The One Thing for Facilitators: Manage 'Airtime'
Jacques The Party Scientist
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The concept of airtime became apparent at a retreat I hosted last weekend. Last weekend, we were in the mountains of British Columbia at a lovely cabin with a sauna and ice bath. Naturally, we would enter long, meaningful discussions about the future of social dynamics, the origins of stubbornness, and our personal stories.
A pattern emerged in the group. A couple of people would take up more space than others, and it frustrated me. My wish was for people to be aware of the space they use. To ask the silent individuals questions so that they were invited to share and take up space too. This is not what happened.
Instead, they didn't take up any space, and two people dominated the airtime. This prevented everyone from feeling heard and included in the discussion.
Airtime: the speaking time available in a conversation
It gets worse. When particular individuals were taking up airtime, it wasn't useful for the group or uplifting. It was 'rambling.' So, facilitators, watch out.
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There are two insights I realized from this experience. The first is monitoring airtime distribution. Is there anyone who is staying silent? Who is dominating the conversation and not letting anyone else have space to share? How can we give everyone the same amount of time to speak?
The second insight is about the usefulness of airtime consumption. How valuable is the content being shared by someone who is consuming airtime? If someone takes up space but doesn't add value to the group, that's a problem. It's worse if someone dominates the conversation and doesn't add value to the group. It's more acceptable if the dominator is adding massive value to the group because they're a subject matter expert.
I use a couple of tools to deal with these problems. Before a meeting begins, I invite everyone to agree on social norms. I explicitly name the importance of airtime distribution. I educate them on the premise of this article. If someone is taking up a lot of space, they will typically self-regulate, or someone will give them feedback. Because there's been a discussion about social norms, no one feels afraid to remind someone to take up less space.
If someone is taking up space but not adding any value to the group, aka rambling, I use this question: What is the essence of what you're sharing? What is the crux? One of my favorite words is the crux. It means the most important thing. When you communicate the crux, you communicate with high information density. You're concise and to the point. Educating your group on what the crux means is a good approach.
The biggest takeaway: When someone dominates the airtime, make sure it is adding value to the group. If it isn't, remind them about the crux.
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10 个月Thanks for sharing! I've struggled with how to confront individuals that take up too much airtime and the question of 'what is the crux?' is a good one.
??Designer, ??producer, ??Certified Speaking Professional, ??emcee for ??Engaging ??????Virtual & Hybrid Meetings. I wrote the #1?? Amazon ??Hot-New Release ??book on Engaging Virtual Meetings.
10 个月I agree! I consistently watch airline in-person, virtual and hybrid. My tool is a "participation map". Have an alphabetical list of every attendee. Make a mark every time a person contributes. You can see patterns of over sharing or someone not saying anything at all. One of my group norms is "Pass". Any attendee can say "Pass" at any time. Often I would check in with someone who hasn't said anything at all. If they say "Pass", I make a mark and move on. Often, they welcome the opportunity to contribute and reflect. In virtual, you can add an emoji to their name using rename. I find the concept and accountability of airtime brings safety and "fairness" to the community. THANKS!!!
Design-to-Delivery Brand Manager at Nestlé
10 个月Thanks for sharing, these ??crux?? and ??airtime?? insights are very important indeed and almost never taken onto account. That being said, this opens several questions. 1- Why “ramblers” are so much taking space? It could be narcisism, a need to prove one’s value, an anxiety of silence and emptiness… It would be good to have this “over-speaker” understanding and awareness. 2- How to have the “rambler” remind themselves to give space to others? I believe asking the listener to confront the “over-speaker” with his potential lack of “crux” is equivalent to asking the confronter to take the burden to be agressive. 3- How to tell “the rambler” to give space, or question his “crux” without hurting his feelings? In this article, it is stated this is told upfront the conversation as a rule. But still. Despite this, there is no guarantee “the rambler” wouldn’t feel offended and in return, become agressive to the one who questioned the “crux”. 4- I’ve been thinking one solution would be for the animator of the meeting to “distribute airtime”. But that might not work either. 5- I’ve also being thinking maybe introducing silence could open to a deeper conversation. Not easy either to learn to deal with it.