Vertical Facilitation
Resources
Discover the ideas, the practices and the philosophical perspective that inform our unique approach to training, coaching, and development.
Introductory Materials
Here you can find paper and video materials to fully orient yourself with the philosophy, design, and leadership qualities that are foundational to the art and practice of vertical facilitation.
[White Paper] The Art and Practice of Vertical Facilitation
This paper provides a fairly thorough introduction to the key ideas and distinctions related to the growing of such inner capabilities, which we call Vertical Facilitation.
[White Paper] Leadership for a VUCA World
In this article I want to propose a new way of thinking about and articulating a way of understanding leadership that is, I will assert, a better fit for the 21st century paradigm we find ourselves in.
Introductory Papers
[White Paper] What is Vertical Learning?
In this short white paper, we introduce key ideas and distinctions related to the growing of such inner capabilities, which we call Vertical Facilitation.
[White Paper] The Art and Practice of Deliberate Sensemaknig
This paper provides a fairly thorough introduction to the key conversational modalities that are foundational to the the practice of Vertical Facilitation.
Long Videos
Introduction to Vertical Facilitation: Video from a Live Session [45 mins]
In this video, Michael Hamman and Lyssa Adkins walkthrough the two main areas of competence and practice: Design and Facilitation.
You will also come away from the video with a clear understanding of what vertical facilitation is, and a powerful sense of the manner of leaderful engagement it calls for.
What we cover here:
Why ‘vertical facilitation’?
The nature of vertical learning
The activity of vertical facilitation in real-time
The design of vertical facilitation
Look for powerful moments of vertical facilitation in action here.
Inner Agility: The Key to Business Agility A Talk Given to the San Francisco Business Agility Users Group [90 mins]
This video provides a deep investigation into the nature of ‘inner agility’, which refers to our emotional, cognitive, and psychological capacity to dance with the current moment--in all of its complexity, surprise, and uncertainty--in ways that are generative, creative, and capability-enhancing.
Inner agility is a key meta-competency for 21st century life, particularly as we begin to pass through the portal of what promises to be a very turbulent transition for human civilization.
Of particular note in this video is a sequence of rich interactions in the second half, in which you will get a strong taste of the power of vertical facilitation and its foundational coaching moves.
Video Shorts
Briefly: What is ‘Vertical Learning’ and Why is it Important [3’30’’]
In this video, Michael Hamman and Lyssa Adkins briefly discuss with Ula Ojiaku what the territory of learning we refer to with the term ‘vertical learning’ and why creating learning moments which activate this realm of learning is so important in today’s world.
Brief Introduction to ‘Horizontal’ vs. ‘Vertical’ Learning [4’45’’]
In this video, Michael Hamman and Lyssa Adkins walk through a key differentiation in human learning, which is that between learning new concepts and skills versus developing new (and potentially more complex) meaning-making perspectives.
The ‘Activity’ of Vertical Facilitation [10 mins]
The ‘activity’ of vertical facilitation pertains to the real-time, present-in-the-moment goings-on which define the activity and spacious managing of group energy, interactions, and sensemaking (both individual and collective).
In this video we introduce the notion of the 5 Windows of Attention—a key framing in vertical facilitation.
The Meta-Design Elements of Vertical Facilitation [15 mins]
Vertical Facilitation is in part a design methodology—the design of social ecosystemic environments which make it possible to foster vertical learning.
In this video we introduce 4 meta-design elements that are key to the emergent alchemy that tends to favor deep, transformative learning.
The Practice of Vertical Facilitation
Here you will find materials in which we get more into the practicalities and the subtle art forms of vertical facilitation.
Anatomy of the Heat Experience: A Pivotal Force in Vertical Learning and Vertical Facilitation [~21 mins]
A Heat experience is an experience in which a familiar sensemaking pattern or structure is called into question, as it relates to a situation, condition, or event that is important to you, or to someone else.
In this video, we reveal key design fundamentals of vertical facilitation, and, in particular, the "anatomy" of a heat experience: what it is and in what ways we might bring such experiences about for and with others.
Introduction to the Deliberately Developmental Conversation [~14 mins]
The ‘deliberately developmental conversation’ (‘DDC’ for short) is a 1-on-1 conversation whose intention is for one person help another reveal some aspect of their inner meaning-making as it relates to a particular situation or circumstance that is of concern to that person.
In this video, we break down this important practice pattern into its parts, each of which can stand by itself within other conversational situations.
Four Conversational Practices for Increased Collaboration and Mutuality in Groups and Teams [~16 mins]
Key to coherent and productive group processes is ‘mutuality’. This is the capacity to interact in a way that minimizes oneupmanship and domination, and maximizes shared understanding and collaborative sensemaking.
In this video, we reprise the work of Bill Torbert and Chris Argyris related to four simple conversation practices which dramatically increase collaboration and mutuality.
Setting the Stage: Creating Conditions for Developmentally Appropriate Interventions [~6 mins]
Being clear about the context and the developmental landscape in which we bring this work is key to bringing about moments of vertical learning that meet people where they developmentally—and what they seek to accomplish—while still lovingly nudging them toward new developmental possibilities and edges.
In this brief video I outline the key elements of this important part of the pre-game work of vertical facilitation.
Exploring Some of the Nuances of Vertical Facilitation: Key Ideas I [~15 mins]
In this and the subsequent video we explore some of the subtleties and nuances in terms of our manner of being and in our approaches to interaction and holding space, as vertical facilitators
Exploring Some of the Nuances of Vertical Facilitation: Key Ideas II [~15 mins]
In this and the previous video we explore some of the subtleties and nuances in terms of our manner of being and in our approaches to interaction and holding space, as vertical facilitators
The Personal Leadership Context[~25 mins]
Vertical facilitation is, perhaps more than anything, a matter of personal leadership.
By leadership, I mean the capacity (a0 for awareness and attunement to what’s going on, (b) the ability to be present to and hold the emotional qualities that are there, (c) the ability to let go of habitual modes of psychological and social control while, at the same time, (d) holding authority and ownership in terms of catalyzing intended impact and effect.
In this video, we explore all of this.