The teambuilding activity is over. The group is circled up and looking at you. It’s time to debrief – – to help the group make sense of what just happened and apply lessons “back in the real world”. I call this “debriefing”while others might call it processing or reviewing or reflection.
When I started in the field of experiential learning, it was the debriefing that gave me the greatest challenge. Learning how to lead the activities was a breeze compared to debriefing. Whenever I observed a skilled leader work with a group in the debrief session I thought I was witnessing magic.
This is where Michelle Cummings steps in (that’s Michelle in the picture). She’s the coauthor of a great new book entitled “A Teachable Moment — A Facilitator’s Guide to Activities for Processing, Debriefing, Reviewing and Reflection”.
On April 7, 2005 I interviewed Michelle about her book. She offers some great insight on how to become a more effective facilitator of teams, especially when it comes to debriefing the activity.
Listen to the 30-minute interview here (mp3 file).
Download michelle_cummings_mp3_sm.mp3
