Adaptive Facilitation - The Power Of Thinking Skills In Problem Solving
- Inclusive Innovation
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 44 minutes ago
When I first came across facilitation as a profession, I was naive. I saw the role as preaching over practice. Showing the way, rather than providing the tools for people to navigate their creative journey themselves.
It should be no surprise that, throughout my time collaborating with the Inclusive Innovation team, my view on this matter has evolved considerably. Therefore, as a theory vulture with a need to understand the science, rationale and mad method behind the work we do, my curiosity was particularly piqued when my colleague, Ismet Mamnoon, introduced me to the Thinking Skills Model. Our conversation centred on a key tension…
How can emerging facilitators truly build their instincts and wisdom about how and when to intervene in the creative process?
One can know all the frameworks and tools inside-out, sure. But without the years of experience it takes to fail, test and learn, how can you possibly build the confidence, leadership and credibility to lead a group through a crucial pivot, an uncomfortable conversation or a polarising debate? Each of these moments are, of course, tough. However, they are also incredibly important components of a healthy and thriving collaborative environment.
Let’s explore the typical emotional journey of one of Inclusive Innovation’s workshops. The highs and the lows, the expectations vs realities.
In wanting to aid the team’s less experienced facilitators in pre-empting the emotional and practical needs of our workshop participants, it quickly became clear that our conversation needed more than a simple emotional journey. It needed the texture and complexity that comes when human behaviour collides with creative problem solving.
And so, our ambition evolved.
Could we help bridge the gap of understanding between a participant’s thoughts and actions, so that our facilitators can deliver what they need, when they need it the most?
Introducing The Thinking Skills Model.
Alongside academic Sid Parnes, Alex Osborn (the O in advertising agency, BBDO) co-developed a foundational framework for the creative process in 1953; Creative Problem Solving (CPS). 80 years on and this framework has seen many iterations and developments, and continues to inspire our work today.
The Thinking Skills Model is one of its more recent evolutions, brought to us by Professor Gerard Puccio and his colleagues Marie Mance, Laura Barbero Switalski and Paul Reali in their book Creativity Rising: Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century. Building on the early CPS frameworks, the Thinking Skills Model provided three key phases, with sub-stages attributed to the different thinking required for the task at hand.
The Seven Steps Of The Thinking Skills Model
Assessing the Situation in a VUCA World
Unlike the many iterations before it, an evolution I particularly enjoy about this framework, is at its centre. There, at its core, lies ‘Assessing the Situation’. Here’s where the sense making takes place as you gather data and have to decide your next step. As facilitators in the space of sustainable development and global change, we have to honour the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (or VUCA) contexts that our participants and challenges find themselves in. This central space is critical for collaboration as it forces pause, open conversation and reflection before action.
Cognitive Skills vs Affective States
Having acknowledged the opportunity that sits in this core, one can then dive into the framework’s outer world. As you do so however, take a moment to think about what cognitive skills (i.e. your mindset) and what affective states (i.e. what attitudes, dispositions and motivations need to be demonstrated) are required there in order to achieve success.
As facilitators, it becomes clear that our power and wisdom can be both deployed and developed in order to create the right environment for participants’ to have the necessary skills AND attitudes to develop their approaches in their quest for collaborative and creative success.
Affective State definition: "the ways in which we deal with attitudinal and emotional aspects of learning, including feelings, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivations, attitudes and values” (Butler , B. H - 2002, September - Learning domains of Bloom’s taxonomy adapted for public garden educational programs.)
A Deeper Dive Into The Framework:
At The Core:
PHASE: ASSESSING THE SITUATION
This phase is all about gathering information, identifying key elements and determining your next step.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required? Diagnostic thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required? Mindfulness, Curiosity, Empathy
The Outer Layers
PHASE: CLARIFICATION
This phase involves defining the problem, understanding its context, and identifying desired outcomes.
Step 1
OBJECTIVE: Exploring the Vision
OUTCOME: To develop a vision of a desired outcome, should the challenge be overcome.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required? Visionary thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required? Dreaming
Step 2
OBJECTIVE: Formulating Challenges
OUTCOME: To identify the gaps that must be closed or bridged to achieve the desired outcome.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required? Strategic thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required?
Sensing gaps
PHASE: TRANSFORMATION This phase focuses on generating ideas and developing solutions.
Step 1
OBJECTIVE: Exploring Ideas
OUTCOME: To generate novel ideas that address significant gaps/challenges.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required?
Ideational thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required?Openness to possibilities, Playfulness
Step 2
OBJECTIVE: Formulating Solutions
OUTCOME: To move from ideas to solutions.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required? Evaluative thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required? Avoiding premature closer (i.e. resisting the urge to push for a decision)
PHASE: IMPLEMENTATION
Step 1
OBJECTIVE: Exploring Acceptance
OUTCOME: To increase the likelihood of success by testing solutions.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required?
Contextual thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required?Sensitivity to the environment, Emotional & Social intelligence, Tolerance for complexity and ambiguity and Perseverance
Step 2
OBJECTIVE: Formulating a Plan
OUTCOME: To develop an implementation plan.
Cognitive Skills (or ‘thinking’) required?
Tactical thinking
Affective States (or attitudes) required? Tolerance for Risk, Courage, Perseverance and Resilience
A Revelation
Seeing the creative process mapped with such clear communication about what types of thinking and attitudes need to be encouraged at each step was ground-breaking for me. I could clearly see that even within the clarification stage, different types of thinking are required. A clear vision needs visionary thinking and the ability to dream, sure. But to formulate and align on the key challenges towards this vision needs deeply strategic thinking and the ability to spot gaps. These are very different experiences and mindsets and have very different toolkits and activities to deploy as a result.
Without acknowledging the diversity of thought required at each phase of the process, we facilitators are at constant risk of (at best) disengaging participants from the process or (at worse) excluding them completely.
Given the grand challenges our world faces today, that’s not a risk I’m prepared to take.
With this in mind, see how clearly some common tools now map against this model…
Diagnostic Thinking | Examining a situation closely & using this analysis to decide what process step to take next | Affinity Diagram, SWOT, Fishbone Diagram |
Visionary Thinking | Describing a vivid and concrete picture of the desired future | Cartoon Story Board, Searching for Success Zone, Backcasting |
Strategic Thinking | Identifying the critical gaps and the pathways that need to be followed to attain the desired outcomes | Boundary Examination Webbing, Gap Analysis |
Ideational Thinking | Producing original mental images & thoughts that respond to challenges or opportunities | Direct Analogy & Excursions Rolestorming |
Evaluative Thinking | Assessing the reasonableness & quality of ideas in order to develop workable solutions | Targeting, Card Sort, PCA |
Contextual Thinking | Understanding the interrelated conditions & circumstances that will support or hinder success | Force Field Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Reverse Brainstorming |
Tactical Thinking | Devising a plan in specific & measurable steps for attaining a desired end & monitoring its effectiveness | How-How Diagram, PPA Performance Dashboard |
Credit; Laura Barbero Switalski. M.S. - CRS 614 Advanced Cognitive Tools for Creative Problem Solving- Master course at the Creativity and Change Leadership program, Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University , SUNY
If you also work at the complex intersection of facilitating collaboration across boundaries, my hope is that my AHA moment in discovering this framework might also provide a springboard for you to begin exploring this theory in more detail too. I’ve no doubt it will help make us all better facilitators (and collaborators) as a result!
Read more here…
Gratitude:
A deep thanks to Ismet Mamoon and Laura Barbero Switalski for their inspiration and partnership on writing this article. Without their wisdom on the topic, I wouldn’t have known I wanted to develop my own!