3 Proven methods for facilitating a ‘tough’ crowd
We’ve all been there. You walk into the room and the tension could be cut with a knife. There is silence or perhaps a few groups are chatting and excluding others.
You take a deep breath and think fast about what you can do to change the mood.
Here are three suggestions for you:
- If you haven’t been briefed about what the potential issues are that could have pre-warned you about the situation, you might have time to speak privately to a leader or someone in the room you know. If you have the chance to pull them aside, they might be able to give you some insights about what has happened to result in this rather toxic atmosphere.
- When the mood is icy, there is no point in doing a long preamble. Get into an activity as soon as possible. If you can re-shuffle the room as part of the activity, that is great. If you can get people out of their chairs and moving around the room, this helps change up the energy. Even if the activity is really basic like meeting in a group and writing up some key expectations on a whiteboard, at least the group is doing something positive.
- Even if you haven’t been trained yet in the LEGO® Serious Play® methodology (we know that we will get you over the line eventually), you can bring out any type of manipulative tool. You might have access to playdough or to drawing materials. As soon as people start to play and use their hands, the atmosphere in the room changes immediately. You will notice how the group starts to move into flow as they become absorbed in what they are constructing or drawing.
A LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation course can help you perceive better the climate in a facilitation session, and will offer you the tools to dissipate the tension and get working on solving the problems at hand.
Join our LEGO® Serious Play® community and become a certified facilitator now.
