The Highest Common Denominator - Using Convergent Facilitation to Reach Breakthrough Collaborative Decisions

Introduction

Why Convergent Facilitation?

WE LIVE IN EXTREME TIMES. With every passing year, the pressing issues of climate change, environmental degradation, and resource depletion; war and violence; poverty and social inequality; and individual malaise, loom larger and become more urgent. In 2020, the year this book is finally moving to production, the Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented changes in human life, the outcome of which is impossible to anticipate, and is clearly beset with additional crises. No one alone would be able to solve any of these issues, because even the most powerful people on the planet do not, individually, possess enough wisdom and knowledge to identify solutions without massive input from others, nor is there anyone who has sufficient power to enact solutions unilaterally – our systems are just too intricately interwoven. We need to come together.

At the same time, for the last several thousand years most people have lived in societies and institutions organized first around outright coercion and then around the subtle coercion of competition and incentives. Our collaboration muscles have all but atrophied. Not equally or across the board: There are definitely pockets of individuals, groups, communities, and even regions in the world where collaboration is still known and practiced. There is also a growing commitment to collaboration, and an increasing number of small and large scale experiments, perhaps the largest of which is Wikipedia. Nonetheless, I have noticed a pervasive inability to collaborate effectively in every country I’ve taught at (and the list is large), and in every organization I have worked with.

A Different Path

“I don’t want to be identified with a side. We are no longer doing that. We are a group of people working together to solve problems.”

—Minnesota legislator

Convergent Facilitation is part of my response to this state of affairs. Over the years, my experience has been unequivocal that it brings about dramatic and breakthrough results in groups, even groups that have been stuck for a long time. The last chapter of the book is an extended case study of the most dramatic example of such a breakthrough that I have facilitated, which I did in person and on the phone for over two years. This group was comprised of Minnesota legislators, lobbyists, lawyers, advocacy groups, judges, and child development experts. The issue they were facing was child custody legislation. They were about as divided on the issue as any group could be. So much so, that it took a major effort to get them all to agree to be in the same room together. Two years later, the group approved, unanimously, 16 different changes to their state’s legal system that they all thought were an improvement on what previously existed. Along the way, one legislator said: “I don’t want to be identified with a side. We are no longer doing that. We are a group of people working together to solve problems.”

If this sounds like incredible magic, extraordinary luck, or exceptional talent, I see it differently. I have trained many people in this methodology, including people who didn’t necessarily imagine they could achieve spectacular results, who then went on to have their own amazing successes. I have had a passion for making everything I do teachable, and Convergent Facilitation is no exception.

I myself came into this capacity without ever having imagined it initially. If anyone had told me years ago that I would learn and then teach others how to facilitate groups, and that I would, in particular, develop a method specifically for supporting groups in reaching collaborative decisions, I would have emphatically and vigorously shaken my head. I was the girl that, at 11, was an outcast. In my twenties I worked as a computer programmer because I found it calming not to have to deal with people all the time.

Both of these experiences have been helpful to me in mastering the art and craft of facilitation, and, especially, in teaching it to others. Because of having been an outcast, I have a viscer-al understanding of the dynamics of individuals and groups, knowledge that I use when there is major polarity in a group to support convergence and movement without sacrificing individuals. Because I have very highly honed analytic capacities, I have used them to make the concepts, principles, and practices that are in this book as clear and simple as possible.

No one else who reads this book is likely to have exactly this set of experiences. The reason I am mentioning them is that I am confident that you have had your own experiences that you can mine for gold, whether easy, hard, or neither. Group facilitation, I have come to believe, requires a level of clarity and ongoing attention that are unusually high. Anything that can make your experience of facilitating easier is a total bonus. I would love to believe that you will be able to learn things from your experiences that I couldn’t possibly ever teach you.

On a number of occasions I have engaged groups of people in a simple activity that has always yielded profound results. I ask everyone in the circle to name a particular quality or strength that they bring with them to their leadership. What works so amazingly well about this activity is that at the end of it everyone has learned two important lessons. The first is that everyone has something that is a valuable leadership quality. The second is that the variability is staggering, and that, therefore, your strength is uniquely yours. I have rarely heard two people say the same thing.

My goal and hope with this book is that you will be able to gain enough knowledge and confidence to start experimenting. How far you can go on your own, just with this book, depends on many factors. If you are already an experienced facilitator, most likely reading the book alone will be enough for you. You have your own experiences, you know what works for you as a facilitator, and you will likely find a way to apply the principles and integrate them with what you already do. If you are reading this because, like many, you have been awakened to the need for more and more of us to step into leadership, and you are willing to take the plunge despite having no previous experience, your journey is likely to be more complex. This book is not a facilitation primer. You will need to gain experience in the field, as they say, to put things into practice even while knowing that facilitating without much experience can be overwhelming.

Collaboration and Leadership

When I first learned about the existence of a mode of thinking and communicating that enhances collaboration, I decided to join the ranks of those who have dedicated their lives to the living and teaching of this practice, known today as Nonviolent Communication, created by Marshall Rosenberg.2 My assumption then was that the way to build a collaborative organization or world was by reaching and teaching enough individuals how to collaborate internally and with each other. I no longer think that. I neither think that we can reach enough people fast enough and well enough to turn around the destructive path I believe we are on, nor do I think that learning as individuals how to engage with individuals is comprehensive enough to change systems and structures.

Instead, I have gradually shifted my focus to the role of leadership and the methodology or structure that supports efficient collaboration. I have a broad view of what counts as leadership. I am referring in that to all the people who, whether by dint of role, function, or individual inclination, assume responsibility for the functioning of the whole. More and more of my work these days is focused on supporting everyone I come in contact with to step into that responsibility. In tandem with this invitation, I provide designated leaders with concrete and specific tools to support them in using their power for the benefit of the whole, in collaboration with everyone who is affected. This is not any simpler than my previous focus; it’s only that any forward movement ripples faster. When a leader acts collaboratively, the system as a whole moves towards more collaboration without requiring every individual within the system to adopt a more collaborative attitude.

In this book I am focusing, in particular, on one specific aspect of leadership: The facilitation of groups, especially groups that are trying to make something concrete happen, such as organizations that offer products or services, groups that manage resources together, or multi-stakeholder groups that aim to establish public policy, to name a few examples. The common thread: These are groups that face the necessity to make decisions together.

Overview: What Is Convergent Facilitation?

Convergent Facilitation is a three-phase process that makes it possible for groups to make decisions about matters of significance to the group. Its aim is a decision that everyone can wholeheartedly embrace even if it’s not their preference. I sometimes refer to the resulting decision as the highest common denominator of the group, inviting people to notice that coming together doesn’t imply loss of quality.

What does it look like in practice? Here’s one story that illustrates the process.