You know how sometimes a discussion take lots of crazy turns? You don't know where it's going, and you don't know how you get to your final destination. Your discussion has gone down a rabbit trail. If you've ever seen a dog follow a real rabbit trail in a field, you'll see where this idiom comes from.
The dog will endlessly sniff around in circles, never getting anywhere, and it certainly never finds the rabbit. Rabbit trails in discussions can be interesting, but they usually interfere with resolving the topic at hand. Here is an example of how to avoid traveling endless rabbit trails in an informal group discussion.
It’s certainly easy for a discussion to get off course and maybe never come back. This is partly the challenge of leading adult learners. Adults have a lot of information and experience. Think of the brain as a filing cabinet or a hard drive. When we receive any new information, we open a file with that label only to discover that there are other things in the file.
Let’s
say your small group is discussing Daniel and his vegetarian diet from Daniel
1. The group members’ brains automatically open the folders for “Diet.” While
they’re in there, they remember several diets that they’ve tried and failed at
in the past. “Does anyone remember the grapefruit diet?” “Does anyone remember the
South Beach?” “How about the tomato and cabbage stew diet?” And, off they go.
Now some have cross referenced from “diet” to “hunger.” They’re thinking “I wonder
who brought the snack tonight. I hope it’s not one of those Atkins dieters who
bring the pork rinds…” Suddenly your group has traveled a long way from
Babylon.
You
really can’t stop adults from being distracted by their thoughts and
experiences. It’s just how they’re wired. But, you can prevent this from
becoming an epidemic in your group.
If
your group is fairly new or if this is a relatively new problem, then the
facilitator simply needs to redirect the conversation every time it begins to
stray. Going back to the failed diet rabbit trail, the facilitator could simply
say, “We’ve certainly gone off on a rabbit trail haven’t we. Let’s look at the
next question.” Or, you could go with a little humor, “Wow, that’s a topic for
another time.”
If
your group has been around for a while and this has become a bad habit, it
might be time to check in with the group and make sure everyone is okay. You
might even be losing group members if this is going unchecked. Get the group to
come to an agreement about staying on topic and socializing at the end of the
meeting.
Sometimes
we have to walk a fine line. When someone begins to go off topic, be careful
not to cut them off immediately. In fact, you might want to whisper a quick
prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern what’s happening. Sometimes
people need to share a painful experience or a pressing problem, and they just
can’t wait until the right point in the agenda. If as the facilitator you feel
that they should continue, then let them continue. If the person wants to talk
about himself every week, well, then that’s another problem.
If
you find that your group likes to spend the first part of the meeting catching
up with each other. Don’t fight it. You might change your prayer time to the
start of the meeting and pray right after everyone has caught up. Then, you can
start your study. Remember you are leading a group, not just leading a meeting.
“The man, who chases two rabbits, catches
neither.” (Confucius) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“And Today’s Idiom
is...Rabbit Trail”
·
“Avoiding Rabbit Trails
in Discussion” by Allen White
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