Library of facilitation techniques

By focusing on the exploration of positive elements, the rules of engagement assist in the search for opportunities rather than problems. 

To explore how it feels to be excluded—and to be excluding.

One person turns to the person next to them & makes a sound & motion,
person 2 responds with complementary sound & motion.
play is passed around the circle (2 to 3, etc.)

Diese Übung hilft, kreative Blockaden zu überwinden und stärkt auch das Vertrauen innerhalb der Gruppe und fördert zudem die Fähigkeit, spontan und flexibel auf unerwartete Situationen zu reagieren​​.

The whole group imagines it is walking around on a plate balancing on a single fulcrum. Each person is partnered with another and must keep the plate balanced.

You can clear space for innovation by helping a group let go of what it knows (but rarely admits) limits its success and by inviting creative destruction. TRIZ makes it possible to challenge sacred cows safely and encourages heretical thinking. The question “What must we stop doing to make progress on our deepest purpose?” induces seriously fun yet very courageous conversations. Since laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Whoosh!

You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. 

• A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate. 
• It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably. 
• A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail. 
• Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward. 

A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” 

The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

A Reflective Teamwork Activity (RTA) involves participants creating a checklist and then evaluating their performance by using the same checklist they created.

Here's an outline of this activity: Participants are organized into groups of five. Members of each group are randomly assigned to the roles of a manager, an assistant manager, and three employees. Each participant prepares a list related to a different management topic. The manager has the lengthy task and additional supervisory responsibilities. Other group members have simpler tasks. After the list preparation activity is completed, a debriefing discussion relates the manager's behavior to the items in her list.