Make Light Work in Groups: 10 Tools to Transform Meetings, Companies and Communities

MAKE LIGHT WORK IN GROUPS

10 Tools to Transform Meetings, Companies and Communities

by

Kate Sutherland

Smashwords Edition

Published on Smashwords by:

Incite Press

Box 74026

Vancouver, British Columbia

Canada, V5V 5C8

incitepress@telus.net

makelightwork.org

Make Light Work in Groups

Copyright 2012 by Kate Sutherland

ISBN: 978-0-9866127-6-3

Editor: Saskia Wolsak.

Copy Editors: Joanne Kembel and AAA WordSmith Documentation Services.

Cover design: Troy Bailly.

Illustrations: Helen D’Sousa and Stina Brown.

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Praise for

Make Light Work in Groups

Group work can be very demanding. The particular gift of Make Light Work in Groups is one of companionship and encouragement. If you want to be refreshed, read this book. It will open you, remind you, and guide you to center in wellness and perform with greater mastery.

SYLVIA HOLLAND, DIALOGUE ASSOCIATE

MORRIS J. WOSK CENTRE FOR DIALOGUE, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Kate’s book is informative, relevant and very engaging. Many groups and organizations have difficulty describing their model of change or transformation. The ten frameworks that Kate has outlined allow all of us the opportunity to reflect upon our current approach, challenge our thinking, and create new possibilities personally and for our organizations. This book needs to be shared and discussed – allowing us to create new ways of learning and contributing to our communities.

JOHN TALBOT, ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT

At this time on our planet, learning to work together with open hearts and open minds is crucial to finding a just and sustainable path into the future. Kate has given us a wonderful guide for our journey forward together. Make Light Work in Groups is a must-read for anyone working towards change in their communities, organizations or families.

LENA K. SOOTS, LEAD TRAINER, TRANSITION CANADA;

COORDINATOR, CITYSTUDIO VANCOUVER

Sutherland has assembled a tasting menu for anyone who has an appetite for sweet human interaction. Whether you are facilitating an interaction with yourself or with a group of a hundred or more, this is an invaluable book. Sutherland presents tools that are sophisticated and yet approachable. Using them moves the practice of facilitation from mechanical to magical!

ANNE KAYE, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT AND

CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL FACILITATOR

Kate gives us a treasure map to our collective health and happiness. I am inspired to deepen and sharpen my work in groups and recommend this to everyone who wishes to work on behalf of the wellbeing of others.

JOHN STODDART, CERTIFIED INTEGRAL COACH™

Understanding group management theories as Kate lays out so simply and accessibly, is a huge benefit to anyone who relies on a group to get something done – whether it is a corporate team, a care circle that forms to take care of a sick friend, or a group of citizens who want to make their community stronger. I particularly love Kate’s personalized, narrative voice that makes it seem like she wrote the book just for me. The book is information-packed, yet an easy read at the same time. I will definitely integrate many of the models and theories Kate explains so eloquently into the groups I work with.

ALISSA HAUSER, CO-FOUNDER,

THE ENGAGE NETWORK

My work has to do with transforming transportation into something that helps us live more equitably and more sustainably on the planet. This gets a lot more complicated as the world urbanizes, demographics shift, climate change makes its presence known, the economy restructures, and a responsive flurry of new technologies and services and systems arrive on the scene faster than we can figure out how they all fit together and what might be their effects. Suddenly transportation is as much about working together, connecting the dots, collaborating on multi-faceted solutions across disciplines and sectors as it is about engineering and infrastructure. I think Kate’s book should be required reading at the very least for all transportation professionals if not for anyone who’s responsible for making our cities and communities better.

SUSAN ZIELINSKI, MANAGING DIRECTOR,

SMART (SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY & ACCESSIBILITY

RESEARCH & TRANSFORMATION)

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Dedicated to quickening peace and joy for you,

and everything you are connected to.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Groundwork

Tool 1 Appreciative Inquiry

Tool 2 Trust Theory

Tool 3 Chaordic Design

Tool 4 Generative Dialogue

Tool 5 Adaptive Cycle

Tool 6 Enterprise Facilitation

Tool 7 Theory U

Tool 8 Process Oriented Psychology

Tool 9 Integral Theory

Tool 10 Conscious Co-Creation

What To Do Monday Morning

Coda: What Is Possible ...

Further Resources

Endnotes

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Tool Guide: What Works When

Quick Survey

Introduction

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

—Marcel Proust

This book introduces ten tools to revolutionize how we work together – in teams, organizations, companies, and communities.

Most of us have had a taste of groups at their very best. Perhaps it was a meeting where there was little ego and lots of heart, or a conference that radically changed our way of thinking, or work in a team ignited by purpose and flow-like clarity in defining next steps.

On the other hand, most of us have also experienced groups that are mildly to extremely frustrating. Being in them is like being forced to eat gruel instead of delighting in our favourite food. This is a tragedy. So much is lost and wasted in soul-destroying meetings that grind on for hours, and in bureaucracies that seem structured to stifle even the smallest wisp of inspiration and passion.

Perhaps even more is lost, however, in groups that are good enough. Things are not awful, the status quo is even comfortable, but deep down our souls are suffocating for want of expressing ourselves more fully.

The good news is that a few relatively simple shifts in perspective can help us transform group dynamics. Each group already has everything it needs to change from humdrum or frustrating to dynamic and fun. We just need to know where to look.

This book introduces my ten favourite tools for working in groups, organizations, and communities. These are the top ten ways of seeing and being that I have used to guide my consulting and facilitation work for the past twenty years.

I make no claim that these are the only tools, just that they are a versatile and powerful starter kit.

The ten tools

I think of these tools as theoretical and structural frameworks. A framework distills a small number of key variables and sets out what is important, what needs to change, and the main levers for making a difference.

A framework can also be like a lens in that it focuses our attention on specific aspects of a situation depending on its aperture, colour, and length.

Each of the ten tools is widely used by facilitators and organizational consultants, and each brings game-changing perspectives and insights. Taken together, they are like a toolbox with hammers, saws, screwdrivers, and C clamps – to support you no matter what the group’s purpose and goals.

Much has been written about each of the frameworks – important books and articles and curricula. This slim book is about making these important frameworks more accessible. The goal is that you have aha moments in each chapter, and that fresh perspective helps you create more flow and joy in your groups.

In describing each framework, I have distilled what has been most helpful to me, setting down what I have shared in hundreds of conversations, and drawn on napkins in dozens of cafés. I aim to be true to what I see as the essence of each framework, knowing that others might emphasize different aspects.

If you like what is here, I encourage you to learn more. The Further Resources section recommends books, articles, and websites where you can gain deeper understanding, learn practical next steps, and be inspired by stories and case studies. There are also communities of people engaged in furthering each of the frameworks, and in making links between them. Perhaps you will be inspired to join them.

Frameworks are like maps

About 25 years ago, a friend told me, Maps are gold. If you are fluent in a variety of maps for the territories you want to navigate, then finding your way is easy.

I have to admit that at the time I did not understand what he was talking about. It sounded deep and advanced, but I was too proud to ask him to say more.

I never forgot the comment though, and as I went about my work in social change and community development, I grew to appreciate the value in different maps.

Maps help you see a landscape from different perspectives. A road map shows streets and highways, while a cycling map covers the same territory avoiding steep hills and impassable bridges.

By analogy, different maps of how humans are in groups highlight different features. Some show how groups evolve over time, and others illuminate power dynamics. Some support innovation, and others highlight the quality of relationships.

Put another way, any framework we use – consciously or unconsciously – helps us see some things, but leaves us blind to others. And this is a critical challenge: whatever is in our blind spot tends to cause us problems.

I have an update to Kurt Lewin’s comment, There is nothing so practical as a good theory. For me, there is nothing so practical as the interplay of several good theories. We get a more complete picture when the blind spots in one framework are illuminated by the different perspectives of other frameworks. (See the following Depth Perception sidebar.)

Who should use this book?

This book is for anyone who would like to have more group savvy. You do not need to be in a formal leadership position. There are gems here for you if you are a board member, a frontline worker, a middle manager, or the boss. You might be an entrepreneur or consultant, or a coach or parent.

Groups are such a big part of our lives that we can all benefit from increasing our awareness and skill in navigating collective waters.

You can also benefit from this book if you want to understand yourself better and to grow personally. Indeed, the process of becoming more effective in groups calls on us to grow personally, and when we grow personally, we automatically become more effective in groups.

Using this book

Each chapter introduces one framework. You can explore them in order, or jump around. The important thing is to apply the framework to a group you are currently part of, or to one you know well. What does the framework reveal? What questions does it raise?

Once you have even two frameworks under your belt, explore what they have to say to each other. Take them to a café with a colleague, or to the conversation by the water cooler. What do they help you see, and how much richer is the picture when you use two frameworks instead of one?

Keep adding frameworks, working with different pairings for a day or a week. Mix them up. Make them yours. It takes time to integrate ways of seeing, and it stretches us to see things in new ways. But it does not take that long! Once you experience the value in the frameworks you will want to keep them close. You will soon notice that you are using the frameworks automatically – you will have trained yourself to see dimensions that were previously below your radar.

Depth Perception

I first learned about depth perception when I was 12 years old and suffering from conjunctivitis (pink eye). My grandfather was an ophthalmologist, and he recommended letting one eye rest for a day by covering it with a patch. Wow! Suddenly I was bumping into things and had a hard time with stairs.

Try it for yourself right now, by covering one eye with a hand. You will see how everything around you is still there, but flat – two dimensional rather than the vivid depth we can see with two eyes.

Working with one framework is like seeing with one eye. While you can see everything, there is not as much depth as when you add in a second framework.

With practice, you will get comfortable seeing groups and organizations with three and more frameworks simultaneously, gaining even greater depth of perspective.

Icons

As support for seeing how the frameworks can work together, there are a few icons sprinkled throughout the book. Each icon represents a specific framework. In the Appreciative Inquiry chapter, for example, there are icons for Trust Theory , Theory U and Enterprise Facilitation .

Of course, there are many other links between the frameworks than the few marked by icons. The goal is to highlight a few connections in the hopes of sparking you to see more.

To know what each icon means, see the Framework Guide at the very end of this book.

The Framework Guide

The Framework Guide offers an overview of how I apply the frameworks to common group situations. My intention is that this book is a resource you come back to again and again, any time you welcome insights into how to move forward in a group context. This brief overview shares which frameworks I am most likely to use for specific circumstances, such as forming a new group, dealing with conflict, or contending with a lack of leadership.

Other suggestions for working with the frameworks

There are further suggestions for how to use the frameworks in the chapter called What To Do Monday Morning. The goal of this near-final chapter is to help you integrate working with the frameworks on an ongoing basis: for tools to be helpful, we need to remember to use them! The chapter includes two checklists of considerations for any group situation. The checklists serve both as an overview of all the frameworks and a sample quick reference for what each framework has to offer to the specifics of your situation.

Making Light Work

While I have written this book to stand alone, it builds on and complements my earlier book called Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing.[1] Both are about simple tools for working with the interior dimension. Both are about inner work – ways of working that are based in intention, perception, intuition, and consciousness.

By focusing on frameworks, this book emphasizes the perception aspect of inner work. Perception then serves as a doorway into intention, intuition, and consciousness. For example, by helping us to see group dynamics more clearly, a framework raises questions, and those questions are opportunities to connect with our intuitive knowing. A framework illuminates issues, and illuminating issues invites us to set conscious intention about how things will unfold. A framework raises awareness of what is, and the more conscious awareness we bring to a situation, the more likely we are to create vibrant and dynamic outcomes.

That said, one of the important links between the two books is an X-factor I call Groundwork. Groundwork is about how we show up – the quality of being we bring to what we do. It is also the easiest aspect of life to overlook, since we tend to be fixated on doing rather than being. I have included a chapter on Groundwork based on a similar chapter from my earlier book. I hope you will practice Groundwork when