Three people on four benches, image by Erik Anestad on flickr
I explained my dilemma to the other two people in my ‘troika’ group, and then turned my back. For the next few minutes, they discussed the problem as if I wasn’t there. I heard empathy, I heard honesty. They were free to talk to each other about what I’d said without worrying about me becoming defensive, or correcting them. They also said what they’d intuited about what I’d not said. It was liberating for us all.
Something magical
There’s something very powerful in this process, and it seems to happen despite the illusion being obvious to everyone. I’m still there. They know I can hear them. And yet the people in ‘consultant’ role talk to each other, rather than to me. The insights flow more freely, they are able to speculate and creatively build on each other’s ideas in a way that just doesn’t happen when the ‘client’ is in the conversation as an equal.
Use troika in your workshops and meetings
It’s not hard. Here’s a step-by-step guide.
'Troika consulting' basics
Decide what the focus of the exercise will be. It needs to be broad enough that everyone in the room will have something that fits. Something like ‘a facilitation challenge I have coming up’ or ‘the thing that’s at the top of my mind about sustainability’ or ‘my biggest stakeholder engagement headache’.
The group needs to form micro groups of three. People may need to move so the micro groups can talk without disturbing each other. If there are odd people left, have some fours or add a facilitator into the mix. Twos don’t work - you’ll see why below.
Agree how much time you have. 30 minutes is a good amount, if you have groups of three. If you have a group of four, you will need to add ten minutes and the groups of three get a bit more time for each round.
The group decides who is A, B and C. (If there’s a four, they’ll have D too.)
In the first round, A is the client and B and C are the consultants. B keeps time, too.
A spends a one to two of minutes sharing their challenge, and the consultants have one to two minutes to ask open, clarifying questions (at this stage, they don’t give advice or offer tips).
A then turns their back to B and C.
B and C, the consultants, spend five minutes offering insights (e.g. things they see in the situation, which A may not see), offering coaching questions for A to think about (what is important to you about…? what does … give you?), or suggesting good ideas.
A then turns around and shares what was most valuable about the experience, for one to two minutes.
For the second round, repeat the process but with B as the ‘client’ and A & C as the ‘coaches’. C keeps time.
Repeat, swapping roles again, until everyone has shared their challenge.
Depending on the context, you may want a plenary round afterwards. A question like “What is one actionable insight which came out of that for you?” is a nice one.
What about online?
Troika was developed for face-to-face situations, but works equally well in online breakouts - the ‘client’ turns off their camera and mutes their mic rather than turning their back.
Variations
There’s more about troika consulting, and some variations, on the Liberating Structures website.
MAKING THE PATH BY WALKING
This piece was first published in January 2023’s Making the Path by Walking newsletter. Scroll right down to subscribe.