I am reading up on facilitation techniques so I can customise a workshop I am running for an upcoming client. I discovered something called the ‘Troika Liberating Structure.’ (I ‘discovered’ this in the same sense that Europeans ‘discovered’ America).

Weirdly, the term ‘Troika’ means a political regime ruled effectively as a collective authority of three powerful but separate individuals. OK, is this a facilitation technique or a cool, new NetFlix drama?

The bones of it are:
1.  Form groups of three and invite them to explore the questions “What is your challenge?” and “What kind of help do you need?”
2.  Have the groups sit in small circles, preferably with knee-to-knee seating. In each round, one participant is the “client”, the others are “consultants”. Everyone has an equal opportunity to receive and give coaching.
3.  Invite the participants to reflect on the consulting question (the challenge and the help needed) they plan to ask when they are the clients (1 min.)
4.  Round one starts with the first client sharing his or her question in a more detail (1–2 min.)
5.  Consultants ask the client clarifying questions (1–2 min.)
6.  Client turns around with his or her back facing the consultants
7.  Together, the consultants generate ideas, suggestions, coaching advice (4–5 min.)
8.  The client turns around and shares what was most valuable about the experience (1–2 min.)
9.  Groups switch to the next person and repeat the steps.

I’ve been doing variations on this for years but there are some subtleties in the Troika that could make a real difference. I can see it working with virtual teams using tech. I can see it being more inclusive of introverted personalities, and different cultures.

I’m posting about Troika because the fundamental premis of it is that the answers a team needs probably already lie within the team itself, not some external provider of consulting wisdom, nor some inherently gifted leader with good intent. Better still, the ‘internal consultation process’ isn’t mutually exclusive, and you can still spend time and money on external folk if you wish. Each source of info can either corroborate each other, or raise a flag by contradicting, thus driving a search for a tie-breaking source.

Certainly, I find that an external independent facilitator / trainer is usually a good investment but then I would say that, wouldn’t I?

#facilitationskills #leadershipdevelopment #brainstorming