Flashlight
| Type | Team Size | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collaborative Tools | Software | Personal Skills | Productivity Tools | 1 | 2-10 | 11-30 | 30+ |
What, Why & When
The flashlight method is used during sessions to get an immediate picture and evaluation of where the group members stand in relation to a specific question, the general course of discussion, or how they personally feel at that moment. Flashlight rounds can be initiated by the team leader or a team member. Everyone is asked to share their opinion in a short 2-3 sentence statement. During the flashlight round everyone is listening and only questions for clarification are allowed. Arising issues can be discussed after the flashlight round ended. The method is quick and efficient, and allows every participant to voice their own point without interruption. This especially benefits the usually quiet and shy voices to be heard. On the downside, quiet and shy persons can feel uncomfortable being forced to talk to the whole group, and the request to keep ones own statement short and concise my distract people from listening carefully, because everyone is crafting their statements in their heads instead. To avoid that paricipants are distracted during the round, start by giving the question and let everyone think for 1-2 minutes.
Goals
Have a quick (and maybe fun) interlude to identify: Is everyone on the same page? Are there important issues that have been neglected so far? Is there unspoken dissonance? Is there an elephant in the room? What are we actually talking about?
How to
Knowing the group dynamics is key to having successful flashlight rounds. The team leader should be aware of good timing, usefulness at this point, and the setting for the flashlight. With good preparation and knowledge of the group dynamics flashlight rounds can be initiated in small and big groups. However, for groups of 30+ participants the rounds get very long, and, depending on the flashed topic, also inefficient. Other methods like (???) should be considered. To create a relaxed atmosphere try creative questions like: What song would you choose to characterize the current state of discussion, and why?
