We draw on a range of methods and tools to help your group have the kind of conversation that is needed.
​Here are some of our go-to's. Learn more about our facilitation approach here.
Open Space Technology is a powerful method for bringing together a diverse group of 7 to 2000 people to tackle complex challenges in a short period of time. Participants are convened for 3 hours to several days around a key question, made aware of any givens, and then the space is opened for anyone to put forward a session topic. A set of principles and the "law of mobility" maximize responsibility and passion. Open Space harnesses everyone's creativity, surfaces leadership in a group, and elicits personal buy-in and commitment.
Participatory Learning & Action approaches and methods empower people to share and analyse their knowledge of their lives and conditions, to plan and act on issues that affect them, and then to monitor, evaluate and reflect on the results. PLA participatory and visual tools--such as community mapping, historical timelines, flowcharts, force-field analysis, matrices of priorities, transect walks, and focus groups--are powerful tools for ensuring that people's voices shape plans and outcomes.
Results-based management tools--such as the logic model, theory of change, monitoring framework and risk register--can be powerful aids to participatory planning, analysis, monitoring and evaluation. When used by relevant stakeholders in a facilitated group process they support collective decision-making about the desired social change and how best to achieve and track it. They are especially relevant and grounded when paired with human rights-based analytical tools such as causal and stakeholder role and capacity analysis.
The Focused Conversation Method, developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs, provides a safe structure for conversation on any topic, even difficult ones. It allows for a full yet focused exploration of the topic. It helps groups clarify differences and reach agreement and can be applied to all types of work in groups. It takes people through four levels of questions, based on the theory that people need to review the actual data and surface their emotional responses to generate grounded options and ultimately come to sound decisions.
In a café setting, any number of small groups of 4-5 people talk together around tables. The focus is a question that matters to them or work they want to do together. After each conversation, someone stays at the table as "host," while the others move to a new table, bringing their previous conversations with them. This allows the threads of the various conversations to weave together so that a global sense what the group is learning and creating emerges. World Café is a great way to uncover what a group is thinking or feeling on a topic.
The Consensus Workshop Method, developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs, supports diverse groups to listen to each other, generate and build on each other's ideas, and reach a well-considered and nuanced consensus with which the group can move forward. It involves five simple steps: Context, Brainstorm, Cluster, Name, and Resolve. Though simple, it is a powerful tool for groups to learn from each other and create solutions for themselves in even the most complex, multi-faceted and ambiguous situations.
In a circle, everyone is a leader, and everyone can see and hear each other. Circle process creates a container that supports speaking with intention and listening with attention. It allows for each speaker the space to pause, listen for what the moment is calling for, and be surprised by what they hear themselves say. "Check-in" circles help people get to know each other and the issue in question; "check-out" circles allow for review and closure. Anywhere in between, circle process can support deep reflection, collective wisdom, and emergent consensus.
Theory U, developed at MIT by Otto Scharmer, is a framework with a set of tools for leading from the future as it emerges. It maps how to tap into our collective creativity to address the root causes of current challenges and innovate the better world that wants to be born. In the U process, individuals and groups move through an awareness-based whole system journey in five movements--from common intention, to observation, through connecting to source for inspiration, prototyping the new, and enacting new systems.
Deep Democracy, based on the work of Arnie Mindell and colleagues at the Process Work Institute, offers a method and framework for harnessing the power of groups. It invites in the invisible and marginalized voices where transformative potential often lies. Awareness-based, it equips the facilitator with micro-skills and inner work tools for supporting collective change. It allows for deep conversations, and is useful for processing conflict, exploring underlying tensions, finding a common purpose, or strengthening teams.
At its core, Appreciative Inquiry is about searching for the best in people, teams, organizations and their contexts. Rather than setting out to solve a problem, it is about building on assets. It offers a process model for change at all levels--from the individual to the organization to the system: the 5 Ds. 1) Define the topic of inquiry; 2) Discover the best of "what is;" 3) Dream "what could be;" 4) Design "what should be;" and 5) Deliver "what will be." Developed by David Cooperrider and colleagues, its use has spanned the globe.
The Pro Action Cafe is a space for creative and action oriented dialogue where participants host conversations about their project, ideas, questions or whatever they need help to manifest in the world. The conversations interlink and build on each other, creating cross-pollination and synergies. It can be used by a network or as a way for any group to generate new insights and collaborate on design for wiser action informed by the collective. A blend of “world cafe” and “open space," it was first conceived by Rainer von Leoprechting and Ria Baeck.
Graphic recording and graphic facilitation involve using text and images to capture what is being said live during a meeting. Visual representation brings a deeper level of listening and participation, bridges linguistic barriers and learning styles, and encourages big picture thinking. It makes concepts easier to understand and engages both heart and mind. It also boosts retention of information, and provides an artful and evocative record of the event that can be shared afterward with participants and the larger system.