Unlimited use of online facilitators

I'm sure many of us have had more opportunities to hold online meetings over the past few months.

Although meetings can now be held casually, there are times when people speak at the same time, or it is difficult to understand the other person's reaction. There are many cases within Monosus where people feel confused by the unfamiliarity and frustrated that things just don't go smoothly.

That's when we started by inviting Aoki Masayuki, who calls himself an "online facilitator," to join the meeting.

This time, Nakajima Nozomi from the Monosasu Site Secretariat will introduce the system that Monosasu has introduced, "Aoki Hodai."

Facilitator, unlimited use

Monosus has offices in Yoyogi, Tokyo, Kamiyama, Tokushima, Suo-Oshima, Yamaguchi, and Bangkok, Thailand, and we regularly communicate using online tools.

As the spread of COVID-19 forced everyone to work from home, all meetings that had previously been held face-to-face were now conducted online.

Even though I'm used to it, I'm starting to feel the difficulty of communicating when we're not in the same space.

At that time, a post by Aoki came across on social media saying, "I'm quitting my job as a meeting facilitator and will start over as an online meeting facilitator."

(Posted by Aoki on April 4, 2020. You can feel his determination.)

We thought that this would be an opportunity for everyone at Monosus to experience Aoki's facilitation and improve their own meeting skills, so we decided to introduce a system that would allow members to easily consult with Aoki.

It's called "Aoki Hodai."

The company pays Aoki a monthly fee. In return, members can call Aoki as many times as they like. He can be a facilitator for any meeting.

There are regular team meetings, brainstorming for new projects, and even one-on-one meetings with members to hear what they have to say. In the past two months, I have already had him participate in about 15 such meetings.

Facilitator Aoki-san

Aoki and Monosus met last summer.

It all started when I asked him to be a facilitator at a training camp where we wanted to talk about the company's direction and organizational structure.

Mr. Aoki founded the first office in Japan specializing in meeting facilitation in 2003. He has facilitated meetings of all kinds, from family meetings to international conferences.

Having spent time with him on a number of occasions, I feel that rather than leading the meetings, he is someone who is there to listen.

When I spoke with him the other day, he said the following about facilitation:

"I specialize in meetings. In other genres, there are facilitators who create a piece of music with the people gathered, and facilitators who specialize in urban development. What they all have in common is that the people there are able to participate deeply. I think it's a job where you can feel that the time and place are your own."

"When person A says something important, you just ask people B and C what they think. That's right. Your job is to listen."

What happens with Aoki Hodai

"Well, are you all dressed up? Thank you for using Aoki Hodai."

Aoki's facilitation begins as if to check that everyone is alive.

When we spoke to some of the participants, we received the following comments:

• Since Mr. Aoki neither denied nor confirmed anything, I felt safe saying anything.
• We had regular opportunities to check what we were talking about and what the goal was, so the discussion progressed without wavering.
• When a manager facilitates, emotions get involved, but because a third party is listening, there are certain things that can be said and words that come out.

According to Aoki, "If you pull back and create some space, creating an environment where people can offer their opinions, things will naturally start to run smoothly."

When people gather together and make time for meetings, various things happen every time.

Although we never have the same time twice, I'd like to share some of the memorable things I've experienced working with Mr. Aoki so far.

Ask everyone

It seems like it's easy to wait for the right moment to speak online and end up not saying a word.

After the opinions have been given, Aoki asks questions such as, "What about ◎◎?" and "Can ▲▲ speak?"

I think having someone to create opportunities for people to speak, rather than everyone having to be a speaker, creates an environment where everyone can easily participate.

So that I can see everyone's faces

When holding an online meeting, someone sometimes shares a document on their screen instead of taking minutes, and everyone follows the text to keep time going.

Aoki sets up a whiteboard in the background so that he can organize his thoughts while being able to see everyone's faces.

Rather than talking to a screen, it feels like you're having a conversation while checking the expressions of everyone taking part, which makes it easy to talk.

Respond to each one

One of the difficulties with online meetings is that it's hard to understand the other person's reaction.

I spoke, but it was hard to read the expressions on everyone's faces. I wonder if it was okay to say something like that. Maybe I should just stop saying it...

To prevent this from happening, Aoki will respond by nodding or commenting in the chat when you suggest that he or she should respond.

Being conscious of reactions may be an important way for people to interact with each other even when they are not in the same space.

When you list them all out like this, they all seem like obvious things, but I'm reminded that it's important to be more conscious of them when speaking online.

There may still be ways to make the time you spend together more enjoyable by each person just changing their posture a little at a time.

Monosus is still running the "Aoki Hodai" program. We will treasure the time we had with Aoki and make the most of it in our future meetings and interactions.

We spoke to Mr. Aoki in the form of an interview. Please take a look if you are interested.

Tell us about your work! Online facilitator Masayuki Aoki (Part 1)
Monosasu Radio Online Facilitator Aoki-san

Mr. Aoki can be requested to act as an online facilitator.
If you are interested, please contact us first.
Masayuki Aoki Facilitator Office Website