How can you promote deeper understanding with a fishbowl discussion?
A fishbowl discussion is a facilitation technique that can help you promote deeper understanding among your participants. It involves creating two concentric circles of chairs, with the inner circle representing the active speakers and the outer circle representing the silent observers. The goal is to encourage a dynamic and respectful dialogue that explores different perspectives and insights on a topic. In this article, you will learn how to prepare, facilitate, and debrief a fishbowl discussion effectively.
A fishbowl discussion can offer several benefits for your facilitation process. First, it can create a safe and inclusive space for participants to share their views and experiences, as they can choose whether to join the inner circle or stay in the outer circle. Second, it can foster a deeper level of engagement and learning, as participants can listen attentively, ask questions, and challenge assumptions. Third, it can generate new ideas and solutions, as participants can build on each other's contributions and discover new connections and possibilities.
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Jyotirmayee Pradeep Kumar
Digital Leadership | Cloud Strategy | DevSecOps | Building, Acquiring & Nurturing organizations’ digital assets, IT infrastructures and alliances
I found fishbowl very effective in getting a collaborative decision. In few scenarios, I have seen this technique helps opening up the introvert team members who normally shy to put their thoughts. As fishbowl contains two circles, when the inner circle speaks, the outer circle only listens. This way a set of teammates get enough time to listen other's thoughts and analyze it's pros and cons. Every proposal gets enough attention for risk analysis in terms of cost associated and feasibility testing as well. Also every team member has a choice whether to participate actively or remain passive. Finally when the decision is taken after several phases of discussions, that is accepted by everyone as each one of them has contributed to it.
Prior to facilitating a fishbowl discussion, it's important to do some preparation work to guarantee a successful session. To start, you should define the purpose and objective of the discussion, as well as choose a relevant, interesting, and open-ended topic or question. Additionally, you should select participants for the inner circle - either invite specific people with expertise or experience on the topic, or ask for volunteers who are willing to share their opinions. Lastly, arrange the physical space and materials necessary for the discussion - chairs for the inner and outer circles, a microphone, a timer, and a flipchart or whiteboard.
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Jyotirmayee Pradeep Kumar
Digital Leadership | Cloud Strategy | DevSecOps | Building, Acquiring & Nurturing organizations’ digital assets, IT infrastructures and alliances
Planning for a fish bowl discussion plays an important role and success of a discussion depends on its preparation. Example: When I plan for a discussion, I sent out the agenda before schedule, so that each participant get to know where he can contribute effectively. Along with the problem statement I also communicate the goal. This helps people think of different perspective of the desired solution. Physical space and experts participating in the discussions are very much important. Chairs for all participants, speakers and microphones also required for the outer circle to listen properly. Also I make sure, there is a dedicated person for taking notes and sharing them with members effectively, so that everyone remain at same phase.
As a facilitator during the fishbowl discussion, it is your responsibility to guide the conversation and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate and learn. Begin by introducing the topic and the objective of the discussion, as well as explaining the rules and expectations of the fishbowl technique. Start the conversation by asking a question or a prompt to the inner circle, encouraging them to share their thoughts, experiences, and examples. As you monitor the discussion, intervene when necessary by summarizing, synthesizing, or reframing key points. Address any conflicts, misunderstandings, or gaps in the conversation. Invite feedback or questions from the outer circle to further enrich the dialogue. Finally, thank the participants and highlight the main takeaways. Appreciate the inner circle with a round of applause or gratitude.
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Jyotirmayee Pradeep Kumar
Digital Leadership | Cloud Strategy | DevSecOps | Building, Acquiring & Nurturing organizations’ digital assets, IT infrastructures and alliances
A facilitator has a number of responsibilities and success of a fishbowl discussion depends a lot on this role. As a facilitator, I remain neutral and look after the problem statement without any pre assumption. This helps me treating all members fairly and encourage each of them. I normally start the discussion by giving a brief on the issue, targeted result. And also share reports on any work done till that time. This gives all members a base to start with. Paying attention to the whole discussion and interrupts when I sense any conflict. Finally summarizing the discussion with key points and action items for various personal, the facilitator brings all members to same phase. Thus a facilitator becomes a single point of contact.
After the fishbowl discussion, you can use some debriefing questions to help your participants reflect on their learning and experience. You can ask them to share their answers in pairs, small groups, or plenary. For instance, what did they learn from the discussion and what surprised or challenged them? Participants can also consider how they felt during the discussion and how they managed the different roles of speaker and observer. Additionally, they can reflect on what they appreciated or admired about the inner circle participants, as well as how they can apply what they learned to their own context or situation. Finally, participants should think about what actions or changes they will make.
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Jyotirmayee Pradeep Kumar
Digital Leadership | Cloud Strategy | DevSecOps | Building, Acquiring & Nurturing organizations’ digital assets, IT infrastructures and alliances
After a fishbowl discussion, I normally reach out to all members for feedbacks, learnings for sharing and action items to be completed. In few cases, I found the feedback very effective as people get different perspectives to their thoughts on the problem and they were amazed by the result. People also tend to share tips how to effectively change between roles of a speaker and observer and what helped them to listen actively. Participants also tend to appreciate the active circle for sharing their ideas which helped them to seeing the problem differently. And finally that helps them to consider changes in the present plan effectively.
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Jyotirmayee Pradeep Kumar
Digital Leadership | Cloud Strategy | DevSecOps | Building, Acquiring & Nurturing organizations’ digital assets, IT infrastructures and alliances
I found the fishbowl technique very effective where the members of both the circles seat together to find out an effective result. Listening to thoughts of inner circles, observers get a deeper understanding on the problem. And possibility of proposing an effective solution increases. In this method, each and every team members gets an opportunity to share their thoughts. This helps introvert people to share their thought when their turn comes.
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