Dynamic Facilitation
The facilitator follows the group's energy rather than an agenda. Every contribution is welcomed and written onto one of four charts: Problem Statements, Solutions, Concerns, and Data. People speak to the facilitator rather than to each other, which takes the heat out of disagreement. Over time the group often sees the problem differently and reaches a solution everyone can support, which Rough calls choice-creating.
Use when a group cares strongly about a messy, contested problem and structured problem-solving keeps stalling.
Solves: Heated issues get cut into agenda items and voted through, and the real disagreement comes back next month.
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Step 1: Put up four charts: Problem Statements, Solutions, Concerns, Data (5 min).
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Step 2: Invite people to say what is on their mind about the issue, speaking to the facilitator (ongoing).
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Step 3: Write each contribution on the matching chart in the speaker's own words and reflect it back until they feel heard (ongoing).
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Step 4: When someone attacks an idea, record it as a Concern and ask what they would do instead (ongoing).
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Step 5: Keep going without forcing convergence. Watch for the problem statement changing or a solution that draws wide energy (2-6 hours).
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Step 6: Read back the charts and name what has shifted, including any decision the group has reached (15 min).
- Protect whoever is speaking. Once people trust they will be heard, they stop repeating themselves.
- Resist steering towards a decision. The shifts come when the group feels fully heard.
- It needs real energy on the issue. With a topic nobody cares about, there is nothing to work with.
- Wisdom Council: a randomly selected group uses Dynamic Facilitation on a public issue and presents its conclusions to the wider community.