Two things that work better on the screen than in the room
Q: When is a blank screen a useful screen?
A: In a fishbowl and a troika.
These are just two facilitated processes that Rebecca Sutherns and I agree work better online than they do in the room.
For the fishbowl, we reckon it’s because:
🐠 The small group in the fishbowl can’t see the circle of other workshop participants around them. Their presence isn’t as distracting. Those in the fishbowl can focus on each other, the issues at hand or really getting into character, if it’s a role play.
🐟 It could be less intimidating too. In a fishbowl, inside a larger circle of people, it can feel like you’re under the spotlight. ‘What if I say something stupid? What if they get annoyed with me?'
🐡 Rebecca also thinks that the process works better online for the people not in the fishbowl. They don’t feel as excluded as they might feel in a physical room. You can participate in ways you can’t in person. The facilitator, for instance, can invite you to put ideas in the chat box. Everyone can contribute, quickly and efficiently.
It may feel counter intuitive, but Rebecca often leaves everyone unmuted, so that the people in the fishbowl can hear laughter if they do or say something funny.
The second process, troika, is an empowering peer coaching process. The ‘client’ in the trio briefly explains their problem to two ‘consultants’, who then come up with ideas to solve it. If there’s time, you can do a few rounds. It seems to work better, interpersonally, online.
Face-to-face, the ‘client’ turns their back, or their chair, to the two ‘consultants’ and listens to their discussion about his or her problem. They usually take notes furiously because the ‘consultants’ come up with gold. But as Rebecca says it’s a bit odd because, ‘…you’ve got this dynamic of being spoken about while you’re sitting right there.’
Online, the ‘client’ just turns their camera off. And as we turn our cameras on and off all the time, it doesn’t feel weird listening to two other people discuss your problem.
Setting up a Round Robin speaking order is another process that seems to work better online. Get all the details in our Best of Both Worlds riff #4. You can watch it here.
Enjoy! And please drop me a line to share your thoughts. I’d love to build on the conversation.
Work with me to get the best of both worlds for your next workshop.
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