The Art of Debriefing

To start our discussion of effective debriefing, I want to give you a list of do’s and don’ts to keep in mind as a facilitator, as well as some suggested debrief topics.  Please remember that one of the most important steps to effective debriefing is effective front loading.  How you set up an activity, a Full Value Contract, or a task will go a long way in processing it after.  More about the idea of frontloading next week.  For now:

When processing with a group, a facilitator should:
1. Accept individuals, but not all behavior
2. Self-disclose thoughts and feelings when appropriate
3. Invite others to self-examine by confronting them directly
4. Identify individual and human relations issues
5. Observe body language and draw accurate inferences from it
6. Create a climate of trust and safety by enforcing certain rules and norms

When processing with a group, a facilitator should not:
1. Attack the personal worth of a participant
2. Compare students to others
3. Lose his or her temper
4. Push people too far
5. Avoid a competitive or carnival atmosphere

Here is a list of debrief topics about that our facilitator group brainstormed.  If you have any to add, please leave them in the comments section:

• Leadership and Followership
• Communication and Feedback
• Recognition
• Teamwork
• Planning
• Reaching Goals
• Devaluing and Discounting Behavior
• Fear (Physical and Emotional)
• Risk-taking
• Group Support and Trust
• Peer Pressure
• Efficiency
• Competition
• Adhering to Safety
• Sexism

Until you get comfortable with debriefing, it is a good idea to fall back on structure.  This is another topic that we will discuss in a future blog entry.  Also, for the next two Mondays, there we’ll have information on activities that are helpful in debriefing.  If you would like to improve your skills even more, I would recommend Project Adventure’s Debrief Skills workshop.

Games Day - Whampum

On April 30, a group of facilitators from The Adventure Center traveled to Renaissance High School in Clarkston Michigan.  I will talk more about this group on Friday, but I played a game with them that I have not done in a long time.  I forgot how much I enjoy playing this icebreaker.  It usually always leads to people laughing and having fun.  It can also give you a window into how safe your group is going to be that day.

WHAMPUM
Equipment-Props:  Styrofoam “boffer” or foam noodle cut in half.

How you do it:

Have the group stand in a circle, with a spot marker for each person.  There should be quite a bit of space on the inside of the circle. The player in the middle has a soft foam boffer 3 or so feet long (it must be soft). A person in the circle shouts, “Mary” (the actual name of a fellow player).  The task is for Mary, who has heard her name loud and clear, to shout the name of another player before  the player in the middle hits her BELOW THE KNEES with the boffer.  So it goes, randomly around the circle until the player in the center successfully hits someone before he or she is able to say the name of another player in the circle (again, below the knees only).  It is a fast game, and demands focus.  As players get used to the game, and to each other’s names, it becomes more and more difficult to get out of the center of the ring.  An easy out has someone yelling “switch”, where the last person who said a name takes the place of the center person, thereby relieving the pressure to perform.

Safety:

The boffer can be used to really whack someone, no matter how soft it is.  A light to medium hit below the knees is acceptable.  Nothing else.

New Camp Director for Camp Adventure

Stay tuned for a story from our new Camp Director.  He has started as of Thursday.  Once we get him settled we will start pumping him for stories.  

Effective Debriefing

A topic that came up in the staff training held by The Adventure Center was the idea of effective debriefing.  For the next three Wednesdays we will post about some do’s and don’ts of debriefing as well as it’s importance. We will also include some effective strategies and activities for debriefing effectively.  Check back often, and in the meantime, post some debrief ideas that you have used. 

Games Day - Blindfold Square

This is a game that works well if you are trying too debrief on perception, communication, and teamwork.  Please keep in mind that if you are doing an activity with blindfolds, you should keep the option open to just close eyes (challenge by choice).  Not everyone is comfortable with blindfolds.  Enjoy!

How you do it:

This is another low prop unpredictable problem solving initiative (the root of all goal setting) that, depending on the karma of the group, will either be solved quickly or not at all.  Reach down into your adventure kit bag for a rope anywhere from 100 to 200 feet in length. The rope length will ultimately determine the dimensions of the square.  The larger the square the more difficult communication can become, which certainly ups the challenge quotient.  Do a quick line up by testosterone level.  If that suggestion results in blank stares try by height, date of birth, length of shoelaces, or the birth date of each person’s maiden aunt.  Once the group has formed up in a line by any means you chose spread them out along the rope as you hand it to them. 

Once rope equipped, the group members put on their blindfolds.  Direct the group to form the rope into a square, and to not remove their blindfolds until there is a consensus that the task has been accomplished.   It is important to have some spotters on hand to protect group members from wandering trees, bushes, highway Impact Attenuators (did you know that’s what those big sand filled barrels are called?), and other human impediments.  Groups will tend to drift about while holding the rope so be prepared.  

Conflict Resolution

Sometimes we cannot control what happens.  The students in our Adventure Based Behavior Management program often have a hard time learning this lesson.  Indeed, I would say that most people have difficulties with the notion that they are not completely in control.  If you ask someone to give us some control, you often come up against a lot of resistance.  There are countless examples of this all around you.  Take just a moment and think about your workplace, your family, and your friends.  What happens when you or someone in your social circle is asked to give up some power or control?

Yesterday I worked with a group of the students in our satellite program from Hazel Park.  We were on an element called the whale watch.  For the uninitiated, it is a giant platform that teeters back and fourth.  The challenge is to get your entire group onto the platform without either side touching the ground.  Approximately 10 of the members of the group had participated in this activity before.

We started the activity and the students started to do what comes natural to them.  They started fighting for power in the group.  One member in particular was really trying to make is voice heard.  So much so that when other members would bring up the same ideas as him, he would get frustrated and tell them that it was a stupid idea, then restate his idea with slightly different language.  Many group members quickly became frustrated with this.

Most of the members come from situations that when this power struggle starts to happen, they will either shy away or go full on into an argument.  There is no in between.  As you might be able to tell, the group quickly degenerated into six members all trying to yell over each other and the rest of the group walking away from the activity.  At one point the group was brought back together, and that is when it happened.

One of the members decided that they would go around the group and hear what everyone had to say.  When they came to one student in particular, he was able to point out directly that there was a power struggle happening and that it was not helping the group.  He was able to convince the group that if they all gave up some control, and just go with an idea, they would most likely be successful.  They all agreed, attempted the activity again, and were successful.

The whole activity took almost an hour.  It was necessary to let the conflict happen in order to allow the group to reach the point of success.  That was the power that I had to give up.  Typically when a group starts to experience conflict, I will step in and stop it.  This day, for some reason, I decided to let go of some of my control, let conflict happen, and I was rewarded with a group that was more self-sufficient at solving their own issues.

Feedback - The CROW Method

This past weekend The Adventure Center held low ropes training for our staff.  It was a great training, even with snow on Sunday.  One of the things that we focused on in this training was giving and receiving positive feedback.  The model that we created is what we call the CROW method.

 

C – Constructive – Try to offer solutions with the issues that you confront.  If you cannot offer a solution, offer to brainstorm with the other person.

 

R – Relevant – The feedback should be delivered in a timely fashion and address the issues that relate directly to your program, work or idea.

 

O – Open – You should invite conversation with your feedback.  Avoid making statements and then cutting off conversation.  Allow for enough time to address issues fully.

 

W – Well Intended – Recognize that everyone in your organization is trying for the same goals.  Offer your feedback based on the want to improve those goals. 

 

What I found was that after discussing the CROW method with our staff, it made the feedback sessions after the practice facilitation much easier.  Everyone seemed to understand that the comments were coming from a good place, and that each facilitator wanted to help the others be better at what they do. 

Game Day - The Quagmire

This is an initiative that can be adapted in many different ways.  I will give the simplest version here and you can let your creativity run wild.  Enjoy! 

The Quagmire

How You Do It:

Journeys are often exciting, but if not carefully planned can contain a significant element of risk.  How about walking through a quagmire with a blindfold on?

This activity allows for the creation of a relatively benevolent quagmire using fleece balls, rubber chickens, chairs, sprung mousetraps, plastic squids and other creatures, hanging Cray paper, and any other non lethal objects you might have handy in your bag of tricks.   Mark off a large boundary area, rectangular in shape, say 20 feet wide and 40 feet long.  The dimensions of the Mine Field can be varied to increase or reduce the challenge or adjust to group size.  Now take your explosive items and scatter them about the Field, making a straight line path through the exploding debris impossible to negotiate. 

Get your group divided into pairs, using the usual assortment of uniquely adventure methods for doing so. One member of each pair loses her sight either by keeping eyes tightly squeezed shut or with the use of a blindfold.  The partner must guide her through the obstacles you’ve created while remaining outside of the boundary area.  Completion may mean reaching the other side, only stepping on a predetermined number of mines, or any other definition of success that the group wishes to establish. 

Sending more than one explorer into the field at a time from different directions adds to the incendiary potential.  Switching guides mid field is another delightfully sadistic variation.   Ask the group to think metaphorically about the exploding objects.  What might they represent as obstacles to reaching individual and group goals?  Label them using the group’s ideas.  

Stories - Matt Langdon

Last week I asked a question: ”Please share a story about a time when you got to see a camper or client after their time at camp or your program.”  This story is a repost from one of our writers.

My first cabin. Courtney.

I had the worst cabin of the first week. I didn’t give it that distinction, everyone else did. I wouldn’t have known what a good or bad cabin was in the first week.

Courtney was the ringleader. He was the first African-American kid I’d ever talked to as I am Australian. I had no idea about his culture, background, anything. And he knew it.

He also found great mirth in the fact that I didn’t pronounce the R in his name. So any time I tried to talk to him for his behaviour he just laughed. As did the rest of the cabin. Obviously Courtney went down in the Hall of Fame for me. For all the wrong reasons.

Then three years later I saw him in the mall and he recognized me instantly and ran over to say hi. He showed me off to his mum and friends because I was his favourite counselor ever. What? That chance visit told me everything I needed to know for the rest of my camping career.

The Full Value Contract

A Full Value Contract can be used to gain buy-in from a group, as an accountability tool, as a way to assess group progress, and much more. It is a shared creation, developed in words that are understandable to all group members. It creates an emotionally and physically safe environment supported by all group members. All versions of the Full Value Contract ask the group:

1) To understand and/or create safe and respectful behavioral norms under which to operate
2) For a commitment to those norms by everyone in the group
3) To accept and share responsibility for the maintenance of those norms

The FVC is something that can be developed quickly or something that can evolve over time. It is a way to allow members of a team to talk openly to each other, to give and receive feed back in a positive way, and set standards for behavior in a group.
I have seen a number of ways to create the contract. One simple way is to apply a word (i.e. trust, communication, fun, etc.) to each finger. Then in the debrief of each activity, refer to each of the fingers to see how the group is doing with that.

A more complex way that I tried that was quite successful was to allow a dance team, using a large piece of newsprint to create a standard for how they wanted to be treated throughout their dance season. I gave them the idea behind the FVC and facilitated the process of creating the words they wanted to use, and then asked them to create a visual to represent that.

What came out was a beautiful drawing of their “path to success” with all of the words in different places along the road. I later found out that the team sent this drawing to a printer and it became the design for the team tee shirts for that season.

For those readers who have used a Full Value Contract, what were some successful (or unsuccessful) contracts that your groups have created?

*Image from www.advicenow.org.uk