The role of the facilitator in working with organisations in crisis

The role of facilitators working with organizations in crisis

(A reworked piece I wrote a few years ago for a newsletter for the previous organisation I worked at www.cdra.org.za) )

In organisational systems crisis should be seen as a natural part of normal organizational development. Some organisations manage to work through crisis whilst others may allow it to destroy them or refuse to see or recognize the crisis (opting for a denial or 'head in the ground' approach). Crisis may be full blown or it may be simmering underground and often presented under the guise of “we need new leadership, we need restructuring or we need teambuilding”. The symptoms are: relationships have broken down, colleagues no longer see the good in each other only the bad, gossiping has reached monumental proportions, cliques have formed often around those who have more power and those who have less (often around differing ideologies, philosophies, rank/position, gender, culture, race, longevity and sense of purpose or identity), old and new staff are in opposition, leadership has lost direction or ability to inspire, there is competition between various factions, there is fragmentation (departments do not talk or share), the organization is unsure if it is having an impact in the world or its work has become formulaic and staid, many staff have left and funding is drying up or finances is in a shambles (corruption or mismanagement of finances). Some reasons for crisis are: there is a lack of shared vision and no unity, self interest persists, staff do not meet regularly in humane ways or talk about the things that matter or converse about what it is they are doing in their work and how they are achieving their organisational goals, sharing both successes and failures.

The facilitator role is to help the organization see itself more clearly both its challenges and strengths and how and why it got to this point – this needs a thorough review, working with time lines examining what it can learn from its past; then a good look at its current situation (what is it facing and what is holding it back); then an exploration into an inspiring future (leading image or scenario mapping to show what could be possible).

The facilitator helps individuals to do self reflection and examine themselves so they can think about their role in the bigger organizational system, how they impact on the organization and then reconnect to each other as an organization in finding a renewed commitment to their common purpose in the world.

The facilitator has to create a safe space where staff can meet each other more authentically in a different way. The main areas of facilitation are: 1) to surface the key issues in a sensitive manner, then allow for the difficult areas to be worked with openly and often here it is about listening deeply, carefully without judgment and hearing each point of view (working through perceptions that people may have of each other and the situation, and helping the group to see, work with and embrace its diversity of feelings, opinions and perceptions) 2) to allow individuals and the organization to engage with each other in an appreciative manner, so that they are able to see what it is they can offer that will turn the situation around 3) providing alternative frameworks, tools and approaches for viewing the organisational system they are working in and the way they are engaging with each other and their work (here it is about helping the individuals to make sense about what it is they are facing.

 It is only once people begin to hear and understand each other fully and once the disgruntled voices are heard and engaged with, the transformation can begin, but the hard and messy stuff needs to be engaged with first in order to relieve and open the space for a different kind of engagement. It is only once all perceptions have been worked through can people begin to connect anew and begin to reinvent the organization so that it is more relevant to its context and able tor offer a refreshed version of itself to the people it serves or the clients who buy from or use its services .Working through this the aim is to get to a point of building an 'authentic' community - as described by M.Scott Peck in his book 'The Different Drum' - a useful framework for looking at how groups work through crisis move through different stages described as:

• Pseudocommunity
• Chaos
• Emptiness
• Community

 Working with crisis and conflict demands skillful, intuitive, loving facilitation that offers safe, healing, reflective, creative engagement and often what needs to be said may be easier depicted in metaphors (through artistic expression like art, drama or movement) than in words. Crisis is an opportunity for change that needs to be fully embraced and worked through. If crisis and dissenting voices or opposing views are not engaged with it will go underground and become a destructive force that will find ways to disturb the system that is not allowing it to emerge or be heard. What follows will be very traumatic for the organization like an unexpected tsunami that no-one is quite prepared for – in this situation healthy engagement is not possible and what often happens is that it brings out the worst in everyone and people often hurt each other or leave feeling completely broken and damaged.

Supporting and mentoring leadership in this situation becomes an important part of the process since leadership can either make or break a system. The rapport and relationship of trust between the facilitator and leadership becomes an important part of the process. Whether leadership is able to change their approach to support change, and if leadership is able to act on the recommendations emerging from change processes, becomes another key aspect of working with and through the crisis. The facilitator may at times need to challenge leadership and provide constructive feedback to assist them in embracing new ways of being and doing.   

The facilitator has to be exceptionally self-aware (of their own stance in the world and whether they are able to hold a polarity of positions and understand different views without taking sides). The facilitator needs a depth of emotional intelligence, an astute understanding of group dynamics and social process, deep listening skills and finely honed intervention skills to ask the right questions, provide analysis of the situation that can help the organization forward and finally follow an emergent approach where you listen to the collective wisdom of the group and use it to take the organization to a different place.

A realization after 21 years of doing this work, is that one has to resign oneself to the reality that some systems will not be able to change, either because the individuals are not ready, the situation is too complicated or the conditions and context do not allow for it to happen. Sometimes crisis may need to completely destroy the system first or even allow it to die, so that something new may emerge that is completely different and of more use to its context, or maybe its time is up and it no longer needs to exist in the form that it was. 

Another lesson is that sometimes as a facilitator you are just not the right fit for an organization and you may have to leave the system and allow someone else to take it forward, or maybe the best thing you can do is leave it alone and allow the natural course of events to unfold - sometimes you may be asked to return at a later stage when the system is ready or when new leadership has taken over.

Facilitating in times of conflict, crisis or dissent is not for the faint hearted - you need to be strong, confident and have a clear sense of your role, a good solid practice and approach, and an open heartedness than can bring healing to situations where people are angry, fearful and stressed. You need to love people unconditionally, see the potential needing to emerge from everyone and look beyond what may present on the surface. A facilitator needs to guard against a heroic role of wanting to save the organisation from itself, but rather allow for the collective wisdom to emerge so that you help it to solve and find solutions to its own problems.