In this episode, I speak with Adam Kahane about his new book, Facilitating Breakthrough, Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together.
In the conversation, several things stood out for me. Here are a few
What does it mean to be a facilitator?
Many years ago, when I first received training, I thought about this question a lot. Since then, I have taken its meaning for granted. Adam got me to take a second look at the word and its purpose. For Adam, his work is about facilitating collaboration with groups from different organizations and sectors who may not agree with, like, or trust each other but think they need to work together.
In this book, he is trying to upgrade the meaning of facilitator so that anyone can be a facilitator. Secondly, it is a way of helping groups of people collaborate.
The facilitator as a partner.
In this part of the conversation, we refer to the insider/outsider tension that often pops us in change work. Adam reminds us of the notion first pointed to him by Bill Tolbert. It is not that if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Instead, and more interestingly, is the idea that if you're not part of the problem, you can't be part of the solution. Your capacity to help a situation is limited if you cannot see how you are part of the problem - even if it is a small part. Otherwise, you are trying to bring about change by force.
To facilitate effectively, you must move between an outsider and insider stance with whomever you work with. Adam calls this partnering.
The role of polarities
Facilitation does not involve choosing between one approach to facilitation over the other. It is knowing when to use a particular strategy rather than another direction. Adam reminds us to lean into tensions and avoiding the tendency to collapse polarities rather than hold their tensions.
Perhaps most insightful about both the conversation with Adam and his book is the new casting of facilitation.
He argues that there are only five dimensions of facilitation. These five dimensions involve ten moves.
Dimensions
Moves
How do we see our situation?
Inquiring and Advocating
How do we define success?
Advancing and Concluding
How do we get from here to there?
Discovering and Mapping
How do we decide who does what?
Accompanying and Directing
How do we understand our role?
Standing Inside and Standing Outside
In the conversation, several things stood out for me. Here are a few
What does it mean to be a facilitator?
Many years ago, when I first received training, I thought about this question a lot. Since then, I have taken its meaning for granted. Adam got me to take a second look at the word and its purpose. For Adam, his work is about facilitating collaboration with groups from different organizations and sectors who may not agree with, like, or trust each other but think they need to work together.
In this book, he is trying to upgrade the meaning of facilitator so that anyone can be a facilitator. Secondly, it is a way of helping groups of people collaborate.
The facilitator as a partner.
In this part of the conversation, we refer to the insider/outsider tension that often pops us in change work. Adam reminds us of the notion first pointed to him by Bill Tolbert. It is not that if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Instead, and more interestingly, is the idea that if you're not part of the problem, you can't be part of the solution. Your capacity to help a situation is limited if you cannot see how you are part of the problem - even if it is a small part. Otherwise, you are trying to bring about change by force.
To facilitate effectively, you must move between an outsider and insider stance with whomever you work with. Adam calls this partnering.
The role of polarities
Facilitation does not involve choosing between one approach to facilitation over the other. It is knowing when to use a particular strategy rather than another direction. Adam reminds us to lean into tensions and avoiding the tendency to collapse polarities rather than hold their tensions.
Perhaps most insightful about both the conversation with Adam and his book is the new casting of facilitation.
He argues that there are only five dimensions of facilitation. These five dimensions involve ten moves.
Dimensions
Moves
How do we see our situation?
Inquiring and Advocating
How do we define success?
Advancing and Concluding
How do we get from here to there?
Discovering and Mapping
How do we decide who does what?
Accompanying and Directing
How do we understand our role?
Standing Inside and Standing Outside
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com