Process: Infoco minutes: 2013-07-09

Minutes:

Alicia is out of town in St. Louis tmrw. I will have all three kids. If
weather is good, I can have kids play outside and try to attend with Mayana
in tow. If weather isn't good, I'll bring the iPad for the boys. Just a
heads up that I may have to leave it Mayana isn't interested in remaining
quiet during the meeting.

- Aaron



On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 10:18 PM, Jillian Downey <jillian at ic.org> wrote:

> Infoco (facilitators' group)
> 7/9/2013
> 6:45-8pm
> Present: Michael P, Jillian, Elph, Amy H
>
> Agenda
> Checkins
> Next Community Meeting
> Next work season
> Next infoco meeting
> Laird training document for discussion - levels of the conversation
>
> Next Community Meeting
>
> Willie offered to do a refresher about online community resources. We do
> have a lot of new folks and folks who may not use all the electronic
> resources even if they have lived here a long time - pretty much all of us
> use some things and not others!
>
> How about we do a semi-alternative meeting focused on GO resources - our
> electronic resources but others too.
>
> - refresher on our electronic resources - Willie
> - TV - does ANYone know how to use it? Jeff C?
> - recycling - what goes where, in rolloff and bicycle sheds, reminder that
> you can recycle batteries, styrofoam, lids, etc - Hermann
> - compost - what can go in it or not - Catherine
>
> Ask Catherine if there should still be a new member welcome for Cindy, and
> if she'd be available to do a compost refresher info/Q&A at the monday
> meeting. Also if she has a sense of which GO resources are the most
> confusing for new people.
>
> Jillian will call Jeff and see if he could do a 10 minute demo on how to
> use the TV system.
>
> Jillian will email Willie and ask him how much time he'd like.
>
> Amy will check in with Hermann and Catherine.
>
> We could probably meet in the Game Room, willie can use projector.
>
> Jillian has plenty of chocolate to bring, courtesy of Becky H.
>
>
> Next work season
>
> Jillian has emailed facilitators, will report back if she doesn't have
> enough, still waiting to hear from Sarah and Alicia.
> Michael would like to continue as facil in training. Process did not have
> anyone else waiting to do that as far as we know.
>
>
> Next meeting
>
> Next infoco meeting, 2nd Tuesday is August 13, 6:45 at unit 18.
>
> Laird training, Levels of the Conversation (handout content is at end of
> minutes)
>
> Nine layers of the "onion", a very useful way of laying it out, how to
> think about it.
>
> Do you have to be intimately familiar with the group to be able to do this,
> re level 5, what is not being said?
>
> No. People often give physical or verbal hints about when they're disturbed
> about something, body language, even if not speaking. Outside facilitator
> can sometimes be really good because not burdened with too much knowledge
> of peoples' patterns, not coming in with any assumptions about people.
>
> When you hear things being repeated, you can put things together and state
> the agreements, show the group where they are already in agreement, that
> helps move things - level 8 very crucial.
>
> If its a big clump of stuff you're trying to move forward on, you can break
> it down in to little pieces, identify what we have agreement on, and that
> feels good to the group to see the progress made.
>
> This reminded me of the Lara method - for me its helpful to have an
> acronym. I wouldn't remember 8 levels but I might remember acronyms.
>
> facilitation handout content follows.
>
> -----------------
>
> Weekend VIII • Levels of the Conversation
>
> As should be clear by now (it is, after all, Weekend VII), the vast
> majority of the facilitator’s time is spent working conversations. (Dealing
> with emotional/energetic undercurrents is an important skill, but it’s only
> a tiny fraction of your time on duty.) So let’s think a bit more deeply
> about what’s going on in a conversation…
>
> I invite you to think of each conversation as an onion, which we’ll now
> proceed to peel:
>
> First Layer: What was said?
>
> It is absolutely necessary for you to hear what people are saying
> accurately. While this is generally relatively straight forward, you will
> undoubtedly encounter individuals whose style, diction, vocabulary, and/or
> organization of information are such that you will have to work very hard
> to understand what they’re saying.
>
> Second Layer: How to restate viewpoints concisely?
>
> While not always needed, the skilled facil can offer contact statements on
> demand, indicating to the speaker’s satisfaction that they have been heard
> (at least by the facil). Do not fail to note the adverb “concisely.” There
> is a Mark Twain anecdote which applies here: he once apologized to someone
> he’d written to about the length of his correspondence by saying he was
> sorry, but he didn’t have time to write it any shorter. Brevity is not just
> the soul of wit; it is the heart of attention.
>
> Third Layer: Where are we at?
>
> The facil should always know where the group is at in the conversation
> (what has been said collectively, not just individually) and where it is at
> in the process. The essential skills here are the ability to summarize
> accurately and plainly, and the ability to track and make plain the
> process.
>
> Fourth Layer: How to connect statements one to another?
>
> As a facil you need to see the aspects of commonality (especially when
> others do not) and weave them into a fabric which can, ultimately, sustain
> agreement. You need to learn tosee the links between statements.
>
> Fifth Layer: What is not being said?
>
> You need to develop the capacity to step back from what is happening and
> ask if there are any ghosts in the room—obvious questions that are not
> being asked or spoken to. Invite these unspoken ones to join the party.
>
> Sixth Layer: Where does the group need to work?
>
> This is a complex question which combines “Where is there confusion?” with
> “Where is there energy to explore for agreement?” It is the facilitator’s
> job to steer the group productively, which involves both what to look at
> and how to look at it. Often it is a matter of posing the right questions,
> and in the right sequence.
>
> Seventh Layer: Where is the conversation headed?
>
> The skilled facil will learn to look ahead of the curve and steer the group
> away from dead ends and unnecessary dangers. Part of this is time
> management (don’t go where you cannot gracefully stop or return in the time
> available), part of it is understanding the pitfalls of the selected path
> (assessing the potential for burying the axles instead of working out of
> trouble), and part of it is knowing the capacity of the group (not leading
> the halt and the lame into heavy traffic, where stamina and agility will be
> needed to make it through safely). When this skill is practiced well, mtgs
> are experienced as easier and lighter because the facil has chosen a better
> path, and heroic extractions are not needed.
>
> Eighth Layer: What agreement is possible?
>
> All along, the skilled facil is thinking about how the weavings of the
> Fourth Level can produce a durable fabric that will hold an agreement about
> what to do with the issue at hand. How can the agreement be framed such
> that everyone can identify with it and support its moving forward? The
> skilled facil has a broad understanding of what “product” and “agreement”
> can look like. Sometimes it is a policy; sometimes an action; sometimes a
> process; sometimes an assignment; sometimes a pause.
>
> Ninth Layer: What remains and where will it land?
>
> Often, the group has not tied up a topic with a ribbon and bow. In those
> times, the skilled facil makes sure that the next steps are identified and
> some one or some cmtee has been identified as the implementors or shepherds
> of those steps. You need to think holistically about all the pieces that
> comprise a safe landing and make sure that none are forgotten.
>
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