As Simone Maus and I gear up for the next Stage 2: Essence of Facilitation training programme in Sydney 29 June – Friday 3 July I have been dwelling on the aspect of distinguishing and how facilitators can make transformational distinctions to take their groups forward. The key skill of a facilitator lies in this aspect of distinguishing – discriminating between one thing and another. It is a skill at the essence of facilitation itself and you can read more on that in the book The Essence of Facilitation:  Being in Action in Groups by Dale Hunter, Anne Bailey and Bill Taylor (1999). The distinctions explored in the book include purpose and culture, safety and trust, being-with, powerful listening and powerful speaking, intentionality, power with others, fearless compassion, emotional competence, intuition, completion, affirmation and celebration, authentic community, ethics, transformation, and group learning. 

On Distinguishing Podcast

Distinguishing – How a facilitator can make transformational distinctions

As a facilitator we can distinguish what may be missing in a group and then step into action to generate it in the group. Generating a distinction can be done by making interventions, shifting levels, becoming more present – to self, another, or the group. Or a facilitator may use a process, or create something new in the moment to take the group forward.

The book by Hunter et al. (1999) introduces the idea of distinguishing with a story of Helen Keller, the blind and deaf woman in the USA who became famous as a public speaker and advocate for people with special needs. She discovered the ability to distinguish when her tutor tapped the sign for water on her hand as she felt water. She uncovered that she could name all the things that she experienced, to ‘distinguish’ them from others and it gave her access to the whole world around her. I wrote about some similar concepts in my PhD on Enhancing the Effectiveness of Online Groups (2008).

…facilitators’ skills are highly embodied skills and depend on a tight coupling between their perception (awareness) and actions (interventions). In his book, The Tacit Dimension (1966), Polanyi makes a distinction between proximal and distal phenomena. Proximal is like close at hand, while distal is at a distance. An example is using a stick to feel our way through a dark room. Tapping the ground is distal, what you feel in your hand is proximal. We think distally but act proximally (Thorpe, 2008, p.179).

In the example of shining a torch or using a stick to tap around a darkened room, a change in the pressure we feel in our hands is interpreted as meaning the presence of an object in the world. As we tap further around the room we begin to distinguish different objects. Different frequencies in the energy of vibration travel up the stick to the receptors in our hand. These in turn travel up our nervous system to the brain. From there our mind can begin to create a map of what is in the environment no matter how dark it is. We can then make choices about what to do next as we continue to distinguish the objects and spaces within our environment.

Steps to Distinguishing

There are six steps to distinguishing – 1. Understanding, 2. Experiencing, 3. Integrating, 4. Demonstrating, 5. Noticing the absence, and 6. Generation.

Understanding – is where we have a conceptual idea of something. It could be rational and make sense to us logically. Having never experienced it ourselves we can have an understanding of something as a ‘concept’, an ‘idea’ or existing as a ‘possibility’.

Experiencing – something we have witnessed or felt through our senses. Something we have had a direct personal encounter with.

Integrating – when we integrate our understanding of a concept is checked for alignment for relatedness and congruence with our own sense of knowing. Some things don’t integrate if we can’t make our own sense of them. In Rogers work on the self (1961) and Maslow’s humanistic psychology (1954) this is where our experiences are either, a) symbolized, perceived and organized into some relation to the self and the knowledge we have, b) ignored because there is no perceived relationship to the self-structure, or c) denied symbolization or given a distorted symbolization because the experience is inconsistent with what was known already about the self.

Demonstrating – This is by showing through your actions that what the distinction is to others. For example, a facilitator may demonstrate powerful speaking by sharing from their heart rather than just something purely intellectual from their head alone.

Noticing the absence of a distinction – distinctions can be noticed in the moment. Often in praxis following an interaction or upon reflection after we may uncover that something is missing in how an interaction played out. For example, the distinction ‘intentionality’ was missing this morning as I struggled to focus on writing this piece. The intention had been set. The time set aside. However, my behaviour would show to an observer that I was lacking the focus and energy to be in action. I had let myself idle into daydreaming about my previous week and not on purpose. 

Generating a distinction – generation means causing a distinction to show up in others. This may require acting in the moment, so the situation changes in a useful way. Generating a distinction in oneself is a good start, but not enough. A distinction needs to be generated in others for the group to really achieve.

Generating Distinctions

As the facilitator, sometimes naming what you notice as missing can be enough to galvanise a team into action. For example, ‘I’m not noticing the deep listening that we will require to achieve the purpose’, or ’I’m not hearing the powerful speaking we require right now’. Other times a chosen process may help. The facilitator can also generate something in the moment such as shifting levels, getting the group into movement, drawing from the group culture, or making a challenge around intentionality.

The context is important here and alignment with the group purpose for distinctions to be useful.

There is so much available in the key skill of distinguishing for a facilitator. A powerful tool for creating transformation in the groups you facilitate and lead. If you’d like to develop this capacity yourself through experiential training with experts, I recommend starting with our Stage 1: Art of Facilitation programme. Then taking the Stage 2: Essence of Facilitation programme to take your skills to the next level. You can also check out the Essence of Facilitation book downloadable via our website.

— Stephen

Stephen Thorpe is a Director of Zenergy with a focus on teamwork and technology. He specialises in enhancing team performance in IT and agile project management, data science, and collective intelligence.

References

Hunter, D., Bailey, A., & Taylor, B. (1999). The essence of facilitation. Tandem.
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Humanistic Theory.
Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person. Houghton Mifflin
Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension.
Thorpe, S. J. (2008). Enhancing the effectiveness of online groups: an investigation of storytelling in the facilitation of online groups (Doctoral dissertation, Auckland University of Technology).