Every third-party role is based on a set of assumptions about human behavior.
Assumptions include values (things worth striving for) and beliefs (things con- sidered to be true) that typically are accepted as valid without testing. Because assumptions clarify biases, identifying them is important.
Core Values
The Skilled Facilitator approach is based on four values: valid information, free and informed choice, internal commitment to those choices, and com- passion(see Table 3.2). The first three core values come from the work of Chris Argyris and Donald Schön (Argyris, 1970; Argyris and Schön, 1974); I have added the fourth.
Valid informationmeans that you share information in a way that enables others to understand your reasoning and, ideally, to determine for themselves whether the information you have shared is accurate. This means sharing all in- formation relevant to an issue, including your assumptions and your feelings about how the issue is being addressed. It means using specific examples so that other people can understand clearly what has been said and can determine independently whether the information is accurate. Valid information also means that others understand the information that you share with them. This means that you share not only your conclusions but also the reasoning by which you reach them. Having done so, you inquire whether others have in- formation that is different from yours.
Free and informed choicemeans that you and others can define your own objectives and the methods for achieving them, and that these choices are based on valid information. When you make a free choice, you are not coerced or manipulated. Consequently, the facilitator does not change people’s be- havior. The facilitator provides information that enables people to decide whether to change their own behavior. If they decide to, the facilitator helps them learn how to change.
Internal commitment to the choicemeans that you feel personally respon- sible for the choices you make. You are committed to the decision because it is intrinsically compelling or satisfying, not because you will be rewarded or pe- nalized for making that choice. If people are internally committed to a decision, there is little need for traditional over-the-shoulder monitoring to make sure they are really doing what they said they would do.
Compassionmeans adapting a stance toward others and ourselves in which we temporarily suspend judgment. It involves having a basic concern for the good of others that leads you to be concerned about their suffering. By suffer- ingI mean simply the pain that people feel when their needs are not met. When
you act with compassion, you infuse the other core values with your intent to understand, empathize with, and help others.
Compassion literally means “to suffer with” and is sometimes mistakenly thought of as having pity for others. Unfortunately, this pity-based compassion leads people to help others in a way they do not want to be helped, and to pro- tect others in a way they do not want to be protected. The kind of compassion I am describing enables you to have empathy for others and for yourself in a way that holds you and others accountable for your actions, instead of uni- laterally protecting yourself or others.This kind of compassion strengthens rather than diminishes the other core values.
Table 3.2 Core Values
Core Value Description
Valid information • People share all relevant information.
• People share information in such a way that others understand their reasoning.
• People share information in such a way that others can independently validate it.
• People constantly seek new information to deter- mine whether past decisions should be changed on the basis of new, valid information.
Free and informed choice • People define their own objectives and methods for achieving them.
• Choices are not coerced or manipulated.
• Choices are based on valid information.
Internal commitment • People feel personally responsible for their choices; they own their decisions.
• Commitment to action is intrinsic, rather than based on reward or punishment.
Compassion • People temporarily suspend judgment.
• People are concerned for others’ and their own good.
• People appreciate others’ and their own suffering.
Source:The first three core values come from the work of Chris Argyris and Donald Schön (Argyris, 1970; Argyris and Schön, 1974); I have added the fourth.
If you act out of compassion, rather than out of fear and guilt, you are able to move beyond defensiveness and to be vulnerable. This vulnerability in turn enables you to create conversation in which you can mutually learn with oth- ers how to increase effectiveness.
The kind of compassion I am describing enables you to have empathy for oth- ers and for yourself in a way that still holds people accountable for their actions rather than unilaterally protecting others or yourself. With a systemic view, this involves understanding how people, presumably acting in good faith, each con- tribute to creating or sustaining a problem, rather than placing blame. It means exploring what other people see that you do not, rather than assuming that those who do not share your view “just don’t get it” or have questionable motives.
The core values create a reinforcing cycle. People need valid information to make an informed choice. Compassion creates an environment in which people are willing to share valid information. When they make free and informed choices, they become internally committed to the choices. Compassion leads people to be concerned about others’ free and informed choices, aside from their own. If people are internally committed to their decisions, they take re- sponsibility for seeing that the decisions are implemented effectively. Internal commitment leads people to continue seeking new information to determine whether their decisions remain sound or should be revisited. Compassion leads people to avoid focusing on blame when things are implemented in a way that creates unintended consequences.
Guiding Facilitator and Group Behavior
Central to the Skilled Facilitator approach is the assumption that the same core values that increase your effectiveness as a facilitator increase the group’s effectiveness.This means that when you act effectively, you are mod- eling effective behavior for group members. The notion that using the core val- ues leads to effective process is not an untested assumption. It has been borne out by more than twenty-five years of research (Argyris, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990; Argyris, Putnam, and Smith, 1985; Argyris and Schön, 1974). To exam- ine how values serve as a guide for effective behavior, consider what happens when a group’s actions are inconsistent with core values.
To take an example, group members often try to influence a decision by shar- ing information that supports their position and by withholding information that is inconsistent with it. They place a higher value on winning the discus- sion or protecting their own interests than on sharing valid information. Be- cause valid information has been withheld, the group often makes poor decisions. The Challengerspace shuttle disaster—caused by the failure of an O- ring, which some organizational members already believed might malfunc- tion—is a vivid and tragic example of what can happen when valid information is withheld and choices are not as informed or free as they could be.
Group members are often asked to commit to achieving a goal without hav- ing any control over how they will accomplish the goal— or what it should be.
They often become compliant, doing only what is minimally necessary to com- plete the task, expending extra effort only when they believe others are moni- toring their work. Because of the lack of internal commitment, the group may fail to accomplish the goal.
The facilitator helps the group improve process by acting consistently with core values. In developmental facilitation, the group members develop the ability, over time, to identify when they have acted inconsistently with the core values and to correct their behavior —without a facilitator’s help. In basic facilitation, the group uses a facilitator to help it act consistently with the core values, temporarily, while working with the facilitator.
You use the core values to guide your own behavior. You create valid infor- mation by sharing your observations and checking with the group about how members have acted consistently or inconsistently with core values and other principles of group effectiveness. By helping group members see the conse- quences of their behavior and by asking them whether they want to change, you enable the group to make free and informed choices. Consequently, mem- bers become committed to the choices they make during facilitation. By acting with compassion, you model your intent to understand, empathize, and help.
Core Values Are Ideals
Core values are ideals to strive for, recognizing that in some situations opti- mization is not possible. For example, a group sometimes needs to make a de- cision without full valid information because it may not be available. Similarly, a strategic choice that members at one level of an organization make might limit the free choice that members at lower levels of the organization can make.
Because we are human, there are times when you as facilitator and the group you work with miss the mark and act inconsistently with the core values. As fa- cilitator, perhaps you withhold valid information and act so as to reduce the group’s ability to make an informed free choice to which the members can com- mit. Or you respond out of fear or guilt rather than compassion. When this in- evitably occurs, your ability to reflect on your behavior keeps you on the path of learning, to close the gap between what you say you value and how you act.