Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-09-15 19:21:13
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Adam Kahane
- ISBN：1523092041
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Making progress on complex， problematic situations requires a new approach to working together: transformative facilitation， a structured and creative process for removing the obstacles to fluid forward movement。
It is becoming less straightforward for people to move forward together。 They face increasing complexity and decreasing control。 They need to work with more people from across more divides。 In such situations， the most common ways of advancing—some people telling others what to do， or everyone just doing what they think they need to—aren’t adequate。
One better way is through facilitating。 But the most common approaches to facilitating—bossy vertical directing from above or collegial horizontal accompanying from alongside—aren’t adequate。 They often leave the participants frustrated and yearning for breakthrough。
This book describes a new approach: transformative facilitation。 It doesn’t choose either the bossy vertical or the collegial horizontal approach: it cycles back and forth between them。 Rather than forcing or cajoling， the facilitator removes the obstacles that stand in the way of people contributing and connecting equitably。 It enables people to bring their whole selves to the process。
This book is for anyone who helps people work together to transform their situation， be it a professional facilitator， manager， consultant， coach， chairperson， organizer， mediator， stakeholder， or friend。 It offers a broad and bold vision of the contribution that facilitation can make to helping people collaborate to make progress。
It is becoming less straightforward for people to move forward together。 They face increasing complexity and decreasing control。 They need to work with more people from across more divides。 In such situations， the most common ways of advancing—some people telling others what to do， or everyone just doing what they think they need to—aren’t adequate。
One better way is through facilitating。 But the most common approaches to facilitating—bossy vertical directing from above or collegial horizontal accompanying from alongside—aren’t adequate。 They often leave the participants frustrated and yearning for breakthrough。
This book describes a new approach: transformative facilitation。 It doesn’t choose either the bossy vertical or the collegial horizontal approach: it cycles back and forth between them。 Rather than forcing or cajoling， the facilitator removes the obstacles that stand in the way of people contributing and connecting equitably。 It enables people to bring their whole selves to the process。
This book is for anyone who helps people work together to transform their situation， be it a professional facilitator， manager， consultant， coach， chairperson， organizer， mediator， stakeholder， or friend。 It offers a broad and bold vision of the contribution that facilitation can make to helping people collaborate to make progress。
Reviews
Chris
，
Adam Kahane is a clear thinker and writer who provides a simple -- yet powerful -- framework for helping diverse stakeholders to move forward together。 Collaboration is never easy and Adam captures not only why it is difficult， but how to make it easier by asking 5 simple questions。 If you are frustrated by the status quo in your company or your community， start your journey forward with this book。 It will save you a lot of pain and you will rely on it often as you go down the path of collaborat Adam Kahane is a clear thinker and writer who provides a simple -- yet powerful -- framework for helping diverse stakeholders to move forward together。 Collaboration is never easy and Adam captures not only why it is difficult， but how to make it easier by asking 5 simple questions。 If you are frustrated by the status quo in your company or your community， start your journey forward with this book。 It will save you a lot of pain and you will rely on it often as you go down the path of collaboration。Thank you Adam for this gift。 I will use it every day in my work to support cross-sector collaborations。 。。。more
Marco
，
Adam Kahane has the gift to give words to what is often invisible to most of us: in this case the apparent simplicity of transformative facilitation is clearly described。 We wish to make social processes flow， in expression of a great potential of what we could do as humans when we come together past our differences。 This desire is at the heart of a social potential that humans have for true， authentic collaboration， but it gets hidden when we think thorough our differences and past prejudices。 Adam Kahane has the gift to give words to what is often invisible to most of us: in this case the apparent simplicity of transformative facilitation is clearly described。 We wish to make social processes flow， in expression of a great potential of what we could do as humans when we come together past our differences。 This desire is at the heart of a social potential that humans have for true， authentic collaboration， but it gets hidden when we think thorough our differences and past prejudices。 Tranformative facilitation is a way of thinking about removing rocks from the stream to allow this potential to flow。 Kahane sheds a light on an apparent conflict: either we facilitate "vertically" and privilege alignment （but get stuck in rigidity）， or we facilitate horizontally and privilege inclusion （but risk lack of collective action）。 And thus， when facilitating， we can feel stuck， conflicted， and forced to make hard choices （are we being inclusive enough？ Is the process still holding？ Do we have enough engagement on the process to go forward？ etc。） But seeing facilitation through the lens of a polarity perspectives also offers us a liberating view on this difficult work。 It helps us to go past our either-ors and see such choices as both-ands that enable us to move forward。 True to its topic， the lessons from the book are crisp and rendered in a simple language （after all the book is about removing obstacles）。 A casual reader might be initially misguided and believe that the lessons are easy or cliche'， but he would be mistaken。 The simplicity of the book's main message is the result of distilling many years of praxis， and we should better take heed。 We live in a time when we feel such urgency to "make things happen": from the alarm bells of the latest IPCC report to the inequalities shown during the Covid-19 pandemic， a lot of things call for our attention and make us want to redesign aspects of our living together。 But Kahane's approach to facilitation described here is an inspiring reminder。 Maybe we don't need to "add" so much or "make" people change， more than we need to remove obstacles and support the people who have a willingness to make change happen and want to do it together。 The time is ripe， Kahane's voice is a clear and gentle invitation， and this book is an essential contribution。 。。。more
Doug
，
This is a thought provoking read for anyone who sees themselves as a “facilitator”。 As Adam Kahane describes， this can be anyone trying to enhance the collaborative effort of any group。 Kahane’s messages， learnings， and examples are so timely for a world that needs deep collaboration across diverse stakeholders more than ever before。I’ve made much of my living as a facilitator， both in the formal role and as someone simply trying to make things easier for those around me。 This book makes it clea This is a thought provoking read for anyone who sees themselves as a “facilitator”。 As Adam Kahane describes， this can be anyone trying to enhance the collaborative effort of any group。 Kahane’s messages， learnings， and examples are so timely for a world that needs deep collaboration across diverse stakeholders more than ever before。I’ve made much of my living as a facilitator， both in the formal role and as someone simply trying to make things easier for those around me。 This book makes it clear why that work is so essential to effective collaboration and， hence， rewarding。 Thank-you Adam Kahane！ 。。。more
Sibout Nooteboom
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Reading this book， I came to realize that Adam Kahane is asking some really fundamental questions。 Perhaps the key question is， in my words: how can someone enable the flow of trust and knowledge between contrasting groups and organizations， so these can synchronize their actions， change the rules of the game together， whilst also preserving their competition。 It is perhaps more an art than a science， but Kahane succeeds in giving words to it。 Highly inspiring。
Martin Gilbraith
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