Dragons - Chapter 48 (DRAFT)

The meeting with Dr. Lancaster was basically uneventful. I had never met him before, and he turned out to be a kind and pleasant old man who was simply distrustful of computers. I was obviously late getting to the speaker ready room, and when I arrived Dr. Lancaster was already deep in dialogue with one of our lead audio-visual techs.

“If you’re more comfortable with thirty-five millimeter slides, Dr. Lancaster, we can certainly accommodate,” the tech was saying. His name was Ray, a good guy, but he had the habitually droopy eyes of a regular weed smoker.

“You can?” Dr. Lancaster replied, the surprise evident in his voice.

“Sure,” Ray said, looking up at me as I joined their little circle. “I’ve got a few slide projectors on the truck. If Alan here gives the word, I can get one set up in the back of the ballroom and then use the i-mag camera to send your slide image to all the main and delay screens.”

Dr. Lancaster turned my way. “Are you Alan Larson?”

“I am, Dr. Lancaster,” I said, shaking his extended hand. “I’m sorry for being late.”

“No trouble at all. But I hope you can understand what this young man just said.”

I could and I did, and in a few minutes more the plan was approved and understood by all. It was a simple fix, really. Something that only required a little creativity and an AV budget in excess of six figures. My mind, however, was frankly not on Dr. Lancaster and his technology phobia, but on the conversation Mary and I had just had.

I was in trouble. That much was clear. I had challenged her leadership and, at least from Mary’s point of view, disrespected her. I had been with the company long enough to know what eventually happened to people who did that.

After the keynote session began, and Dr. Lancaster was satisfactorily embarked on his 45-minute presentation, I quietly stepped out of the ballroom and called home.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jenny. It’s me.”

“Alan? Oh my god, what’s wrong?”

“What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“It’s the middle of the day. You never call home from the Annual Conference in the middle of the day.”

“You’re right. Something’s wrong.”

“What is it?”

I told her in as few brushstrokes as possible. Caroline’s desperate call. Amy’s cackling laugh. Gerald’s drubbing down. Mary’s suspicious ignorance. My fateful decision. It took a lot longer than I expected to get it all out. About halfway through I started pacing back and forth across the teal and green carpet in the ballroom foyer, but Jenny remained patiently silent throughout. Only when I was clearly finished did she offer any words of wisdom.

“Alan, honey. You’re fucked.”

I stopped pacing.

“I am, aren’t I?”

“You crossed the dragon. She’s going to roast you alive.”

I was nodding my head. “And not quickly. She’s going to make my life miserable.”

There was a strange silence on the phone. For a moment I thought the call had been dropped.

“Jenny?”

“I’m here, Alan.”

“What are we going to do?”

This time there was no hesitation.

“We’re going to get you that new job. Have you had a chance to call Quest Partners yet?”

“No,” I said, starting to pace again. “Maybe you should call for me.”

“I can’t do that, Alan. They want to talk to you.”

“I’m juggling a lot of balls here, Jenny. Can you at least find out if they want me to fly to Boston, or if they are going to send someone to interview me.”

“They want you to fly to Boston. They even said they would pay for the ticket.”

“They did?”

“Yes, I told you that last night.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. I could tell you weren’t listening to me.”

I stopped. Now it was my turn to nurture a strange silence. Jenny often accused me of not listening to her when we spoke on the phone. And to be fair, I often didn’t. She had a habit of drifting off into the details of her day and I usually had the details of my own day on my mind. But this time there was something different in her tone of voice. Something hostile. And threatening.

“Alan?”

“I’m here, Jenny.”

“You need to find time to call them soon. Now more than ever. Do you or do you not have the name and number?”

“Text it to me and I’ll call and leave a message late tonight. I’ll have to look at my calendar and find a good time for a vacation day. Are there any days in the next two weeks I should avoid being gone?”

Jenny and I had long ago synchronized our calendars, but she filled hers up with so many tentative appointments and reminders that I could never tell what was adjustable and what was carved in stone. If she needed me to do something, the only surefire way of confirming that was to ask her, assuming nothing.

“I’ll adjust. Pick the day that works best for you and get it done.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Do you want to talk to your son?”

“What, are we done?”

“Alan, I’m in the middle of about twelve things right now.”

It was funny how easy and difficult phone conversations with Jenny were. We’re married, and have been for enough years that getting down to business is simple and straight-forward, but even so, there are certain things that never seem to get said.

“How are you feeling today?” It suddenly felt like the most important question on earth.

“I’m fine. Don’t you have to get back to your conference?”

“No, it can run without me for a few more minutes. I want to know how you are doing. I love you.”

“Well, I love you, too. And I really am feeling fine.”

“How’s Crazy Horse?”

“Fine. I have an appointment with Dr. Andrews this afternoon.”

“But nothing’s wrong?”

“No. Just a well baby check.”

“Okay. Let me know what Andrews says.”

“I will. But don’t you dare call me until after you’ve spoken to Quest Partners.”

Before I could respond one of the doors to the ballroom burst open and Bethany Bishop appeared. She looked quickly left, then right, and, spotting me, violently motioned for me to come inside.

“Got to go, honey.”

“Sure. Talk to you later.”

“Alan!” Bethany shout-whispered at me. “We need you!”

I was already moving towards her, tucking my phone back in my pocket. “What is it?”

“Dr. Lancaster is freaking out!”

That didn’t sound good. As soon as I stepped inside the ballroom, Lancaster’s amplified voice filled my world, it didn’t sound kind and pleasant like it had in the speaker ready room.

“Hello?” it said caustically. “Is there anyone there? Can someone please fix my slide?”

I looked up at one of the delay screens and quickly took in a complicated scatter diagram of some kind. Then I looked back to the AV riser and saw a flurry of movement and activity. Amidst the murmur of an audience interrupted, I practically leapt up the riser stairs.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

“His slide’s in backwards,” Ray said. “I need to pull the carousel and reverse it.”

“Hello?” the voice continued to taunt. “Is anyone back there?”

“Go!” I said, and Ray leapt off the riser and practically sprinted over to where he had previously set up the 35mm slide projector.

I looked up and saw the perspectively diminutive form of Dr. Douglas Lancaster at the far front of the room, on our stage, standing behind our podium, his hand up to shield his eyes from our spotlight, peering with difficulty into the darkness for someone to help him.

“Give me the VOG mic,” I said to the AV tech stationed by a soundboard larger than my kitchen table.

Without question, he picked up a handheld microphone, switched it on, and handed it over to me.

“We’re attending to the problem now, Dr. Lancaster,” I said into it, my voice booming like the voice of God out over the ballroom sound system.

“Well, thank heavens,” Dr. Lancaster said. “It appears I haven’t been abandoned after all.”

A nervous chuckle rippled through the room, and suddenly all the projection screens went blinding white. Looking over, I saw that Ray had popped the slide carousel off the projector and was in the process of plucking the offending slide out of its slot so he could reverse it.

“Oh my!” Dr. Lancaster gasped. “That’s not better, that’s worse!”

“One moment, please,” I said as calmly as I could into the microphone, but Ray was already clicking the carousel back into place, and as quick as that the slide with the complicated scatter diagram was back on all the screens.

“Eureka!” Dr. Lancaster exclaimed. “That’s what we’re supposed to be looking at. Now, if I can bring everyone back to where we left off, I wanted to point out this large cluster of data points in the upper left quadrant -- and, indeed, now it is actually in the upper left quadrant!”

Dr. Lancaster continued his presentation, the audience quieted back down into its typical somnolence, but I continued to stand there on the AV platform with the live VOG mic in my hand. Ray returned and stood by my side, but made no other movements and spoke no words. We undoubtedly were both waiting for the same thing.

As quietly as I could, I clicked off the microphone, but did not yet release it. “Is that the only one that’s going to be backwards?”

“Beats me,” Ray said. “He’s the one who loaded them.”

We stood and listened to Dr. Lancaster describe at length and in great detail what he often described as the “surprisingly elegant” meaning of his small and scattered clusters of data. I can’t speak for Ray, but I know the elegance was lost on me. The population density of Rwanda, the emergence of diseased allele pairs in Hawaiian Geese, the frequency of dangling participles in 19th Century Russian literature -- he could have been talking about any or all of these things and I couldn’t have told you. I was simply waiting for him to advance to the next slide.

“And so,” Dr. Lancaster eventually said, “if we look at the same data set six months later, we see...” There was a flutter on the slide carousel behind us and the image on the screen switched in a flash of white light, a similar but different eye chart, the clusters of blue data points in an alternate configuration, but the words, the words on the x and y axes, fortunately, thankfully, and happily, in the proper orientation. “...that much has changed. What was dominant has now become sub-dominant, and what was sub-dominant has all but disappeared.”

I handed the microphone back to the guy behind the soundboard.

“Stay on it, Ray,” I said. “If he put one in wrong, there might be more.”

“Will do, Alan. Sorry, man.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault. I’ll stay close until his presentation is over.”

Ray nodded solemnly. He looked grateful, like I had just packed him a fresh bowl. I just sat myself down on one of the empty chairs on the AV riser. Something inside me told me the threat was over, that this one slide was the only one that Lancaster had loaded backwards, but that same thing told me to stick around regardless. It was only one slide, but one slide was going to be enough. There would all kinds of hell to pay.

+ + +

“Dragons” is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. For more information, go here.

This post first appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can follow him on Twitter @ericlanke or contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

Image Source
http://lres.com/heres-why-amcs-need-to-pay-close-attention-to-looming-regulatory-changes/businessman-in-the-middle-of-a-labyrinth/

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

Sometimes, when I have a difficult time figuring out what’s going on in a piece of celebrated fiction, I find myself stepping out of my role as a reader and I mentally put myself in the role of the author. No longer concerned with enjoying the pleasure of well-formed characters and plot, I find myself open to the difficult and painful experience of writing, of creating something of meaningful value on our difficult and distracted world.

It was in this frame of mind that I came across the following paragraph in Ishiguro’s celebrated and frustratingly opaque The Unconsoled.

‘This is quite ridiculous!’ I had lost all patience. ‘I’ll find my own way. You’re obviously quite unable to appreciate that a person might be very busy, working on a tight schedule, and simply can’t afford to dawdle about the town for hours. In fact, if I may say so, this wall is quite typical of this town. Utterly preposterous obstacles everywhere. And what do you do? Do you all get annoyed? Do you demand it’s pulled down immediately so that people can go about their business? No, you put up with it for the best part of a century. You make postcards of it and believe it’s charming. This brick wall charming? What a monstrosity! I may well use this wall as a symbol, I’ve a good mind to, in my speech tonight! It’s just as well for you I’ve already composed much of what I’m going to say in my head and so am naturally reluctant to change things too much at this late stage. Good evening!’

In the context of the story, this is our narrator and protagonist, Mr. Ryder, complaining about yet another obstacle to his plans and desires: in this case a wall bisecting the city, impenetrable, and separating him from the concert hall where he is set to perform.

But in the larger context I believe that Ishiguro is here almost blatantly talking about the novel he is in the process of writing.

It is ‘ridiculous.’ It doesn’t ‘appreciate that a person (i.e., reader) might be very busy, working on a tight schedule, and simply can’t afford to dawdle about the town (i.e., the novel) for hours.’ It is full of ‘utterly preposterous obstacles.’ And what does the author do? Does he get ‘annoyed’? Does he ‘demand that it’s pulled down immediately so that people can go about their business (i.e., understand his novel and move on)’? No. The author ‘makes postcards of it and believes it’s charming.’ And he uses the wall as his symbol.

This, more than anything else, I think, explains what’s going on in this novel. Much of the Internet calls it Kafkaesque, and it is in the sense that it reads very much like that common dream we’ve all had in which we want to accomplish something but are thwarted at every turn. And that leads me to only one conclusion.

The Unconsoled of the novel’s title is actually none of its characters. It is, and can only be, the reader him or herself.

+ + +

This post first appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can follow him on Twitter @ericlanke or contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

Dragons - Chapter 47 (DRAFT)

On the way out of the staff office, I physically bumped into Mary Walton. I was moving so quickly and with so much determination, I nearly knocked her off her designer heels.

“My god, Mary, I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out to catch her before she fell. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, Alan,” she said, clutching my arm in an attempt to right herself. “I’m fine.” Her hand brushed coldly over mine as she disengaged. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“I have a ten o’clock meeting with Dr. Lancaster in the speaker ready room,” I said truthfully. I didn’t have to explain to Mary that Dr. Douglas Lancaster was our keynote speaker, a mentor of and personally selected by Eleanor Rumsfeld. “He wants to go over the technical requirements of his presentation.”

Mary looked at her watch, the sparkles of its diamonds flashing me as it came out from under the sleeve of her suit jacket. Although much more expensive than the one I wore, it undoubtedly told her the same thing mine would have. It was nine-fifty-six.

“I thought we had set this as the time to discuss the situation with Amy Crawford.”

I suspected that Mary knew we had said nine-thirty and that she was the one who was twenty-six minutes late, but her tone was challenging, daring me to call her out or contradict her. It felt like she was testing me. In a lot of my interactions with Mary lately, I realized, it felt like she was testing me.

“I thought we said nine-thirty,” I said simply. “Should we reschedule?”

“No,” she said quickly. “This shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay,” I said, and then stood there silently. After finding conviction among my recent introspections, I no longer wanted to have this conversation with Mary. It didn’t look like I was going to be able to avoid it, but I certainly didn’t have to initiate anything.

After a pause, Mary carefully checked our surroundings. “Is there anyone in the staff office?”

“No,” I said.

“Let’s go in there.”

“Okay.”

Standing safely behind the closed door, Mary got right down to business.

“First off, Alan, I want to let you know that you did the right thing bringing this to my attention.”

“I did?”

“Yes, absolutely. Our relationship with Wes Howard is a very important one. Had you decided to confront him last night, there’s no telling what kind of damage you might have done.”

The blank look on my face must have prompted Mary’s next response.

“Inadvertently, of course. I’m not saying you would do anything to intentionally harm the firm, Alan. You’ve always demonstrated good judgment in these matters and last night was no exception.”

Wait. She’s praising me? For doing nothing?

“Mary,” I said, my suspicions suddenly on full alert. “Have you already spoken to Wes?”

“Yes. Just now.”

So that’s why she was late.

“He has assured me that he will not bring Amy to any more of our events.”

It took about five seconds -- five seconds of me staring open mouthed at Mary -- for the full meaning of her words to hit me. When they did, I felt like the earth moved under my feet.

“He’s not going to bring Amy to any more of our events?”

“Yes,” Mary said, her voice already shifting to her this-matter-is-closed tone. “As you witnessed, it’s too disruptive. Amy is a former member of our staff, someone who left under difficult circumstances. Her presence brings the questions surrounding those circumstances back to the surface, and too many of our staff members, as young as they are, can’t be expected to parse them appropriately. It will inevitably cause them to compromise their professionalism, and that harms both the firm and the client that Wes represents.”

Mary stopped herself short. “What?” she asked me. “What are you looking at me like that for? Once I explained it to Wes he knew exactly what I was talking about.”

My mind was racing. Four minutes ago I had been ready to fight my way to the top of the pile, and now I felt like my legs were about to give out underneath me. But some of my piss and vinegar was still swirling around in my gut, and it was telling, daring, demanding that I tell Mary how utterly fucked up she and this whole sorry affair was. Mary, it wanted me to say, the problem isn’t that Wes Howard brought Amy Crawford to our event. The problem is that Wes Howard is a predator, and his prey are all the young women you hire to work long hours for little pay. You’re either oblivious to what is really going on or you are complicit in his crimes. All telling him he can’t bring Amy around is going to do is put other members of your staff in his crosshairs. Why the fuck do you think Caroline was crying and begging me to come get her? Amy Crawford isn’t the one who needs to be banned from our events. Wes Howard is!

“Alan? What is it?”

I realize now that this was one of those rare moments of truth. And to my credit, despite all the wrong turns I would take at so many other crossroads, this time I decided to ever so carefully proceed on the high road.

“Mary, I don’t think just getting Wes to agree to not bring Amy around addresses the real issue.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“Because, there’s nothing to stop him from…”

“From? From what?”

The words were there, I was just having a hard time saying them.

“There’s nothing to stop him from...from hitting on other members of our staff.”

“Oh, Alan! Don’t start with that, please! We’re talking about grown-ups here.”

“Yes, Mary, we are. And as grown-ups, we shouldn’t be afraid to admit what’s really going on.”

I’ve subsequently had a lot of time to think about those words, those words that came so blithely out of my mouth when I was alone with Mary in our conference staff office. And with the benefit of tremendous hindsight, I see that few words spoken have ever been more both the absolutely right and the absolutely wrong things to say.

Mary visibly paled. “Look Alan,” she said with sudden frailty. “I won’t have you speaking to me like that.”

“Like what?”

“With such disrespect.”

I put up a pair of surrendering hands. “I meant no disrespect, Mary. It’s just that people are talking, and they don’t see this thing the way you do. The problem isn’t Amy Crawford. The problem is Wes Howard.”

“You know, Alan,” Mary said, her voice shifting tone again, regaining most of the self-satisfied dominance she typically displayed. “People are talking about more than just Amy Crawford and Wes Howard. They’re talking about you. You and your inability to lead them effectively.”

It was probably meant to knock me off my feet. But these were the trenches, and despite the legitimate power Mary was able to wield over me, the trenches were where I was used to fighting.

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” she said icily. “Michael resigned because of you, and now Gerald is asking me to reassign him to another client.”

“He asked you what?” I couldn’t help it. I knew she was only trying to rattle me, but the idea of Gerald talking about me behind my back did exactly that.

“He doesn’t want to work with you anymore. He says you’re a terrible leader.”

I had a few choice words about Gerald, too, but I bit my tongue.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, Mary. What’s yours?”

Judging by the expression that passed over her face, I’d have to say I both surprised and impressed her with that one.

“Honestly, Alan, I’m no longer sure.” Now she was a mother, expressing her disappointment with an ill-behaved child. “You’ve shown so much promise in so many areas, but ever since this latest promotion your priorities seems to be off.”

“Off?”

“Yes, off. You don’t seem as dedicated to the client’s success as you used to be. I’ve opened several doors for you, but you’ve been reluctant to step through them.”

“What are you talking about?” I really didn’t have any idea. Her corporate-speak was like a foreign language I had forgotten how to speak.

“Even Eleanor has noticed,” Mary continued. “She thinks I’ve promoted you too soon.”

That didn’t answer my question. “Mary,” I said again, doing my best to keep my voice level. “What are you talking about? What doors haven’t I stepped through? I’ve been working my ass off, doubly so since Susan left.”

“You probably shouldn’t bring up Susan with me, Alan,” Mary said, her voice under better control than mine. “She’d still be with us if you would’ve handled that situation better. Both Don and I think you’re the reason she decided to leave, too.”

Now I was starting to feel dizzy. What the fuck are you talking about?

I will probably never know if those last words actually came out of my mouth, or if they only rang out in my enraged mind, because at that very moment the staff office door opened and Angie Ferguson came barrelling into the room, a balanced stack of empty registration boxes in her arms.

“Alan!” she practically shouted. “There you are! Dr. Lancaster is waiting for you in the speaker ready room. Did you forget or something?”

“I didn’t forget!” I snapped back. “I’m having a conversation here.”

The stack of boxes and the way the door opened prevented her from seeing Mary. She turned in place and, in her surprise and movement, tipped the stack of boxes in Mary’s direction, who had to bat them out of the way to keep them from hitting her in the face.

“Oh, god, I’m sorry, Mary. Didn’t see you there.”

“It’s all right,” Mary said in a tone that indicated it was anything but all right.

Angie kept moving into the room, tossing the few boxes that remained in her grasp into a corner of the room, the place we had already designated as the trash zone. “Should I tell him you’ll be late?” she said as she busied herself with retrieving the remaining boxes from around Mary’s feet.

“Mary?” I asked.

“Go,” she said, her attention seemingly more on Angie’s movements than anything that had been said between us. “Don’t keep Dr. Lancaster waiting any longer.”

I stood there for a moment, waiting for Mary to say something else. We’ll talk later. We’re not finished here. I’ll get you, you son of a bitch. Anything that would acknowledge the hostile and unprofessional exchange we had just had, but there was nothing more coming.

“Okay,” I eventually said and left the room.

+ + +

“Dragons” is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. For more information, go here.

This post first appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can follow him on Twitter @ericlanke or contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

Image Source
http://lres.com/heres-why-amcs-need-to-pay-close-attention-to-looming-regulatory-changes/businessman-in-the-middle-of-a-labyrinth/

The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory-Based Decision-Making by Sam Kaner

This is a remarkable book, with a lot of great insights into how to successfully facilitate discussions among groups in order to best reach sustainable agreements. Staying well within the book’s stated photocopying policy, let me provide a summary of the main takeaways that I can use in my own future facilitation work.

The diagram show below really sums up the entire strategy offered. It comes at the very end of the book, although the disparate elements have been thoroughly discussed and diagrammed previously. In his own summation, Kaner begins:

Sustainable agreements don’t happen in a burst of inspiration; they develop slowly. It takes time and effort for people to build a shared framework of understanding, and groups need different types of support at different points in the process. Facilitators who understand this will vary their technique to match the group’s current dynamics.

The following pages review the Diamond of Participatory Decision-Making. Each page summarizes the significance of one zone of the Diamond, with emphasis on issues that hold particular interest for facilitators.

The “Diamond” is, of course, the diagram I’ve reproduced above; and it’s a really handy mental tool for understanding the process. It was developed by the author Sam Kaner and his colleagues Lenny Lind, Catherine Toldi, Sarah Fisk, and Duane Berger. Refer to it again and again as we go through the following commentary.

Business As Usual

When a new topic comes up for discussion in a group, people normally begin the conversation by proposing obvious solutions to obvious problems. The emotional atmosphere is usually congenial but superficial. People refrain from taking risks that would put them in vulnerable positions. If an idea seems workable, it usually leads to quick agreement. “Sounds good to me,” people say. The facilitator’s main task during this phase is to pay attention to the quality and quantity of each person’s participation. Is everyone engaged? Does everyone seem comfortable with the discussion? If so, great! The facilitator then summarizes the proposals under consideration and helps the group reach agreement quickly.

But suppose some people in the group do not support the proposal -- as indicated by statements like, “I don’t think this will work, but I don’t want to stand in the group’s way.” The facilitator can support the group to see the implication of these comments -- namely, that more thinking would be useful. Then, the facilitator can help them break out of the narrow band of familiar opinions and move their discussion into the Divergent Zone.

Something I like about this is the acknowledgement that not every group decision requires a facilitated process to resolve. In many cases, perhaps most, the group is perfectly capable of making and supporting their own sustainable agreement.

The Divergent Zone

When a facilitator supports a group to move from Business as Usual to the Divergent Zone, the mood changes dramatically. Business as Usual discussions are tedious and stiff; people censor themselves rather than risk being embarrassed by criticism. In contrast, laughter and playfulness are common in the Divergent Zone. So are feelings of curiosity and discovery. (“Whoa,” said one group member to another. “You mean that’s your point of view? I had no idea!”)

What creates such a difference between the two zones? To a large extent, the answer is simple: the attitude of suspended judgment.

Suspended judgment is one of the most important thinking skills facilitators can teach their groups. Facilitators can provide groups with opportunities to experience suspended judgment through formats like brainstorming and go-arounds. By teaching suspended judgment and by modeling it whenever possible, a respectful, supportive facilitator can create a relaxed, open atmosphere that gives people permission to speak freely -- the very essence of divergent thinking.

I can’t stress that last paragraph enough. In referring to the Diamond, the author explicitly says that it can be used as a teaching tool to provide their groups with shared language and shared points of reference, and I think the Divergent Zone is one of the prime times to do that. Having everyone in the group understand that the start of the process relies on everyone’s ability to share thoughts and ideas without the judgment of others should avoid most of the pitfalls that groups typically fall into. In this regard, tools like brainstorming and go-arounds serve not just as ways to get a lot of ideas on the table, but to stake out the territory in which a shared framework of understanding can be built.

The Groan Zone

Once a group has expressed several diverging points of view, the members face a quandary. They often don’t understand each other’s perspectives very well, yet they may not be able to resolve the issue at hand until they do understand each other. This is one of the fundamental problems of working in groups.

Even in groups whose members get along reasonably well, the Groan Zone is agonizing. People have to wrestle with foreign concepts and unfamiliar biases. They have to try to understand other people’s reasoning -- even when that reasoning leads to a conclusion they don’t agree with.

The difficulties are compounded by the fact that many people respond awkwardly to this kind of stress. Under pressure, some people lose their focus and start rambling. Others become short-tempered and rude. Some people feel misunderstood and repeat themselves endlessly. Others get so impatient they’ll agree to anything: “Let’s just get this over with! Now!”

This is the crucial point, the place where facilitators really earn their stripes -- and another place where an awareness by all that the “Groan Zone” is normal and to be expected. The three reactions described above are all too familiar, at least to me. Some lose focus and ramble. Others get short-tempered and rude. Still others repeat the same point over and over again. It’s as if no one can see the forest for the trees. What is a facilitator to do with such open dysfunction?

Many facilitators, especially beginners, think their task is to prevent people from experiencing the pain and frustration groups face in the Groan Zone. This is a mistake. The only way to insulate a group from the Groan Zone is to block them from doing the hard work necessary to build a shared framework of understanding.

What, then, is the facilitator’s task in the Groan Zone? Essentially, the job is to hang in there -- hang in and support people while they struggle to understand each other. Support them to hang in there with each other; support them not to give up and mentally check out.

The facilitator’s tenacity is grounded in a client-centered attitude -- a faith that the wisdom to solve the problems at hand will emerge from the group, as long as people don’t give up trying. It is this attitude that allows a facilitator to tolerate the labor pains of authentic collaboration.

This summary is short on the actual practices that a facilitator can employ in order to do this, but the rest of the book is not. There are several key tactics described that can help groups accomplish the two main tasks that facilitators should help them focus on in the “Groan Zone”: Creating Shared Context and Strengthening Relationships.

Creating Shared Context refers to activities that directly advance mutual understanding. This can be done in a variety of ways: by acquiring shared experiences, by developing shared language, by surfacing background information, and by making efforts to put oneself in the other person’s shoes. In all cases the purpose is to enable people to think from each other’s point of view. The essence of this type of activity is understanding.

Strengthening Relationships refers to activities that support people to get to know each other. It is easier to listen to a person’s thinking when one has experienced that person’s humanity. The essence of this type of activity is interpersonal communication.

Whatever tactic is employed, the goal is to help the group build a shared framework of understanding. In other words, stop the group from talking about solutions to the problem, and start them talking about each other and their experiences.

The Convergent Zone

Once a group has developed a shared framework of understanding, everything feels faster, smoother, easier. The pace of discussion accelerates. People say, “Finally, we’re getting something done!” Confidence runs high during this period. People show up on time and stay until the end of the meeting. Between sessions, work that needs to be done gets done.

The experience of searching for an inclusive solution is stimulating and invigorating. People are surprised to discover how well they seem to understand one another. Members now perceive the group as a team. Years later, many people can still remember the joyful intensity of this phase.

Facilitators play a double role during this period of a group’s work: sometimes teaching and sometimes getting out of the way. It may be crucial for a facilitator to teach participants how to turn an Either/Or problem into a Both/And solution. Often the facilitator is the only one who recognizes that Both/And thinking is even possible. But for much of the time, a facilitator might be reduced to chartwriting and keeping track of time. When this happens, be happy! It means the facilitation is succeeding.

The reference to meetings and sessions raises a point that should not be missed. Frequently, often maybe, facilitation is something that takes place over a series of meetings. Driving all the way through the Diamond in one session is neither common nor desired. People often need time to move from phase to phase, and there are plenty of important tips and tactics to employ as you bring people together for session after session.

Here’s one that really jumped out at me.

Seven Types of Meeting Goals

Hopefully, the image says it all. The book defines seven distinct goals for a meeting to have. We call meetings in order to:

• Share information;
• Advance the thinking;
• Improve communication;
• Build community;
• Build capacity;
• Make decisions; or
• Obtain input.

That’s well and good. But the key point is that everyone at the meeting has to know what the goal of the meeting is. Otherwise, you risk having it go off the rails. A boss that calls a meeting in order to obtain input or share information, but has subordinates come prepared to advance the thinking or make decisions, is setting everyone up for a very dysfunctional conversation.

Always be clear from the beginning what the goal of each meeting is.

Closure Zone

In the Closure Zone most people are focused. They pay attention to nearly every comment -- and most comments are brief and to the point.

These experiences occur, of course, only when the group knows how the decision will be made. When a group does not have a clear understanding of how they are going to reach closure, the facilitator must look for the earliest opportunity to help the members clarify the decision rules.

The tools for reaching closure might be the single most important set of thinking skills a facilitator can teach a group. The Gradients of Agreement Scale helps members discern the actual degree of support for a proposal. Furthermore, a meta-decision procedure allows a group to use different decision rules for different circumstances.

Overall, when group members grasp the principles and mechanics of reaching closure, their group’s capacity strengthens dramatically.

Two things in there really deserve greater elaboration.

Gradients of Agreement

In many of the decision processes where facilitation can be helpful, giving participants only two choices -- support or reject a proposed solution -- is often limiting and counterproductive. A more granular scale can be extremely helpful in building consensus and advancing towards the best solution. In the gradient described in the book, everyone gets to express up to eight distinct levels of support for an idea:

1. Whole-hearted Endorsement - “I really like it.”
2. Agreement with a Minor Point of Contention - “Not perfect, but it’s good enough.”
3. Support with Reservations - “I can live with it.”
4. Abstain - “This issue does not affect me.”
5. More Discussion Needed - “I don’t understand the issues well enough yet.”
6. Don’t Like But Will Support - “It’s not great, but I don’t want to hold up the group.”
7. Serious Disagreement - “I am not on board with this -- don’t count on me.”
8. Veto - “I block this proposal.”

When faced with a decision point, the book advocates placing this gradient up on a piece of flipchart paper and letting people mark where they sit on the issue at hand. Doing so allows everyone to see the kind of support behind the issue and where there might be more work to do in order to reach greater consensus.

The more important point, I think, is that there are many situations were “lukewarm” support for an idea is good enough, and the old system of voting things up or down may never allow that level of support to emerge. Especially when the stakes are low, or the time-scale for impact is short, or the solution requires low investment from the group, getting most people to say “I can live with it,” may be all that is needed.

But the opposite is also true. When the stakes are high, the time-scale for impact is long, or the solution requires high investment from the group, you had better make sure most can at least say “Not perfect, but it’s good enough.”

Meta-Decision Procedures

Kaner accurately describes a situation that comes up all the time in groups:

At a certain point in practically every discussion, the person-in-charge has to decide whether to end the discussion and make a decision.

This is the “meta-decision” and having a clearly understood procedure for it is absolutely essential to consensus-based decision making.

To most people who play the role of person-in-charge, this fact is intuitively obvious. They recognize the situation because they deal with it every day. But it is not so obvious to the other participants at a meeting. They often don’t know how to interpret what’s going on. As a result of such confusion, people can become frustrated, angry, and passive…

Fortunately, it is easy to reduce the disparity between the perspective of the person-in-charge and the perspective of the other members. The solution is to show everyone what the person-in-charge is doing. Show a simple diagram like the one drawn above, and explain the options. When the choice point is made explicit, the confusion is removed.

Here’s a transcript of the diagram just referred to:

The Discussion Reaches a Stopping Point
Option A: The person-in-charge decides that the discussion has been adequate. S/he feels ready to bring the issue to closure by making a final decision.
Option B: The person-in-charge decides that important issues still need to be thought through. S/he wants the group to continue the discussion.

This awareness by everyone in the group is extremely important. It puts the appropriate frame on the discussion so that everyone understands their role. The decision will be made by the person-in-charge, as is the decision as to when to make that decision.

The Facilitator’s Four Functions

This helpful guide ends by reinforcing these final four points. In any discussion, it is the job of the facilitator to:

• Encourage full participation
• Promote mutual understanding
• Foster inclusive solutions
• Cultivate shared responsibility

The facilitator’s mission is to support people to do their best thinking. The four functions shown above are the guiding principles for enacting that mission.

Embedded in the four functions are the core values of participatory decision-making. They ground the work of group facilitation. They strengthen individuals. They strengthen the whole group. And they enable groups to tap the deep collective wisdom of their membership to develop intelligent, sane, sustainable agreements.

When we facilitate, we are the “delivery system” for participatory values. We embody them, we express them, we enact them. As such, we are keepers of the flame -- we’re the advocates, the teachers, and the midwives -- for the emergence of inclusive solutions to the world’s toughest problems.

It’s a final reminder, not just of the tactics, but the stakes.

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This post first appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can follow him on Twitter @ericlanke or contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.