[Ailist] thoughts on working in pairs in small groups

[Lynne Gilliland-Garber]

A few weeks ago I asked a question about working in pairs or small 
groups. I thought it such a insignificant question I hesitated to post 
it.   The response was incredible with lots of ideas, input and 
experiences.  I learned so much from everyone and am grateful.

I remembered all of you when I sent them off into pairs and felt strong 
about why pairs are important. As I led the retreat I reflected for a 
moment on  Murphy Stephen's comment who told me working with groups of 5 
(the size of my group) was his favorite size group.

I am very grateful for all of you and for your support.

Kind regards


Lynne

Leif Josefsson wrote:

> I ran a worskhop with a small group of 4 people working with the topic of
> "the board of directors of the future..."  - It was a group of people from
> the Swedish Association of Board of directors (Not exactly sure of the
> correct English word)
>
> It was not framed as an AI workshop but the background was an expressed
> interest from a major Stockholm design hotel to create spaces for Board
> Meetings.  I thought the concept of AI would fit in order to look into
>
>   1. Exploring and defining the context of this meeting
>   2. Stories of good board work of the past
>   3. Dreaming the perfect board work of the future
>   4. How the Nordic Light Hotel created the perfect meeting solutions
>   for board work of the future
>
> As we only had a few hours and we had 4 active people + me I tested an 
> idea
> of "hot chair" for questions.
>
> For each phase we had a person in the chair - and who this was was quite
> natural.  The instruction was:
>
>   - You will ask questions to this person around the topic
>   - You are not allowed to comment or debate
>   - After we have finished asking questions the "questioneers" will do
>   reflections as a team.
>   - I will simultainiously document what is said.
>
> I acted as a facilitator and in the first phase I had to remind the
> participants about the rules in order for them not to start 
> discussing.  In
> the dream phase they were perfectly in to "roles" - taking about board 
> work
> 2017 as if it was in the present, and in the final phase the Chairman 
> of the
> Swedish association of board of directors went into the position as being
> the CEO of Nordic Light Hotel telling the extremely succesful story about
> how they had created the concept "Board room as a service"
>
> The same night I could e-mal i 8 page report telling about the "good board
> work", "Board work of the future" and the story about "Board room as a
> service"
>
> Conclusion: You can always find ways using the ideas and concepts of 
> AI, if
> you use common sense when designing.  On the other hand, I have used pair
> interviews in a lot of settings without the context being AI.
>
> regards from Leif
>
> 2007/7/5, Lynne Gilliland-Garber <CoachLynne at comcast.net>:
>
>> Please let me know your experience and thinking on having people work in
>> pairs when the large group is very small - maybe 5 or 6 people.  The
>> last small group (7 people) I worked with some group members resisted
>> working in pairs as they thought it was a small enough group to discuss
>> the appreciative questions as a group.  I am working with a group of 5
>> next week and anticipate the same resistance.  I myself like the pairs
>> as it is was to create more intimacy and trust but perhaps I am off the
>> mark here.
>>
>> I look forward to knowing others input on this.
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>>
>> Lynne Gilliland
>>
>> People Development for NGOs
>> www.gillillandjud.com
>>
>>
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