{"id":5130,"date":"2010-10-09T10:14:11","date_gmt":"2010-10-09T17:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5130"},"modified":"2010-10-09T10:14:11","modified_gmt":"2010-10-09T17:14:11","slug":"project-management-unplugged-facilitation-and-the-power-of-intuition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5130","title":{"rendered":"Project Management Unplugged: Facilitation and the Power of Intuition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When I started working as a Program Manager back in the early 90s, I realized that I had to take a very different approach than with my role as Product Manager.\u00a0 As a Product Manager, I owned things. My focus was necessarily narrow, as the demands of my deliverables were relentless. \u00a0I labored every day to produce something concrete with which I then became identified. It might be an event, or a piece of collateral, or a sales tool, or a customer event, but it effectively had my name on it\u2026albeit in very tiny print.\u00a0 For better or worse, it said, \u201cCourtney did this.\u201d<\/p>\n

My first experience as a cross-functional team leader was therefore a bit disconcerting.\u00a0 Tasked to pull together a team to upgrade the software release process, I found myself sitting in meetings filled with subject matter experts who really knew their stuff.\u00a0 I, on the other hand, didn\u2019t seem to have a subject matter to be expert in.\u00a0 I was there to serve the process, to facilitate the result.\u00a0 And the name on that result would say “Process Improvement Team.” \u00a0There ensued some weeks of wondering, with no small degree of anxiety, when people would figure out I wasn\u2019t actually doing anything! \u00a0I couldn\u2019t calibrate the impact of facilitation because it seemed that all I did was listen to other people make decisions.<\/p>\n

Then one day, as I played attention tennis between two people who had very different ideas about what we should do next, I realized there was something they hadn\u2019t considered.\u00a0 Nowhere in their very intense exchange had there been any discussion of how the information would flow between their two groups.\u00a0 What communication mechanisms needed to be in place before they could sign off on the solutions? Before I knew it, I was interjecting the missing piece into their dialogue, and opening an entire new area of exploration.\u00a0 This was the log that had been jamming up our ability to come to agreement.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 I guess I was actually doing something after all! \u00a0I was listening! \u00a0Who knew?<\/p>\n

As PMs, a good deal of our day is taken up with facilitation of one sort or another.\u00a0 We ask questions, listen to the answers, validate impressions, nudge and remind and urge and congratulate.\u00a0 We keep the process moving, always moving.\u00a0 Like orchestra conductors, we don\u2019t play the instruments, but we\u2019re ultimately responsible for the performance. \u00a0Like ringmasters, we don\u2019t swing from the trapeze, but we are the focusing point for where the action is.\u00a0 Like the coxswain of a rowing crew, we have the cadence of the oars pulsing through us, and we call out the rhythm that is required to make the boat fly across the water.\u00a0 Seldom do we own the function, seldom is the decision up to us, but we always own the outcome.\u00a0 And that is the challenge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>What does it take to be a good facilitator?\u00a0 Got Google?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you can find hundreds of entries that will point you to communication skills, and the structure of meetings, and knowing what questions to ask when.\u00a0 All good, all true.\u00a0 But\u2026and I confess I didn\u2019t Google this, so feel free to check me up\u2026I suspect not much will be written about the importance of intuition in the facilitation process.\u00a0 Ach, you say, Courtney\u2019s gone all woo-woo on us.\u00a0 But no!\u00a0 Intuition is a powerful tool in any discipline that has few hard boundaries, and it is in its element in the facilitation role.<\/p>\n

I suspect many of you have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and if so, you will remember the S\/I continuum.\u00a0 Sensing and Intuition are information-gathering functions.\u00a0 People who are strongly Sensing rely on tangible evidence they can see, sense and feel.\u00a0 They collect details and present their reports factually.\u00a0 They build their position and base their decisions on data, metrics, and facts.\u00a0 Intuitive processors, on the other hand, prefer information that is more abstract, more theoretical, and that fits into a wider context.\u00a0 They trust the flashes of insight that seem to come out of nowhere.\u00a0 What matters to them is how the information fits into the overall pattern.<\/p>\n

We all have both capabilities, but some of us will be skewed in one direction or the other, and some of us will be balanced in the middle, and use both Sensing and Intuition as the situation requires.\u00a0 Clearly, PMs have a high need for Sensing capability, as we need to collect and analyze reams of data, and maintain a clear picture of what\u2019s what in the present.\u00a0 But what isn\u2019t mentioned as often is the value of Intuitive processing in catching problems before they occur, devising the best recovery strategy, or knowing what data point, among all the others, is the most important one.<\/p>\n

Knowing how to pay attention to the context as well as the content is both a talent and a skill.\u00a0\u00a0 We might have a natural preference for Intuitive processing, but to use it effectively, it needs to be nurtured, developed and, eventually, trusted if it is to serve us in good stead.\u00a0 It is what allows us to be in the meeting, but also above the action, taking in the positions of each team member, making sure the handoffs are clean between functional groups, reminding Product Management to connect with Purchasing, who in turn needs to connect with Finance and Business Systems to make sure the ordering process is fully tested out and ready to go.\u00a0 Like a pilot, high above the ground, we can see the pattern of our projects, see how everything fits together, and identify the best pathway to our ultimate goal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For me, Intuitive processing has always been the default mode.\u00a0 I\u2019ve painstakingly honed my Sensing capacity over the years, and have become proficient in analysis and factual reporting, but it seems I spend a great deal of time listening with what I call my other senses.\u00a0 My other ear is constantly assembling and reassembling the elements of team discussions, piecing them together with hallway conversations, and comparing them against previous experience.\u00a0 My other eye is drawing process flows, and envisioning what would happen if we did A instead of B, all the while keeping my attention on the sidewalk to make sure there are no gaps in the pavement to trip us up.\u00a0 And, sometimes, an inner alarm bell will go off, and I know there\u2019s something we\u2019re missing.\u00a0 All of a sudden, I\u2019m fully engaged, and directing the team toward what is calling out for our attention.<\/p>\n

However strong my Intuitive bias, I would not recommend relying on Intuitive processing to the exclusion of Sensing.\u00a0 Sensed information is what allows us Intuitive types to prove our case.\u00a0 Seeing the pattern is only half the battle, we also need to bring ourselves down into the details to find the supporting evidence required to convince the stakeholders that we might need a change in strategy. \u00a0\u00a0Sensed information validates our Intuitive leaps and makes our facilitation both inspired and actionable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I started working as a Program Manager back in the early 90s, I realized that I had to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1510,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,1,855,856,847,849,850],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-priorities-2","category-miscellaneous","category-pmbok-process-executing","category-pmbok-process-monitoring-and-controlling","category-self-leadership","category-team-leadership","category-organizational-leadership"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}