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Episode 116

June 9, 2021

116: Process literacy: The new collaborative team skill with Ewen Le Borgne

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    Intro

    Teams are embracing hybrid work – which means more asynchronous work, variable communication signals from person to person, and an opportunity for widespread adoption of facilitative skills.

    It’s a huge opportunity, but it comes with more than a few occupational risks!

    So, how can we help teams self-facilitate in the age of remote and hybrid work?

    Ewen Le Borgne is betting on process literacy as the foundation of self-facilitation. Find out why and learn how he thinks we can make it happen in this electric episode.

    Find out about

    • How hybrid has been the catalyst for a new level of understanding in teams
    • Why humans’ innate decision-making nature means facilitation is a life skill
    • What the “magical superpower” is that Ewen believes we all have
    • The tools, techniques, and mindsets needed to distribute facilitative skills
    • Which facilitative school of thought Ewen believes is “The Silent Revolution”
    • How Ewen asks contributors to manage the running time of a workshop
    • Why we should all seek a state of ‘confusiasm’

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    Thanks to our sponsor “Dancing with Markers”. Click here to get the workshops work discount for Lauren’s upcoming visual facilitation course.

    Questions and Answers

    01:06When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?
    02:49What is it about the label of ‘facilitator’ that many of us find to be restrictive?
    03:42 What do you mean by “the step after the facilitator”?
    06:00 Would a self-facilitated structure work for any kind of collaborative work?
    06:44 What skills do people need to balance the group dynamics and personalities?
    09:41 What do we need to learn – and unlearn – for process literacy and self-facilitation to work?
    10:49 Does the sensory nature of communication create a barrier for asynchronous work?
    12:58Does my understanding of process literacy align with yours?
    15:44The idea of “choosing not to decide things” has a fatal flaw, doesn’t it?
    17:01How would you deal with the risk of certain people monopolising a conversation?
    20:11What is your favourite exercise?
    25:02What is the relationship between Liberating Structures and process literacy?
    28:12What do you mean when you say that each Liberating Structure is like a word in a language?
    33:27When and how can Liberating Structures go wrong?
    37:31How do you use participants/contributors as part of your time management process?
    46:50If we see conversations as a competition, do we lose the opportunity for progress?
    50:11When you start distributing tasks throughout the group, do we dissolve the role of the facilitator?
    54:01What makes a workshop fail?
    57:30What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this episode?

    Links

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