The document discusses three perspectives - protect, respect, and sustain - for dealing with disruptions in meetings and public dialogue. Protect focuses on shepherding the meeting through the planned process. Respect involves listening to disruptive participants and finding ways for them to participate constructively. Sustain considers how the meeting fits into the larger community and finding ways to build trust over the long term. Drawing on all three perspectives can help facilitators respond to disruptions in a way that leads to stronger outcomes and maintains community trust.

1. Protect, Respect, Sustain
Dealing with disruptors in meetings
and
public dialogue
Slides excerpted from a longer workshop on dealing with disruptions in the
moment, then annotated for the web.

2. Christoph Berendes
chris@facilitationanalytics.com

3. The fearYou’re facilitating a carefully planned meeting,
and a disruption occurs. In that instant, it may
seem that everything is cracking up.

4. The temptation
Of course, you want to get back on track, as
quickly as possible, by any means necessary.
Duct tape, for instance.
The results may not be pretty, but at least
you’ve covered over the cracks.

5. Instead
Something stronger,
more beautiful.

6. Protect, Respect, Sustain
Let these three perspectives guide your
response.
Everyone will feel heard, the process will be
stronger, and the impact on the community will
be better and last longer.
(The image depicts Kintsugi, the Japanese art of
golden joinery, repairing cracks in ceramics with
powdered gold mixed into lacquer. )

7. Protect the process in the room, for the session
This is the most familiar perspective for most facilitators. It’s crucial.

8. Protect: What to provide and do?
Design an agenda and guidelines for participants.
For the meeting, position yourself as a neutral, inform participants about
the agenda and guidelines, and then shepherd everyone through the
process.
If a disruption occurs, remind everyone of the relevant aspects of structure
and guidelines, then move on.

9. Protect: What to notice?
Do group members have a shared understanding of the agenda and
guidelines?
Do they see you as a neutral?
Take stock periodically to see whether the guidelines and agenda are truly
helpful to the group.

10. Protect: Why?
So the group reaches its destination safely over the course of the session.

11. Respect individuals, in the moment
This is perspective is also familiar to most facilitators, but you may
forget it in the heat of a disruptive moment.
Don’t. It provides insights and tools you can draw on to turn disruption
into opportunity.

12. Respect: What to do?
Listen actively to the disruptive participant(s). Use questions. Ask participants to
confirm or correct your interpretation.
Provide individuals with other ways to participate that work better for them while
remaining consistent with the needs of the group and the goals of the session.
When appropriate, guide previously disruptive participants back into the group
process.

13. Respect: What to notice?
What are participants’ background understanding, expectations, and intentions?
Could the disruptive participants be the “canaries in the coal mine”? Do other
members of the group share their concerns?

14. Respect: Why?
So all participants feel heard and accepted and thus bring their gifts to the group
and the community.

15. Sustain lasting community trust
Of the three perspectives, this is the least familiar, for most facilitators.
When you see the group in front of you as part of the wider community, and
this meeting as one stepping stone in a longer path, you’re more likely to
respond to disruptions in a way that maintains and builds the trust of the
community.

16. Sustain: What to do?
If participants' reasonable expectations exceed the requirements set by law or
past practice, work to satisfy those expectations.
When the unforeseen occurs, consider what you might do to support
additional participation now and in the future.
When a group isn’t able or can’t be permitted to participate in the standard
way, find other ways for group members to join in or provide input.

17. Sustain: What to notice?
How does this group fit into the larger community and affect it? How is the
group affected by the community?
What’s the longer term process and what role does this meeting play?
What can you can do here and now to improve matters in the community and
in the future?
Be mindful of people’s expectations, even when they don’t appear to be
justified. It’s critical for maintaining trust.

18. Sustain: Why?
So participants’ trust in the process grows and the community’s health and
strength increases into the future.

19. Protect, Respect, Sustain
When you draw on all three perspectives to
shape your response, disruptions can lead to
something stronger and more beautiful.

20. The rest of Dealing with Disruptors
In practice: Example cases and dialogue
In principle: Intentional vs. unintentional disruptions. Distracting v. destructive
disruptions. What not to do. More on respect, protect, and sustain.
In the moment: Ten techniques.
In advance: Nine step advance plan.
Comprehensive checklist.

21. Facilitation Analytics
20 years of experience in 20 minutes. Practical, focused insights, for you and your team.
The first three books, at Amazon:
1. Understanding the Facilitation Cycle
2. Dealing with Disruptors
3. Navigating with 3D Evaluation: Public Dialogue for Results
Later this year: The Architecture of Engagement
Webinars and workshops on request

22. Protect, Respect, Sustain
Christoph Berendes
chris@facilitationanalytics.com