Online or f2f brainstorming?

'There is no better situation, than seeing each other's eyes  and use your brains while interacting at the same place at the same time'. This is what I hear regularly as feedback from my colleague facilitators and clients. However, nowadays there are free online applications available, which can be used while brainstorming at different places at the same time.

Recently I applied Spiderscribe.net in one of my training courses about 'Facilitation Methods'.  Spiderscribe can be used in the combination with skype (teleconferencing) for doing:

• a brainstorm workshop with postes
• debates
• creative brainstorming using mindmap applications
• evaluations

Impressions of the Training Facilitation Methods with online tools at animoto:

Try our video maker at Animoto.

Advantages online brainstorming

Online brainstorming provides the following advantages:

• You can do it at a distance with a group of people online at the same time;
• The software of spiderscribe is user friendly, for free and easy applicable;
• The lay-out is professional
• Participants' ideas stay anonymous. Since the f2f handwriting and f2f interaction is not visible, participants are not hindered by hierarchy or pre-assumptions about people in the group;
• By seeing ideas of other people at the virtual wall, participants are stimulated to gain insights for new ideas

Disadvantages

Disadvantages are:

• There is no f2f interaction, although there are possibilities to support the brainstorm with webcams connections through Bigmarker or Google+;
• Participants can get blocked in their brainstorming process by seeing the ideas of others;
• The facilitator does not have control at the participants. It is not clear if they participate or do other things during the brainstorming phase;
• A group size of 5 - 8 participants is the optimal group size for doing online brainstorming sessions. In a f2f setting, brainstorming can be done with 5 - 50 participants.

Potential for online facilitation

Online brainstorming has great potential. More and more free software and user friendly brainstorm applications become available. Spiderscribe is excellent!

In the training Facilitation Methods which I conduced on behalf of the Hendrik Kreamer Institute on the 9th and 10th January, 2012  the participants (a group of Young Professional Researchers) responded enthousiastically.  'It is easy to learn',  'Intuitive and applicable for long distance communication'.

If you are interested on how to become an online facilitator, consult  Faciliteeronline.nl 

Making a video about the future of the consultant in international development

'Follow your heart, use your brains!'  This was the title of the video that opened the 25th Anniversary of the Nedworc Association on the 6th January 2012 in Amsterdam.  Nedworc is a network of development consultants in international development co-operation.  In October 2011  Erica Wortel,  Joke Oranje and Simon Koolwijk developed in partnership with the Nedworc Anniversary committee the scenario for a video about the future development in the sector of international development co-operation.  The future of the sector,  developments on the labor market for consultants,  professional development and the future of the consultant were the main discussion threads for the development of the video.

See video:  'Follow your heart, use your brains!' (in Dutch)

The process of video making

After developing the scenario  Erica Wortel and Joke Oranje selected member consultants with various backgrounds eg. livestock advisor, forestry researcher, director of a consultancy agency,  a  participatory research and game specialist and a professional coach/ organisational development advisor.   On the 4th November 2011   Helena Immiga-Berends, Lucy Maarse, Frank van Schoubroek, Rolf Posthouwer and Hilde van Hulst - Mooibroek shared their views about the developments in the international development co-operation sector.

Before filming the interviewees,  Erica and Joke conducted in-depth interviews, whereafter the video interviews were made.   The camera work was done by Simon Koolwijk.  Light, decor, acoustics were optimalized.  About 70 minutes of video was taped.  Normally the ration between video tapes taken and the actual finalized video has a ratio of 7:1.    It took about 3 working days to make the first draft of the video.  In early december 2011 feedback was collected from the interviewees followed by a 2nd and 3rd round of editting. This took in total 2 working days.  One of the big discoveries that was done on how to make the right video conversion in Adobe Premiere elements from images of ratio 4:3 to 16:9.   A search at google helped to solve the problem.  Watch video Video tutorial Adobe Premiera Elements.   Read more about how to make smart short video message at 'The art of making short video messages'. 

Video as a reference

The video production was shown at the beginning of the 25th Anniversary of the Nedworc Association.   It became a good reference. The key note speaker Louk de la Rive Box, former director of ISS,  stressed that team co-operation, innovation, professional development and using intercultural development experience will be the main factors that will make consultants in international development effective and successfull in the future.    Janneke Juffermans (author of Grenzeloos Gedreven), the conference speaker,  facilitated the plenary discussion between Louk de la Rive Box and the attendees of the 25th Anniversary.

Lessons,  team co-operation and co-creation

The process of video making with Erica Wortel and Joke Oranje was a useful experience. Through team co-operation  I was able to enlarge my knowledge and skills in:

• How to make a successful video production in one day;
• How to involve the interviewees in the feedback of the editing process;
• Learning how to see things from a esthetic, journalistic and more challenging perspective in developing the video story;
• Video-editing.  I discovered a lot of new ways on how to improve the editted video shots;
• Discovering it gives a lot of energy if the process is a two-ways learning process while doing co-creation

It was a nice and useful experience!  Thanks for everybody who was involved in the video production.

Mastering the tools, a first step on the journey of an online facilitator!

In the end of November 2011, the first part of the course 'Social Media for organisationalchange'  was completed with a f2f meeting at Maliebaan45 in Utrecht, The Netherlands.   For a period of two weeks eleven participants practised with a number of social media tools, which are applied for organisational learning and change processes.  Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google plus, Houtsuite, Prezi, Spiderscribe, Delicious,  Twiddla and Yammer were some of the major tools which were applied for practise.  Experiences about ad- and disadvantages were shared at a Ning Discussion platform.

Practise with tools

Three groups, all organised in a virtual summerhouse, selected a tool to present.   Two groups presented their experiences with Yammer. The tool is userfriendly, easy applicable and has a lot of functions which foster discussions. It has some similarities with Facebook and Twitter. 'Yammer is a tool that is renewing itself continuously' adds Sibrenne Wagenaar, one of the trainers. Every two or three months, they add a new function.

Wiki is more of a fluid database tool. Wiki was presented by the third virtual summerhouse group. 'Through a wiki you can collect resources (such as publications, articles, video's) and literature on a systematic way. It is also an excellent tool for writing a book in building institutional knowledge of a group',  explained one of the presenters.  'A minus is that Wiki did not evolve and renew itself for the past years.  The functions of the tool are still very much the same as 3 years ago.

Myself I applied Animoto for the first time. It is an excellent tool to make creative photo-video presentations. 

See video f2f meeting  24th November '11.   

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Case study, research and developing an online process

As preperation towards the f2f meeting participants planned an online process, they are going to facilitate in the coming 6 months. Some are considering to choose a blended process, having online exchange in advance and after a f2f event. Another participant will develop a joint lobby strategy for sustainable development through online exchange. A research is currently developed, where  stakeholders are planned to be interviewed through an online survey.

In December 2011 and January 2012 participants will start their research in developing their online process;

• What will be the event?
• What is the main reason why the need for online exchange is relevant?
• What will be the purpose?
• Which stakeholders will participate?
• Which social media tool will fit to the needs of the target group?

Research is one of the major steps in developing an effective and successful online facilitation process.  Read the article - Twelve factors for successful online facilitation.

New course 'Social Media for organisational change'

Early January 2012 the second round of online exchange will start. Participants will present their results of their research and draft online process on a second f2f meeting on the 26th January, 2012. The course 'Social Media for organisational change'  is facilitated by Joitske Hulsebosch, Sibrenne Wagenaar and Simon Koolwijk. A new course will start in March 2012. For more information read 'Social Media for organisational change'   or 'Leergang Social Media'.   

Facilitation of Strategic Planning in Moldova

Recently Procommunity Centre uploaded a video, where community members share their impressions about the Strategic Planning process. During the past years Procommunity Centre assisted village communities in Moldova in sustaining and improving the quality of rural infrastructure such as schools, cultural centres, youth clubs, roads and energy supply.

In the video village participants stress the participatory approach is one of the mayor factors leading to successful results.  By having the relevant stakeholders on board to solve and discuss their problems,  Procommunity Centre's  Strategic Planning approach creates ownership and dedication with each party to work on sustainable solutions.

See video:    Strategic Planning

The participatory strategic planning approach, which has been developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ToP - methods) consists of 5 steps:

• Visioning (How will the future look like in an ideal situation?)
• Contractions (What is the current situation and what are the hindrances in solving the problems?)
• Strategic Directions (How will the stakeholders move forward to accomplish the desired future and what are the strategic goals?)
• Time planning and organisation (Who? What? When? How? Where? Timebased results?)
• Follow-up (What has been accomplished sofar? What went well? What should be improved or adjusted?)

At the end participants have a framework, including action steps and responsibilities divided.

Since the  late 90's and  early 2000's  Facilicom Consult and Kontakt der Kontinenten co-operate with ProcommunityCentre.   It is encouraging that the participatory approach, one of the values of all three partners, has been adapted as an approach for community development in Moldova.

Playing with dialogues online

Recently  Joitske Hulsebosch and Simon Koolwijk conducted two workshops on ‘How to facilitate with social media’.   The workshops were held at AgentschapNL and the IAF-Benelux Conference ‘Facilitation as a {2^nd} profession.

An appealing exercise during one of the workshops was how to convert a face-to-face exercise into an online exercise, while facilitating. Based on the online exercise, two truths and a lie, participants introduced a number of creative exercises.   See video:  Two truths and a lie:

Some exercises which were presented to be introduced online:

1.The line up

 Ask participants online to order themselves according to a question in a row. For example, position yourself based on your birthday in the line up.   The people who have their birthday date close to January move upwards, and the ones who have been born closer to December move downwards.    Spiderscribe.net is an excellent tool for doing this game.

2. Debate game

Start an online debate by introducing a statement. Again Spiderscribe.net is an excellent tool for doing this exercise.  For example:   If you are a good f2f facilitator, you definitely will be a qualified online facilitator!   The ones who agree move to the left side, and the ones who disagree move to the right side.  After that you can exchange by using the chat or a skype conference call.

3. Share a photo

Ask participants to share a photo about something they like, a hobbie or something special.   Twiddla.com, Ning or Facebook are excellent tools for uploading and exchanging photos.

4. Mindmapping

Twiddla.com is an online whiteboard, which provides opportunities to make drawings.  Making a mindmap is an excellent way to do an introduction exercise or an evaluation online together.

For more ideas; Read article ‘10 Online icebreakers – Joitske Hulsebosch’

Another exciting experience was a twitter chat, which was practiced at the conference ‘Facilitation as a {2^nd} profession.  Through twitterchat.com participants can exchange experiences and questions at a particular topic.  We used the #IAFNL11 to have an online dialogue. By using Twitter 12 participants communicated intensively on how they experienced the conference sofar.  At first glance a twitter discussion looks very chaotic and unstructured.  But compare it with going into a bar or a party having 100 visitors. You can not communicate with all the 100 people at the same time, but based on interest and curiousity you look for the people who are fun to talk to.  
It is the same with Twitter. You just follow and communicate with the few ones, you like to meet and to exchange. The role of the online facilitator is to follow the exchange and the discussions. Most of the times there is no need to strictly structure the meeting, as is the same with a party.  Most important is that the conditions and atmosphere is relaxed and easy going.  The online facilitator can do this by throwing in some challenging questions into the discussion,  to remind people of the goal and focus of the discussion and to link people who have a similar area of interest.   About the benefits and challenges of a twitter discussion event,  you can read more at the article Twitter Chat - author SuzanneBakker.

Transforming a face to face exercise into an online dialogue is fun to do!  It challenges your mindset for creative thinking and when started it is difficult to get yourself stopped!  For more information about online facilitation read faciliteeronline.nl 

What is the relation between African masks and facilitation?

A lesson about the significance of masks and its meaning in the African context.  This was one of the practicals which was done during the training 'Facilitation methods',  held on the 12th and 16th September, 2011.  The training organised by the Hendrik Kraemer Institute and conducted by Simon Koolwijk was focused on acquiring methods and skills on how to activate and strengthen groups.

Nowadays facilitation is one of the key skills professionals need in engaging people for building effective teamwork and stimulating a fruitful knowledge exchange.  Learning embeds better if people have already thought about the topic, before receiving additional information about the theoretical principles.

The lesson about the masks was facilitated by two professional lecturers who will teach religion and ethical topics at an university in Africa. Teaching is an interactive process, focused on asking questions, discovering and exchanging.  'The one who is doing the talking, is the one who is doing the learning!' is a worldwide shared wisdom.   All these principles are embedded in the Kolb-learning cycle for adult learning.

Facilitation as 2nd profession

For organisational development advisors, managers, group leaders and people in a leadership positions capacity to facilitate and asking questions is an important pré-condition for getting better results from individuals and groups.  Therefore,  for most professionals in a leadership, training, coaching and guiding position facilitation is a 2nd profession.  On the 23rd September, 2011 the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) will address this issue at the conference 'Facilitation as a 2nd Profession'.   There professionals have an opportunity to get acquainted with the different types of facilitation and methods, that can be applied for activating and engaging groups.

Resources and literature

If you like to orientate yourself, on how it is to have the role of facilitator as a second profession, read the publication 'Advising as a 2nd profession'.    If you like to know the meaning of African masks read the article >>>  African Masks History and Meaning.  

Co-creation through creative writing!

'One day a freelance consultant sat behind the computer......'    This was one of the starting sentences in writing a creative story on how to use social media as a tool for learning. With the assistance of a  creative writing facilitator from Loesje,  Faciliteeronline.nl (Joitske Hulsebosch, Sibrenne Wagenaar and Simon Koolwijk)  organised a co-creation workshop in developing slogans for the training course 'Social Media for facilitating learning processes in organisations'.  The purpose of the workshop was to identify the most important issues for this training course by going through a creative writing process.

Creative writing exercises

Based on the starting sentence 'one day.....'  each participant continued the story by adding a new sentence, following the previous sentence.  Each round the Loesje facilitator added a word, which was integrated in each sentence. The stories which were produced visualised some hilarious stories, creating fun and laughter.

The second exercise we were asked to think about five words that came up in our minds, when we woke up in the morning.  Hereafter we were asked to write down a problem, that was keeping ourselves occupied in our today's lives.  For each problem the facilitator provided us with a word symbolizing a physical office tool; for example a stapler or a paperclip.  As a following step we passed our written statements to our neighbour participant, who was asked to give a creative solution for our problem by using three of the five words applying the physical office tool.

Imagine......  

Problem:  Help I can not create time to sit and practise with social media!

Answer:   Give yourself a day off, stay the whole day at home, treat yourself with coffee and a fresh shower, use your paperclip to write a tweet at your i-pad.  So why bother, if you can create your own opportunities!

See video for impressions:

Co-creation of slogans

Finally we formulated the most important questions, which online facilitators have to deal with when they are engaging and activating people for learning and sharing through social media;

• How to deal with security issues?
• What to do if people in the organisation feel blocked by their surrounding system to communicate through social media?
• How to create time for using social media?
• How to get people open minded for social media?

For each question we were asked to respond by using creative answers providing the solution. So how about:

• Lock your colleagues for three days in an office with people who do not interest him, and give this person a laptop with internet connection;
• Rain, storm and wind, it is time to tweet a twitter to Saint Nicolaes!
• Tweets are like gingerbread cookies, you can spread as many as you like!

At the end of the workshop,  topics were identified for the training course 'Social Media for facilitating learning processes in organisations'.   Participants expressed that the workshop had helped them to think creatively in language.   Playing with language is fun!,  expressed on of the participants.  One of the participants wrote an article at her blogpost  read >>> Co-creation.

Back at home I played with creating a sentence using the Capital Letter 'T'  as much as possible:

Twitter Tweets are tasting tea together in the Toronto Teagarden, telling that is takes two to tango and three text messages to tweet a  #tweet to  twenty two thousand tweeter fans thanking @twitter.    Indeed playing with language, as a tool for co-creation is fun!

Twelve factors for successful online facilitation

Last week  the Magazine  'E-Organisations and People'  published an article about the 'Art of online facilitation: sustaining the process'  in their edition Vol 18, No 3, August 2011.  This article I wrote with support from Jet Proost,  Bob MacKenzie and Rosemary Cairns.  In the process of writing this article I compared two successful and one unsuccessful case about virtual exchange in my 5 years experience as an online facilitator.  Out of this process of comparing, I concluded that 'twelve factors' are needed  for having a successful online exchange.  I argue that the presence of an online facilitator is essential to get most out of the group and to keep the process going.  Online facilitation requires a different approach from face-to-face facilitation in activating groups. 

Twelve factors for successful online facilitation

1.       People have an urgent matter to be solved or a question which keeps them awake at night

2.       Leaders or managers have an interest in social media and feel ownership of the process, so that they feel responsible for involving others.  A preparatory meeting with the key leaders and their involvement in discussions is essential.  This is one of the conditions a facilitator should set when preparing and starting the process with the client.

3.       The facilitator has the technical knowledge on how to apply social media for facilitation events, and is able to train others in the course of the process

4.       One of the members of the facilitation team (facilitator, co-facilitator or client) already has a personal relationship through previous face to face contacts with at least 25% of the participants.  These personal connections are essential in helping passive participants to become active in a later stage of the online event.

5.       People see the benefit of participation as being worth the investment of their time.  A reward at the end is stimulating.  For example participation in a face-to-face conference, a publication in an important journal, an expanded network, new knowledge, tips or tricks for work etc.

6.       The problem does not lend itself to being solved face-to-face, since distance, time and budget constraints are a hindering factor

7.       People feel isolated and are looking for equals or peer colleagues with whom they would feel comfortable in sharing thoughts and feelings.

8.       The social media tools are easily accessible and user friendly.  Media such as mailing groups, Skype, Facebook and LinkedIn seem to match the habits of participants more effectively than wikis or heavy loaded platforms that a critical number of participants see as being too complicated.  It is essential that more than 80 to 90% of the participants feel comfortable with the e-tools that are being applied.

9.       Regular moments of evaluation are built into the process.  Participants can indicate what they like and provide crucial information about what can be improved in the process.

10.   The timing is right and makes sense.  An online event nine months prior to a face-to-face event does not generate high participation. Creating an online platform discussion two to four weeks in advance of an event is more likely to be successful in generating momentum.

11.   It takes into consideration the previous experience with social media of the client (organisation) and target group.  When the client does not have experience with social media and is open to learning about their use, take a step by step approach and introduce the 'online event' as a discovery or experiment.

12.   The group is guided by a competent online facilitator, who keeps the process going.

Blended learning

Online discussion processes combined with face-to-face (f2f) meetings work best as a kind of ‘blended communication’ process.  This is called 'blended learning'.  When people meet each other face-to-face, they get a feeling for somebody else and they build relationships in addressing each other when group tasks need to be accomplished.  Therefore a f2f component is preferred in building an effective group through online interchange.  However, online interchange adds a new dimension.  People have different f2f conversations (more in-depth and meaningful) with each other after they have exchanged experiences online and vice versa after they have met f2f.  It also addresses people's contemporary needs for flexibility and mobility.

The role  of the online facilitator

The presence of an online facilitator (sometimes called a ‘moderator’) is essential to get the most out of the group and keep the process going.  The facilitator is the one who keeps the group leaders and participants alert. In case a discussion is coming to a standstill, or if one of the key participants is not responding, the facilitator plays the role of 'informal investigator', checking what keeps the participant(s) silent.  Usually this is done by an e-mail or an informal telephone call or chat.  Relationship building is an essential competence of the online facilitator.  The facilitator also stimulates participants to respond to discussions, by addressing people on their areas of expertise.   Experience in sensing group dynamics and observing patterns of interaction also is essential. 

Summarising discussions and acknowledging people's sentiments and linking that with the main objectives of the online event is another key task for the online facilitator.   This is helpful input to keep participants on track and is excellent resource material.  Capacity and know-how of the online facilitator is essential in setting up the discussion process.  Affection and enthusiasm for social media, and knowledge about the 'advantages' and 'pitfalls' of the e-tools, are key in getting participants involved.      

Conclusion

Online facilitation is not easy.  Not only are specific competencies of a face-to-face facilitator required,  but also virtual facilitation skills are a new requirement of the 'modern facilitator'.   Their toolbox also includes social and technical skills, as well as the ability to convince and engage the group on a virtual journey.  An online facilitator excels in multi-tasking.  Online facilitation is indeed a complex Art.

In my article I make reference to the publication 'En nu online' -  Authors  Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar.    Joitske, Sibrenne and I deliver courses about online facilitation through Faciliteeronline.nl   Consult  Faciliteeronline.nl  - Leergang.

The complete article 'The Art of online facilitation - sustaining the process' you can read in the Magazine  'E-Organisations and People'  - Vol 18, No 3, August 2011.  This magazine has 12 other interesting articles about (online) facilitation.  The magazine is a pre-event publication as introduction to the IAF-Europe Conference on Facilitation - Building Bridges through Facilitation'  which is held 14 - 16 October, 2011 in Istanbul,  Turkey.   Together with my colleagues Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar, we rewrote the article in Dutch having 7 factors for having succesfull online exchange. Read article: 'Zeven factoren voor een succesvolle online uitwisseling'.