According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the “octo” prefix refers to the eight points on the symbol. The “thorpe” suffix remains more of a mystery. One theory is that “thorpe” comes from the old English word for “village” based on the idea that the symbol could be seen as a village surrounded by eight fields.
When I saw this fun fact, I began thinking about the meaning of other words and where those meanings came from originally.
One word I thought about was facilitation. If you break this apart, you find that “facil” means to make easy or to make things happen.
How does facilitation make things easier or make things happen for a team? Here are 5 quick examples of a facilitator’s super-powers.
- The ability to structure conversations through exercises and methods that guide conversations to the desired outcomes better than general unstructured conversations.
- The ability to track time like a referee of the exercises and the session, so the team can focus on the activities at hand.
- The ability to level the playing field so every team member has the ability to provide input and ideas at the same level as other team members. It no longer matters if someone is talkative or quiet, remote or local, or powerful or non-powerful. Everyone has an equal voice.
- The ability to enable the team to make faster decisions to keep the momentum moving forward. Whether its a matter of narrowing down a large number of options, prioritizing a group of activities, or deciding on what to execute first. A facilitator has the tools and methods to help.
- The ability to maintain better team alignment by visualizing the conversation so everyone sees the same things from the start through the finishing line of the conversation.
Just imagine what this could all mean to your teams. Imagine the improvements in your meetings, decisions, team kickoffs, team retrospectives, and more!
Original LinkedIn URL link
