Using the talking stick to understand organizations

What NASAGA Means to me.

Analyzing the results of the Play Talking Stick for empowerment and connection workshop.

By Tamara Stenn (tstenn@keene.edu), Dec. 2013

For a workshop at NASAGA (North American Simulation and Gaming Assoc.), Play Talking Stick for empowerment and connection, I experimented using an ethnographic research tool I developed to identify values and challenges in unfamiliar cultures.  I used it successfully in training workshop developed for two different studies and got a better understanding of how indigenous women experienced Fair Trade in Bolivia – as handicraft artists and as coffee farmers.  Each group reported data different than what was understood about them previously and what had been reported in others’ studies.  I found the talking stick training enabled people to speak openly about their experiences in an empowering, non-threatening way using their own voices and lenses.  This gave legitimacy to their feelings, perspectives and created a platform upon which further meaning could be developed.

I suspected this could be a useful tool for training needs assessment and community building in the US, especially in corporate training environments, where outside training was often used to “fix” something that was wrong.  I felt trainers did not always know the underlying dynamics of a department/organization and, like I found in my research, how others understood the situation was not always the same way the participants did. 

WORKSHOP FINDINGS

My NASAGA, Play Talking Stick for empowerment and connection, workshop was an experiment to see how this exercise worked in a US environment.  The following is a short report of the results followed by details of how the tool/workshop works.  Feel free to use this yourself.  Please tell me how it goes and let me know if you would like to be contacted for further follow-up.  Also please contact me to go over these steps if you are unsure of how it works.

Overall participants found NASAGA to be a warm, trusting family that supports, nurtures and understands them.  Fig. 1 captures the main themes that came from people’s monologues describing what NASAGA meant to them.  Participants spoke of how NASAGA is, “home, embracing, supported” and is a “really incredible positive experience.”  Participants spoke of inspiration in that they received advice, encouragement and guidance from others.  One participant explained, “I got all of the responses back I needed and really good ideas of things to do.”  On a personal level a participant explained, “it is a part of me and I am a part of it.”  This sentiment seemed to be shared by many in the group.  People felt supported professionally as well. “The person in front of me actually has the same dreams and totally gets where I am coming from,” explained one participant talking about the personal connections, inspiration and spiritual connectedness felt within NASAGA.

    (Fig. 1)  NASAGA, 2013

Reflecting upon each other’s experiences, the group identified some shared language about what NASAGA means to them collectively.  It is connection, belonging, the family one always wanted, welcoming, something to look forward to, high energy, excitement, comfortable, continuity, a span of integrated personal to professional interactions, understanding, generosity, sharing, inspiration, trust, safe, encouragement, big dreaming, real support, a place that will “help launch” and nurture possibilities, fun on steroids, and a blast.  The following wordl (http://www.wordle.net/create) captures all that was said during the talking stick part of the session (Fig. 2).

                                                                                     (Fig. 2) NASAGA 2013

Going deeper the challenges of maintaining a NASAGA connection were discussed.  There is the cost of the event and also travel, though most agreed the event price was a “good value.”  There was also the challenge of taking the time to attend a NASAGA conference though participants agreed that five to four days were really essential to have three core days of feeling completely “in it.”  Though at times NASAGA can feel mentally and socially overwhelming, participants felt that there never seems to be enough one-on-one time with everyone or enough social interactions.  Most felt that a conference composed of 60 or so extroverted NASAGA members is perfect.  It was noted that all of NASAGA seemed extroverted.

Despite the challenges there were plenty of benefits to be associated with NASAGA.  These include the opportunity to “stay connected with people we love” and the fun nurturing environment.  Participants reported feeling revitalized, encouraged and that possibilities seemed, possible!  Participants felt they learned a lot, connected with peer mentors, and acquired new tools to make them more competitive in the marketplace.  They reported a positive ROI – for the investment of time, money and travel angst -  noting that, “the best things cost you something.”  In conclusion, it was “way worth it!” as one participant enthusiastically exclaimed. 

OTHER USES FOR PLAYING TAKING STICK

After experiencing Play Talking Stick participants brainstormed ways it could be used to support training.  It is a good tool for a check-in or debrief after an activity.  It could be used in a conflict situation to understand better the dynamics of the situation.  It could be used as an introduction where people share their experiences and feelings, it can be sued in organizational behavior situations to create a safe environment for sharing, to have executives and mid managers share thought together or separately and to build collaboration amongst disparate departments such as marketing and operations.  It is a brainstorming tool and can also be used with restorative circles.

HOW TO: PLAYING TALKING STICK

My Play Talking Stick workshop: time 1 ½ - 2 hours, number of participants 6-21.

Participants sit in a circle.  The activity is introduced.  A voice recorder is placed in the center of the room.

The talking stick (a 12 inch long 1 inch wide branch or pole) is given to a person to start.  The person says their name (or not) and speaks as much as they want about the topic at hand.  All others listen.  When done talking, the speaker passes the stalking stick to the person to their left.  That person speaks while all listen.  The stick is slowly passed around the circle in this way, with one person speaking and all else listening.  Afterwards the voice recorder is turned off.

Participants are thanked for sharing and are then asked to identify the themes they heard emerging from the exercise.  The facilitator writes theses on a flip chart.  Then the facilitator takes another flip chart paper and divides it in half length-wise writing “Challenges” on one side.  The group identifies and talks about challenges they are currently facing which the facilitator jots them down.  Then the facilitator write “Benefits” on the other half and participants together share what these are (it is always good to end on a positive note).

Afterwards the facilitator transcribes and codes the spoken data from the tape.  Express Scribe is a great free program for transcribing data, http://express-scribe.en.softonic.com/. I use the TAMS analyzer http://tamsys.sourceforge.net/ for data coding.  I look for common themes in what is spoken and identify them by a single word.  That word becomes my code for that theme.  I mark the text with that code each time I see that theme being referenced. TAMS then counts these up for me and pulls them from the text as coded items. This makes it easy for me to reference the exact phrase that I coded a certain way.  There is a free TAMS users guide online too.  I then take the TAMS counts and graph the quantified data using excel.  The group conversation that was captured on the flip chart paper can be analyzed against this core collected data.  One can look for repeated themes or dropped topics.  Items that were referenced during the talking stick but dropped in the group discussion can later be revisited to understand why – was the topic not important to the entire group?  Was it uncomfortable to talk openly about?  Was it merely forgotten or understood differently when in the group context?  (It is interesting to note that the talk of the spiritual aspect of NASAGA was lost in the large group discussions.)  Through Play Talking Stick, a more holistic, integrated, complex picture of an organization, department, or event emerges.