Our 4 member team conducted part of a future search conference for our class (plus Bridget!) on the topic of the Future of Social Media and Learning. We facilitated the group to explore the past of social media (with timelines) and the present trends impacting the topic (with mind mapping). It was a wonderful learning experience--to take something that our group read about, discussed and dialogued, planned, edited and re-planned--then actually did! There is no substitute for experience and reflection and dialog, and our group certainly learned as we did.
What I most appreciated was that we were able to talk with each other, offer observations and feedback about ourselves and our group members, and openly, excitedly think about what we could have done to improve, what we did that worked well.
And what I appreciate now about future search is the feel of it, the energy that is created as one helps the group move from past to present. The act of moving into small groups to discuss timelines, then moving the discussion to the larger group, then offering a chance for further reflection and observation; the further act of mind mapping, of helping to draw out only that which exists in the room without judging it or trying to resolve a problem; these were powerful acts. And the energy of the group moving into the present from the past, and (I imagine) then being able to move into the future in a natural way, was palpable to me.
Several times, one of our participants and class members took chances to express opinions that were not in the mainstream and were not immediately reinforced or shared by the rest of the group. By staying in the "present" and in awareness, I could see this participant taking his chance and stepping tentatively to say something that the rest of the group may not support. I had read that a role of a facilitator in future search was not to point out disagreements or opposing views, or resolve perceived conflict, but rather to provide opportunities for others to share similar experiences or observations. This facilitation strategy is powerful indeed, for it can affirm someone who might feel left out on the ledge if he is the only one in the room with a different view, and it can cause others to provide support for a view they might find conflicting with their own simply by offering similar experiences. It allows opposing views to sit in a room together, co-existing without conflicting.
Conducting a future search conference certainly requires the facilitators to stay mindful of what is in the room, or what is burgeoning, in terms of energy and ideas! I hope that others experienced the "energy" of the conference as well.
Your team did a great job - I hope we can look 1/2 as collected as you all did tomorrow during the AI summit!
ReplyDeleteI try to keep up with blogs (my personal learning network as I'll call it now - thanks to Dr. Carter for providing that term!) and saw a post that might interest you.
http://newlearningplaybook.com/blog/2010/04/04/social-learning-re-invented-re-defined-and-re-imagined/
I recall you saying that you and your coworker were going to try to start using more social media in your workplace. It seems like her 5 tips are a good place to start.
Funny enough, in another post, she mentions that HR pros are going to struggle to balance the demand for access and our inherent desires to control access for liability purposes. I know that it is already a struggle for K-12 schools who are blocking all access for fear of what the kids will see online.
How do we make it work?
I think we did experience that energy, Penny! It was powerful as it has been in all of the Future Search conferences of which I have been a part. It may be because I was trained as an FS facilitator that future search is my personal favorite of large group strategies, but I know I am most content with myself, and find the most joy in working with others, when I am engaged in the work of future search. I think it has to do with an underlying philosophy of how people learn and how facilitators can support that learning -- something you have articulated well here.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the facilitator training for FS with Marvin Weisbord, I remember him saying something about the importance of supporting the individual who steps out and takes a risk by asserting an unusual, unpopular, or deviant viewpoint. I mean supporting, not necessarily agreeing, but authorizing that person's right to speak his or her own mind and exercise his own voice, and then by asking who else might share in that viewpoint?
I hope you will have a chance to use Future Search at your new place of employment or experiment with "parts and pieces" of our large group intervention methods to create positive change. Sometimes it is difficult to be your own facilitator in these "home-grown" efforts, but you can probably find others to assist you in your efforts to approach organizational change in a creative, learning-centered way. Let me know how I can help support you in that!
tjc