Plovdiv 2023 - A reminder about life long learning

This experience was about novelty. Novelty, which is not easy to find after seven years of projects, learning, and development, but it’s always welcome. What is not new, is that I need to write to debrief myself and then I might as well allow that text to be out there in case anyone needs it. So here we are.

Some key elements of novelty, in short:

• Being on this side of a European project

• Facilitating a ‘solution-search’ (instead of a consultation or delivering knowledge)

• Facilitating a three-day workshop (very different from a one-day endeavour!)

• Working with participants from a wide range of backgrounds and different experiences

• Co-facilitating with Bibi

I spent this week in Plovdiv, Bulgaria (European Capital of Culture 2019). Bibi and I co-facilitated a workshop/learning activity centred around Cities. Youth. Future. Basically, representatives from six cities that were European capitals of youth and/or culture → Novi Sad - Serbia, Thessaloniki - Greece, Strumica - North Macedonia, Maribor - Slovenia, and Cluj-Napoca - Romania came together to work on a solution to innovate volunteering for young people in urban areas. Bibi and I were the ones to guide this process through the Design Thinking Method.

Working with people on a ‘solution-search’ like this was a first for me and very different from a consultation. In fact, the differences are like Anthropology vs Literature essays - one is hourglass-shaped and you need to narrow things down, while the other one is bell-shaped and you need to include as much content as possible. It’s not hard, per se, but it’s still a learning curve until you get it right.

Anyway, things look relatively straight forward, don’t they? Lots of technical buzzwords which should be easy to understand if you work in the field. A quick lesson about the ‘social life of projects’...

A project starts as a proposal with objectives and expectations - very abstract.

(if successful)

↓

A project happens. The proposal is translated into concrete activities.

↓

A project report is written, narrating the reality in a way that corresponds to the proposal.

The most challenging part in this timeline is when the project happens. There are always variables, risks, or last-minute changes, and no amount of risk assessments can predict that. I know, expect, and respect that - I’ve been through this before as a project manager or active volunteer, but never as a facilitator. Facilitating comes with a very different type of responsibility because you have to deal with an enormous variable - people.

As soon as I was asked to co-facilitate, I started doing research, compiling suggestions for the activity, planning etc. The translation process started and that’s usually it for one day. In a three-day workshop, however, you go back to the drawing board after each day based on your new knowledge about the participants (personalities, needs, expectations) and their feedback. You need to think quickly and translate the project further and better.

This was terribly hard for me and not for lack of know-how, but because a part of me wanted to be stubborn and defensive of her work. What do you mean we have to change our plan for Day 2? It’s there and we have to stick to it! I can’t come up with something new! My plan was perfect, the problem is elsewhere. I took a deep breath, thanked myself for what I did, and then sat down with Bibi to do what we had to. The final feedback shows that we did a very good job (facilitation was rated 9.3/10).

I’ve always enjoyed working with Bibi. I learned most of my project writing skills with her through feedback and discussions. She is the youth worker who encouraged Bea The Writer (I’d say). I still remember when I wrote the application draft for the Romanian Youth Gala for a DEIS project and then we spent a few hours together tweaking it. I felt so good seeing how I managed to lay a strong foundation that we could build on together. It was late, we were super tired, but I know I was smiling an honest smile. Preparing for the workshop with her was very similar. But co-facilitation also needs a certain dynamic between the two facilitators and even when you click really well with the other person, it takes time to understand and improve that. In my opinion, the positive differences were visible from one day to the next. I’m excited for the next time, whenever that will be! On the final reflection session, I was attracted to this Dixit card and it sums this up perfectly:

There was plenty for me to learn from this experience, but if I were to choose one word to describe it all it would be ADAPTING. To continue allowing myself to learn (in an agile way, to use some more stylish terms). Life long learning. Experiences are not always this intense, but I missed it and the kind of article that stems from it.

Thank you András and Bibi for trusting me to be part of this project. Thank you to all the awesome participants for your feedback. I’m ready to try again and see how it goes.