Percussion. Concussion. Discussion.
There’s an asset-friendly alternative called “learning teams.”
Did you know that the word “discussion” has the same root word as “percussion” and “concussion”? For years I invited people into “discussion groups,” but when I read Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline¹, I liked his alternative, “learning teams,” better. Here’s why:
Sometimes discussion and debate are appropriate, times when we need to press a point, argue about alternatives, and hope to be the winners rather than the losers. I’m guessing this is not the approach that you use in your training events, however; you engage people in “learning teams,” in fact, even if you don’t use this term.
Here is a boil-down of a learning team approach you can use in “real time.” After noting the relationship of discussion to concussion and percussion and its limitations in the training environment, offer this description of a learning team (consider showing it on a PowerPoint slide or other visible means).
A learning team:
• Discovers insights you likely wouldn’t have if you were working alone
• Builds something new—a new and deeper understanding
• Values learners with different views
• Explores complex issues from many points of view
From that point on, all instructions for group interaction become an invitation into a learning team that functions on these principles.
Opening introductions start it off.
In your learning teams, please tell
• Your name
• Whom you represent
• Why you came today
• Someone who has been a positive influence on you during your growing-up years, who helped you care about young people today
Please take 12-15 minutes, total time. The time limit makes it clear that people are to honor everyone’s opportunity to tell their story briefly.
When you get into the work at hand, here’s an example of a way to proceed (with thanks to the late Dr. Ron Lippitt2 for his mentorship in these methods of conversation). You know how to adapt this approach to your setting.
Every learning team is invited to select three people to guide the conversation.
Documenter—writes key words on newsprint, with bold pen
Convener—keeps you on track, makes sure everyone gets a chance to talk, and that no one talks too much [Yes, this is Lippitt’s explicit instruction, and it does become an empowering guide for a learning team.]
Timer—watches the clock, keeps you moving
Give teams 1-2 minutes to select these people.
One person at a time, call out your idea for [insert your own focus here].
List every idea. No other conversation yet, please. Take [x number of] minutes, total time. [This is a key Lippitt instruction—“no other conversation yet, please,” to avoid a team’s taking off on one idea before everyone has had a chance to call out their various ideas.]
These invitations make it clear that everyone has something to offer. In inter-generational teams, youth always express their amazement (yes, amazement!) that adults want to hear what they have to say. Quiet people do speak up, and exuberant people (like me) are invited to let others have their say within the time limit.
Now, go forth and continue your GREAT asset-building efforts with this new tool—all polished up and ready to go in your trainer toolkit!!
1 The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization. Peter M. Senge. © 1990. Doubleday Currency. New York, New York.
2 The Consulting Process in Action. Gordon Lippitt and Ronald Lippitt. © 1986 by Pfeiffer, An Imprint of Jossey-Bass, Inc. Publishers, San Francisco, CA.
As another rich resource for establishing community by the way we structure our planning and training events, I invite you into Peter Block’s Belonging: The Structure of Community. It is asset-based work, all the way! © 2008. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, CA.
