We had the privilege of having our five adult children on the podcast doing a family round table on communication. Great fun! Try it and find out if your family would have as much fun and share as openly around the topic of communication. By the way, the title has nothing to do with the content in the episode. It's an inside joke and was recommended, to the delight of the whole family, by one of the episode's participants. 

Ray and Bob bite off more than the can chew when they start talking about obstacles they find when facilitating. They wanted to do a summary to their series on facilitation but just couldn't get to it. Drats!

Ray and Bob wrap up their conversation on facilitation skills and provide some confessions as to what they are good and bad at regarding specific skills.  Of course, the good outweighs the bad.

The episode is introduced with a couple of cute jokes (no, not Bob and Ray) real jokes from Jane. The twins then finish up their discussion on mindful practices related to facilitation and move into the area of specific skills used in facilitation.

After finishing a few thoughts on a facilitation mindset, Ray and Bob detail some of the mindful practices involved in good facilitation. And just as the term implies, it  requires a degree of mindfulness to use them. The ideas we talk about rarely come naturally and they are never easy.

Ray and Bob unpack what they see to be the commitments and orientations that underlie a facilitative mindset.They note to be a good facilitator, also known colloquially as “Tater”, you have to have certain commitments and orientations. So, pay attention!

Ray and Bob try a new approach where they simply talk to one another and ignore the listening audience. Could be a mistake. We'll let you know. They wander around the three core values that underlie a facilitative mind - openness, equality, and other-centeredness.

The twins are moving on to facilitation as an important form of communication. They speak to it as leadership style (directive, facilitation, laissez-faire), a skill, a mindset, and a process. Frankly, they make a pretty weak attempt to define it, but they do better at  exploring more of how it can best be used in group settings. Bottom line, its about making interaction easier! More we, than me or you.

Ray and Bob get to visit with our youngest executive. You name it, he's done it and at a remarkably young age. Pro sports, TV broadcasting, and financial management. And, yes we were foolish enough to try to go one on one with him.

As a part of the ongoing series on Executives and Communication, Bob and Ray have an insightful conversation with a Fortune 50 executive.  She puts it out there on a variety of topics and the only downside is that she is an Ohio State fan.