Insight: Finding Tremendous Alignment
Last month I facilitated a meeting with a group of high-level provincial leaders. The group was coming together to find alignment in how they talk about key policy issues. The meeting involved an open discussion of differences of opinion and an effort to bridge diverse viewpoints to find common ground.
One of the leaders expressed that he was nervous coming into the meeting, fearing that opening up a discussion of differences would be divisive. But he was surprised to find that the group came to “tremendous alignment” by the end of the day. I believe that one of the reasons for this is that I worked with the group to clearly identify the outcomes for the day, and throughout the day, used gentle reminders to help them stay on track towards meeting their outcomes. I also shared that 100% alignment isn’t possible, or even desirable – having diversity within unity brings strength to the group. But there needs to be enough alignment to move forward together towards a clear vision.
As a facilitator, I see myself as a host and a tool. My purpose is to create the conditions for meaningful conversation and decision-making, and ideally, I want the client to use my skill sets to help them achieve their goals. As I shared at the start of the session, “This is your meeting, not mine.”
For that reason, I always prefer to work collaboratively with clients to design meetings or projects, rather than deliver pre-packaged solutions. To prepare for this meeting with a brand-new client, I worked with a small number of people from the organization to co-design the meeting goals and agenda. I may have expertise in facilitating group discussions, but the client is the expert on their own goals and context.
In this edition, I’m going to share two tools that are foundational to my facilitation practice. I find these tools useful in all kinds of contexts, not only to design meetings, but also to co-develop project approaches.
I was first introduced to these tools 17 years ago at an Art of Hosting Training in Nanaimo, B.C. I was three-months pregnant with my second child, extremely nauseous and repulsed by most foods, and unable to get through the day without napping. But I went to the training anyway because I was so excited about learning new facilitation skills.
It turned out to be the right choice as it was the best training I’ve ever attended and shaped the future direction of my career. I fell in love with the role of facilitator, coach and guide – helping people and organizations to arrive at their goals – and I gained valuable tools to do so.
Tool One: Divergence-Emergence-Convergence
This model is pretty simple to understand. Most productive meetings go through an evolution that looks something like this:
- Divergence: The meeting begins with generating and sharing a lot of diverse ideas. This might look like brainstorming, dialogue, or even debate.
- Emergence: Gradually, with the help of a good facilitator, themes and patterns start to emerge. Key similarities and differences take shape, and next steps start to form.
- Convergence: Decisions are made, next steps are chosen, and the products of the meeting are developed. When the meeting is well-designed and facilitated, the results of convergence directly address the meeting goals.
The main thing I like about this model is that it helps people to understand they don’t need to fear the “groan zone.” This is where ideas get born and innovation emerges. It can feel tricky at times: overwhelming, confusing, unclear, even frustrating. One of my skills as a facilitator is helping groups to find clarity from chaos, and working through the groan zone is a necessary step to get there. In fact, if there’s not a groan zone, that’s a red flag to me, suggesting that maybe we’re not getting into the heart of the issues on hand.
The other thing I appreciate about this model is that is guides me as a facilitator. I am secretly on the lookout for that golden moment when I need to switch the group’s focus from divergence to emergence, and from emergence to convergence, so that they will get to where they hoped to be by the end of the day. After many years of experience, I have an innate sense of these subtle shifts, but even early on, knowing the model helped me to plan the meeting and to pay attention to the overall flow of conversation.
Tool Two: Chaordic Stepping Stones Questions
This model is adapted from work done by one of my early facilitation teachers, Chris Corrigan, and my current colleague pawa haiyupus. When I first meet with clients, for either new meetings or projects, I usually go through this set of questions with them. This is best done orally, as in conversation the subtleties come out. However, I send the questions in advance so the client can think them over.
Here are the questions, with a brief explanation of why they are so powerful:
| Question | Why it’s powerful |
| Need: Why is it important that we do this work at this moment in time? | If I know why the client is coming to me, I understand the context and the need. This is a more in-depth way of asking, why are you even doing this work? |
| Purpose: What is our highest aspiration for this project? If we could achieve this in our work how would the lives of those we serve be better? | Whenever I design a meeting or project, I start with the goals first and design it to meet those goals. Starting with activities is risky – you can have a bunch of activities that ultimately don’t lead where you want them to. And if the group isn’t aligned on the purpose, they don’t have much hope of aligning on the outcome. A clear purpose is the foundation of good meeting or project design. |
| People: Who are the key participants who will be attending? Why have these people been selected? What are the roles of each person on the planning team? | This question helps me to understand the audience, the group dynamics, and the roles of each person who I will work with. Understanding this allows me to tailor the meeting or project design to that particular audience and dynamic. |
| Principles of Cooperation: What is it important to remember about how we want to work with each other and the participants in our initiative? | This is more about the how of the meeting or project. Finding agreement on how the group wants to work together and how they want to interact helps me to support that intention throughout our journey together. |
| Harvest: What are we hoping the tangible and intangible results of our work will be? | Because I’m big on achieving results, I can’t understate how important this question is. And particularly the tangible. I want to know what the physical output of the meeting or project is: A report, a workplan, a clear decision, an agreement on next steps, etc.? If I know what the desired result is, I can help the group to get there. |
| Limiting Beliefs: What do we fear about new ways of working together? What are the elephants in the room that I should know about in advance? | I also love this question. It’s a gentle way of asking about the underlying tensions, preparing me for the meeting or project so that I’m not blindsided. Often people will speak quite candidly about this when asked, and it helps me to anticipate and mitigate any risks to the meeting or project’s success. |
The answers to these questions give me what I need to create an initial agenda or project plan draft that I then refine with the client. And throughout the meeting or project, I can return to these questions and check in to see if the purpose, ideal outcome, audience or limiting beliefs have changed.
Working with me
I use these tools in all areas of my work:
In strategy and execution, I use those tools to help clients get clear on their goals, allowing me to create a process that works for their needs.
In facilitation and team coaching, I use these tools to collaboratively identify the goals and desired outputs of a meeting or team coaching process.
In reconciliation and cultural safety, I use these tools co-design processes based on the relationships, needs and contexts the clients and the Indigenous communities they work with.
If you want to learn more about any of these services, email me, check out my website, or find me on LinkedIn.
