Debrief: All Aboard (Pile On!)
If I were to fit this activity into one of the stages of group formation - it would likely be the norming stage of group formation. So we've gone through the forming and storming stages - we had some conflicts and disagreements and have survived to tell the story. The group still has some kinks to work out but all in all - you're starting to see some good stuff come to the surface. Things that you will start seeing - idea sharing between participants, supporting each other, creativity, and trust building.
To encourage your group during this stage - activities like Pile On! are perfect. It allows group members to still plan and strategize with each other and continue to build trust. It does introduce physical contact so that is something you always have to be aware of and watching as your participants interact with each other. Note their comfort levels and how the activity progresses.
While I go through this debrief - I want to outline a pretty standard framework for processing (as far as using questions go...there's ooodles of other kinds of processing styles). I often find that if you're just starting out with facilitating activities of any kind - understanding how to frame questions is very important. Almost all of my staff first learn how to walk participants through debriefs by a "question and answer" method. It isn't wrong - I will often use it too...it's just important to remember that it isn't the only way or the Gold Standard way to do it. There's plenty of other methods and tools out there...they just take some time to figure out how to use them - which is where most facilitators stop. Who has time to learn more ways to process when I'm learning dozens of new activities?!? Remember - it's the debrief/processing time that contains the punchline to the activities...not the other way around. I'll go more in depth with processing another day but for now...let's look at an effective way to go about Q&A:
What? - Fact finding, Understanding the Objective
There are times for one word answers and times for lengthy answers. Make sure you are asking questions that solicit the type of answer you're looking for (remembering that the processing time isn't about you getting what you want...it's about the participant taking something away from the experience). The What? question is simply looking to see if your participants understood the objective of the task. I often will explain it in this way: "If someone were to walk by - what would they see or hear?". You are just looking for facts - no reading into anything.
In context with Pile On! - some of the Whats might be:
- A group of people mushed together
- A large group hug
- lots of yelling or uncomfortable sounds
- People complaining
- People disagreeing with each other
- Teamwork
- Laughter, people having fun
- Weirdness, confusion
So What? - Understanding the dynamics of the activity, each other
This part of the debrief may take a bit of time depending on your group. It's like asking what is really going on during the activity. If you look above at the example that Pile On! might generate for the "what" question - you want your group to scratch the surface a little more. You will find that the debrief will begin leading the group down a path. Maybe issues came up like communication, shared leadership or maybe dictatorship, conflict...
Again, in context with Pile On! - Here's some So What? questions that may come up...
- How did we work as a team?
- What did you learn and how can you use it?
- Were we comfortable being that close to each other?
- Did we move too quickly - did everyone's suggestions get heard?
- Did someone stand out as the leader?
- Why is this experience important?
- What did our plan look like in the beginning? Was it the same in the end?
- Did we have to change our plan? How easy was that?
- Did we stay on task? What distracted us from the task?
- How did we perform as a team?
- What could we do differently next time to make it better?
Now What? - Taking what we've learned and applying it to our life
This is often seen as the punchline. It's the hope of every facilitator in the world that every participant they come in contact with will have an "AHA!" moment during each activity because they've learned something about themselves - that they've connected something in one of the activities to their own lives. It's important to know and then remind yourself that you cannot control that - you can only create an environment that fosters that process. The Now What? part of the questioning addresses where the participants experience similar thoughts, feelings, interactions, etc... in their everyday lives.
Back to Pile On! - Now What? questions may look like this:
- Where do we encounter these types of interactions at school?
- Have you ever been uncomfortable situations before? What did you do?
- What will you do with what you just learned?
- How does this relate to real life?
- What do you want to remember about what was experienced?
There are tons of tools that can get you started on Q and A processing that really ask the questions for you. Chiji cards and dice, Debrief Thumballs, and Debrief Wheelies (all three found at either Adventureworks or Training Wheels online stores). There's also some great resources available to you from Michelle Cummings herself like The Teachable Moment which are all activities based around processing and debriefs.
I think that's all for now - I sure could go on about processing for hours but I'm afraid that either my grammer or your attention would wane. Have a great weekend and hopefully I'll be back next week (I'm recruiting staff for the rest of January so be patient if I miss a couple of weeks!).
Happy processing!
To encourage your group during this stage - activities like Pile On! are perfect. It allows group members to still plan and strategize with each other and continue to build trust. It does introduce physical contact so that is something you always have to be aware of and watching as your participants interact with each other. Note their comfort levels and how the activity progresses.
While I go through this debrief - I want to outline a pretty standard framework for processing (as far as using questions go...there's ooodles of other kinds of processing styles). I often find that if you're just starting out with facilitating activities of any kind - understanding how to frame questions is very important. Almost all of my staff first learn how to walk participants through debriefs by a "question and answer" method. It isn't wrong - I will often use it too...it's just important to remember that it isn't the only way or the Gold Standard way to do it. There's plenty of other methods and tools out there...they just take some time to figure out how to use them - which is where most facilitators stop. Who has time to learn more ways to process when I'm learning dozens of new activities?!? Remember - it's the debrief/processing time that contains the punchline to the activities...not the other way around. I'll go more in depth with processing another day but for now...let's look at an effective way to go about Q&A:
What? - Fact finding, Understanding the Objective
There are times for one word answers and times for lengthy answers. Make sure you are asking questions that solicit the type of answer you're looking for (remembering that the processing time isn't about you getting what you want...it's about the participant taking something away from the experience). The What? question is simply looking to see if your participants understood the objective of the task. I often will explain it in this way: "If someone were to walk by - what would they see or hear?". You are just looking for facts - no reading into anything.
In context with Pile On! - some of the Whats might be:
- A group of people mushed together
- A large group hug
- lots of yelling or uncomfortable sounds
- People complaining
- People disagreeing with each other
- Teamwork
- Laughter, people having fun
- Weirdness, confusion
So What? - Understanding the dynamics of the activity, each other
This part of the debrief may take a bit of time depending on your group. It's like asking what is really going on during the activity. If you look above at the example that Pile On! might generate for the "what" question - you want your group to scratch the surface a little more. You will find that the debrief will begin leading the group down a path. Maybe issues came up like communication, shared leadership or maybe dictatorship, conflict...
Again, in context with Pile On! - Here's some So What? questions that may come up...
- How did we work as a team?
- What did you learn and how can you use it?
- Were we comfortable being that close to each other?
- Did we move too quickly - did everyone's suggestions get heard?
- Did someone stand out as the leader?
- Why is this experience important?
- What did our plan look like in the beginning? Was it the same in the end?
- Did we have to change our plan? How easy was that?
- Did we stay on task? What distracted us from the task?
- How did we perform as a team?
- What could we do differently next time to make it better?
Now What? - Taking what we've learned and applying it to our life
This is often seen as the punchline. It's the hope of every facilitator in the world that every participant they come in contact with will have an "AHA!" moment during each activity because they've learned something about themselves - that they've connected something in one of the activities to their own lives. It's important to know and then remind yourself that you cannot control that - you can only create an environment that fosters that process. The Now What? part of the questioning addresses where the participants experience similar thoughts, feelings, interactions, etc... in their everyday lives.
Back to Pile On! - Now What? questions may look like this:
- Where do we encounter these types of interactions at school?
- Have you ever been uncomfortable situations before? What did you do?
- What will you do with what you just learned?
- How does this relate to real life?
- What do you want to remember about what was experienced?
There are tons of tools that can get you started on Q and A processing that really ask the questions for you. Chiji cards and dice, Debrief Thumballs, and Debrief Wheelies (all three found at either Adventureworks or Training Wheels online stores). There's also some great resources available to you from Michelle Cummings herself like The Teachable Moment which are all activities based around processing and debriefs.
I think that's all for now - I sure could go on about processing for hours but I'm afraid that either my grammer or your attention would wane. Have a great weekend and hopefully I'll be back next week (I'm recruiting staff for the rest of January so be patient if I miss a couple of weeks!).
Happy processing!
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