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3 lessons I learned the hard way, during an innovation facilitation<\/h2>\n
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As an innovation\u00a0facilitator for more than 20<\/a>\u00a0years, I put forth considerable effort to give each participant the chance to express herself\/himself throughout the discussion. Sometimes, though, there is a pressing need to achieve quick results, and hearing out the ramblings of someone who is thinking out loud or the lengthy suggestion of a participant whose opinion doesn\u2019t really count much in the organization, doesn\u2019t seem to be the best use of the team\u2019s time.<\/p>\n Still, from an ethical point of view, each voice is valuable, and practically speaking, it is often the reticent engineer from R&D or the shy lawyer from Legal who throw in the comment that swings the entire discussion towards a new and fruitful direction.<\/p>\n Given the compelling arguments – both moral and practical \u2013 I tend to monitor discussions attentively to ensure everybody gets a fair chance to contribute, regardless of their ability to wrestle for air time. Imagine my surprise then, when I learned that within a single month, I managed to offend two participants, in two separate workshops, who both felt I had deliberately avoided allowing them the opportunity to contribute to the innovation facilitation discussion.<\/p>\n In the first case, the participant actually got up and left the room. Although a somewhat dramatic and unpleasant moment ensued, it thankfully indicated that I had a serious problem, which I was able to deal with in the next break.<\/p>\n In the other case, I only learned about my mistake in the evening, from the process owners to whom my victim had complained. Luckily, we had an additional workshop session the next day, which allowed me to have a clearing-the-air conversation the next morning, before the workshop started. This, however, raised a nagging thought: I wondered how many other offended participants I had left behind throughout my 22 years of facilitation, without even noticing or discovering it, even after the fact.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As an innovation facilitator, you have a commitment to the process owners: achieve results! But you also have a contract with the participants<\/strong>: honoring the time and brain power they have put in your hands. They must all be given a chance to express themselves.<\/p>\n 2. Use break times and facilitation cues to manage both reticent and vocal participants.<\/strong><\/p>\n Read about the innovation facilitation session in which I offended my best participant on racist grounds (or not?)<\/a>, and some tips on how to manage the balance between participants\u2019 motivation to speak and their potential contribution to the discussion.<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My immediate learnings from these two traumatic experiences:<\/h3>\n
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