Being a facilitator is like being a construction worker: a surprising amount of standing around telling people when to stop and start. 😉
This is an analogy.
Analogies are everywhere. In songs, in poems, in our conversations and stories.
Analogies seem so simple and commonplace that it’s easy to underestimate how powerful a facilitation tool they can be.
In this post, we’re going to share multiple ways you can use Analogies in your sessions and what you can do to unlock the full potential of this powerful process.
Analogies as an Icebreaker
Icebreakers might be the most searched for thing in the facilitation world. And for good reason. The first 5 minutes of a workshop really matter. It can sets the pace and expectation for the rest of the workshop. Many participants will decide in the first 5 minutes if they’re going to pay attention to the session or if they can (and will) entirely tune out.
Analogies is a fun, simple, and unexpected icebreaker. It excels at novelty while remaining simple and quick to set up.
At our March Playground (a monthly event where we explore new facilitation frameworks), we used Analogies as our warm-up by asking everyone to look at these pictures of junk drawers and pick an item that best represents them as a Facilitator, and to tell us why.
You can do this same thing, even steal our image, for tons of sessions you might be facilitating. Which represents your teaching style, quality a leader should have, the type of parent you want to be, the list is endless.
Analogies make a great icebreaker for a few reasons. The first is the element of creative limitation. Imagine being asked, “Tell me one thing about the sort of parent you want to be?” right at the beginning of a workshop. My brain says YIKES. Now make it an Analogy, “Pick something in this junk drawer that represents one thing about the sort of parent you want to be.” The creative limitation and the forced connection between two unlike things allows us to say something specific but with a fun and novel reason.
Because it’s unexpected, it also can be a great way to start a session with levity and creativity. What’s better for bonding than having everyone agree that being a facilitator is like being a Nokia phone, hard to break & resistant to fiddly technology!
Analogies for Clarification
The second way you can use Analogizing is as a clarification process, a way to really get into the details of a concept, idea, or topic
We often reach for Analogizing in our sessions when we’re wanting the group to have a conversation about something they’ve likely talked about or explored before.
How many times have we all had to talk about good leadership qualities, team dynamics, how to have a successful event or meeting. Likely too many.
Analogizing allows us to have this same conversation from a new perspective and the challenge of constantly comparing two unlike things can give us new understandings and perspectives.
In our March Playground we explored the topic of being a facilitator. To do this we asked participants to pick a hands-on profession (construction worker, ER Nurse, etc…) and then relate how that job was similar to being a facilitator.
Being a facilitator is like being a [insert profession that works hands-on] because ______.
Once the prompt was given, we sent everyone off to breakout rooms to come up with their analogies and then debriefed.
The conversation surprised everyone. These were people who had thought a lot about facilitation and yet all of us walked away with new insights, ways to explain our roles as facilitators, and surprise and the level of connection and specificity we were able to get to in just a short period of time because of Analogies.
Tips for Facilitating Analogies
With Analogies, it’s best to start with having people generate a list of possibilities in writing. The pairs that just chatted out the options spent a lot of time on coming up with options when the heart of the activity is in the details. Writing them down moves them through this process faster and can avoid a bit of groupthink.
Ensure that within the pairs one person plays the role of scribe and notes the insights that come up during the discussion. This had a positive impact on the experience, allowed for more specific reporting out in the debrief, and increased participants’ satisfaction with their work with the activity.
Give people time to dig in. While the ideas come quickly, it’s in the details that most people can really start to see new perspectives and ideas. We found 10 minutes to be a good starting place for the initial pair discussions.
Why We Love Analogizing
Since the process requires participants to make connections where they aren’t obvious, each discovery can create a little moment of excitement which makes the process energizing.
Analogizing is a great starting place for a larger discussion of the topic. It also allows for differences to come to the surface (styles, priorities, etc.) without judgment. Often it’s hard to discuss differences in leadership/facilitation styles without there being a weight of “this is the better way to be…”.
Prompt Ideas
One thing we’ve heard from the Facilitator Cards Community is that sometimes it can be hard to generate prompts out of thin air for their workshops.
Sometimes it’s hard to come up with prompts for a process and it can be helpful to just have some to reference in those moments. While these examples are specific, we hope they can inspire prompts for any situation!
- Describe your leadership style… as a kitchen implement
- Being a leader is like a ‘sweet treat’ because… - this could be followed up with “My job is sweet because…”
- Being a leader is like being a superhero
- Your ideal leadership feels like which kind of children’s game
- Describe your leadership style by picking a type of beverage…
- I want to be the kind of leader who is like a [insert other job types] because…
See it in Action
If you want to see how we introduce Analogies and some of the discussions that follow, the clip below taken from our March Playground will let you do just that!
Analogies are super flexible in their application and are a great way to break up discussions, get everyone thinking in a new way. Plus it’s always a great way to identify your funniest participants wink.