Building Community

A portion of the leadership team from the PMI Agile Community of Practice participated in a Leadership Institute Meeting (LIM) with members of the other PMI Communities. The meeting was organized by PMI for the purpose of planning activities for 2013.

The meeting was held following the principals of "World Cafe," which includes;

• Speaking with your mind and heart
• Slow down and take time to think
• Listening together for patterns, insights, and connections
• Focusing on what matters
• Having fun

As part of the process, we had a graphic facilitator. This person's role was to capture our conversations on paper; in this case on 4 foot by 8 foot posters. Each day we had a colorful set of pictures and words that captured the discussions. According to the World Cafe website, this technique is for;

Enabling people to see their contribution to the whole increases participation and fosters trust and connection and the large displays of themes and insights naturally weave together diverse perspectives into a composite "picture" that reflects the collective intelligence in the room.

This was the first time I had seen a graphic facilitator, but it was interesting to watch. She was in a front corner of the room capturing her impressions of the meeting. At the end of each day, we had a summary of the key points of the day, and at the end of the 3-day meeting, the main facilitators walked through each drawing and commented on the points that resonated with them. You can read more about graphic facilitation here.