Case
Learning Experience Design, Facilitation
Facilitating communication: art and process.
Communicating is much more than talking! In this case, it is the art and process of conducting meetings, workshops, interviews.
The relationship with GALP has not started yesterday.
The trust we have on one another is one of the keys to the different actions that have been taking place. With the program "Facilitating Communication: art and process" it was not different.
In a nutshell, we were challenged to design a program on facilitation and conduct of meetings, interviews and/or workshops for a group of people from GALP's IT team, with the objectives of supporting them: to improve the transmission and collection of messages/ideas/perceptions; to conduct, facilitate and lead meetings, interviews and/or workshops; to create empathy and trust with the interlocutor(s); to identify requirements and diagnose their needs.
The initial idea was to develop this program with a group of 6 people. We ended up opening two classes for a total of 15 participants.
Is making it easier to simplify? Well, not always, not ever!
But to put it simply, this is a program in which we experience the practice of facilitation, that is, a program in which participants are challenged to explore different ways of being and doing, of relating to others, to projects and to tasks.
And we do it individually and collectively, based on the principle that learning is an individual process that can be carried out in a group, with the purpose of, on the one hand, providing each person with a diverse, deep, and rich learning experience for him/herself and as a facilitator, and, on the other hand, to enhance group learning related to living and working with groups.
Telling how to do or facilitating learning?
We are not the kind of "telling how to do something". Rather, we like "helping people learning how to learn": we provoke so that people can challenge themselves, question themselves and see the realities from angles they may not have considered before.
And it was also with a kaleidoscopic eye that we designed and delivered a diverse program, in format - online and in person, 2 to 8 hour sessions - and content: from facilitation to conscious and impactful communication, from theory to practice and training of participants as facilitators.
From the "Shorts" to pave the way and align meanings...
We are also the mindset type "nothing is lost because much is transformed"! We took the "Shorts" we created as part of the Way Beyond School and tailored them, focusing on the specific goals, needs, and interests of these participants.
In 120-minute sessions, developed online, we created learning contexts that, at times, started from solid theoretical assumptions that echoed in the participants' experiences, and at other times, started from those experiences and gave body to those assumptions.
We paved the way and we aligned meanings around four themes, which we decided were essential to achieve the purpose of the program, together with the person responsible for the project at GALP, with whom we always worked very closely.
The Art of Facilitation: how to lead groups through facilitation? How can facilitation help us relate to and communicate with others? What does a learning context look like with facilitation characteristics? What is the role of the facilitator? What about the participants?
On Listening: in this world where everyone talks, ever louder, where is the space for listening? Is listening synonymous with interest and attention? What do we listen for?
Conscious Communication: the place of conversations that promote conscious communication. What difference is there between what we believe in and what actually happens? What are the qualities of conscious communication?
Remotely Eloquent: can we make the way we communicate online closer and more impactful? How can elements such as voice, rhythm, energy, posture, breathing contribute to the transmission of a message more clearly and assertively?
The participants were especially pleased with the length of the "Shorts", "good for starting the day", and the dialectical relationship theory-practice-theory, considered clear, promoting active participation, sharing, collaboration, and co-construction. To us too!
... to the "Facilitating Communication" Workshop
We then continued to the facilitation workshop, in this case, of communication, with the purpose of understanding how one communicates and the impact of communication on relationship, engagement, information sharing and business.
We started with David Kolb's experiential learning model and we draw inspiration from collaborative, person-centered methodologies to learn about the context and the organizational challenges through the participants perceptions.
In the first class, we divided the workshop into 2 moments, an 8-hour in person and a 4-hour online, because the participants preferred to design experiences through digital media. In the second group, for compelling reasons, the workshop was organized in 3 online moments, each lasting 4 hours, which reflected the stages of a design thinking process: identification of themes, design of actions and training/delivery of workshops on the identified themes.
Between the second and the third sessions, the pairs who so wished benefited from mentoring, by one of the facilitators, in order to provide support for the development and/or training the delivery of the workshops.
What did people like?
Knowing] New tools to use throughout the communication process. Training that allows you to give importance to relevant aspects to be a "better" communicator, both in meetings and in presentation.
To see the flexibility of the trainers, which allowed us to observe the consequences of this flexibility. All the moments of practical application were very enriching.
Understand the impact of the methodologies explained through practical application. Very pertinent and immediately applicable tips.
The dynamics and capacity for experimentation with concepts and techniques.
And that's it?
No way. More and more, we want the partnerships with our clients to happen on a continuous basis and over the long term. On top of all this, we want our clients to know that they can count on us. That's why we created sessions to accompany the working groups throughout the program, specifically to support the development of the workshops and/or train their delivery, and we were available to support them after their completion, in collective work sessions around the themes of communication and facilitation.