Facilitation Lab
Facilitation Lab Portsmouth
Design Better Decisions: How to Create Clarity Before Commitment
With Devon Skerritt and Brian Fleming
In Partnership With Social Design Strategies and Design Better
At Facilitation Lab Portsmouth, professionals and leaders from across sectors and experience levels come together to experiment, explore new methods, and grow skills in the uniquely human enterprise of facilitation. Our inclusive community uses a playful, interactive format called Practice Playground to help us test new techniques, take risks and experiment, and get valuable, constructive feedback from peers in a low-stakes and collaborative way.
In February's Facilitation Lab, we take a field trip west to Manchester to learn with Brian Fleming, a longtime strategy and innovation expert and consultant. Together, participants work with real decision moments from our organizational, community, and institutional contexts: strategy discussions, innovation efforts, cross-functional initiatives, and situations where momentum begins to outpace understanding. We practice framing and reframing techniques that help us slow the work just enough to surface assumptions, sharpen intent, and align on what truly needs our attention.
In February's Facilitation Lab, we take a field trip west to Manchester to learn with Brian Fleming, a longtime strategy and innovation expert and consultant. Together, participants work with real decision moments from our organizational, community, and institutional contexts: strategy discussions, innovation efforts, cross-functional initiatives, and situations where momentum begins to outpace understanding. We practice framing and reframing techniques that help us slow the work just enough to surface assumptions, sharpen intent, and align on what truly needs our attention.
Interested in a private cohort for your team?
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Featured in the Lab
Designing Better Decisions is a hands-on Facilitation Lab that examines how we intentionally create conditions for clarity before we act. Drawing from The Solution Trap, we treat decision-making as a design challenge shaped by urgency, incentives, and the pressure to move forward.
Together, we work with real decision moments from our organizational, community, and institutional contexts: strategy discussions, innovation efforts, cross-functional initiatives, and situations where momentum begins to outpace understanding. We practice framing and reframing techniques that help us slow the work just enough to surface assumptions, sharpen intent, and align on what truly needs our attention.
The goal is not to delay action but to ensure that what we commit to is coherent, intentional, and durable.
Together, we work with real decision moments from our organizational, community, and institutional contexts: strategy discussions, innovation efforts, cross-functional initiatives, and situations where momentum begins to outpace understanding. We practice framing and reframing techniques that help us slow the work just enough to surface assumptions, sharpen intent, and align on what truly needs our attention.
The goal is not to delay action but to ensure that what we commit to is coherent, intentional, and durable.
About Facilitation Lab Portsmouth
Facilitation Lab Portsmouth is a monthly in-person meetup for changemakers, collaborative leaders, and facilitators across Portsmouth. Our purpose is to foster learning by doing in a psychologically safe environment, building a strong and supportive community of peers across the region.
As Regional Lead, Devon cultivates a space for experimentation and collaborative leadership development, with a focus on people-powered organizational change.
Facilitation Lab Portsmouth is a global network of regions, including other virtual meetups organized by continent and in-person meetups organized by cities. See the region list for a full list of all active meetups.
You can also join us in the Facilitation Lab Community Hub to stay connected with the facilitation community and get reminders of all upcoming events.
Agenda
Opener
An attendee will lead us through an engaging opener
Practice & Role Play
Attendees take turns role-playing as facilitators and participants as we practices different methods
Debrief
After some quiet reflection we’ll debrief the role-play and key learnings
Closer
An attendee will lead us through a purposeful closer
Who Should Attend
Experienced & New Facilitators
Who want to level up their facilitation skills and enhance their ability to effectively engage participants
Chiefs of Staff
Who want to align initiatives across departments and ensure strategic projects are implemented successfully
Product & Project Managers
Who want to steer stakeholders to the best outcomes and learn best practices in stakeholder management
Teachers & Trainers
Who want to design the most impactful learning and create engaging learning experiences
Key Takeaways
Gain hands-on experience with a spectrum of facilitation techniques, from classic to cutting-edge.
Receive immediate, constructive feedback in a nurturing environment to refine your facilitation skills.
Explore the depths of your existing facilitation knowledge and boost your confidence through low-stakes practice sessions.
Realize the potential to learn from anyone, appreciating the value of diverse experiences and perspectives.
Featured Facilitators
Devon Skerritt
Devon Skerritt, Ed.D., is an independent design researcher, facilitator, and strategist growing people’s capacity to navigate change and imagine possibilities by design. Driven by curiosity, Devon works at the intersections of learning, inquiry, and civic engagement focused on communities’ participation in initiatives impacting them. Over eight years of human-centered design practice, Devon drove design thinking through facilitation, coaching, and qualitative research across innovation teams at Southern New Hampshire University and organized Design and Innovation programs at Southern Methodist University through academic experiences and corporate partnerships. Devon has served as an adjunct lecturer teaching about Life Design and Liberatory design thinking, and brings more than 15 added years of experience in education administration roles serving students as an advisor and counselor at organizations from K12 to higher education. Devon received his Ed.D. from SMU and master’s degree in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, where was also a 2015 Social Impact Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. in
history from Colgate University.
history from Colgate University.
Brian Fleming
Brian Fleming, Ed.D., is the founder of Design Futures, a New Hampshire-based advisory and design practice focused on helping organizations define problems clearly before committing to solutions. Brian’s work centers on decision-making inside organizations, communities, and institutions, particularly in moments shaped by urgency, pressure, and incomplete understanding.
Brian is the author of the forthcoming book The Solution Trap, which examines why well-intentioned leaders repeatedly invest in the wrong answers and how leaders and facilitators can intervene earlier, when clarity still shapes outcomes. He has spent more than two decades working in higher education, nonprofit, and civic institutions, where he designs and facilitates conversations with long-term consequences.
Brian is the author of the forthcoming book The Solution Trap, which examines why well-intentioned leaders repeatedly invest in the wrong answers and how leaders and facilitators can intervene earlier, when clarity still shapes outcomes. He has spent more than two decades working in higher education, nonprofit, and civic institutions, where he designs and facilitates conversations with long-term consequences.
In Partnership With
Social Design Strategies
Helping clients understand people, context, and possibilities with facilitation, research and innovation/change strategy - by design.
Design Better
New Hampshire-based advisory and design practice focused on helping organizations define problems clearly before committing to solutions
What People Are Saying
"The community’s warmth and generosity in tending to me and the issue made me feel cared for and supported. Beyond the suggestions, which were immediately useful, the culture of the community makes leaning into that growth edge easier, and more delightful."
Katrina Mitchell
Senior Technical Advisor, JHPiego
“I just wanted to say thanks for the great session last night. Your feedback and suggestions were fantastic. I left very energized!"
Dan Corbin
Instructor at Pragmatic Institute
Photo Disclaimer
Please note that photographs, video & audio recordings will be taken throughout this event. These will be used by Voltage Control for marketing and publicity in our publications, on our website and in social media, or in any third party publication. Please contact our events manager if you have any concerns or if you wish to be exempted from this activity.