Library of facilitation techniques

The World Cafe is designed primarily to generate collective knowledge sharing, webs of personal relationships, and new possibilities for action.

An Emoji story is a method to interpret collected data by translating it into a story. In the story, you leave out specific words that describe important and emotional concepts and change them for Emoji‘s.

To be used after having collected data of user behaviour, context and emotions.

You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference. 

15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change. 

With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape. This structure enacts LS Principle #6, Amplify Freedom and Responsibility.

With Who/What/When matrix, you can connect people with clear actions they have defined and have committed to.

This is a method for individuals and teams to define the structure, direction and first steps of a project. The individual or team works through a set of questions and documents the answers in a sharable digital format. This can either be a “living” document that develops with the project it can be left as just a clear and concise record of the starting-point.

A fun and interactive storytelling game that helps team members learn more about each other by guessing which colleague’s experience matches each story.

It enacts LS Principle #9, Engage in Seriously Playful Curiosity.

This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups and individuals to take action toward a desired change. It is often used at the end of a workshop or programme. The group discusses and agrees on a vision, then creates some action steps that will lead them towards that vision. The scope of the challenge is also defined, through discussion of the helpful and harmful factors influencing the group.

Creating a sentence relating to a specific topic or problem with each person contributing one word at a time.

A simple exercise in which each participant prepares a personal presentation of him/herself sharing several important experiences, events, people or stories that contributed to shaping him or her as an individual. The purpose of personal presentations is to support each participant in getting to know each other as individuals and to build trust and openness in a group by enlarging the social arena.

This is a very quick and impactful check-in for groups.

In order to understand influencing, we have to better understand how organisations and ‘change’ really works. Otherwise we may be influencing for the wrong outcomes.