The most important marketing information a company can gain typically comes from focus groups. Church growth also comes from the connections made in small groups and healthy emotions are strengthened in recovery with the use of small groups. In the business world, productivity is measured and increased via small teams focusing on critical functions. Yet with the incredible importance small groups have in our lives, few people understand how to facilitate a group’s success.

Last night I had the privilege of participating in a small group focused on facilitating small groups. It was enlightening to say the least. Not only did the program address each personality type so all participated in the discussion, but it also brought focus of vision and a team spirit through personal bonding exercises.

One of the most important points I learned about facilitation is the importance of knowing myself. By objectively understanding my personal hot buttons, style and tendencies, I can purposely counter any comments I might want to make that could steer the meeting in the wrong direction.

This became even clearer when our facilitator clarified that in a small group the number one goal is conversation. There are days when I fail at this simple task, as I hear a frustrated person share their pain that could easily be fixed with the right answer that I happen to know. During those times I struggle to keep my mouth shut and allow the person to talk through their issue long enough to come up with their own answer.

Respecting the other person and letting them take ownership of discovering their own solution is paramount to their growth. It also makes them a fisherman, rather than a hungry person who just ate the one fish I gave them to survive the moment. By empowering people to learn and manage their own growth, the team becomes stronger and more individuals rise to become strong leaders themselves.

Engaging participants in a deep conversation and allowing them to explore through each other’s experience and various viewpoints, helps them to take ownership of their role in the team and drives them to be the best they can be. It also provides clear information as to the health of the group and the needed direction the leader might want to steer them for greater success.

However, none of this is possible if the leader is driving their personal agenda or just wants to hear themselves speak. After all, true growth comes from the collaboration of ideas and experiences that are focused in the over all direction of the vision set forth.

A business team’s vision might be about altering processes to generate key savings. A church might want to encourage a discipline of prayer within their membership. A community group might desire a connection between the individuals so they can accomplish more with focused volunteers teaming together for the common good. Whatever the vision, it all starts with each individual taking responsibility for their area of focus, which is easily encouraged through small group conversations that share the strengths and weaknesses all face.

There were numerous key points taught last night, that we hopefully retained, but the one thing that became most clear was the bonding process that increased our respect for each other. The shear process, whether the vision was properly painted or not, was extremely useful in solidifying the team.

There was a new sense of closeness and anticipation in what we might do in 2012 that would bring our team’s success to an entirely new level. And, I can’t wait to reconnect with the team, as the open sharing of our strengths and weaknesses with respect, drew us closer to each other – All because the goal was conversation and not a linear agenda.

Copyright © 2011 By CJ Powers
Photo © Anatoly Maslennikov – Fotolia.com

The Americanized remake of this highly acclaimed Swedish film releases soon and it brings great apprehension to me. The original is highly dramatic and artistic, while covering a terrible and distasteful issue of “Men Who Hate Women” – The story’s original title.

In short, it’s a character story of a girl who was physically abused, something the author was all too familiar with, as he witnessed a gang rape of a girl in which he did nothing. Lisbeth was the young girls name and is also the name of the main character. While it sounds like a story many would choose to avoid, it is steeped with numerous messages that all healthy individuals should take time to contemplate.

I find the idea that when good men do nothing, evil flourishes, becoming a revived mantra within our nation. I’ve seen it as a true factor in everyday life from the simple things to the devastating. Our culture has raised a generation of comfortable people who have nothing to fight for, nor do they desire to help fight the battle of the weak or innocent. We have become complacent in our nice lives and lack the adventure that once made America great.

Our political correctness has allowed us to judge who is worthy of help and who is not, as we’ve lost track of the preciousness of humanity. While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is stark, dark and raw, it inspires empathy and action. I have no doubt that much of the strength behind the crime mystery novel is based on author Stieg Larsson’s life changing experience, for it is truly original and ground breaking – Not Hollywood manufactured.

Unfortunately, I dread the possibility that the Hollywood version may not hold to the same strengths revealed by the original. There will undoubtably be more explosions, craftiness, and eye candy. The real question is, will the story be respected and maintain the same high level of revelation as the original? I doubt it, as most stories of that nature do not make box office successes, but rather change society’s thinking patterns.

The original explores the life of a girl who has integrity within her own distorted world of men who hate women. The audience can appreciate her choices to do nothing, while she stands by and watches evil men perish. However, based on Hollywood standards, she may turn into a girl who seeks revenge, which is foreign to the story and it’s deep heart rooted messages – We shall soon see.

If subtitles aren’t too difficult for a viewer to manage, I highly recommend watching the original before experiencing the Americanized version of the film. The character study alone is fascinating and brings a level of true life to bare that would stir any casual movie buff. However, this story is not for the weak of heart, nor is it for the judgmental who would passionately suggest that these types of stories should never be made public or be on the silver screen.

The film is truly a cinema classic and should be watched by all filmmakers, but especially Christians who think that the only good movies are those that take a good person and transforms him to a better person. These filmmakers need a reality check and this film will give them a huge dose of a depraved reality that has gone unchecked by the Christian community. Our nation needs them to open their eyes and this film might do it.

My dad was one of the most creative people I knew. He was also left handed, which is a sign of right brain activity. My mother was far more analytical and right handed, a sign of left brain activity – This is not to say she wasn’t creative, but that she preferred to live in the left brain. While everyone uses some level of both sides of their brain, we tend to have one side more dominate than the other. The right brain controls the left side of the body and the left brain the right side.

I took two free online tests this morning to see what the systems thought of my dominating side. Both tests revealed I was right brained. The one test suggested I was 75% right brained, while the other 69%. I figured that since most statistical analysis is accurate within a +/- 5%, I could trust the test.

What was interesting is that the one test gave a breakdown of areas of dominance and how I process information. It was also the longer of the two tests. For instance, one of the ways I process information allows me to fully understand something if I see it. This does not suggest I have problems understanding intangibles, but that I have to see it in my minds eye first to understand it.

During a recent talk I boarded an intangible concept on friendship using symbols and diagrams. It allowed the audience to see and understand something that is typically vague and allusive of meaning. It became concrete for them. While several of the people were amazed at how I could do something like that off the top of my head, it came natural to me because I always see the visual in my minds eye so I can understand the complex and vague.

A psychologist once told me that the reason I struggled with reading as a kid, was because I was still memorizing 50,000+ symbols. While some people are able to understand a word based on each individual letter that makes up a word, my mind sees the word like a logo as one image. Therefore, I had to memorize what it looked like before I could properly read it.

When I give directions or write a story, my natural inclination is to describe it visually or as I see it in my minds eye. I understand the complex based on a series of images and remember things in that same fashion. It is the same ability that allows me to see how an entire motion picture will look before anything is filmed. And yes, it does mean that I can create and watch all kinds of movies in my mind for my own entertainment.

Access to the right and left brain is different than the determination of the dominant side. Most women can switch back and forth between both sides of the brain all within a split second or during the middle of a sentence, while men struggle to transition to the other side of the brain, but they can do it. Those who are center brained, like I am (according to a Bell Labs test I took a dozen years ago) can easily move back and forth at will. This ability gives me great insight into both sides of every situation, but the down side is that I might second-guess myself often.

Intuition, which was my highest score, has its life in the right brain. This allows you to determine an answer to things with your gut that is amazingly accurate. I recall a time were my logical friend was working on an intense computer program that had taken him about 36 hours of troubleshooting and he still hadn’t arrived at an answer. I asked him to share with me what he was trying to accomplish to see if I could help.

After laughing at my foolish request because I didn’t even know the programming language he was using, he humored me and spent a few minutes explaining it. A thought immediately popped into my head and I suggested that he consider… He was intrigued and dove in. Within a few hours he had completely solved his problem based on my recommendation.

My friend and I experienced numerous scenarios together as he would use my insights for troubleshooting. It didn’t take long for him to decide that I was accurate 99.99999% of the time, leaving room for human error. These experiences always caused us to laugh, as I was able to solve numerous problems that I didn’t understand.

These moments typically happened after he spent hours of research struggling to find an answer, but had less than 80% of the information necessary to solve the problem. It wasn’t magic or spooky, just a combination of innovative, intuitive and creative mental processing abilities functioning as I was made to function. However, he was made very left brained and couldn’t even begin to comprehend how I could do what I did, since it was “impossible” without the right information.

But consider that the right information for the left brain is different than the right information for the right brain. I know numerous people who can read the non-verbal communication that people give off when they greet someone they haven’t met before. Within a few minutes I can tell you more about them than most have summarized after a dozen meetings. Right brained people just use different tools to come to the same conclusion.

There is far more going on about the left and right brain than what a blog can handle. Numerous books have been written on the subject and various tests are online for educational and entertainment purposes. I suggest you take time to find out which side of your brain is dominant and what area or type of processing you use most.

Copyright © 2011 By CJ Powers
Photo © Ilenia Pagliarini – Fotolia.com