<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">In this meeting, we had one long table with seats on both sides, but everybody was sitting on one side of the table. I tried to move the slider to see if they would all get up and move, but it didn't work.<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#888888"><div><b>-- <br>Joel Aufrecht </b>(they/them)<br><b></b></div><div>Program Manager (Technology)<b><br></b></div><div>Wikimedia Foundation<br></div></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 3:05 PM, Maria Cruz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mcruz@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">mcruz@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">This is super helpful, Joel, thank you! <div>I have a follow up question: what do "face South" and "face North" refer to? I <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=face+south+vs+face+north&oq=face+south+vs+face+north&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i8i30k1l2.11981.12407.0.12711.3.3.0.0.0.0.152.304.0j2.2.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.2.304...0i8i7i30k1j0i8i13i30k1.de0VqEdKsd4" target="_blank">looked it up</a> online, and I only found this:</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Typically a south-facing home gets sun for most of the day, especially at the front of the house, and is therefore usually brighter and warmer. A north-facing home gets sun at the back of the house and is typically darker and naturally cooler than a south-facing one</blockquote><div><br></div><div> </div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="m_6102445943489096193gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><br><div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif"><font size="1" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><b style="color:rgb(68,68,68)">María Cruz </b><font color="#999999"> </font><font color="#000000">\\</font><font color="#999999"> </font><font style="color:rgb(153,153,153)">Communications and Outreach project manager, L&E Team</font><font style="color:rgb(153,153,153)"> </font><font color="#000000">\\</font><font color="#999999"> </font><font color="#999999">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.<br></font></font></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font size="1" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:mcruz@wikimedia.org" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">mcruz@wikimedia.org</a> </font><font size="1" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">| </font> <wbr>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/marianarra_" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">@marianarra_</a></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 2:24 PM, Joel Aufrecht <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jaufrecht@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">jaufrecht@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">I experimented with a new tool last month. I facilitated two different full-day meetings where I had limited contact with the meeting sponsor or chief client prior to the meeting, and was concerned that I didn't know what facilitation approach they wanted. I called this tool the "Facilitator Control Panel". The key benefits of this tool include:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* Making the facilitator's assumptions about how the meeting should be facilitated explicit and visible to participants</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* Allowing participants a voice in what tone and approach the facilitator should employ.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* Allowing the facilitator to be intentional and informed, rather than reactive and assumptive, in how they facilitate.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">A picture:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><img src="cid:ii_j7gn2gtn0_15e72b1ab9e69442" width="418" height="229"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">For the first meeting, I drew the first two parameters this on the whiteboard, and then spent a few minutes talking to the meeting participants about it. The key points included:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* This meeting is for the benefit of the participants</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* The facilitator's job is to modify how the meeting would organically function to make it better serve the participants</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* Therefore the participants should have some voice in the overall tone and goal of the facilitator(s).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* One very common problem for facilitators is, should I help this (temporary, expensively gathered) group use their time to completely address one topic, or to make sure that all topics get an equal hearing, which usually means limiting discussion on one or more topics. This is shown via the Thorough vs Fast slider.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">* Another parameter I offered was, should I as facilitator try to make the meeting run smoothly, interrupting arguments between participants, or should the facilitator encourage (constructive, polite) argument, and test apparent agreement to try and uncover premature or incomplete agreement?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">The names of the first two settings were modified upon suggestion by the group. The last two settings were, I believe, suggestions from the group, and functioned as humor. At the risk of over-thinking: As a facilitator, this gave me an extra means by which to inject humor into the group at appropriate moments without being especially forced, without having to try and think of something novel and funny (thanks to the magic of running jokes), and with a light touch that reduced the risk of subjecting participants to painfully strained and lengthy "jokes".<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">The "settings" the group chose reflected their composition and the purpose of the meeting; I could imagine other groups choosing very different settings. We updated the joke settings several times during the day, referenced the serious settings once or twice, and did not otherwise interact with the control panel after the initial discussion. In
retrospectives and an after-action survey, it was mentioned three times: two participants
listed the tool as a positive, and one reported that it wasn't
"particularly useful".<br><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"></div></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">For the second meeting, I did not write out the settings and this tool was completely conceptual. I talked to the client prior to the meeting and used the settings to help the client understand what was possible and to express what they wanted on behalf of the meeting participants, which they did. I explained the settings to the participants in brief during the (two-day) meeting. Some participants did use some of this language and framing to raise related issues during the meeting. There was no structured review of its value.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Overall I found this to tool be beneficial as a facilitator; probably a net positive for participants; very simple and quick to implement; and low-risk. I will probably use it again, both as an explicit tool and as something to discuss with clients prior to meetings. I don't think the labels are very clear or that the axes they define are ideal, and hope to improve them.<span class="m_6102445943489096193HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><span class="m_6102445943489096193HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br clear="all"></div><div><div class="m_6102445943489096193m_-1801887226795858943gmail-m_-422851550827113715gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div class="m_6102445943489096193m_-1801887226795858943gmail-m_-422851550827113715gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#888888"><div><b>-- <br>Joel Aufrecht </b>(they/them)<br><b></b></div><div>Program Manager (Technology)<b><br></b></div><div>Wikimedia Foundation<br></div></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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