Is either-or a satisfactory choice to engage with something or someone? The food is good. The boss is stupid. The colleague is likeable. The defeat is bitter. It makes life easy. Open the drawer, put something or someone in it, add a judgement: voilà my way to see the world. I wonder if a facilitator can work like that. Participant …
Facilitator‘s ABC: Will-o’-the-wisp
Isn’t it great when we are knowledgeable? We can assess and assign facts – and quickly. We are fully capable of acting and are in control of our environment. We have developed well. The short walk to the bakery with a toddler can take half an hour – one way. Everything is new and interesting and must be looked at. …
Facilitator`s ABC: Frame
Thought: Agile and new work are the buzzwords associated with successful change. If a company follows the recipes and ingredients associated with these two words, then the cooperation becomes more constructive, the attitude of the workforce more efficient and the performance noticeably better. Question: If I want to achieve an observable, profound change, is it enough to introduce new information …
Facilitator’s ABC: Touch
The room is full of people. Ten, fifteen, twenty…… the number does not matter. They are there and mostly expecting things of which they themselves are not aware. The surface attitude ranges from open rejection to expectation-free endurance. And yet, deep down, they all hope that something will happen that has meaning. Meaning for one’s own self, for one’s own …
Facilitator’s ABC: Expectations
Shortly before nine o’clock in the morning. The room is slowly filling up. A coffee cup in hand here and there. A yawn. Phones to the ear. Mutual greetings. Focus comes slowly. And then the facilitator approaches the topic step by step and – as learned as important in many trainings – asks for the expectations of the participants. And …
Facilitator’s ABC: Point Thread Bandwidth
One large room. Thirty-one people from one organization. Many have long tenure with the company. Diverse departments. All connected to technology. The big boss comes in and says why everyone has come together and where to go. No questions. No resentment. Big boss leaves. Facilitator takes over. Greeting. Warming up with each other. Question: do you all know why you …
Facilitator’s ABC: habit
H = Habit 6am. Alarm goes off. Yawn. Stretch. Bathroom. Cold shower. Dress. Espresso. Getting ready to leave. Left turn at corner. Red light as always. Usual parking spot taken. Grunt. Morning to everyone. My desk. My screen. Same faces. Routine to-do-list. Lunch. Customers call. Discussion with superior. As predicted. Prepare to leave. Drive home. Some shopping. Run. Eat. Beer. …
Facilitator’s ABC: abundance
A = Abundance There is so much to do, says a poster of the FDP for the federal election 2021 in Germany. Probably true. There is always plenty to do, especially if you know or have mastered something. Topics are interwoven, a thought leads to an association leads to an expression of opinion and before you know it, a new …
Facilitator’s ABC: speed
S = speed I do speed! One of the five priorities for managers in the new normal is speed. Things should happen quickly, says one of the large consulting firms. The digital must be implemented quickly, resilience should be anchored quickly in the organization and among employees, new collaboration models should be developed as quickly as possible…….. . Whatever you …
The Unknown & Normality
Extraordinary events interrupt the more or less steady flow of routine work with noise. Man’s first reaction to the loud interruption is fright. This is followed by the question of how to cope with the unknown and how to reintroduce, bit by bit, tested small routines that come closer to the goal of normality desired and strived for on all …
Facilitator’s ABC: fog
F = fog Fog is a wonderful state. The world disappears and does not distract the imagination by sight. The hand in front of the eyes is just visible, then a dense wall of water droplets. Now, one can stress one’s memory when moving in familiar territory. This sometimes goes well and often one notices how the conviction to know …
Facilitator’s ABC: cohesion
V = virtual Virtuality or reality? Are we sure that these are two different things? Or are they not rather varieties of the same thing? How is it that we are so used to thinking in terms of opposites? How is it that we are always faced with the choice of two things? Either – or? Perhaps this is the …
Facilitator’s ABC: knowing for the sake of knowing
A = Agnotology The noblest form of knowledge is nonknowledge. To know that one has nonknowledge and in a quality in which one can work with nonknowledge means that one needs a considerable amount of knowledge on the subject of knowledge. Nonknowledge is hard to acquire, since knowledge is the currency with which the value of a person is determined. …
Facilitator’s ABC: how to think
T = Lateral Thinking Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking. Vertical thinking selects a pathway by excluding other pathways. Lateral thinking does not select but seeks to open up other pathways. With vertical thinking one selects the most promising approach to a problem, the best way of looking at a situation. With …