Using the whole room for better moderation – Peter Köstel in an interview
Presenter’s case and flipchart – these are the tried and tested tools of a presenter’s trade. But is this form of visualization really sufficient to illustrate complex problems within a seminar? Can innovative solutions be found with it?
Peter Köstel disagrees. The owner of marketing-pur DIE STRATEGIEAGENTUR has been coaching and training holistic strategy concepts since 2001. In his view, we too often face a wall in solving problems. Not only figuratively, but also directly. When it comes to mastering challenges in a team, the flipchart is quickly unpacked to develop visualized strategies. Solutions are then to be found in a “one-to-many” moderation. Peter Köstel does not necessarily think this is ideal. He wants to bring more dynamism and transparency into problem-solving processes, and that’s why he developed the 3D pinboard, which uses the whole room instead of just one wall. The expert is concerned with sustainable and practical success! To ensure that the strategy succeeds, he relies on results that can be grasped visually. At the Presentation Bootcamp 2015, Köstel leads the workshop “The Premium Moderation – Method in Space”. In advance, he explained his approach to us in an interview.
Hello Mr. Köstel. I know a few young teachers who say this: Frontal teaching has long been out of fashion. Does this also apply to seminars and the moderation of meetings, for example?
Peter Köstel: In my view, frontal teaching is still relevant for pure knowledge transfer. And everything that has proven itself does not become worse through new methods. After all, moderation is supposed to promote the creativity of the participants in order to solve tasks together – if possible by consensus. Here frontal techniques are indeed to be reconsidered.
What is the problem with moderation based on the “one-to-many” principle?
Peter Köstel: Monologues “one-to-many” do not help anyone in a solution-oriented moderation process. The communication basis in face-to-face facilitation should use haptic elements in contrast to online meetings. In the social media space, “one-to-many” is popular. But when a team wants to effectively solve tasks in a room, for example, it takes more than PowerPoint, flip charts, and standard bulletin boards to get everyone involved in the transparent solution process.
Which methods of moderation are suitable when looking for solutions to problems together in a professional context?
Peter Köstel: The moderation case with its round and square moderation cards, together with the necessary pin boards, is the best-known technique. Increasingly, static moderation cards are also being used as foil material, which do not require pin boards or needles at all. The window, the wall or the (cabinet) door thus become a “pinboard”. However, even with this technique, users are faced with a wall or large surface. That’s what I call frontal moderation. So not to be confused with frontal teaching. But how often have people driven into a wall? Standing in front of a wall. Just can’t get off the ground or feel immobile. They just can’t get ahead in product development, idea management, team understanding, or opening minds. That’s why I invented the 3D pinboard.
How can you profitably incorporate space into your facilitation?
Peter Köstel: My conviction is that the solution lies in space. We humans are “3D beings”. If people want to move around and experience viewpoints simply in a 360-degree perspective, the subject has to take center stage. Away from surrounding areas. This can be done with lines or strings stretched across a room. Participants may hang specially designed chain moderation cards on the string. I am happy to offer the question, “What issue are you hanging in the air with?”. In this eye-level communication, the chain moderation cards are not only hung thematically high, but they also twist. When the team is standing around the hanging 3D construction, not every member can read the labels. This causes people to move “automatically” and keep touching the hanging moderation cards and turning them towards them to read them.
Now the messages, no matter for which process, are received, processed and discussed much more intensively. The eyelets on the cards create chains or bridge situations and active discussion. The hanging result shows a 3D construction to grasp – with immediately visible connections for solving tasks. An enormously effective variant to bring movement into challenges.
What do you want participants to take away from Presentation Bootcamp 2015?
Peter Köstel: The world is very much on the move at the moment. We have experienced a lot economically since the banking crisis. Computer simulations like to show us correlations as to why something happened. I want to show people that we can represent interfaces and connections visibly and comprehensibly in advance in almost all situations. I want to bring solutions back to the center of action, with a single and universal chain moderation card. It is often asked to think differently for once. I offer a visualization tool that immediately supports this requirement (un)consciously in the moderation. The graspable 3D pinboard.
Peter Köstel not only uses self-developed TRAINING-TOOLS in the strategy agency, but also sells them directly to companies, universities, trainers, consultants etc. via training-tools.de.
