In this episode, I speak with Adam Kahane about his new book, Facilitating Breakthrough, Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together.
In the conversation, several things stood out for me. Here are a few
What does it mean to be a facilitator?
Many years ago, when I first received training, I thought about this question a lot. Since then, I have taken its meaning for granted. Adam got me to take a second look at the word and its purpose. For Adam, his work is about facilitating collaboration with groups from different organizations and sectors who may not agree with, like, or trust each other but think they need to work together.
In this book, he is trying to upgrade the meaning of facilitator so that anyone can be a facilitator. Secondly, it is a way of helping groups of people collaborate.
The facilitator as a partner.
In this part of the conversation, we refer to the insider/outsider tension that often pops us in change work. Adam reminds us of the notion first pointed to him by Bill Tolbert. It is not that if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Instead, and more interestingly, is the idea that if you’re not part of the problem, you can’t be part of the solution. Your capacity to help a situation is limited if you cannot see how you are part of the problem – even if it is a small part. Otherwise, you are trying to bring about change by force.
To facilitate effectively, you must move between an outsider and insider stance with whomever you work with. Adam calls this partnering.
The role of polarities
Facilitation does not involve choosing between one approach to facilitation over the other. It is knowing when to use a particular strategy rather than another direction. Adam reminds us to lean into tensions and avoiding the tendency to collapse polarities rather than hold their tensions.
Perhaps most insightful about both the conversation with Adam and his book is the new casting of facilitation.
He argues that there are only five dimensions of facilitation. These five dimensions involve ten moves.
| Dimensions | Moves |
| How do we see our situation? | Inquiring and Advocating |
| How do we define success? | Advancing and Concluding |
| How do we get from here to there? | Discovering and Mapping |
| How do we decide who does what? | Accompanying and Directing |
| How do we understand our role? | Standing Inside and Standing Outside |
If you would like to learn more about Adam visit: https://reospartners.com/facilitating-breakthrough/