CREATE A “CONCERT”

A few months ago, I came upon an interview on television that attracted my attention. There, sitting in his home with an interviewer, was Bruce Springsteen.

At some point in their relaxed discussion, the interviewer said something like, “Bruce, what are some of the things that you believe contribute to your doing your best performances?”

The “Boss” started his response by mentioning in (what appeared at the time to be) a casual way, that his were not performances, but concerts.

Neither the interviewer nor I took his meaning.

As the conversation continued, the interviewer again asked something about Bruce’s “performances.” I soon noticed that with each mention of that word, tension between them increased, but I did not understand why.

On the third or fourth occasion (and with a firmness that commanded my attention) Springsteen explained: “Look, a performance is something that we on stage do for those in the audience. A concert is something that we all do together."

I must admit that I was surprised by the intensity of his comment, but beyond that, I saw in it things that are very important to my work.

Successful facilitation (whether in situations of conflict or otherwise) must be a concert. If it is to succeed, facilitation must be built upon an active part­nership with those people we hope to assist. We must become skillful at observ­ing the results of our efforts and modifying our approach (sometimes moment by moment) as the work proceeds.

As I watch the efforts of those new to the process of enhancing their facili­tation skills, all too often I see that they are performing. On occasion this ten­dency to perform is best understood in the theatrical sense (that is, the sense I used prior to listening to the Springsteen interview): Often, in a simulation in a workshop, I might ask a program participant to “facilitate this discussion for a few minutes.” In response to that request, the participant I have chosen is some­times transformed totally.

I suspect that this happens because, understandably, we all tend to emulate what we have seen, and many of my program participants have seen more than their share of performance-oriented facilitation.

In order to truly enhance the quality of our facilitation, we must move in the direction of working in concert. That can happen only when we build upon the rela­tionship we already have (even if it has recently started). Rather than encouraging people to become someone else when they facilitate, we try to encourage people to be themselves as they take on the new responsibilities of facilitation. Only then can they work in concert and only then can they be truly supportive of those they wish to assist.