Holistic 'Structured' Thought Processes - Process Skills | Gary Rush Facilitation

February 2022 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator Newsletter

structuredthoughts

Holistic ‘Structured’ Thought Processes – Process Skills | Gary Rush, IAF CPF | M

One weakness for many Facilitators is structured thought processes – process skills.  They deal well with people issues, but they struggle defining a clear, structured thought process for the group to follow.  I’m talking about processes that help structure the thinking of a group so that they can make effective decisions to ensure well thought-out solutions.

How often have you attended a meeting where people work together well, but can’t get from point A to point B when it comes to making decisions?  It isn’t because they can’t decide.  It’s because something is missing – a structured thought process.  For example, a group is in a meeting developing criteria to choose between vendors for a project, but they disagree about the criteria.  Why?  There are two (2) major reasons why groups disagree about criteria:

  1. They don’t have an overarching goal to guide the criteria.
  2. They disagree about “subjective” criteria (e.g., vendor viability).

A well-structured holistic thought process solves both problems.

Process Skills are Misunderstood

Facilitators make the mistake of thinking that process relates to business procedures – it doesn’t.  Process is a way of organizing thoughts to methodically think through a problem, decide, prioritize a list, etc.  Too often, groups jump ahead to solutions without defining the problem, so they struggle because they don’t share a common goal – these are process issues.  A holistic structured thought process helps avoid missing crucial components, such as “Overall Goal”.   Some basic structured thought processes are:

  • For Problem-Solving:
    • Symptoms --> Cause --> Solution
    • Problem Statement --> Objectives --> Solutions  Select Solution
    • What is happening? --> What are the problems or missed opportunities? --> What will we do?
  • For Setting Direction:
    • Vision --> Goals --> Objectives --> Tactics
    • Why --> Where --> How --> When
  • For Defining Actions:
    • What --> Who --> When
    • What are we Doing --> What are the Barriers --> What do we want to Accomplish --> How do we get There?
    • Overall Goal --> Steps to reach Goal --> Sequence of Steps

“Process Skills” are Crucial

Process Skills are just as important as People Skills.  Without process skills, groups will struggle and break down making win-win difficult at best.

People Need Balanced Holistic Structured Learning

When I train Facilitators, I devote 50% of class time to People Skills and 50% to Process Skills, providing balanced Holistic Structured Learning.  People need to know “how to” form teams (people skills) and they need to know “how to” guide teams to a well thought-out solution (process skills). 

Process Skills provide deliberate, holistic structured thought processes to build something of value.