“The future is not a choice among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created – created first in mind and will, created next in activity.  The future is not someplace we are going to, but one we are creating.  The paths to it are not found but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.”  – John Schaar

I am often asked by colleagues either to facilitate a process or to recommend a process that  they should use for some planning effort.  Over the last forty years, I’ve participated in many planning activities (most poorly facilitated with poor results) and facilitated many more.  The value of the result is directly proportional to the thoughtfulness in selecting the right process AND selecting and preparing the participants.  In recent years, very few management teams are willing to spend more than half a day in any kind of planning meeting.  So the selection of a process has to accommodate the time demands of the participants.

As I reflect on the hundreds of processes that I’ve learned or created for the needs of a particular group, there seems to be two primary forms.  One form relies on what Robert Fritz calls “structural tension.”  This form is most powerful when combined with Gregory Bateson’s “difference that makes a difference.”