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In this episode, I speak with Adam Kahane about his new book, Facilitating Breakthrough,\xa0Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together.\xa0

In the conversation, several things stood out for me. Here are a few

What does it mean to be a facilitator?\xa0

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.\xa0

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.\xa0

The facilitator as a partner.\xa0

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.\xa0

To facilitate effectively, you must move between an outsider and insider stance with whomever you work with. Adam calls this partnering.\xa0

The role of polarities\xa0

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.\xa0

Perhaps most insightful about both the conversation with Adam and his book is the new casting of facilitation.\xa0

He argues that there are only five dimensions of facilitation. These five dimensions involve ten moves.\xa0

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