Sharing after the Facilitation class

Here’s a place to talk!

And celebrate your successes! Wanna tell us about them? What facilitation thing happened that you mastered well? What did you do?
Share a bit about your organizations while you’re at it!

I’m being asked about more resources about time management, and there’s a lot in here:
https://www.sociocracyforall.org/better-time-management-in-meetings-with-sociocracy

Thanks Ted and hello to the other SoDA Facilitation trainees - it was fabulous to meet you all.

I’m from Lowfield Green, we’re the first project as part of a larger organisation called Yorspace. We’re in York, UK.

The session with Ted was extremely useful for me to meet other facilitators and to learn about our approaches as well as listening to each other. On of the main moments for me was when I realised that because I had been taking notes, I wasn’t fully present with the practitioners in my group and that despite enjoying the conversation, I couldn’t pinpoint personal moments, sadly. This brought into question the value or presence vs notes for reference.

On the topic of notes and referencing learning, I’ve already been through the slides and remembered my learning from the session around having choice between certain techniques such as clarifying questions, rounds and consent. For me, it was a realistion that these approaches are flexible and not set in stone. For example, rounds might not always be the best approach and it can be ok to say ‘are there any objections’, or ‘does anyone have any clarifying questions’ to leave space and then move on if there is no requirement for a round, rather than going to around by default, which can take a lot of time, even when people don’t have much else to add.
I also hadn’t realised that clarifying questions and rounds are potentially different tools with different uses: questioning vs exploring or commenting.

My favourite take-away is to constantly reinforce to myself the structure of exploring an agenda item around; understanding, exploring and deciding, rather than simply landing on an agenda item and attacking it from whichever angle seems most appropriate.

Thanks for the links about time management and do get in touch if any of my fellow trainees would like to ask about how we are working with Sociocracy on our project in York.

Mike

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Glad to hear that.

Nice!

Reading this I want to celebrate! :man_dancing:

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For whatever reason, that link isn’t working for me, but some of my favorite techniques for time management are:

  • Going over the agenda beforehand if possible with the leader, to plan priorities and time: Know what needs to be completed that meeting and what can go over or be revisited
  • Send agenda well ahead INCLUDING any relevant readings, then confirm people read items
  • Beginning all agenda items with a START TIME to keep schedule top-of-mind
  • Clarity of agenda items including a verb and item owner “1936: Understand new agenda format (Ted)”
  • Constantly be mentioning the time “we are now three minutes ahead/behind”
  • Reminding people (when behind) that meeting will go over, explicitly asking agreement for that
  • Spreading larger items across meetings: Understand, Discuss, Decide (over three sessions)
  • Confirming end time (and identifying “hard outs”) during ADMIN beginning, asking for grace
  • Speaking in a crisp and promptly expectant tone, directly solution-focused and and not laconic
  • Generally making the group own their inefficient choices, perhaps mention at meeting evaluation
  • Every mention of the time and schedule increases awareness of timeliness and being on schedule
  • For Zoom meetings, post focusing material into chat (such as current and next items)
  • Put round purpose and sequence into chat, such as “Clarification round: Ahn, Byrn, Chris, Pat, Sam”
  • Facilitator tone can do a lot to encourage good tempo, especially when coordinating with leader
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Great! Fixed the link!
https://www.sociocracyforall.org/better-time-management-in-meetings-with-sociocracy

Good video at Better time management in meetings - with sociocracy - YouTube also. Thank you!