Rationale Facilitator Equipment The Ground Rules for ModellingThe Plastic wall session
The essence of using the plastic wall session is that it encourages participation, discussion and creativity. Having models in a graphical format adds an "ease of use" dimension. The participants can use the models by going up to the “plastic wall”, pointing to certain statements and using them for argumentation. It is important to realize that if the models on the “plastic wall” are well structured then the participants will refer to them more frequently than if they were unstructured and “messy”. This brings us to the role of the modelling facilitator as keeper of model structure.
A verbal discussion is difficult to condense in pure text, for instance
in meeting minutes. The “plastic wall” functions as “explicit” meeting
minutes.
The difference however, between ordinary meeting minutes and the models
on the “plastic wall” is that the latter are explicit to each participant
during the session. There is no need to rely on the interpretation of the
discussion by one person. Another advantage is that, as the model is developed,
people are more inclined to “close” a subject and go forward in the discussion
when their comments has been noted on the “wall”. In an ordinary meeting
people tend to return to subjects that they feel are important in order
to remind the other participants of their point. One effect of this may
be that meeting time is more efficiently used in this kind of modelling
session. Another effect of using the “plastic wall” is that merely pasting
a statement on to the wall encourages discussion, since all the participants
have a shared responsibility for the models. For instance: A statement
X is pasted on to the wall. The participants look at it and often a discussion
starts on what is really meant by X and how it relates to other statements
on the wall. This often results in a refinement of the statement and also
in a further development and refinement of the model in question.
The traditional role of the facilitator is to facilitate the group communication process and to provide method knowledge. We would like to add to this the responsibility for keeping the model structured during the modelling session. This in order for the models on the “plastic wall” to function as the means of communication that they are intended to be. It is often advisable to have two facilitators conducting a session. The first facilitator should be the one that encourages the actual discussion by focussing on the verbal part of modelling, while the second facilitator is engaged in graphical part of modelling, that is making sure that the plastic sheet models are as complete and consistent as necessary. In general, the second facilitator should be responsible for structure, while the first is responsible for creativity.
The facilitators' role should be analagous to that of a conductor of an orchestra. A conductor makes sure that all the players are playing in tune and harmoniously without the conductor actually playing the instruments. A skilfull facilitator will act as a catalyst, making explicit the knowledge of the participants which had been implicit. The degree of involvement of the facilitator in terms of actually leading discussions will most often be inversley related to the collective competence of the group. A knowledgeable and harmoniuos group will then be able to almost "run the session" themselves.
A skilful facilitator need not have detailed domain knowledge, but rather
the ability to deal with a group in a flexible and effective way. Hence,
it may be advisable to engage an external facilitator, who will have the
advantage of not being affected by internal, political and cultural factors.For
group modelling to be successful the knowledge and skills of the facilitator
is critical. If the modelling facilitator does not fulfil the requirements,
the effects of group modelling can in fact be negative and better results
would perhaps be achieved with traditional interviewing techniques.
The modelling session is a group-dynamic social excercise where the
physical conditions must be conducive for creativity and committment. Hence,
the requisite equipment list is presented:
The Ground Rules for
Modelling
These are necessary beacuse they are not self-evident while being necessary
for maximal productivity. They explain the accepted social interactions
and means of furthering creativity. It is also useful that these be presented
to the participants at the beginning of the session:
Copyright
ELEKTRA 1998