>Just how do you respond when at the end of a process people say that they
>could have come up with that list of issues, ideas or solutions at the
>start ? :-)
>
>It is a common (if often unexpressed) viewpoint, when a "facilitator" has
>control of the process and the participants control of the content.
>However, I have also had it happen even when the people concerned have
>essentially controlled their own process
Interesting question... it conjures up for me the spirit of the
frustrations which those people are feeling when they say that... (or
even when they do not and you sense that they are feeling it)
.. have they wasted their time?
.. were they 'over processed'?
.. did they miss something?
.. are there still some unspoken issues etc which people
know will render this work irrelevant?
.. could other people have made a difference?
.. if we keep coming up with these lists why don't they
change anything?
It also made me think about how responsible we (when facilitators) can
feel when that happens - the fact that we are looking or thinking about
have 'an answer' - and this could be a real trap in terms of our going
down a path of defensiveness rather than learning..
I wonder if we could find another mental model than thinking about the
'response' - we may know this is coming long before it arrives ... it may
be a recurring pattern or the results of our work with the group in
scoping possibilities for and planning the process ..
I have a belief that all we can do is *be* with them in this moment and
share an exploration of what it means....
Great question tho'
Julie Beedon
VISTA Consulting - for a better future
julie@vistabee.win-uk.net
--Julie Beedon <julie@vistabee.win-uk.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>