All Voices Matter

When it comes to running workshops, it's important to make sure that all voices matter.

As a facilitator, one of our key roles is to help the group make decisions. I'll share more about how we improve decision making in future posts, but a crucial component is shared understanding between all people – including having their viewpoints heard.

I was a participant in a workshop recently where all voices weren't treated equally. The facilitator started by explaining the context, then asked if there were any questions. Someone had a query, which seemed important for us to move forwards. And the facilitator brushed it off and said, "Oh, well, we don't really have time to cover that now."

After that, nobody asked any questions. It seemed that some voices were more important than others...

Being in a group where all voices matter creates a strong sense of safety. There are no stupid questions – "the only stupid question is the one you don't ask". In the book The Body Keeps the Score, the importance of safety to the brain's functioning is explained from a neurological point of view. Our mammalian brain is constantly on the look out for danger, and it's only once we know we're safe from threats that our neocortex can come into full swing. This is exactly what we need if we want to tap into people's creativity or higher mental functioning. 

All voices matter, and all voices need to be heard. One of the key roles of facilitation is to gain agreement within the group, and you can't gain agreement unless everyone knows what it is that's being agreed on.

But what if someone says something that no-one else agrees with? What if someone says something that you don't agree with?

Sometimes the quiet voice (or even the not so quiet voice!) can be like a canary in the mine – we ignore them at our own peril. Part of the skill of facilitation is learning how to listen for these voices and to hear what they're telling us with the awareness that sometimes what seems to be a tangent can loop back and lead to new insights.

I'll be sharing further articles on facilitation over the next few weeks. If you're interested to learn more about effective facilitation, you can sign up here to receive the whole series.