What's below the waterline in group work?

If you tackle an adaptive challenge with technical solutions, you might feel very productive but you are on the wrong track. And when does leadership take place?

Old habits die hard

In the last two days, I had the chance to explore and experience what meeting an adaptive challenge means, how easy it is to fall back to default behaviors, follow the inner chatter and deflect the real work that has to be done in the team. Thus hindering the group’s performance although seemingly working effective.

Meeting an adaptive challenge and find ways to approach and stay with them is emotionally challenging work. Being in a space where no-one has a solution and showing their vulnerability that they haven’t, is uncomfortable. Understanding and identifying group dynamics and therefore being able to intervene more purposeful increases a leaders and facilitators effectiveness when working in groups. 

The workshop around Deep Facilitation, orchestrated by Peter Fullerton, PhD from Rushall Consulting Group and brought first time to China by Mindspan, became a living laboratory for the group and myself to explore new ways of working together and to built insights into the limitations of default behavior and how to respond with agility and finally become more leaderful and impactful.

Deep Facilitation

Built on theoretical frameworks, the key is to observe the group dynamics and individual behavior focussing on data and patterns to to interpret and check out hypotheses about the group and its unconscious manifestation expressed by their behavior. Always in the service of the group. Having individuals move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, holding the space and the framework for the group to enter an area of disequilibrium and a space where learning takes place - usually an area where the heat is up and emotions get expressed. This goes below the surface of what groups usually do and how the members usually did when dealing with technical challenges that can be managed. It is about how individuals work with each other, what is influencing the group and the people inside of the group and how to built working relationships.

By providing a space for feedback and disclosure, checking assumptions and being able to step on the balcony to provide a third position feedback making the group aware of their patterns and behavior, Deep Facilitation allows the group to grow and built the ability to tackle adaptive challenges in a disruptive world and engage in real conversations.

Technical problems can be managed. Leadership takes place where it gets turbulent and complex, where there is less certainty and agreement. Developing an understanding of yourself, your own chatter and what is below the line in a group context allows me as a leader and facilitator to become more purposeful about my role, my interventions and become more effective working with groups.