Subject: [Master Facilitator Journal] Build an 'ARC' for Success - May09, 2006
Master
Facilitator Journal | Issue #0255, May 9, 2006 ....
Dear
friends,
If you want to solve a problem,
become more effective, have your team work better together, or what
have you, something must change. This change will occur in either
attitude, behavior, perspective, or all three. Making a change requires
the making of new choices. To this end, I
share with you this week a simple coaching model that you can apply
with any individual or group. I call it the "ARC" model
for Awareness, Responsibility, and Choice. This
model is easy to remember and apply in any situation.
Let me know how it works for you.
Brief philosophical excursion...
Question: What did the Buddha say to the hot-dog vendor?
Answer: "Make me 'One' with Everything."
~courtesy of an anonymous Starbucks employee
FacilitatorU News
Leverage
Your "Relational Presence" for Masterful Group Leadership
The Introverts answer to public speaking and group presence.
Join us next Tuesday for this one-hour expert interview featuring
Lee Glickstein ofBeHeardNowTraining.com.
See details after the article.
Adults
don't want to be "taught" anymore. They
got enough of that in school. Join
the "Becoming a Learning
Facilitator" Teleclass offered during the week of May 22nd.
Find out how to "co-create"
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See details at the end of this issue.
Are you managing people you rarely see? We're offering another
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Build
an "ARC" for Success A simple coaching
model for group leaders
Intervention
Skill
If you want to solve a problem, become more effective, have your team
work better together, or what have you, something must change. This change
will involve either your attitude, behavior, perspective, or all three.
In order to make a change, we must first become Aware of
our current attitude, behavior, or perspective. In my experience, much
of what we do as group leaders involves bringing individual and group
behaviors and perspectives into present moment awareness. In other words,
before you can be motivated to change something, you need to know what
you are changing from.
The next step to changing a behavior or a situation requires that you
"own" it as yours. This can be particularly difficult when one views a
current behavior as distasteful or unattractive. In this case, people
often "project" their own unacceptable behaviors onto others so as not
to take personal Responsibility for them. Again, as facilitators
you'll have abundant opportunities to facilitate ownership and responsibility
for the actions and perspectives of individuals.
Responsibility is an interesting concept which I believe you can approach
from at least two different perspectives, both of which lead to results.
First, once an individual has assumed responsibility for a given behavior
or perspective, they then have the power to make another Choice.
Choosing and committing to a course of action facilitates change.
Second, if the above perspective on responsibility doesn't fit. In other
words, if you don't see your role in the problem, then you can choose
to be responsible for the solution nonetheless. When you
choose to take responsibility for the solution, you've placed yourself
in a position of strength and influence. The choice to be responsible
is a choice for action, and action leads to results.
Either way you slice it, choosing to be responsible is a winning proposition.
The question is, how do you facilitate responsibility with individuals
and groups? Help them see the "choices" they're making. If one
is choosing to not be responsible for either a cause or a solution, then
they're choosing to maintain they're problem. As a facilitator, you can
help your participants clearly see the choices they're making and the
consequences of each choice.
I call this simple model the "ARC"
model for Awareness, Responsibility, and Choice--an easy to remember model
that you can apply in any situation.
Application
One of the biggest challenges individuals and groups face is a reluctance
to look for their responsibility in a given situation. We have all been
raised in a victim/perpetrator culture where there must be someone to blame
for each and every problem. And it's far easier to find fault outside oneself
than to undertake a soul-searching mission.
However, if you can help your group agree that a solution is more important
than a scapegoat, then you can introduce the concept described above about
choosing to take responsibility for the solution, rather than
focusing on a cause. This approach encourages people to rise from the fault-blame
game to a problem-solution orientation.
Let's say you're working with a department in a service organization that
is stymied by the lack of commitment from their line employees. They're
getting lots of customer complaints about poor treatment and delayed service.
There are also significant problems with retention and infighting within
this group. Management has called you in to train their staff in customer
service and self-management competencies.
You decide it might be a good idea to interview management first to get
more insight into the source of the problems. You find many disempowering
management practices in place that are contributing to unrest among the
staff. You also suspect that management's treatment of the staff is being
mirrored in how the staff are treating their customers.
This presents an opportunity for you to bring your observations into management's
awareness. You ask them if they'd be willing to receive some
feedback from you. If they respond affirmatively, you give them your perspective
on the matter. If they're receptive to your feedback, you might ask them
if they would be willing to explore how they may be responsible
for some part of the problem themselves. You would then facilitate new choices
they might make to do something about it. This might involve their attendance
and involvement in the training they've requested for their staff.
If they are not receptive or willing to accept responsibility for their
role in the problems, then you may either decide not to work with them and
tell them why, or share your policy of only working with organizations who
are committed to solving problems, not treating symptoms.
Action
Your assignment this week is to practice
using the ARC model on an individual or group. We're interested in hearing
what you discover. I
look forward to your comments, insights or feedback about this article.
Just click reply and type them directly into this email.
Facilitation
Expert
Tele-Seminars
Leverage Your "Relational Presence" for
Masterful Group Leadership
The Introverts answer to public speaking
and group presence
Featuring Lee Glickstein, author, speaker, trainer, and founder
of BeHeardNowTraining.com
When you stand in front of a group to open a training, a meeting, or a
talk, where typically is your anxiety on this continuum?
Terror -- Fear -- Anxiety -- Coping -- Ease -- Flow -- Mastery
Anything less than Ease (which cannot be faked) translates instantly into
anxiety for the group. If you aren't able to take a full, natural, unselfconscious
breath before saying a word, the group will constrict their breathing
and their listening. Bad start, yes?
Join us for this
live, one-hour tele-seminar where you will discover what it takes
to facilitate from full engagement and receptivity in every moment. This
surprising secret to masterful group leadership is not grounded in technique
or dynamism; rather it is about developing your innate capacity to facilitate
listening and learning by being transparent. We call the key "Relational
Presence," and by the end of this session you will know its power
and understand how to cultivate it in your own style.
Join Lee Glickstein and Steve Davis for this teleseminar on Tuesday,
May 16th at 1:00 PM Eastern (NY Time). Click
here for full details and registration.
These
seminars are free to FacilitatorU.com members.
Click here to view features and benefits of membership.
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In
the Spotlight
Attention facilitators, trainers, and teachers...
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