Segue Maestro Workbook ====================== How to Conduct a Segue (tm)--a social game for solving complex organizational problems By Robert Bystrom and Hamilton Hayes Purpose ======= The purpose of the Segue is to provide a workgroup or project team with access to a higher level of thinking ability--the combined capacity of their experience, wisdom and imagination--in order to solve complex problems or create new opportunities. The purpose of this workbook is to provide step-by-step instructions for conducting a successful Segue with a project team. Introduction ============ It is the intention of CIS that the Segue spread globally in use. To fulfill that intention, we are providing online support in order to model how to conduct one. The simple structure of the Segue is the result of extensive research and use in many divergent situations. We wish you success and are committed to providing the finest training possible. We would like to hear from you. Feel free to email your results and questions. Prerequisite ============ The applicant has participated in a Segue conducted by a Segue Maestro. Recommended Reading =================== The collected articles available online. The Basics of Conducting a Segue ================================ Out of our intention that you and your group have a successful experience using a Segue, we have assembled a brief outline for you to follow. We identify four stages to a complete Segue plus a section about preparing the setting ahead of time for optimum results. This mini-course is organized as follows: * Preparing Yourself and the Space * Questions for Setting up a Segue * Rules for conducting one * Script for the participants * Completion * FAQs * Why is the Segue effective? The universal principles on which the Segue Game is based Preparing Yourself and the Space ================================ Typically, the Segue Maestro's job is to conduct the Segue, and not participate in it. To optimize results, during the Segue, people sit in a circle with no tables or anything else between them, nothing on people's laps, no note taking. Although we have conducted larger circles successfully, we have found that quality tends to peak at 7 members. Setting up multiple circles for a larger group is not a problem. Multiple circles require some additional facilitating of feedback during the Completion stage. Commonly, when there is only one circle, the Maestro writes the responses in order to free up everyone in the circle to focus more on the conversation. When you have more than one circle, a person in each circle is appointed as scribe. An alternative scribe takes notes when the scribe is directly involved in speaking or listening. You will need several copies of the script (three questions) which will be passed around the circle. You will fill in the question blank with the help of the group during the Setting Up stage (below). We recommend the facilitator arrive with a possible question which the group can adopt or tune up or choose another question altogether. Questions for Setting Up a Segue (tm) ===================================== The clearer and more deliberate your set up is, the more effective will be your Segue. 1. What is the situation you want to address? In order to avoid confusion, everyone needs to be clear about the situation at hand and know what is at stake. This conversation creates focus on a single subject. As an example, the funding for a children's art project has been reduced, and you still want all the services to be provided. 2. What is important about the situation? Create focus on the critical issue. You might not be able cover everything about the situation in one Segue. In the example of the children's art project, what is important is that any changes in the program still include all the children. 3. How can you phrase what is important as a question? Write down the question for everyone to see. In our example, How can we structure the new program to meet the needs of all the children we currently serve? 4. What is the "What is one..." form of the question? Write this question in the blank on the script page. In our example, that would be What is one thing that would help us accommodate all the children? 5. What will you do with all the answers? Come back to this decision during the Completion of the Segue. For example, "We'll write down all the answers and summarize the items when we are complete. That will give us a picture of a possible structure for the new program. We will decide what is next on the basis of what we co-create." Rules for conducting a Segue ============================ As with any game, the rules create safety and keep the playing field level. 1. Make contact with the other person. The Segue is a conversation between two people which travels around the circle. Talk to the person, not to the paper. 2. Every voice is equal. For the Segue to work, suspend rank and hierarchy. 3. Stick to the script, including using the other person's name and "Thank you" after the third response. Don't try to be clever or creative with the script. Be creative in your response. 4. No cross-talk or comments, even of approval. Judgments, critiques and evaluations tend to derail a creative conversation, even something positive, like "That's a good idea." 5. Respond and pass it on. Speak directly the essence of your response. Be brief. The idea is to move the conversation quickly around the circle multiple times and let it build. 6. You may pass if you want more time to be with the question. A person who passes is nonetheless thanked. Script for Conducting a Segue (tm) ================================== * [Name], what is one __________ ? * How is that important to you personally? * How might that be important for us? * Thank you. Notes for the conducting Maestro: * We have found that the truer the circle, the smoother the Segue. * When first learning The Segue, some people want to make the first question What is the one...? They need to be reminded that it is simply What is one...? * We commonly see a group reach a point where they believe they have come to the end of their ideas. Continuing the Segue often produces a significantly more effective, more imaginative series of responses. * After completing several rounds of the three questions, and everyone seems to be satisfied, do a round using a single "clean up" question, such as What might we have missed? Completion ========== Now, go back to what you decided during #5 What will you do with all the answers? Ask the participants to conduct an "open conversation" either to summarize their results or to identify three or four themes they noticed or to solidify agreement for a course of action. Together, choose what is next, e.g. create a plan for implementing the vision they have built together, or whatever their Segue was designed to accomplish. Very often, what is next includes another question and another Segue. Finish by asking the individuals what they gained from participating. FAQs ==== Do you always need a Segue Maestro? No. A family meeting or a couple planning a picnic most likely would not have a Maestro facilitating! Also, an experienced project team may use the full Segue protocol from time to time, rotating the role of scribe and practice abbreviated Segues--question-driven exchanges--in between. A common phenomena resulting from practicing question-driven thinking and the Segue is that the members of the project team or community action committee transform the way they interact with each other outside of the formal circle. What do you do when you have eight or nine people--one or two circles? It depends on the group. Sometimes, it is essential to keep everyone together. At other times, seat them in two circles and after a couple of rounds, mix the members between the groups. (Tell them ahead that this will be happening!) Do you always write down all the responses? Frequently, the Segue is used as an exploratory conversation, the purpose of which is to construct a solution one piece at a time, much like creating a mosaic. Ideas evolve and early offerings often act as stepping stones for subsequent inspiration. A noticeable shift takes place after the question has circled a few times, and the obvious answers have been given. Many groups report that the quality of the responses deepens noticeably after people "can't think of anything else," which is why we occasionally wait to begin recording responses. The beginning two rounds could be considered a warm up and the responses are recorded only after that initial phase. In other situations, what you want is a comprehensive list, so every idea is recorded. It all depends on what you want out of your Segue. Do you always use three questions? No, only when you wish specifically to include reference to values, i.e. what is important, especially during the visioning and purpose articulation phases of a project. A Segue-familiar team will frequently use a single question format to develop options or explore possibilities in other applications. Can anyone who wants to be in the Segue participate? Commit to wasting no one's time. Make sure the only people in the Segue are those with a stake in the outcome. Why is the Segue effective? =========================== What are the universal principles of the SG? 1. Questions capture our attention and cause a response in our minds. * Thinking is driven by questions. Questions are the mechanism which sorts our experience into patterns and relationships and meaning. * In lieu of deliberate questions, the mind has a cache of default questions. * Intelligence is the result of the questions we entertain. * Collective intelligence is the result of shared questions. 2. People thrive when they are listened to and taken seriously. * Talking freely about what is important strengthens bonds of coherence. 3. A basic human need is to contribute to a purpose larger than the individual. 4. People love playing games. Collective Intelligence, Imagination and Wisdom =============================================== In a typical business or organizational meeting, people's attention is focused only partially on the subject at hand because their mental operating capacity lacks sufficient questions to engage it fully. The silent activity in the meeting room will be filled with questions such as How can I hide? How can I gain position and status? When will this be over? How can I avoid responsibility? What's for dinner? How am I right about...? How am I better than...? "What is the question?": The Theory of Values-Based, Question-Driven Thinking (tm) ========================================================= The success of the Segue rests on the discovery of the universal principle that a person's attention always gravitates to questions. It follows that accessing the creative power of a group of people requires being able to focus everyone's attention on the same question. This is the group's entry into their collective intelligence or collective wisdom. The theory of Q-D Thinking asserts that thinking always follows questions. This means that the activity inside a person's mind--the ideas, thoughts, musings, imaginings, stories, plans, memories, judgments, the "monkey mind"--everything we would call "mental activity"--arises as answers to questions we ask ourselves. The questions can range from simple problem solving--What is the fastest route to that part of the city?--to a life-long, single-minded quest--How can the little individual make a difference? The more important a question is, the more mental activity it will engage. The theory says that questions organize the data of our experience into intelligence and that intelligence is the result of the questions a person entertains. Two Types of Questions: Deliberate and Default ============================================== The theory goes on to say that our thoughts respond to two basic types of questions, deliberate, meaning that I'm consciously asking for specific information, or default, meaning that it is a question I'm not aware of asking, a question being asked by my mental system. It's like this: either I formulate a deliberate question, e.g. What is creating the brown patches on cedar trees near here?--or my mind will select from a mental cache of default questions--e.g. How can I look good? What's wrong?--to provide direction for the thinking function. If the questions driving a person's thinking are not deliberately stated, the content of the conversation in his head will be answering an endless string of default questions. Since thinking is the basis of everything we do and questions dictate the content of our thoughts, then gaining leverage on the questions being answered would be highly advantageous. Harnessing the creative power of the mind depends entirely on a person taking control of the questions they ask. The default system is based on fear, protection and survival. The more a person's thought process is deliberate, the more inclusive and generative it is. The more default the thinking, the more isolated and contracted. When a person feels the restriction and contraction of fear, it is a signal that the default program is running. A person can shift the default feeling by coming up with a more productive, deliberate question to chew on. Accessing the creative power of a group of people requires being able to focus their attention on the same question. This is the entry into the group's collective intelligence or collective wisdom. "What is important?" ==================== This is the question which elicits the values of an individual or project team. Clearly stating values eliminates assumptions. "Alan, what is one ...?" ======================== Questions attract the mind, values attract the emotions and listening attracts the being. When a team is: 1. focused on answering the same question, their values are aligned and they know how to listen to one another, they achieve coherence. Coherence is the quality often referred to as teamwork.