# 2019-04-23 Fabriders: Monthly Net-Centre Resources Call

:dart: **Topic:** Gunner@Aspiration talking about his experience coaching, advising and providing leadership to network-centric projects.
:date: **Date:** Tues, Apr 23, 2019 @ 11-12:15pm
:family: **Who's here?** patcon, ... 23 others
:arrow_forward: **Video:** https://www.fabriders.net/ncrnotesgunnerfacilitativeleadership/

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## Notes

- facilitated leadership. system to help ppl collectively reach goal.
- [name=patcon] "relational leadership"?
- agency and equity to all stakeholders thru “sustainable measure” (ensure its earned)
- those who haven’t earned to right can make noise, without establishing that they’re there to help the collective.
- identify others in a group who are also focussed on collective outcomes. thinking about collective goals. move power to those ppl, and away from anyone trying to take individual control. ppl who feel entitled. ppl who don’t share. ppl talk too much.
- re: hierarchies. how do you operate around them? is it about subverting hierarchy or breaking it down.
- about breaking down power dynamics, of which hierarchy is a rigid subset?
- #ask what the the flows of power? how do we stream power to new ppl while making sure that it’s revoked to given up when someone becomes more central.
- proactive attention to governance. little G governance. what do you put in place to allow you to be a facilitative leader. participation guidelines. rule of 3. 1) use the simplest language you can use. 2) try to make only one point. 3) in a group of n people, speak 1/nth time.
- minimum viable governance constuct. if you’re making up rules on the fly,
- painting lines on the metaphorical playing field.
- last trait. third? iterative negotiation. negotiation is core concept. pattern of ask before tell. find out what folks you’re engaging with are thinking before you lay something down. ask before tell, but counter-propose.
- story you’re telling, with gov frameowkr, and interatively negotiate to arrive at shared platform.
- examples
- xxx vs expertism. do what the leader says. sense of expertism or specialness. panel. front of room. separate from ocean. how is event designed and organizers behaving, in way that acks that power exists in collective.
- fan of studying gov in open projects. debian. consultative ethic. gov framework to get input. but ALSO, leaders understand how to take all input, filter, and echo counter-proposal for rough consensus. not trying to please everyone. converging on outcomes that feel collective, but sustainable process.
- any process where you ask before tell, is on its way to "facilitative leadership". (humility)

### Small Group Notes

- Our group (some): patcon, c5, bob
- what does equitable inclusive leadership look like to you?
- what does your own leadership framework look like compared to gunner.
- sheekay. phillipines. activist
- core of how you design.
- namedropping
- passive agressively silence ppl through shock and awe of connections
- design a ton of one-on-one time. less performative.
-
- bob
- interested in the ground rules. 3 principles.
- return (many)
- before project: unpacking negotiation with fellow stakeholders. shared values around gov.
- one in project: evoke unassailable things. outcomes and collective you are facilitating.
- if someone thinking you can get to goal X with one person being in front of room talking.
- antipattern: strategy planning session where ppl gives presentations and everyone agrees.
- funders: need to fetishize collectivism more than expertise.

### Q&A

- #question Kate D: how do you overcome reluctance of participants to overcome facilitation?
- preflight ppl who might have issues which facilitative model
- fear of having to speak. respect this, but don't let it undermine
- fear of being undermining existing authority
- fear of unknown
- fear of bad previous facilitator experience
- worth ack'ing: "it might suck, but i'll do my best to have it not suck" (ppl feel acknowledged in their concern)
- #question David: how do you deal with expectation that leader is suppose to have expertise?
- take the piss out of leadership as a term. either seen as bad work or fetishize it as expertism.
- find out what ppl think of leadership in advance. (but not necessary to ask "what does leadership mean to you?")
- "what aspects of governance matter to you the most?"
- don't ask about suggestions for practice, but ask what _matters_
- you're finding out who's in the room by what they value
- i often play the jester in the room, creating self-deprecating humility. subverting stereotypes of leadership. acting out paradox of leadership. need to write, but only after you ask.
- #question Susan Abbott: how do you deal with info overload? [sic]
- algorithm. 1) throw up any idea on postits. 2) sorting and processing. columns, labels, votes for deeper convo. 3) actual data analysis. raw map of full. subset of data. facilitator judgement to sort (incl things that didn't get votes, re: equity and other). 4) deeper next steps in project.
- approach what these proceses generate as "data processing". not perfect model, but helps.
- can still do all this, but fail if you **don't honor the work done**. how you finish process is important. show that the participatory energy invested was worth it.
- if you're _acting_ on the data, you're honoring that facilitative work.
- #question kirstie whittaker: how much time does facilitation take? do you have a rubric for how much work should be done beforehand?
- will expand to fill available time -- noble gas practice
- ...
- 2:1 or 3:1 time prep ratio. ratio breaks as meeting time gets shorter.
- depends on audience, as some groups run themselves a little more
- #question Dave Algoso: whole org vs small team shift. what impact can one event have? at what point do we just create alternative institutions instead?
- large org faciltiated leadership might also be labour organizing. empower disempowered ppl. give sense of purpose, voice, and accompplishment.
- simple as "let's collab in shared doc", that can be _mind-blowing_
- as much bottom up change as top-down.
- activist term = "invisible theatre". having loud conversations in public. eg. staged convo in supermarket in front of brand product, over and over and in many places.
- from Kate Wing chat: Augusto Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-Actors
- akin to giving "talking points". leadership wants to hear points on opportunity cost, impact, etc.
- teach how to claim back power from senior leadership

## Transcript

- [name=patcon] Withheld because I wasn't sure if it was public asset. Was this clarified at start of call, Dirk?