Facilitator Reflections From Northern B.C.

Today’s blog is a story of an epic journey I took recently. I weave the importance of creating a sense “journey” in our facilitation design throughout my storytelling.

You may have read some of my blogs over the past few decades. You’ll notice that I enjoy taking my personal (especially those in nature)  experiences and apply them to my professional life. There are a number of blogs still accessible that you can look at as examples of this. We posted them at the end of this blog.

If you want to skip my story, I start each facilitation tip with writing in blue italics, wavy like the sea!

Every experience in your life is an opportunity to ponder more carefully the magic of group dynamics, and the processes and phases they go through as we work with them. 

Facilitation of a group is always a journey. There are many phases to it. Each phase is utterly critical. There is a lot of adapting. There are high moments, and moments of letting go. If done well, you will sense the beginning and ending of each phase, provide the right timing for that, and setting optimal conditions for the next phase. You will revel in the progress, surprises and insights that arise at each phase. 

As you read this, think of your own personal and professional journeys, what you take away from them and how you might be more intentional and careful in your designs so they too, become “epic” journeys for the group.

What was my recent epic journey? Keep reading! 

It was a 23-day car-ferry-van-zodiac-kayak-zodiac-car, ferry-sky train-ferry-bus-walk journey (7 modes of transport!) We went north to the top of the west coast of the province of British Columbia to a relatively well known, but the remote Indigenous territory of the Haida People called Haida Gwaii and then navigated back through the interior of the province.  Zodiac journey and Gaia GPS tracking of our kayaking below.

Phase 1: Designing the Journey

Designing this journey started 10 months before its start!  We started with a group of 8 friends that love to do sea kayaking and dates that worked for all. Each of us needed to be highly adaptable, organized and welcoming of the hardships that arose. The group members changed a bit for important personal reasons and although we could have filled the empty spots with strangers,  we decided we wanted people we knew, liked and trusted. We resisted this because this was meant to be an epic journey and wanted to reduce the risk of difficult behaviors or unreliable skills.

We examined areas all over the province that we had not kayaked before or wanted to kayak again. We chose Haida Gwaii because many of us have been there a decade or more earlier and wanted to return and feel its magic. Then we had to choose a company that would guide us because this is a special remote place where we didn’t want to make any mistakes. We wanted to be with guides who knew the area well and who honoured the indigenous territory in which we were visitors. We chose Ocean Sound Kayaking who had been guiding there for over 30 years. We ended up with two, on-the-cusp of Gen Z and Gen Y guides who were phenomenal. They cooked amazing meals for us each night designed, cooked and dehydrated by the owner of the company so that we could have luxury food, like guacamole, hummus, curries, chilies, omelettes etc. The company provided the tents. We brought our own sleeping bags and thermos, snacks, and toilet paper. They provided everything else including double and  single kayaks.

A facilitator makes sure they have all the supplies they need. This guiding company was no exception. They had their equipment and supplies “dialed in” perfectly. They knew which kayak hatch was for Monday’s meals, Tuesday’s meals, etc. When we arrived at the first camp site via the zodiac, there were tents that had been set up by the previous group.  Thus, we arrived at a comfortable, easy space to start. A tarp was set up so if it had been raining, we could shelter.  Phase 1 complete!

All of this – design, supplies, and space set up is important to facilitation. Help your client ensure they have the right people there with many skillsets, perspectives and experiences to ensure rich, fully informed discussions and decisions. Make sure the first view of the workshop space looks safe, comfortable, exciting! 

Phase 2: Starting the Heart of the Journey

The journey to get to this first campsite was amazing!

Four of us drove there; four flew to the launch point. Our road trip involved a 8 Hour drive up to the top of Vancouver Island, a 17-hour ferry ride through the inside passage of British Columbia, a brief stay in the city of Prince Rupert, another 7-hour ferry ride across the ocean to the territory. We spent one day in a lovely guest house before the van picked us up to take a 3 1/2-hour zodiac trip to the first campsite. All of this resulted in anticipation, marveling, time to absorb the environment, bond as a group and get a little quieter. It was time to begin the move away from our devices and connect on a deeper human level. We spent the next 8 days kayaking and camping, moving to different campsites when weather permitted.  We started with the threat of a tsunami, had windstorms, atmospheric river style rainstorms, swelling seas, cool weather, and several calm, sunshine days.

Leading up to the critical pieces of a facilitation design are so important. If the group is not ready, does not have all the information they need, nor have a comfortable start to feeling safe, excited and trusting of each other, the critical insights and transformations will not occur.

Here are some photos from our trip, including the Haida young, amazing guide for a world heritage site of Haida culture (his photo taken with his permission).

Phase 3: Critical Insights from the journey

What were some of the critical insights that occurred for me especially on the kayak part of the journey?

• I was astounded by how calming it was to be seeing no one and no human-made vehicle for seven days. We did not see planes, other boats of any type or hear electric machines of any kind!
• The skill of our two guides in choosing where to go each day was amazing. They took into account our experience level, our energy levels, the wind and currents, the things they thought we would love to see and experience, how long any particular route might take us given the conditions.
• Adjusting expectations from moment to moment was key to our sense of well-being.  One day we went nowhere. The sea state and winds were way too high. It was dangerous. It was raining. We kept thinking we’d get a break and go out paddling. Nope.
• The guides normalized this surprising “halt”. They cooked lovely meals all day and made sure the tarp held under strong winds. They informed us regularly of marine weather updates. We sat around, looking at the sea, reading our magazines and books, having naps, going for a short strolls along the beach. There wasn’t much else to do. See one of our friend’s drawings below of being stuck in the tent.
• The joy of the next day —- only in the afternoon, when the guides decided we could go into a protected bay and “tootle” (our term for leisurely exploring every inlet) since we had no time or destination pressures.
• How thrilled to see Humpback Whale sighting (spouts and breaching) every day at least 3-6 x per day. Sea lions swimming and panting in our campsite one morning. Pacific sided dolphins leaping in unison. Horned and tufted Puffins on a flat rock colony.
• How I felt so glad and touched by the constant presence of many OLD, very old trees (Humans had not chopped them all down!) at almost every place we stopped. Sometimes contorted. Sometimes almost dead and rotten but still standing, many lying down providing beautiful food for the next crop of trees.
• Learning to not expect anything but rejoice when we were experiencing a never before moment.
• Realizing how nourishing it was to never have felt rushed, never pushed to my limits, always felt safe and excited.
• Now a week after the entire 23 trip day trip is over, I am happy to say I feel less the weight of the world on my shoulders. I know deeply that we are still in a mess, that environmental, climate, social, economic and political chaos are here or imminent. Yet I feel I have absorbed the gentle presence and strength of the old trees, whales, waves and storms.

Nature has once again given me solace and energy to begin again, to not give up.

Can we replicate what nature does for us in for our group work too?

Other blogs I’ve written where I relate personal life adventures I’ve had to lessons to take away for our facilitation practices:

• No Tent Poles, Too Many Flies, Low on TP and Facilitator Adaptability – North Star Facilitators
• Facilitation: Relax and Trust the Process – North Star Facilitators
• Warning – Your Approach Is NOT Working! – North Star Facilitators
• Four Facilitator Lessons From Dancing Under the Moon! – North Star Facilitators