We are nearing the end of season 1, so please, let us know how you've found this season using our super-quick feedback form.

Episode 13* of the Resist + Renew podcast, where we feel the heat of temperature checks: what they bring, issues and benefits.

(* the observant amongst you will spot that this episode was meant to be number 14: we did some last-minute rearranging of the season. Please bear with us!)

'A temperature check can visiblise polarisation in the room' - Ali

Show notes, links

The perenially-useful Seeds for Change have a description of temperature checks on their tools page.

Ali also mentioned the work that Navigate do around convergent facilitation.

See our "What is facilitation?" podcast episode page for more general facilitation resources.

Transcript

Ali: This is Resist + Renew.

Kat: A UK-based podcast about social movements

Sami: What we’re fighting for, why and how it all happens.

Ali: The host of the show are:

Kat: Me Kat

Sami: Er, me, Sami,

Ali: and me, Ali.

Sami: I'm recording us now, baby.

Ali: Shit, it's a podcast!

Laughter

Ali: Helloooo. And welcome back to the Resist + Renew podcast. This is another episode of the toolbox. We've switched the order around just now, so this is the second to last episode we have for the season. And before we jump in to the episode itself, just wanted to say a little bit about the end of this season. We've enjoyed it a lot -- recording, interviewing people, chatting through stuff about facilitation tools. And it's been really nice to hear some feedback informally via social media and through friends, about how it's been going. We have some intentions and plans to carry on and do a season 2. But before we do that, we would really like to hear a bit more structuredly from people who have been listening. So it'd be great if you could fill in a little Google form we made, and give us some feedback about what you liked, what you didn't like so much, what you want to hear more of, what you want to hear less chat about, and that will help us to make season 2 even better when we come around to do that. So there will be a link on the website page for this episode, and also we'll put it out on social media. So if you're up for that, that'd be amazing. And maybe some of you would like to chat to us more and have some kind of 1 on 1, or focus group type thing. We haven't figured it out yet, but if you're up for that, let us know on the form. So... today's episode is a toolbox episode, and it is about temperature checks. So, Sami, would you like to kick us off and tell us what they are?

Sami: I would love to. So, temperature checks are a tool that is used by facilitators to kind of get some kind of often visual representation of how people are feeling about something. And so often it's based around some kind of question. And, and they're generally used as a tool to gauge whether people so like a classic example is if people want to like do people want to continue talking about something or do people feel happy to like move into a decision making kind of conversation from a discussing conversation would be the kind of example of where you use a temperature check. And they can there's like, kind of more discreet, kind of like, yes, no versions of temperature chips, but often temperature checks are quite continuous. So, it'd be like, one would be, you'd like stand somewhere in a room based on how you feel about something which is getting a bit more spectrum liney, which we'll find out about. spectrum line chat. And sometimes it'll be more like kind of hands up hands down, or like hands kind of in the middle if you feel kind of middling about something. And, and often as a tool they use to kind of make visible similar to spectrum lines, whether there is agreement about something or not. And, and there's kind of a bit of a crossover between temperature checks and voting. And I guess some of the key differences are temperature checks, generally, often more like indicative, voting is often considered more binding. Obviously, that depends on what the question you ask is, but often temperature checks are used to see like, how do people feel about something in a way that then means you can inform the next thing that you do. And like I said, they're often also continuous, voting is often like a kind of Yes, know how you feel about something. And, and there are kind of crossovers between the two, like, for example, there's kind of like more continuous voting mechanisms, which are quite similar to temperature checks, which are used, if people are familiar with quick consensus decision making, there's like a kind of fist to five tool in there where you can use 0-1-2-3 or five fingers to express like how you feel about a thing. And and generally the best use when you're, when you want to do something differently with the answer to the question, and so that was all a little bit esoteric with no examples. So Katherine, do you want to take it away with an example of using temperature checks within a workshop or meeting scenario?

Kat: Absolutely, um, a few years ago, I was facilitating a meeting with some new economy activists up in Manchester. And there were two big topics left that we had to work through and with quite limited time. And so I wanted to sort of check the temperature of the group on how to proceed. And so asked for raised hands, if people wanted to explore a particular topic, and hands in the middle, if they were either not that bothered or didn't really mind, and then hands down low if they really didn't want to do that, and then put some different options. And so we did the hands high, middle or low for the first topic that we could discuss. And just that, did it again, for the second topic, did it again, to try and get through both, and did it again, to do something completely different and not do either. And when we did, that, there was a really clear direction from the group to explore just one of the topics in detail. And, and we had a discussion after doing the temperature check that that would mean not being able to do the other topic. And the group agreed that they were happy to do that. So then that gave us a clear steer on what to do with limited time left.

Ali: Nice. I guess that brings up for me how, even though it's not voting, that there's still like, I don't know it has, temperature checks can quite strongly influence what happens and like, it can be towards more of a majoritarian approach to things rather than like a consensus approach to things. So like, some people might have really wanted to talk about that other topic. But practically, it wasn't possible. And, you know, that's just how the process goes. And and compromises have to be made. But like there's, there's a power in in the tool and how it's how it's wielded, I guess. Something I’d add.

Sami: Yeah, I think there's also something so like, one of the things that maybe get a little bit into the limitations that I see can often be a struggle in temperature checks is something that was not hit on by your framing of it is often there's something like, because it can be used sometimes in a way that can be not too dissimilar from voting and can be quite similar to voting, how you frame the question is really important. And like I was definitely part of a group once where temperature checks, always kind of created more strife than just like kind of asking people how they felt about something, because because it was a group without a clear decision-making process, it means that anytime a temperature check came up, they were often seen as like a sly way of getting agreement on something. But it wasn't really another way of getting agreement on stuff and a way of using that kind of majoritarian framing in a group that wasn't particularly into majoritarian ways of agreeing stuff. And which meant they're quite difficult, and the ways around that often around, either just not using temperature checks as a tool, or having clear decision-making processes. But then the third choice, which is kind of the way that you went in that example, Katherine is just make sure that the framing of what you're doing is exhaustive. Like, don't just say, do you want to do this thing or not? Because then what like, you kind of need to know what the not is, how you feel about the thing. So saying, like, do we want to discuss this, you will discuss option A or Option B, both or neither? At least gives people the kind of everyone will probably have at least some preference in one of those areas. And asking all of the questions means you don't people don't feel like they can't engage the temperature check one, because they like I don't want to say I feel more into something because actually, I feel it's talking about both of them that making it clear and I guess that's part of the implied thing is making it clear before you do any of them what the options are gonna be. And so that then people feel able to have a think about it and engage.

Ali: So I guess now we're talking about limitations though. So another limitation we have noted is that a temperature check can visiblise like polarisation in in the room, if there's a meeting where some people really want to do something, and some people really don't want to do something, then things can just feel stuck, then you can, like, exacerbate that stuckness by visibilising it. So, knowing what you're going to do, once you've got the data or the information from the group and knowing how to move forward in, in these various scenarios is like a really important thing to have in mind. Yeah, I guess like,

Kat: No I was just gonna say I really agree with that, and feels like sometimes visiblising, the stuckness for a group can be really helpful, especially if there are people in the group that think there is a clear way forward, like showing quite visibly. No,