Whose needs? Avoiding the tendency to design an event that you would like to go to!

In my first job in Social Care I worked alongside an experienced Probation Officer who used to ask, regularly, "Whose needs?" to check that what was being considered & decided was definitely about the offenders we were working with - & not meeting some need in us (e.g. to be needed, liked, respected, valued, interested).

This important question came back to me during a conversation about how we design & facilitate sessions bearing in mind people's different preferences.

I was part of a School of Facilitation London gathering & we were exploring Street Wisdom. We noticed how we all enjoyed different aspects of it & felt varying levels of engagement with time alone v. time as a group etc - & it led us to consider how we need to be disciplined about designing sessions that don't mainly suit our own preferences - meet some need we have - but that serve everyone.

Those of us who are natural reflectors & enjoy considering things in a quiet environment need to check we have pair & group activities for people who like the opposite & love to share; & vice versa.

We are all likely to have bias running through what we design so it was good to have the gentle reminder. Whose needs?