Apr ’24 – Creative Learning
Week 4 – Wildcard Week – participating in open discussions
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Week 4 – Wildcard Week – participating in open discussions
It was wild card week and despite a couple of us having lousy colds, a fascinating conversation unfolded. Chris shared an observation that studio members who hail from Open Door are often not the first to speak up, and he posed a curiosity question, “what causes some folks to hold back in open discussion settings?”
There were lots of thoughts!
- Wayne proposed that when a group represents various levels of an organizations’ hierarchy it impacts what’s appropriate to share and not. Another example of the influence of power dynamics!
- Sarah Ross wondered if the fear of digressing from the topic at hand might influence people’s willingness to bring up a subject that doesn’t feel on the nose or an idea that isn’t fully formed.
- Organizational culture shapes how people engage – if leaders don’t welcome open dialogue and model creative learning it’s unlikely most staff will either.
- Facilitation is key! A strong facilitator helps set group norms, encourages participation from all, and supports when tensions get high. Maureen shared a book, Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, that she’s found useful and describes many of the tactics we discussed.
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