Participative Methods 1: General Principles

Facilitation of participative conversations, using any method, requires an understanding of the principles.  This is not just an intellectual understanding but a feel for what is genuinely participative.  This means you need experience.

I don't think we should allow this to stop us experimenting.  There is a shortage of people with this experience and the only way to get it is to decide to work participatively.  How might an inexperienced person make a start?

• Accept that you will get it wrong, initially frequently and even when experienced, from time to time.
• Wherever possible work with a partner.  Give each other permission to be critical and to point out where you each fail to work particpatively. 
• Watch others at work and take whatever training is on offer.

It is difficult to get information about some methods because the practitioners believe they should not be used without training.  Whilst this may be frustrating it is good policy to heed their warnings.  Nevertheless I think there are a few things to consider when you set out to work more participatively.

• Churches are full of very inspirational and engaging leaders, who do not work participatively.  You need to prepare for any event by explaining to these people what you are trying to achieve.  My experience is that it is not worth going to the trouble of organising anything participative if these people do not support you.  They can wreck an event in seconds and will do so if they are not fully supportive.
• Simply rearranging the furniture can make a big difference.  A move from chairs in rows (an arrangement which enables control of a meeting) to chairs around small tables can make a big difference.
• But don't stop there, think through the changes to ways of working this layout might facilitate.
• Not everything is most appropriately dealt with in this way.  Plan a programme that moves between different approaches depending on what needs to be achieved.
• Working with a team means you can have a team member on each table.  They can explain what is expected at each stage and report back on how participation might be improved.
• Experienced resource people should be held in reserve.  Sometimes experienced people will dominate a table.  Where people are exploring an issue, why not hold the resource people in reserve, to go to a table when requested?
• The information generated needs to be recorded.   Make sure the people present understand that this information belongs to them and will be made available to them.  This is not difficult in this age of Web2 applications.