Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together

A new approach to helping teams solve complex and stubborn problems from the acclaimed author of Collaborating with the Enemy.

It’s becoming less straightforward for people to move forward together. They face increasing complexity and decreasing control. They need to work with more people from across more divides. In such situations, the most common ways of advancing—some people telling others what to do, or everyone just doing what they think they need to—aren’t adequate.

One better way is through facilitating. But the most common approaches to facilitating—bossy vertical directing from above or collegial horizontal accompanying from alongside—also aren’t adequate. They often leave the participants frustrated and yearning for breakthrough.

This book describes a new approach: transformative facilitation. Instead of choosing the bossy vertical or collegial horizontal approach: It cycles back and forth between them. Rather than forcing or cajoling, the facilitator removes the obstacles that stand in the way of people contributing and connecting equitably, enabling them to bring their whole selves to the process.

This book is for anyone who helps people work together to transform their situation, be it a professional facilitator, manager, consultant, coach, chairperson, organizer, mediator, stakeholder, or friend. It offers a broad and bold vision of the contribution that facilitation can make to helping people collaborate to make progress.

Praise for Adam Kahane’s books

“Thought-provoking discourse on handling difficult situations.” —Publishers Weekly

“Profound . . . a wise way to negotiate our toughest group, community, and societal challenges.” —William Ury, New York Times–bestselling coauthor of Getting to Yes

Adam Kahane is director of Reos Partners, an organization that helps people move forward together on their most important and intractable issues. He has facilitated teams of executives, politicians, philanthropists, generals, guerillas, civil servants, trade unionists, community activists, clergy, and artists. His work has been praised by Nobel Peace Prize–winners Nelson Mandela and Juan Manuel Santos.