Did I screw up? · Facilitator Club

Did I screw up?

Just finished leading a Lightning Decision Jam in my non-profit org. It was with some leaders in the Fund Development department. We started with a how might we question we came to in a previous workshop, "How might we add value to leadership?" Their main problem is that the leadership doesn't seem to value their opinions and makes decisions that affect their teams without consulting with them. The four gentlemen in the workshop have been facing this problem for years and years. There are some bright spots for sure, but overall the executive leadership likely needs some paradigm shifts.

There were a few crucial moments in the workshop where I'm wondering if I let them talk too much. I could sense the need they felt to get clearer on a problem so they could better use their votes. When we were moving to the How Might We question I could tell they weren't quite ready to land that plane and needed more discussion as they searched for the root causes.

Anyway, I allowed more talking because it felt complex and crucial to get them aligned to a proposed solution experiment.

Here are the questions bouncing around in my head:

Are LDJ's not as useful for complex and challenging problems?
Should I have reiterated "trust the process" more and emphasized the best insights won't come from our discussions, but our experiments with solutions?
Was the talking good for this process?

I notice I feel deflated somewhat and I think it's related to the fact that I'm just unsure how to think about this workshop. I welcome any feedback. No matter what, I'm going to learn from this experience and sharpen my skills.

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