Northfield, MN – Help has arrived. It is called “The Handbook for working with difficult groups: How they are difficult, why they are difficult, and what you can do about it.” Have you ever met a group who was difficult? What did you do?

The Handbook of Working With Difficult Groups

Back when this was just an idea for a book I saw those questions. I recalled many difficult groups that, let’s say, built my character. And groups who stretched my facilitation skills beyond their capacity. A colleague and I responded with interest to write a chapter and were selected. Alas, we needed to identify just one group for the book chapter.

Difficult Group/John Suler

“Facilitating Multicultural Groups” is the title of “our chapter” – number four. It was co-authored with my colleague Mary Laeger-Hagemeister and improved with help from Joyce Hoelting. It is a case study about forums convened between a United States regional health care system, and new residents who were immigrants from Somalia and Mexico.

Obvious differences existed in health care practices and language. Less obvious differences impacted convening a leadership team, developing relationships, engaging participation, fostering dialogue, leveraging social capital, navigating power and influence, and creating fruitful communication channels.

Here are excerpts from the chapter:

• Multicultural facilitation intentionally considers differences in the knowledge and meaning systems of group members and the implication of those differences for facilitation."Be aware that all facilitation strategies contain a cultural imprint, whether implicit or explicit. Facilitation is not value free.” (Christine Hogan) page 56

• Cultural informants were engaged. “Cultural informants are bridge builders. They can walk in two worlds with a conscious understanding of the differences. Thus, they help cultures understand each other.” (A.C. Schauber) page 64

• Health care professional were encouraged to self disclose. Self-disclosure helps other see more fully what you believe, value, and do, and allows for finding common ground.

Level one: sharing information regarding specific subject matter
Level two: sharing personal information about you and your family or community
Level three: sharing values and beliefs

 “Professionals can connect better with some groups when they self-disclose at level three and allow others to do the same.” (Donna Beegle) page 66

•  People experience marginality or mattering. One of the challenges was to help community members see that their ideas mattered to the large health care institution. Background and experience influence whether people are apt to participate in organizations and institutions.

“Marginality is a feeling that we do not belong or matter. People may be marginalized by race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic background, or language. People ask themselves: “Are we part of things: do we belong; are we central or marginal? Do we make a difference: do others care about us and make us feel we matter?” (N.K. Schlossberg) page 67

• Relationships may be prized more highly than any task. The facilitator was mindful of normal cross-cultural expressions including the use of indirect speech, stories, and expressing emotions.  “Emotional expression and story telling are signs about how much someone may care about the issue and not a distraction from the task.” (Mitch Hammer) page 72

The forums improved understanding and trust across all three populations and clarified best practices for getting and giving culturally sensitive health care. The facilitated process created a win-win situation for institutions that needed to make strategic investments to reach immigrants, and for immigrants who would otherwise have a steep climb to improve health care.  page 75

The Handbook for Working with Difficult Groups is edited by Sandy Schuman, sponsored by the International Association of Facilitators, and published by Jossey-Bass, 2010.

More from Donna Rae Scheffert can be found at Online-Leadership-Tools where her RSS feed is available. She is also on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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