ABSTRACT
For many years, the key to better team meetings was a designated person who functioned as a process facilitator. The goal was to prevent a BOGSAT – Bunch of Guys/Gals Sitting Around a Table. Facilitated teams used thinking aids called Structured Analytic Techniques (SATs) to improve problem solving and decision making. However, when teams are faced with complex problems or tough decisions to make during a meeting, they may be unable to reach a solution using SATs alone. Recent experiences with a range of national security and public safety teams have shown that there are new ways to combine process facilitation, analytic techniques, and computer software tools right in the meeting room to turbo-charge their collaboration. Analytic Collaboration involves building on the foundation of process facilitation and SATs with Simple Analytic Models. SAMs provide a collaboration bridge to move teams from intuition to analysis and from debate to action. SAMs also help to communicate analytic results to senior leadership and stakeholders. Facilitators and team leaders acting as facilitators can learn to use analytic collaboration tools to turn SATs into SAMs. Most SAMs can be built in an Excel spreadsheet or other inexpensive software. This chapter describes how six national security and public safety teams used Analytic Collaboration and SAMs to move from BOGSAT to TurboTeam. The examples span three common team tasks: Deciding, Diagnosing, and Designing.
