the ideas that emerged yesterday when we were doing our process maps.

Let’s think about the challenge that we’ve been faced with. What are some of the things that we’re considering that we’re thinking about? So we’re now in think mode again. What are we thinking about that might be a way for us to help get people knowing more about the micro-credentialing process and certificates for military spouses. So I want you to think. I’ll give you about 10 seconds to think. When you have your answer, again, fold your arms so we know that you’ve got something in mind. The question is, we’re moving towards what are some of the things we think could make this happen?

What are some of the things for our challenge, for our challenge of … Pardon me?

Speaker 17:

National awareness.

Solomon Masala:

National, exactly. Our prompt is the national awareness around the micro-credentialing process for military spouses. We’re thinking, what are some of the things we would now start suggesting that we think, hey, we think this could help, we think this could support? As you have your thoughts, you’re bringing it and holding onto it, letting me know. I will know that you have your thought because your arms are folded and your teammates will know. All right. Next step is share. I was thinking, I was thinking, I was thinking, I was thinking. Go around your table.

You’ve got 10 seconds. Go.

Speaker 18:

What are the thoughts?

Solomon Masala:

We are going to move to decide what are we going to build. You’ve got 15 seconds. What are you going to build? Let’s move forward. Now that you’ve decided what you’re going to build, what will you need? We need, we need, we need, we need. That’s what the conversation is now. 10 seconds. Go. Now that you know what you need, you have to start assigning your parts. So again, remember, as you build your tableau, you have to have people at different levels. I saw that happening around. You can’t use any props. So anything other than just your, including clothing.

Clothing’s not a prop, so it’s just the body representation. And remember, when I count down to zero, everyone is frozen in place. Nothing moving, not even your hair. You’ve got 60 seconds. 60 seconds to build. Go. Five, four, three, two, and one. Freeze and hold. Let’s get some pictures of these amazing tableaus. Wow. And relax. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Come on back to your seats, everyone. Come on back to your seats. I have reached the completion of my session time. One of the things that could happen from here is we get a chance to spotlight each of the tableaus and hear what the group was thinking and creating.

However, because this discussion is alive in our room, you can cross-pollinate, share with each other. What were some of the things you came up in your tableau? What were you trying to represent? How easy, how hard was it to represent that? And some final considerations. These are going to be rhetorical questions given the time. Thank y’all so much for your participation. I love working with facilitators. Thank you.

The post Using Art and Conversation for Convergence appeared first on Voltage Control.

At this year’s Facilitation Lab Summit, Susan led a deeply impactful workshop titled “Developing Narratives that Bring Voice to Targeted Audience.” Susan, a seasoned educator and facilitator, guided participants through an exploration of their own identities and experiences using storytelling as a powerful tool for connection and empathy.

The session began with Susan sharing her personal journey as an English teacher and the importance of storytelling in her life and work. She emphasized the vulnerability involved in sharing personal stories and how it can lead to transformational change. Participants were encouraged to reflect on their own stories and identities, setting the stage for a profound and introspective workshop.

Susan introduced the concept of “narrative transport,” where participants immersed themselves in their own stories to uncover new insights and perspectives. She provided an example of a “Where I’m From” poem, showcasing how sensory details and personal memories can vividly bring a story to life. Attendees were then invited to write their own “Where I’m From” pieces, focusing on the tactile, sensory, and emotional aspects of their experiences.

Following this individual reflection, participants engaged in a constructivist listening exercise. They shared their stories without interruption in pairs, creating a safe and supportive space for deep listening and empathy. This exercise highlighted the importance of truly listening to others without the urge to respond or self-promote, fostering a sense of trust and connection within the group.

The workshop then transitioned to a group activity where participants created character profiles based on real-life stories of military families. Susan had gathered these stories from a friend with extensive military experience, ensuring the profiles were authentic and grounded in real experiences. Participants worked in teams to represent these profiles visually, capturing these individuals’ hopes, dreams, and challenges.

To deepen the understanding of these profiles, Susan introduced the “Think, Feel, Care” framework from the Agency by Design initiative at Harvard’s Project Zero. This framework encouraged participants to consider the systems and emotional responses affecting their characters, as well as their values and motivations. Through this exercise, attendees developed a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of the military families they were representing.

The workshop concluded with a gallery walk, where participants viewed and reflected on each other’s profiles. This exercise allowed them to identify common themes and patterns and to consider the broader implications for community engagement and problem-solving. Susan wrapped up the session by inviting participants to share their insights and takeaways, emphasizing the importance of empathy and deep listening in facilitation.

Susan’s workshop was a profound experience for all involved, encouraging participants to look inward and understand the power of their own stories. By fostering a space of vulnerability and trust, she demonstrated how storytelling can be a transformative tool for personal and communal growth. The session was a highlight of the summit, leaving attendees with a renewed sense of empathy and a deeper connection to their own identities and those of others.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript

Susan:

Really, as we think across these last two days, we really started a little bit in understanding ourselves. We’ve been looking at the soil and the place and how that impacts us, culture. We’ve been looking at those challenges of design. We’ve been thinking about the entities, in terms of university, those who they want to serve. And we’re going to bring it a little closer, well a lot closer. And I belabored and really thought about this for a long time. And I think Erin said we’ve had time to build trust, because where I’m about to take you is not something I would step into blindly with a group because there is some vulnerability to when we start telling our stories because it’s our identity work.

So storytelling, I’m an English teacher, high school teacher by trade. I usually try not to say that because then people think they have to talk perfectly grammatically correct and that I’m going to pull out my red pen at any moment. Grammar was not my jam. Writing creatively was, and storytelling was so important to me. When I reflect back, even in my work in the classroom, it was always about seeing and knowing each child. I left the classroom about 17 years in and I felt like it was a vessel that kept getting filled with liquid because I would in a year have about 120 different students and I wanted to know their stories, but I never let go of their stories.

So it took longer and longer for me to learn everything and I felt like my bandwidth was filling up, but I realized how important was for me to see them and for also to share something about me. So who am I? If you talk to anyone from Michigan, we’re going to pull out our hands, tell you where we are and I’ve already done it a few times. Some people called me out and say, “Oh yeah, Michigan.” They put their hands up first and they really knew where I was located and it wasn’t like a really well-known town. I was very impressed.

Usually when I’m out of state, I tell people I’m from the Detroit area. I am really an hour north of Detroit, but Detroit has a lot of identity for Michiganders and I, on the other side, just finished my doctorate. And what you see on the floor there is 33 years of journaling. So my dissertation was a study of myself, it was an autoethnography and it was about identity. So I was looking at my stories and how my stories changed across my professional life and what that meant. And there were some eras of me that I didn’t like so much and I was happy to get over those again in my study. But I am very much about transformational change and that’s what you see in that far corner. And a lot of that work is very intimate because you need to have all the voices in the room and you need to make space for trust and vulnerability.

National Writing Project is one of those biggest transformational change agents for me because that’s where I learned to do this hard, vulnerable work. And then I started leading it with adults and that led me to being a consultant in a region. And that led me to meeting Eric and setting up lots of what we call beloved communities where people could come and just like we’re doing here, we’re learning from each other. And we feel like, I’ve heard several people say, “I’m with my people, I found my people.” So as an educator, we’re notorious for freestyling and putting things together. So as I’ve been experiencing the two days, we might have gone through a cycle. So I remember early on a mentor saying to me, I did teaching in my bones. And she said, “You’re really a strong teacher, but you also need to learn how to name what you’re doing.”

And I almost feel like I’m learning that again in this community because I will do things in my bones as a facilitator, but translating that into like, so what did I just do and why did I just make those decisions? And so I bring that up because I found this book, just recently, that’s really like oh my gosh, that’s exactly naming what it’s taken me 30 years to really refine and do, is to create these transformational learning experiences for people. And a lot of that is tinkering with people’s identities, which can be very delicate work, and it’s usually over a long span of time. So I really was drawn, and I still haven’t finished all of this, but I said to Eric, I raised my hand. I said, “I got to come lead the session because this is like I finally found what I am. I’m a transformational change agent.” And it is through storytelling that you get there.

So narrative is a big part of this. So I also know that we are in that beloved community where we’re trying to learn from each other. So the way I thought about this is, we’re going to step in, we’re going to step out and reflect, and we’re going to step back in and it’s going to be this cycle. So we’re here also, and like Douglas said, I very seriously took the challenge of why we’re here. So what we’re doing is in service of finding something that we can offer back to ACC as we wrap up these two days.

So we’re going to do that through something called narrative transport. And I like this, you maybe have heard about in facilitation about immersion. You can do an immersion through a narrative, put people in the doing of it, don’t necessarily have them experience it from someone else, but immersion is where you have to build… In your safe space, put that down on paper for yourself. And if you think back to the title of my session, it was not about making meaning, but meaning making. If you get into writing, it’s through the act of writing that you, many times, see something you didn’t know before you started writing. And so writing actually gets you to seeing something you would probably not have seen before. So to me, that is really embodying narrative transport.

So in a minute I’m going to ask you to be also thinking about telling your where I’m from story, but I wanted you to see an example of one way you might be thinking about how would I tell that story? It’s going to be a little bit different than all the things that we’ve done up to this point, but some things might flow into it.

Speaker 2:

I am from cow print, tea kettles from Windex and allergy shots. I’m from the two-story white house with red doors built identical to the one next door but with a basketball hoop out front. I’m from cloud painted ceilings, fully stocked bird feeders, and the backyard rope swing. I’m from midwinter confused daffodils and dad’s front porch roses that he would insist we go and smell before we leave for school. I’m from lazy Saturday mornings dedicated to making M&M pancakes, sometimes shaped like animals. I’m from a tall father and a short mother. From thrift store lovers, beach snobs, ice cream addicts, and family dinners. From Maynard, the National Geographic photographer, and Susan, the Vietnam War military wife, and way too many Uncle Johns. I’m from brainiacs and goody two shoes. I’m from hats off during the anthem and generations upon generations of US military from Air Force to Navy with devoted patriotism.

I’m from Yorktown, Virginia, an area filled with military brats, always coming and going and yet I can never fully relate. I’m from don’t talk back to me, and go ask your mother, and if you ever need to leave a situation, just blame it on your parents. I’m from Vacation Bible Schools and Caleb Christian Radio. From long car rides of listening to the Chronicles of Narnia and from cheesy pre-meal prayer songs. I’m from Mom’s chicken pot pie and Dad’s perfected chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’m from annual family beach weeks with endless amounts of white Florida sand making dribble castles.

Attending grandma’s afternoon tea parties with evening line dances and sunsets, always fishing with my father. I’m from (singing). And from daddy daughter dates, from sister fights, from learning baby talk to get my brother to love me the most. I’m from Mr. Rogers, Veggie Tales, Barney, and sneaking in some Sagwa the Siamese cat. I’m from the Teletubbies are silly and Arthur talks back to his parents too much. From princess books and Polly Pockets. I’m from Easy Bake Ovens and Hip Klips. I’m from a family who believed in curfews and believed in grace even more.

I’m from Tickle Monster games and hide-and-go-seek in the dark. I’m from the land of half-winded hurricanes where everyone ran outside to watch the branches fly. And I’m from short-lived snow storms that leave an inch of snow on the ground and the whole town is shut down. I’m from the smells of the coast and seafood festival and the noise of Busch Gardens roller coasters. I’m from endless Christmas gifts from sunrise Easters and special birthday plates and from brokenness and broken people and yet there is beauty.

Susan:

I’m not expecting you to feel like you’re going to become a poet in an instant here. In the center of the table, which might be hard to find, we’ve got a lot going on these tables. If you have a notebook, you can use a notebook, but find some paper and this is what I invite you to do. Now you could start, like she did, always with that reframe like I am, I am am. You could write narratively if you wanted to, or you could draw pictures, you could map it out, whatever symbolizes something about where I’m from.

Now you notice that she did lots of different things, like things that were tactile. I can taste, I can smell the sounds, the songs, little phrases. It can get as small as that. So you’re bringing it down, and you’re not censoring, and you’re not trying to be perfect. So what this is called is a head-to-pen, which means you have to keep moving that pen across the paper, and not stop and start perfecting and letting the voices stop you from getting some ideas out. I’m going to give us three minutes. I’m going to ask that you do this by yourself and give everybody that silence around them to be thinking about this.

So you will have a chance if you want to add or freestyle in your own pieces. This is not as soon as that pen goes down the end of what you could be crafting. So I want to note to all of you, I didn’t say stop. So especially when people are in a writing flow, and I think you heard Eric do it earlier where you say, “Can you find a pausing spot?” And letting people have that moment to finish out that last thought or just finish out your last thought, your last line, and be patient because especially when people are putting something down so personal and vulnerable, it feels like a [inaudible 00:13:34] when you cut them off. So we’re about to step into, you’re going to be pulling this with you, a constructivist listening protocol. So I think we’ve done a little bit of that across the two days.

But a constructivist listening protocol is something that I picked up in some of the work I did with the National Equity Project and it really especially is designed for very vulnerable conversations. And when you’re really trying to have an inclusive sense of belonging, constructivist listening is really about holding space for the other versus thinking of how you want to self-promote or add on. Have you ever been to that event whether with friends or family where you feel like people are just listening to get the hook for the next thing they’re going to say, that’s the next topper to the story? That’s not what constructivist listening is. So you are going to be taking with you in a minute your notes, but I’m going to give you, and I appreciated what Solomon shared with us today with experiential learning about you can push but give safe space.

So here’s the safe space. You can take with you, your notes I’m from, but you can determine what you want to share. You don’t have to have them see it, and you don’t have to read verbatim everything that you just wrote. You could do any way you want to tell something that came out of that thinking time work. But you’re more than welcome to read it as well. The hard part about constructivist listening is, and I think we’ve got an even number now, we were odd. We should have just dyads, two people, and each person gets three minutes. So that person will introduce themselves because I’m going to make you get up and move, to mingle around the room. You’re going to introduce yourself, decide who wants to go first. Now when that person is having their time to share, you have to give them three minutes without, “Uh-huh, yeah, and.” You can nod, you can smile.

You don’t want to look too stoic because that’s also very awkward. But you cannot start asking questions or engaging them to tell you more. And here’s where it gets really awkward. They have three minutes. If they stop talking at two minutes, 30 seconds, you continue to wait until the three minutes. Because in that silent space, you’re giving them more time to think and they probably will add on, but they might not. But you have to stay there, quiet to that end of that three minutes and that is the hardest part I’ve ever seen adults have doing this activity.

All right, so I’m going to tell you when to switch because we’re going to do this, well, we’re going to do this once, but I’ll tell you when to switch to the second partner. So stand up, find somebody in the room, meet up and get ready and I’ll tell you when to start.

Okay. However… Rock, paper, scissors, who touches their nose last, however you want to figure out who’s going to go first. And I’m going to start the clock. Now remember listening partner, you’re listening, completely lost in their story, not about thinking about, “Now, what am I going to say later?” Right? I’m listening and holding space for you to tell me your story for three minutes. Yes.

Speaker 3:

Does the story start with the piece? [inaudible 00:17:37].

Susan:

It’s wherever they want to start and whatever they want to add and delete. All right, go ahead and get started.

All right, thank your partner and now it’s time to switch. All right? So second partner.

All right, thank your partner. I had the beauty of watching across the room and I’d like to invite, if anyone’s willing to share, anything about the experience of what you just went through.

Speaker 4:

So first, these two days have been way heavier than I expected it was going to be. But I think how significant creating a safe space can be. I felt so much more comfortable saying these things. I just feel like it does feel like a very genuinely safe space to do this stuff. So it’s not as terrible as it could be to get into all this stuff with people, some coworkers I barely know, versus a ton of strangers. It was very educational in that way.

Susan:

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 5:

I can go because technically I’m part of the conference too.

Susan:

You are.

Speaker 5:

I don’t just work here. I’ll say I hope my partner doesn’t mind that, like, she ran out of things. And it was interesting to see what came up when she had to come up with the more on the cuff, digging deeper. It was really, really cool to see that. Anybody else want to go?

Speaker 6:

So I will say from the experience, one thing that was interesting was I was still looking for a response, some type of feedback, maybe it wasn’t the word, but the head nod, a smile, something that told me that at least what I was saying was landing and was somewhat interesting.

Susan:

Yeah, it’s amazing how much we look for affirmation.

Speaker 7:

The flip side of that, though, is I was dying to jump in and say something because she would say something, I’d be like, “Oh yeah, I like that, too.” So I was dying to connect with her in that way.

Susan:

Yeah, the first few times I did this, and I did this in my work environment and it is, it’s a little unnerving, but it does get really quickly to a trusting community and it makes you realize just how much you’re not really listening when you’re in conversation. The image I had up earlier, you’re already like, “Okay, I got to sound even smarter. What can I say?” Especially in those professional settings, you’re feeling like you got to show up and represent and win those brownie points. And so to honor really listening and giving space to each other, as it said, it allows in that vulnerability. And I did see vulnerability and thank you for those who really let those raw emotions show, that’s powerful. So what I’m going to ask you to do is go back to, whether it’s in your notebook or it’s on your paper. Now think about whether it was on paper or what you said, what did you self-censor out of your story or maybe ad lib into your story?

Now, this is just you. You get to keep these to yourself. So this is not, I’m not going to make you put it up on the wall and have to confront, “Yeah, that’s what I did.” What did you maybe ad lib or self-censor? And as you really think about that, and think about the stories that you do tend to lean into telling, what kind of patterns are you noticing about yourself, and the stories that you are sharing out, or that mean a lot to you? Okay, now this is safe. It’s all in your paper, it’s not going anywhere but with you. So be honest with yourself.

So after you finish that last thought, I want you to shift, keep your pencil or your pen moving. How do I want to be seen? What holds a lot of importance for me? Again, find a pausing spot. So we’re going to have to be really efficient in our space and time. But it’s super important for us to have cross-pollination in the room. So that’s why I’m going to stay true to this, even though we are running a little bit short on our time.

I made this up, the two-step mingle, but maybe it’ll become a thing. But it’s a layering of how you have people meet up in the room and carry what comes from one conversation then into the next conversation and then maybe back to a home plate. So what I’m asking you to do is to go back to that constructivist listening partner.

Now you don’t have to tell them exactly what you put in your write. You get to share what you want to share. So the question is that you’re going to talk about, and I’m not going to make you stare at each other, three minutes, three minutes. I’m going to truncate that. So we’ll just say it’s about three-minute time that you’re together. So you’re sharing with them, “What came up for me on this? What am I realizing?” Because I’m just going to be up front. I’m asking you to do identity work. So what are you learning about yourself, and how you see yourself, or how you want others to see you? All right? So go find that partner and then I’m going to ask you to come back to your table for the next round.

Okay. I’m going to ask you to pause. Jazz hands. Before you go back to your table, let me give you the next step. So you know as soon as you sit down, what you’re set up to do. You’re taking those conversations that you just had back to your table and what, as a table, you’re trying to figure out is at least in this shared team, what seemed to be in common experiences that we have? What are things that we really highly value? What is it that binds us together?

Because in a minute or a few minutes after that, that’s going to come into play because that’s the lens through which you’re creating something, are those things that you bring in through your identity. So you’re going to go back to your table and as a table in about two, three minutes, do a quick share around to get a sense of, okay, so what seemed to be common experiences that people can all circle up around in this room?

We can just wait.

Okay. Hopefully you got a chance to get at least some idea of some commonalities. You’re going to hold on to that. So why did I do all that? Why did we do all that hard work? Because what I was thinking of as we wrap up these two days is, imagine the people we’ve been talking about solving issues for are standing in the middle of your table. How do you bring their voices into the room? We’re not talking about them. We want their voices in the room doing the talk. And so I needed to first start with you grounding yourself in what’s my identity lens in terms of the things I feel I know, the things I feel I value. But it was also then to flip it and say okay, so at your table, you know what those in common experiences are, but you probably have some blind spots.

You don’t have all the experiences of some of the profiles that I’ve now put on all your tables. It’s not your story, it’s not your background. So what we’re trying to do is to step outside of our identity, but be very self-conscious and aware of how we try and pull what we know into how we’re trying to solve and build out a voice of these profiles. So you’re taking a stock of what is it that I know I bring into and it’s the lens I look through life. It’s the things I think are really important, but what I think is really important might not be how someone else views what’s really important. What I have as my background experiences maybe very different than background experiences of someone else. So first knowing who am I and being very conscious of what are the things that I lean into and sometimes I need to set that aside.

Does that make sense? Okay. So what I’m asking you to do is in teacher language, it would be a character profile. But at the center of your table I gave, and you might not have enough copies for everyone to have one, but you can share in between. When I heard about the challenge, I reached out to a couple who are long time friends, we actually went to college together. He was in the ROTC program and went on to be a lieutenant colonel in the army and just retired. And she was the wife that traveled, they did overseas, but I lost track how many times they were stationed at different places. And I said, I want to know the real stories. And so what I asked them to do was to, I created, some of you have a profile of a spouse, of an enlisted, and some of you have the enlisted member.

Something they taught me was, if you’re an officer, almost 100% of the time, you probably went through your undergrad and came into that position with a bachelor’s degree. But if you came in as enlisted, it’s very likely that you came in right out of high school, or you might’ve been in some trades. Now that was from them telling me this, is that 100% always the truth? No. But that was important for me to hear when I was thinking about the enlisted and the enlisted spouse. Now, it doesn’t have to be the spouse of enlisted, it could be a spouse of an officer. So I asked them, thinking of all the people they’ve met over the last 20 years, if they could create profiles for me, they might’ve taken pieces from different people, but what you’re seeing on that paper are real people that they met. These are real stories because I did not want to fictionalize that. It was very important that it was the real stories.

So you’re looking at that profile, and on one of the big posters, and you have some markers, however you want to represent the story because there’s going to be a point where there’s going to be a gallery walk and you’re going to be moving around. So we need to make it visible quickly. How do you capture that person? What are their hopes, their dreams, what’s some important back story? And you can add on, I just gave you some bare bones so you have enough, and that’s where I said it’s like you’re creating a character profile off the basis of someone real.

So that’s okay to add those fictional embellishments. If you want to have some favorite quote they say, whatever. You’re bringing them to life and you’re trying to represent that on the poster. So you don’t have much time to do this. Let’s just see where we’re at in five minutes. Any questions? You really can’t do this wrong, it doesn’t have to look like that. On the one large Post-it, make a character profile, however you want to represent it, it encapsulates this kind of information.

Okay, pause. It’s okay, it’s not a clean ending. I know that you’re in the midst. Then there’s a hot debate going on here. I love it, love it. Because if you’re debating, that means you feel empathy for these profiles. They’re real people. That’s really amazing. There’s one more step we’re going to take and thank you, thank you for that hard cognitive lift at the end of day two.

So for about the last two, three-ish years, I had the opportunity to collaborate with the principal investigator of Agency by Design, that’s out of Harvard’s Project Zero. If you’re in the education world, that’s one of the meccas of learning. But something I’m learning is that the things I’m learning over in the educational world definitely translate over into a non-education-based audience. So I wanted to share this with you, and we’re going to lay it on top of our profiles.

And this is, you can go to their website and find a whole lot of protocols, but this one’s called Think, Feel, Care. And the Agency by Design is really, especially, would be a facilitator’s delight because it’s a hands-on way of putting people into what could be very difficult conversations and realizations. So you’ll definitely want to check that out. But this is what you’re doing and it’s okay if you want to add it onto another poster, large Post-it poster, or if you want to just layer it on with some Post-its on what you already have drafted because we’re going to get up at the end here and travel around and see what other people’s profiles have. But now you’re embodying that person and you’re saying, “Does this person understand the system and their role within it?” So the system being the military.

So when I think back to Dirk and Eric, there’s all those systems nested together. So however you want to take it, you can. What is this person’s emotional response to the system and to their position within it? And our challenge has been about having an opportunity to get employment. So you’re probably going to have that wrapped somewhere in there. And the care, what is this character’s values, priorities or motivations with regard to the system they find themselves in? What’s important to this person? So we’re going to do a little bit speed round here. So I’m going to give you about four minutes, and then we’re going to get up and we’re going to roll.

Okay. If we were facilitating with a longer… This would take longer. So I’m taking us through the steps and unfortunately we only get to put up to ankle height and the depth of water, more time is definitely needed. I do recognize that. But I do want to show you the full arc of what I was trying to walk us through. So last step. There were I think eight profiles in the room. Four were of a spouse and four were of enlisted. I am inviting you, you don’t have to go with your team, but find at least two other profiles. And I’m not going to… A gallery walk, I would’ve had where we would’ve had Post-its where you’re also putting in a chalk talk element to it where you can have conversations going on, we just don’t have the time, but it’s still important for you to see at least two others for what we have to do at the very, very end.

So you’re going to go and find at least two other profiles. On your own, you’re going to be thinking about these questions. What’s striking me now as I think about the one we created and then these other two I’m seeing? Are there patterns that are emerging? What questions are really starting to burn that maybe weren’t burning earlier? And what next steps or recommendations? Does our profile, or back to all of the profiles, what would we say? So you’re going to have about four minutes to do that travel and think work. All right, ready?

Just so I know when you’ve been able to get to at least two others, just get back to your tables and we’ll wrap this together. First of all, I want to thank you for respecting and bringing to life the real people that are on these pages, and for us honoring their voices in the room and in the conversation and in the problem solving.

I’m going to collapse a few things, but I think it’s important for us to at least have some kind of voices in the room. If we had the time, I would’ve brought you back and because what I was doing was trying to get you out and about so that you came back and had really an idea of all the variations to see the patterns and get down to okay, there’s some repeatables here that are really important. There are the themes that are covering all the stories. But I’m going to shift that and I’m going to ask you to think about what you just experienced, what you just put together in your profile, and what would you want to share back? If this is our last moment to speak for these individuals, what do we want to leave in the room that’s important about their story, and what we’re trying to solve for and with them?

Speaker 7:

Trying to maintain relationships and family within a system that spews people around.

Susan:

So trying to maintain family and relationships because you’re always popcorning in all over the place.

Speaker 8:

Military have the responsibility to support these families.

Susan:

The military has-

Speaker 8:

And the country.

Susan:

And the country.

Speaker 8:

Because of the service these people give, there’s an obligation to do more.

Susan:

Thank you. One more.

Speaker 9:

They recognize the personal sacrifices they make themselves and their families and they do it anyway.

Susan:

So last, now we’re going to step back out of that. So I just put you in a total immersion experience and you’re stepping back out and now thinking about it from your facilitator identity, what is, if anything, that you’d want to share about how you went through that experience and what you’re starting to think about?

Speaker 10:

So I think it is really important to keep the complexity of the individuals who we may be discussing in any workshop, or any kind of project, that if any problem we’re trying to solve, or any solution that we’re trying to get to, inherently has individuals who are affected by it. And I think before this exercise for the military families, in my mind, we’re very straw men, not very complex, not very rich, not all of those pieces.

And so by personalizing and bringing in these much more rich profiles, that it also brings back to, I think for the participants and as a facilitator, that’s like this is not someone outside yourself, we’re so different from who you are. And so that you understand your own complex inner life, and stresses, and the other people you’re engaging with also have these complex lives and entanglements and all of that. And that has to always be center of mind in thinking about communities.

Susan:

Thank you. I couldn’t have said it any wiser, thank you.

Speaker 11:

Thank you, Susan. This was just very, very deep work at its finest in terms of the empathy part of design thinking. And it really reinforces that at least I feel like we skip over the empathy very quickly in that. And it’s really important to… I wonder if we’d done this first thing yesterday, what would’ve been the result? And at the same time, I appreciate where we are in this of realizing we went through this whole process and now we have this opportunity to challenge all the assumptions and the decisions that we made about because we’ve learned so much in this last hour with you. So thank you.

Susan:

Well, thank you. And thank you to everyone and thank you Douglas for letting me have a few extra minutes. And thank you for being my first group to facilitate where I’m transitioned. Thank you.

The post Developing Narratives that Bring Voice to Targeted Audience appeared first on Voltage Control.

At this year’s Facilitation Lab Summit, Ozay Moore brought a unique blend of hip-hop culture and facilitation to his workshop, “What’s In The Soil?” Ozay, a respected figure in the hip-hop educational sphere, guided attendees through an exploration of community and cultural resources with a dynamic, music-infused presentation that resonated across a diverse audience.

The session began with a lively icebreaker where attendees mapped their hip-hop knowledge and experiences on a Y-axis chart, creating a visual spectrum of engagement that sparked lively discussions among participants. This not only set a fun tone but also emphasized the universal reach and relevance of hip-hop as a tool for connection.

Diving deeper, Ozay shared his journey through the cities of Seattle, Portland, and Lansing, drawing parallels between his personal experiences and broader community dynamics. Each city’s unique cultural “soil” served as a metaphor for understanding how local environments shape communal and individual growth.

The core of the workshop involved a practical exercise in resource mapping, where participants used sticky notes and mobile research to identify Austin’s assets that could support the military family facility at Austin Community College. This activity highlighted the potential for grassroots community engagement and the importance of local insights in resource development.

Feedback from the session was overwhelmingly positive, with many participants appreciating the innovative approach to combining music, culture, and facilitation. Ozay’s ability to weave hip-hop into the fabric of community planning and resource mapping provided fresh perspectives on how to leverage cultural assets for community development.

In his closing remarks, Ozay emphasized the importance of staying curious and proactive about community engagement. He challenged everyone to think about how they could apply the workshop’s insights into their professional and personal lives, fostering environments where collaboration and innovation thrive.

Ozay Moore’s workshop was not just an educational experience but a call to action, urging attendees to think creatively about community resources and engagement through the universal language of hip-hop. His session was a highlight of the summit, leaving a lasting impression on all who participated.

Watch the full video below:

Transcript

Ozay Moore:

All right. All right. How’s everybody feeling? You guys doing all right? Fed, inspired, tired? Nah. Ready? All right. So I’m going to vibe out for you all just for a bit here. While you’re enjoying the tones, I would like for you to weigh in on our Y-axis chart over here. As you can see on the left-hand side, dictating or expressing your experience in hip-hop. So the higher you go up is like, yeah, I’ve been around hip-hop for a while. I’ve experienced quite a bit, or I haven’t experienced at all on the lower part of the chart. And then to the right and left your knowledge of hip-hop. So I would like for you to weigh in with your little stickies on your tables, and as you feel so led, and as you do a little bit of introspection and kind of think of why I would even ask this question, you can make your way up to the front and put your point on the map, so to speak. All right? That’s it. Your knowledge in hip-hop and experience in hip-hop. There is no right or wrong answer, just weigh it in.

All right, well done everyone. Cool. A little chaos, a little organized confusion here. Welcome, welcome. Thank you for being here. Now I need to see, I’m curious. I can’t see your answers. Whoa, we’re all over the spectrum. You said it’s better than you thought it would be. Isn’t that interesting? What’s beautiful about that is something we forget. I mean, hip-hop is everywhere, and we all have some kind of relationship to it. Today as we kind of explore what’s in the soil, soil being a metaphor to the ecosystem of experiences and opportunities that kind of inform who we are. So when you hear soil a lot, that’s what I’m referring to, whether it’s personal or collectively, our society, our community, and hip-hop. I’ll talk more about what I mean because I think sometimes there’s a visceral reaction or a reaction nonetheless, when the word hip-hop comes up.

We all have our ideas of what it is and what it isn’t, and it relates to us, and it sometimes in a lot of cases informs how we view folks, communities, behaviors, trends, et cetera, et cetera. So in today’s talk and conversation with you all, we’re going to talk about resource mapping through the unique scope of hip-hop culture and community. So there’ll be some nuggets in facilitation there, as I believe facilitation is a part of hip hop culture is just kind of in it. But also hopefully as we think about the unique needs of Austin, Texas and here in this community and the resources provided by ACC with the military family facility, be brainstorming different ways in which we can tap into the resources locally and explore what those are and how we can suggest them or come up with some ideas on how there can be some strong collaboration between the college and the community.

Thank you for that. Makes some noise for yourselves being across the board in terms of hip hop knowledge. That’s not important. Okay, moving right on. But what is important as we talk about soil is I would like to ground the conversation in the reality that we are here right now on this soil that has a history. So if you wouldn’t mind, just close your eyes for a moment. We’re coming off of lunch. We’re coming from some real robust conversations and some stretching and some critical thinking, a lot of it, and the vulnerability and the shared purpose to grow and to push conversations forward in this room, it is electric. It’s beautiful to be in a room with so many mindful individuals. There’s something special about vulnerability and centering yourself in the moment here. And as we center ourselves, I would like to just acknowledge the folks who were here before us.

I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what now is called North America. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge the Alabama, Coushatta, Karok, Keresan, Kamokurro, Kwalhioqua, Kamanche, Kickapoo, Lipan, Apache, Tonkawa and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, and all the American Indian and indigenous peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas. It’s important to me that we reflect on the past so as to not erase history and culture, but also unrelated to just acknowledging and really understanding there was caretakers of this land before and will continue to be part of that rich heritage. We also aren’t recognizing history, and especially in hip hop, I have a lot of conversations around hip hop culture and the importance of preserving it. Not to be held hostage by the way things were, but to inform what they could be and knowing that we’re building on top of a narrative and an ecosystem and a reality and a truth.

My name is Ozay Moore. I am the founder and executive director as Douglas so graciously put for a nonprofit organization in Lansing, Michigan called All the Above Hip Hop Academy, where we mentor youth through hip hop culture. So essentially what we do is we center this culture, this beautiful culture, and we find local practitioners to create spaces for elders in the community and young people in the community to relate, to congregate, to build, to ideate, to strengthen community and relationship and bonds.

It takes a village, we believe that truly. So as I talk about how I got to the place, it was never my goal to end up a nonprofit ED, founder and executive director. That was never the goal. It just by happenstance and kind of going with the flow of things and recognizing needs and where I was in that season of my life, seeing an opportunity to add to what was already there, because I think in resource mapping, you discover what’s there, but if you do it well, you also discover what’s not there. And for those of you, we have room full of facilitators and brilliant folks. You can start to ideate and come up with ideas. So this isn’t here, these folks. And so if you do the math, you’re like, well, there’s a group of people here. This is what the interest is. There’s this need and a lack of a resource here, or there’s a part of a resource here. Maybe we need collaboration, maybe we need a brand new idea altogether. But we’re going to talk and explore some of those ideas as we go through this session.

So I’m from Seattle, Washington, born and raised. And as an MC, who’s from Seattle. Who’s that? You? All right, let’s just weigh in real quick. Let’s see where folks are at. All right, who’s from Austin, Texas for respect, make some noise for the Austin, Texas folks. Okay, Texas. Make some noise for the Texas folks. Right on just Texas. All right, so that means a large portion of us traveled to get here. Just by show of hands, just so we kind of see who traveled to Austin, Texas to be here for this amazing summit. Wow. Make some noise for yourselves too, right? So we are sitting in a room full of, I mean, primarily we’re all strangers to one degree or another, and we’ve been able to go incredibly deep quickly.

I have this philosophy, actually it’s a borrowed philosophy from the writer, Daniel Coyle, who expresses in the Culture Code book that in order to have healthy community or culture, you have to have one, vulnerability, two, safety, and third, a shared purpose. And that is here just by default, it feels like. For the most part, the shared purpose is to grow as facilitators and to also support the work of this institution. There’s a vulnerability because as facilitators, we recognize the power of that. And I also want to name that I recognize as where I’m going to ask and invite folks to get vulnerable.

You share what you feel comfortable doing and that is enough. But I would say overall there is just a overwhelming sense of openness in this room that I think is really beautiful. So just acknowledge that for a moment and know that we are among friends, we’re among comrades and folks who want to drive ideas forward to see a better world, a better community. So that is something we can center our conversation and experience. And we’re on the same team here, which is beautiful. But in true MC fashion, which I have a real love for words, I have a love for wordplay, I have an addiction for simile and metaphor, inferences and that sort of thing.

So as I kind of talk about these different places, the tale of three cities and how it kind of informed my approach, I will use the metaphor of what naturally grows in the soil of these locations as a metaphor to what was happening in my life that I took inventory on that shaped how I view things now. Seattle, this was my community growing up, culturally diverse, rich, green. I’m not going to lie, Seattle’s beautiful. I’m just looking at the, yeah. I remember a time where I was driving through or traveling and folks didn’t even know where Seattle was. They’re like, isn’t that in Canada or someplace?

But this was my community, solid, consistent. It wasn’t really flashy, it was just grounded and culturally diverse in terms of the hip hop scene. When I say hip hop, I’m not saying just rap or dance. And let me just clarify this term, hip hop. Hip hop is based on five components, five elements we like to say. So first element, the DJ. Second element, the MC. Third element, graffiti art. Fourth element, the breaker or the b-boy, b-girl, breaker. Fifth component is this knowledge piece that’s like you arrive built into hip hop culture is this sharing of information. We have this philosophy that’s each one teach one, which this is hip hop to me. Even this facilitation lab, this is very hip hop to me. You wouldn’t know it, but check the data though. You know what I’m saying? It’s super hip hop.

But because built into it is this idea of let’s get better together. Let’s share information. Let’s collectively move the needle. Contrary to popular belief or a more commercialized approach to hip hop culture, where again, let’s just just weight it in the room. When you hear the word hip hop, what’s a word or two that come to mind? And I would like for you to be honest, truthful. I want the folks who maybe don’t have a whole lot of experience in hip-hop. I want you to be honest about that because I think this is an opportunity for us to maybe talk about or at least express and move the needle, a nudge a little bit. I guarantee today will be a different experience in hip-hop culture than you might’ve had before. But yes, rhythm. You think of rhythm when you think of hip-hop. Excellent. Yes. Edgy, yes. Provocative. Sure. Yes, two.

Speaker 2:

Wild style.

Ozay Moore:

Ooh, wild style. A reference to a classic. And yes, wild style for sure. Any other ideas? Yes. Yeah, fashion, expression. I know I got you running around. I’m like over here, over here. So I need to come down the line instead of… We focus on answers over here and move here. All right? Yes.

Speaker 3:

Authenticity.

Ozay Moore:

Love that. Authenticity. For sure. For sure. Yeah, poetic. Love it. Anyone else?

Speaker 4:

Aggression.

Ozay Moore:

Aggression. Yes, yeah. Let’s talk about some of the ideas that come to mind that, hey, you might have been like, I don’t really understand this, but this is what I see. And it may not be so flattering.

Speaker 5:

Vulgar.

Ozay Moore:

Vulgar. Yes, a vulgarity too. Yes. Anyone else?

Speaker 6:

Anti-establishment.

Ozay Moore:

Yeah, anti-establishment for sure. Built into it. I love it. Anyone else?

Speaker 7:

Flashy consumption.

Ozay Moore:

Flashy.

Speaker 7:

Money.

Ozay Moore:

Yeah, money. Flashy. Yep. Yep.

Speaker 8:

Black culture.

Ozay Moore:

Black culture. Thank you. Yes indeed. Black folks, please. Thank you.

Speaker 9:

I would say like flexing.

Ozay Moore:

Flexing. Flashy. Yeah. Flex like, yeah, I got it. Check it out. Yes.

Speaker 10:

Not safe for a white person to do.

Ozay Moore:

Not safe for a white person to do, be a part of or be. What do you mean by do?

Speaker 10:

Like it would be like an impersonation.

Ozay Moore:

Oh yeah. There’d be a lack of authenticity. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. Anyone else? Oh, this is really rich. It’s good. Thank you for sharing and being honest. So this was my culture though, and it was full of folks from all over the world. Literally from the Pacific Islands to South America, Middle Eastern countries, European continent, all over the world. And somehow hip hop has been able to be a global thing. We want to explore a little bit about that too. While I was in Seattle, the evergreen though, the evergreen was the thing that grew in Seattle that grounded me to my experience there. It was consistent. It was green. It was year-round. So even through the seasons, it was steady. It was solid. Now granted, I was a certain age. I hadn’t experienced a whole lot of adulting and adulthood and understanding the ebbs and flows of life. I was pretty bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and just ready to go rap my way through life for real.

But the evergreen state, that was it. It felt very grounding to me, consistent. Then I moved to Portland, Oregon, also my scene, also the city. So in Portland though, they have this beautiful, every year the cherry blossoms bloom downtown, and it’s remarkable. It’s beautiful. It’s very seasonal though. And at that point in time of my life, I was experiencing being a full-time musician and the ups and downs of that rhythm, that rhythm. And it informed me to think about the future a little bit different, to plan and move through my day to day, a little bit different. But if there was one thing, and it also had their evergreens, it was solid. It was a good scene. But at that point in my life, I was really experiencing what it was like to go through these seasons of lush and beautiful growth. And then seasons of, okay, I guess it’s hard to sustain that. Then Lansing, Michigan, where I currently live, Lansing, Michigan was a trip. For me being from the West Coast, having this green around all the time, it’s very deciduous. Like the plant life there so seasonal.

We have these long spells of gray skies and sticks erected into the sky. These trees that once were full of foliage are just now sticks. All over cold, gray. And then you have these beautiful summers and a short-lived, incredible spring, snowy winters, real real seasons. And I want to talk a little bit about why this place was really what I needed and really has shaped who I am today as difficult as it was. I think when I first got to Michigan, I was ready to leave within the first week. I was like, let’s plan our escape, shall we? Let’s maybe cool for a second, but we can’t stay here. But it’s amazing what happens when you get curious about what’s there and you decide to adopt the idea that the grass is greener where you water it. There’s something to that.

I think as facilitators, as visionaries and folks who are doing work in our community, it’s easy to recognize, oh, this place may be better. But truly there’s this opportunity where there is a void to water, to plant, to seed. And you might say, that’s not my bag. I just want to get in and be a part. That was me. But as I started to fall in love with this city and the people in it and started recognizing some of the unique scenarios it was facing and going through over the course of 10 years. And I was there mind you, my partner is from Lansing. We met in Portland. So the reason why, I mean, you’re probably asking why did you go to Lansing? I went there because my partner’s there. And I was like, hey, let’s try it out. Start a family and let’s do it. And we’ve been able to build something really beautiful there, and it’s all centered around community.

But one interesting thing about living in a city where you don’t fully recognize its potential and it’s kind of unfolding as you live through it, is it’s hard to really value what’s already there sometimes. When the deficit feels so big and so key and so crucial and not really understanding that there’s a reason why. There’s a history to why it is the way it is. Lansing, Michigan is an automotive town. Again, it’s all hinged on this resource mapping. So I had to kind of understand the soil I was working with to make it the home I wanted to be by understanding what was there and what the history was.

But it’s an automotive town. It’s a college town semi. It’s also the state capital. So you have government, you have the automotive industry that wasn’t necessarily serving the community as it once did. And then you have in East Lansing, which is not the east side of Lansing, it is a separate city with a separate mayor. And even in East Lansing, campus is its own city. So unlike other college towns, there was not this kind of cross-pollinization of culture and ideas in and out of the college. It was really insular. So I’m moving to Lansing, Michigan. I’m like, well, I’m new here, what is here? As a musician, I wanted to tap in. So I was serving, I think, who remembers MySpace? Remember MySpace? All right. Yeah. So I was on MySpace, on the MySpace trying to figure out who’s who and what’s what in Lansing. And I found some rappers, I found some promoters and whatnot.

And not only did they offer me opportunities to get involved, they would sit and talk with me as I asked questions and got curious about, so why is this place, why is it like this? Am I tripping? It feels weird. It feels like really disconnected. The scene doesn’t seem to be thriving, but the automotive industry, it just seems like it’s just depressive. It feels like folks are in a bad place. And it’s like, well, there’s layers to this. But one reason is the automotive industry at one point in time was providing white collar wages with blue collar work. And the community wasn’t really centered or designed for people to live, play, party, hang out. There was no centralized location for people to meet and congregate and spend time. So what folks did naturally in Michigan, and those of you from Michigan might notice, but when you ask somebody what you’re doing for the weekend, they say, we’re going up north, we’re going up north.

Had no idea what was up north. But I found out people were buying beach houses or lake properties because at one point in time, the family made up. So we had this beach home or this lake property in our family forever. And so that’s what we do for fun on the weekend, but the money wasn’t being spent in Lansing. So you see this kind of interconnected like conundrum where you have the college sees no reason to get involved in Lansing, so they’re not spending money and they’re not really engaging. There’s nothing happening there. So there’s a missed opportunity. Awareness. There was this kind of idea that Lansing was dangerous, so folks didn’t want to come across 127 and spend time in the community. So there was a lot of pieces that played into the misinformation and the idea about this city that I know different, but nonetheless missed opportunities and a lot of ideas.

So for the last 10 years, or no, 17, but for 10 years, I just was getting really, I was just curious. I was fascinated by this. Talking with folks in the indigenous community and they had terms and ideas about, well, this has always been like a ceremonial place. Yes, there’s folks and caretakers of this land, but it’s always kind of been a place where people congregate for a moment and leave, congregate and leave. It’s kind of built into the idea that the name was Nkwejong and that’s the river that runs through Lansing, Michigan and it connects. It connects right in Lansing, goes and disconnects again. So historically, this space was celebrated. It was a ceremonial and ancestral place. Folks would come do festivals and then leave. It was kind of built into the idea.

But now you have a community. You have a city that’s trying to retain talent, trying to retain people, trying to retain alumni from MSU and can’t do it, struggling. And so hip hop, to me, by nature, hip hop is very DYI, very do-it-yourself. Quick hip hop, who has, let me see. What do we see on knowledge of hip hop. So we have some folks who understand some his… Whoa. Now I need to meet this person. Where you at? Just by a show of hand, where you at? Who is this? My man. All right, quick quiz. Quick quiz. Quick quiz. No, I got you. So we just celebrated how many years of hip-hop?

Speaker 11:

77.

Ozay Moore:

That was a great guess. It was a great guess. We had it in the back. 50, 50 years of hip-hop. Now I understand. So again, clarifying. No, listen, that was not to call you out, sir, because when we talk about hip-hop I think when you think of this word, you may be thinking about a piece of hip-hop. You may have a wealth of knowledge in the music. You may have a wealth of knowledge in the dance and the fashion, but we talk about hip-hop as this kind of philosophy, idea, culture. I celebrate hip-hop as a verb. Hip information, hop action, move. So you get the information and you act on it. That’s hip-hop to me, that’s how we celebrate it.

So the reason why it kind of translates and is global is because it provided a platform by which young people experiencing the pressures of life regardless of your race and ethnicity. If you know pressure, having a blueprint by which you can get creative and express yourself, and you see it modeled from folks from the South Bronx or from the Bronx, New York who were undergoing some of the most pressures in our country at the time. Quick historical fact. You say like hip-hop is 50 years old, give or take. You talk to people from the Bronx, they say, ah, Disco, so-and-so was the first original DJ, and he don’t even get talked about. He was the actual person. That’s 10 years before you even started talking about hip-hop. So actually it’s 60 years old. That’s the local narrative. And you have to respect that. I don’t weigh in as the aficionado expert on hip-hop everything, but I can bring it to you in a way it was like it’s a complex concept, but it’s also a global phenomenon in the way that people across the world relate to. It is beautiful.

My profession has afforded me opportunities to see hip-hop in other languages in Japan, Amsterdam, Norway, Germany, Spain, all over and all over our country. And it is articulated and expressed in very different ways based on the region, based on the region, based on that local piece. There is something beautiful about tapping into local resources, the identities, the differences of each community and allowing it to inform. I tell people like this, hip-hop to me is like rice and chicken. There’s a million different ways to prepare rice and chicken. It’s still rice and chicken. It’s the protein and the rice. But you travel across the world and you see it expressed different ways, but at the core of it, there’s a respect for it being rice and chicken. Thank you for bringing up. This is black culture. This is black and brown culture. Black and brown youth of New York in the seventies, building community around the shared pressures of their environment, getting creative about how to resolve conflict through dance.

That’s history, truthfully. Breaking was used as a form to not fight, to check your bats and your knives and your guns at the door and have a safe neutral zone where we can get creative and express our angst, but not get violent. That’s built in. That was youth coming up with that idea. Young people figuring out how do we stop? And again, New York at that time, there was hundreds of gangs on every corner. You ever seen the movie Warriors? Anyone remember this movie. Okay, Warriors, that’s an old reference, old relatively speaking. But yes, if you’ve seen the Warriors, it was a depiction of the Bronx at that time.

So why and how hip hop? Well, because hip hop isn’t good or bad in and of itself, it’s very malleable. But built into it is agency and advocacy and justice and forward motion as a culture, recognizing the needs of a community and figuring out how to get it when folks aren’t giving it to you or providing access to you. That’s the beauty of hip hop one of them. So as I think about facilitation and I think about mapping local resources, it’s kind of guerrilla in my mind. It’s like I don’t do well with bureaucracy and a lot of the bureaucratic, I mean, who loves bureaucracy? Who loves it? Just by a show of hands if you love it. I mean, if you’re an admin and you’re like, hey, hey, you got a checks and balances. You got to have it. I get that. I get that, but sometimes it just gets ridiculous. You know what I mean? I get it, but man, can you just cut the check already?

How many departments does it have to go through? And we already missed the opportunity, you missed the season. But somebody had mentioned over here that hip hop is anti-establishment. Was that you? Yeah. And there’s something so rugged and beautiful about that, especially when their needs aren’t being addressed. What do you do? You go get them. You make them happen. You create the opportunity. One fun fact about graffiti art. So graffiti art obviously demonized in a lot of spaces and ways. And you think about wow, vandalism, vandalism, vandalism. Let’s think back to New York when graffiti was kind starting to emerge. And graffiti, just so you know for historical context, it’s from Philadelphia. Started through tagging and writing your name and your street on different places. But think about the human need.

Somebody mentioned earlier being seen, heard and validated. As an artist with a non-traditional medium who finds access through aerosol paint and finds their canvases just on walls people aren’t looking at. Dilapidated buildings and whatnot, that’s my canvas. You will know my name. I’ll put my name on, even though it’d be a moniker, I will be seen and heard. And furthermore, I will write my name on the train that circles around my city and stand on the rooftop with my friends and be like, there I am. Check it. That’s me. So-and-so from the Bronx, that’s me. That feeling of I’m seen, heard. You see, you might not know who that is, but I know who it is and everybody here knows it is, and you have to see me. You have to. That energy is in hip hop. But what does it say about community and people?

So you can’t separate this culture from the people who lived it and built it. But it’s taught me a lot about being resourceful and in resourcefulness to innovate through constraints. They say some of the best innovations are with constraints. Timelines or limited resources, limited access. You really have to get creative about what you’re building here and what you’re trying to develop. Taught me how to collaborate and network with other folks and really figure out, hey, we’re better together. But that’s kind of built into the ecosystem of hip hop culture. Funny concept is when DEI work in 2020, all of a sudden DEI just started popping up everywhere. Everybody had a DEI policy and program, and now a wing at your company. We had talk about DEI, the world’s on fire, America’s on fire, we need to talk about this. And so one of the funders was like, so what’s your DEI policy? They’re like, what?

We live this DEI policy. You just freestyle a policy to you right now because it’s built into what we do. So to collaborate, network, to scaffold everything that’s part of that resourcefulness. It’s like, I see this opportunity. I’m automatically making connections about how that person needs to meet this person. And if we do this, this event will be a little bit better because nobody’s giving you a blueprint on how to do it. You’re just figuring it out as you go. So you have to develop these abilities in order to drive your idea forward and to apply the knowledge. That’s the hard part, act on the knowledge. And then the philosophy of each one teach one, sharing information. So all of this, these were things that were developed in me in my time of Lansing saying, this is a place where this shouldn’t work. But I see an opportunity to really work with young people to help work with local businesses. To maybe drive and push and boost and strengthen our economy by attracting young professionals here, by creating these cultural events that people can relate to.

These are all concepts and marketing and ideas and strategies in urban design that were just kind of birthed out of the hip-hop in a way of being and philosophies. Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s just do it. Cut the middle man and make it happen. And another quick funny story is I remember we did this mural festival, and in the mural festival there were some developers in town and they were curious as how we were able to activate 11 large walls with high-caliber quality mural art. Artists from all over the world came to Lansing and painted our town. And they were like, in this particular developer has been called a gentrifier, quite honestly. And their practices aren’t always sound, how they develop and how they push folks out of communities, but he had a particular interest on activating unused spaces with murals. He’s like, so how much does this cost you? Like 500K or? Like 500K?

You don’t understand that we would do that just because, that’s not equitable. So yeah, we got the money and we paid everybody really well. But your idea, you’re just way off of what it took for us to activate these spaces because we were scrappy, we were resourceful, and we knew how to generate and foster community. Community being as the glue of what attracts people to come and be a part and participate and collaborate and engage and ideate and build and drive things forward. Healthy community does that, and it’s fascinating when you prioritize healthy community, what the benefits are. So I don’t want to just plug into the audio, but just a quick, I’ve talked a little bit about the organization we run, and I promise we’re going to get into doing some things. I got some activities for y’all to go deep with each other and discover what’s in the soil at your own table.

But yeah, this is a little bit of who we are and what we do in Lansing, Michigan, All the Above Hip Hop Academy, boom. We’ve been a nonprofit organization since about 2017. We started in 2012 just building slowly, incrementally, but really intentionally to make sure that whatever we were doing would be sustained. Because one of the things we discovered in our community was that our scene was largely supported by the university. The university had a revolving door of people who were interested for about four years, then they would take off and we’d be left at ground zero starting over again. But this is some of the community and spaces that we’re generating with young people, with adults, with the broader hip hop community, but spaces. At schools, with creative folks, with organizers, with principals, with government, politicians, small businesses. All seeing and validating hip hop culture and seeing the power of it and how it can drive and push things forward in our own community of Lansing, the least likely place for something centered in hip hop to work, at least as folks knew it to be.

It’s a whole principle right there. He was turned, super turned. But what does that do for young people to see their principal enjoying himself and participating? That same principal greets his students every morning outside, he shakes their hands and says, welcome, welcome to school. We expect greatness from you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Just engaged. These are folks who are like, when you talk to him about hip hop, he has a serious reaction to his history and how he was informed by hip hop and that community building piece.

So what we’re going to do here as we talk about soil and what’s in it, I just shared a bit with you about how getting curious about what was in my community led to innovation and ideas on how I could better serve the community. Right now, we’re sitting at tables where we don’t really know each other. So I would like to, for the next, about 15 to 20 minutes, spend some time at our tables giving folks the opportunity to share what’s in the soil of their own lives, to share what’s in their soil. What is in the ecosystem that made you who you are? What are the experiences, what is the upbringing? What is the cultural climate that made you who you are?

This is meant to be reflective, and it’s meant for us to build that community at our own tables and get to know the folks around us. So I know we kind of have disproportionate in terms of how many people are at each table, but I would say three to five minutes, each person just share a bit of who you are, what was in the soil that made you who you are, what were some of the experiences you’ve encountered growing up that really informed you? I’m not talking about omit from sharing, I’m from Nebraska if you can’t identify why that really matters is what the challenge is.

So find reason in these pieces that you identify in your soil, and let’s just focus on those things. So let’s take about five minutes just to reflect first before we move into sharing, but let’s reflect on what is in your soil personally that has built you to be who you are. For the sake of time, I’m going to give everybody about five more minutes. So we make our way around our table. I know some of our tables are a little bit larger, so I know it’s good. We’re going to wrap up this exercise of discovering what’s in the soil at your table. But as we engage in that, what came out for some folks there? Were there some things that you realized or identified in trying to pinpoint certain parts of your soil that really made you who you are or informed who you’ve become? Anything that stood out or came to the surface for folks, it was like, oh, I guess I never really made that connection. Or it’s a new discovery.

Speaker 12:

The question allowed for that to be able to be part of what we talked about instead of saying really sterile things like this is what I do and why I like it.

Ozay Moore:

Yeah. All right. I love that composting. Yeah, that’s taking some stuff that might be the scraps and be like, Hey, it’s useful too. In fact, it might be fertile or to help with the fertility of what else I’m trying to grow. Scaffolding again, that concept too. Yeah. Anyone else? Yeah.

Speaker 13:

I was just present to through struggle and obstacle, not just my own, but my lineage that could become such resources and beauty and gifts in my life. I was present to that. Thank you.

Ozay Moore:

Yeah, beautiful. Thank you for that. Thank you for sharing that. Steve, we are so richly complex as individuals, as a society, as a community, we’re just complex layers. And sometimes just curiosity as to why and how, while affirming people’s humanity through the processes it’s beautiful. Anyone else would like to share a discovery in this process, in this exercise? Let me get one more. Yes.

Speaker 14:

So of course Portland is right next to the Willamette Valley where some really great wine is made and wine is kind of a hobby of mine. And so I kept thinking about how much the soil can influence the flavor of the grapes and what it’s able to produce. And there’s different varietals and they’re all great in their own way, but they’re all made based on what the earth offered them to start with.

Ozay Moore:

Oh, snaps. Oh, snaps. Compost. Oh, wine,

Speaker 14:

Mic jaw. Oh, mic jaw.

Ozay Moore:

I think of coffee, same thing. The regions, the elevation, the earth. Literally what’s there working in collaboration with the farmers. Oh, wow. Beautiful. Good. Well, thank you for taking time to do that introspection. But that same concept can be applied when we’re thinking, when we’re resource mapping or mapping the opportunities in what a region or a community has to offer. So in lieu of the need here at the school. And I have this whole thing, I get all nerdy rap about it, like, oh, the metaphor for potassium. So there’s three things in soil that help plants grow the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and then trying to relate it to whatever. That doesn’t matter. We don’t have a lot of time to get that, to nerd out about some rap stuff, but just if you want to talk about it, I’m open.

Let’s do it. We’ll catch a bench outside and do it. But while we’re here, yeah, I think it’s healthy to acknowledge that yeah, we all have, if there were three components, I mean there’s multiple. But the basic needs, community support and development opportunities. What kind of local resources might Austin offer this school and the military family center around basic needs, community support and developmental opportunities for the families of folks who are in the programs, the youth, the kids. People are moving from across the country. They’re kind of uprooting and coming to be a part of this resource and to take advantage of this resource. So I would like to take some time, maybe about 10 minutes, 10 to 15 for us to use the sticky notes on our table and our phones as researchers. And maybe just what we know about Austin in general.

I won’t lie. I came here, I didn’t know a whole lot about this community outside of South by Southwest as a musician, but I know it’s grown exponentially over the last 10 years, big thing. How is that? Why is that? What does that say about the economy? What does that say about the locals? What does that say about resources? And right, you can get curious to the point of like, wow, let’s really dig into this ground and figure out what’s here. But what I would like for folks to do is let’s use these sticker notes or sticky pads. On one we can create, I guess silos or columns on our table with the sticky notes, basic needs, community and development opportunities.

And as you drum up or think of ideas, just set them under one of the three categories, basic needs kind of things like housing, child care, transportation, et cetera. Community, activities, interest groups, sports, et cetera. Development opportunities, training, schools, internships. What kind of resources does Austin have currently, or what are some that you discover that don’t exist here that maybe they would benefit from having here? So as we have these many libraries in our phones, I’m going to encourage you to one, draw from what you know, but also do some research. Let’s Google, let’s get some ideas down on paper in this kind of guerrilla form of resource mapping just by using this wonderful device we have in our pockets.

And I’m interested to see what folks come up. With that though I would like to just give a shout-out to my sponsor, a sponsor. It is a local organization here in Austin, Texas. CreateLab, the brilliant Rafael Travis. He is an educator at the university. He does a lot of work around hip-hop ed and hip-hop community work. And I met him in New York at a hip-hop ed conference, and I found out that he lived in Austin. So knowing I was coming out this way, I reached out and was like, hey, I’m doing a presentation or I’m doing a workshop here. Is there a way that we can collaborate? He says, do you want better? Do you need some equipment? I was like, absolutely. So the DJ device, that’s my laptop, but that’s his DJ device, his turntable, his speaker. And they gave of the resources they have at the Creative Lab, my fault. They’re on campus where they really serve young people or the college demographic and the broader community with services centered around arts and creativity and music to do a variety of things centered around social and emotional health and wellness.

So it’s a very particular spin on that. So as we’re kind of thinking about what’s in the soil here and thinking broad and thinking deep and thinking holistically about how they may really connect to the unique individual needs that we know we have and that we can surely believe that folks coming to this new community would like support in. Think that way. Unique opportunities. What are some unique programs, unique resources that may go overlooked or unrecognized. So get curious. Let’s spend the next about 10 minutes exploring, but you could start with this one. I encourage you to dig in. That’s the QR code. You could see a little bit more about what they do around health and wellness and hip hop. But yeah. Without further ado, spend some time. Let’s dig in the soil. What’s here in Austin that would benefit the military family center here?

I just want to say we got about two minutes left. Thank you so much for ideating and coming up with some ideas. I know the college really appreciates it. We’re going to go ahead and wrap up this activity. So I’m curious as to what folks discovered here that maybe was interesting or unexpected. A resource around basic needs, community and developmental opportunities. If there’s anything that was surprising that, oh, that’s here. Wow, that’s incredible. Or in your research, your brief research, discovering I guess a unique quality about Austin that lends itself to some unique resources that are very specific to this community. Anything, yes.

Speaker 15:

So we learned Austin has a really cool library that has some really great kind of community and meeting center things. Darrell mentioned a rooftop, so there’s possibly additional ways to utilize that space as kind of meetups and maybe study groups for kids who are struggling to keep up as they keep moving around and that sort of thing.

Ozay Moore:

Also, this unique opportunity to gather at this, you said a rooftop garden, a roof?

Speaker 15:

I think so, yeah. It would be a fun space.

Ozay Moore:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That’s cool. Yes. You, sir. How are you, my friend? Yes.

Speaker 16:

Yeah, I live here and I was aware there were startup supports and accelerators, but I was actually very impressed with how many in the various entrepreneurial support systems that are in place that I didn’t even know about.

Ozay Moore:

Isn’t that something? It’s wild. It makes you feel good about just how many people care. And I’m sure a lot of these resources them being nonprofits and whatnot where they genuinely care about a need. Sometimes where you find a nonprofit work is that not all the time do they collaborate. So the success life and the lifespan of a nonprofit sometimes is short-lived because they have this idea, but they were unaware that it exists and they could have just collaborated and made something together. But yeah, really unique find. Anyone else? Yes.

Speaker 17:

So I’m also an Austin resident, and some of the things that I think is unique about Austin is we do have a large tech community, and that tech community does like to kind of try to give back. One example, a friend of mine runs a nonprofit called Brave Communities, and they sponsor tech girls from around different, each year they focus on a different area of the world. And those girls, we had someone from Jordan come and stay with us, and she was able to go meet people from Google and Apple and kind of be able to fuel her passion for technology. You see similar things in the music space as well. And one of the things about Austin growing so much is you get more and more people coming from different areas.

When I first moved here, one area that’s reflected in is the ethnicity of foods, because when I moved here almost 20 years ago, it was Tex-Mex, and that’s in barbecue. But now you can go and get so many different types of cuisines and there’s just a richness of community because of all the influx of people from different areas that we just didn’t have before. And I think that that’s something that could be tapped into to help those families that you’re talking about, the military families.

Ozay Moore:

Well done. Right on. Thank you for that. Got time for one more question. Thank you. You put it up first. Oh, okay.

Speaker 18:

Yeah, I was just thinking about just that motto. There’s an app for that. And through this exercise, you could easily just say there’s a service for that, just through that line of inquiry. So I was like, I don’t know if anyone’s struggling to get a PC or a computer, which these days, I don’t know if that falls into a basic need or not, which is really sad. But yeah, I mean, I looked it up and there is one, there’s a nonprofit called AustinFree.net, and it’s a community PC program. So I think that just that line of inquiry that we have about does this exist? What are these possible things and assembling that. It’s amazing how you can easily map out what’s in your community.

Ozay Moore:

Yes, thank you so much for that. Yeah, some would argue that Wi-Fi is a basic need now. We had folks doing school online a couple of years ago, and without Wi-Fi, it was drawn. It came to the surface that, hey, we actually need this. It’s an access issue, not a luxury. Folks, thank you so much for digging deep in your own groups, for thinking about this community. Carry this information with you through the rest of the conference, and I know we’ll have some more opportunities through today and tomorrow to ideate and think critically about how we can support such an amazing resource here on campus. But my name is Ozay Moore. Thank you y’all so much for your time. And I say just stay curious, y’all. Just stay curious. Keep asking why. Appreciate you. Peace.

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