Innovative Facilitation Tools Help Advance Strategic Community Initiatives for Long-term Economic Impact

Innovative Facilitation Tools Help Advance Strategic Community Initiatives for Long-term Economic Impact

The ERCGP is the voice of the business community around Erie, Pennsylvania, representing more than 800 businesses and organizations in the region. The Growth Partnership division of the ERCGP represents more than 140 Erie area CEOs. Its charge is to pursue three important regional objectives:

Support a vibrant urban area that is a center for business, retail, home life, entertainment and culture;

Promote strong public/private partnerships to achieve important regional objectives;

Support regionalism in whatever forms make sense.

In evaluating how to lead the Growth Partnership, they identified one skill area that would be critical to success: expert group facilitation. They were aware that people from the private sector think very differently from those working within government agencies, a fact that can cause difficulties, misunderstandings, and delays.

But they had faith that these differences could be tapped to strengthen a coalition, rather than hampering its efforts. They decided to develop their facilitation skills by training in methods specifically designed to guide diverse, innovative teams.

They chose thinking systems developed by Edward de Bono, the world authority on creative and conceptual thinking. They completed intensive Six Thinking Hats and Focus on Facilitation training in April of 2008. Upon seeing the value of the tools in practice, with help from the third party de Bono consulting team, the Chamber then sponsored a two-day, Six Thinking Hats event to grow capacity in the region.

When asked how they introduce their innovative facilitation tools to various groups, they explain their approach as follows:

"The Growth Partnership's role involves facilitating diverse groups representing multiple stakeholders. Many times these groups are comprised of elected officials working alongside CEOs, and they often think very differently. When we work with groups, we always start out by explaining the Six Hats tools and how the framework operates. At times we've encountered some skepticism, but now there is such a widespread understanding of the approach locally that with a trained facilitator in the lead, the groups are quickly up and running. It's such a good way to bring people together. The tools level the playing field, so that we can eliminate conflicts based on power struggles and differing management philosophies. We're able to consider issues from many points of view, develop alternatives that make sense to everyone, and come up with solutions that everyone can support."

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