The short answer: let participants use the Māori word Po to announce a provocation that can help diverge the conversation without the fear of passing for a crazy person.
Who made me discover the Po technic
My colleague of the Master Design of the HSLU, Christoph Zellweger, uses in his coaching a great technique that lets people say something very weird, crazy or provocative without the fear of passing for a crazy person.
Why does the Po technique matter?
Being able to say anything in a workshop setting without that fear is what academic people call psychological safety. A sense of safety and non-judgmental atmosphere that lets everyone be freely creative.
This psychological safety is something that makes a huge difference. In fact Frederik Pferdt, Google’s Chief Innovation Evangelist said that “Psychological safety is the biggest distinction in innovative teams.”
How to use the Po technic?
During the introduction time of a workshop or group coaching, share with the team that they can use the Māori word Po before sharing a provocative thought. You can then explain that, as Wikipedia contributors say, the word refers to the original chaotic state of formlessness from which evolution occurred.
Before sharing something crazy, the person uses the word Po and then
Why do I love the Po technic?
In my workshop introductions, I often share simple tips that can help build psychological safety. These are a variation of my psychological safety cards set.
I feel that the word Po is a good addition to these tips.
I especially like that:
It’s easy to implement: It’s a really simple idea that really works well.
It creates a shared language: workshop participants start to build an insider language that makes people bond together and has something that people outside of the workshop don’t know or understand.
It’s easy to remember: the word is simple and clear and can be remembered as an acronym, too: provocative operation.
• ⁃ It has a great story: the Māori origins make it a lovely storytelling time during the workshop introduction.