Martin Carcasson: Deliberative Facilitation & Wicked Problems
Date: August 5, 2025 Speaker: Martin Carcasson, Colorado State University Duration: ~70 minutes
Overview
Martin Carcasson presented on deliberative facilitation through the lens of wicked problems, emphasizing how facilitators should focus on values and tensions rather than individual blame.
Key Concepts
The Wicked Problems Lens
Wicked problems are complex challenges that resist simple solutions. Carcasson urged facilitators to:
- Focus on underlying values and tensions
- Avoid assigning individual blame
- Recognize that “solutions” often create new problems
Three Types of Conversations
A framework for fostering innovative solutions:
- Balancing - Working within existing trade-offs
- Recalibrating - Adjusting the balance points
- Transcending - Finding creative solutions that move beyond the original framing
Argument Mapping
Carcasson advocated for comprehensive argument mapping before facilitated events to:
- Ensure solid foundations for dialogue
- Surface the full landscape of perspectives
- Prepare facilitators for likely tensions
Deliberation vs. Debate vs. Dialogue
| Mode | Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Debate | Win/lose, adversarial, quick |
| Dialogue | Understanding, exploratory, open |
| Deliberation | Decision-focused, weighing trade-offs, requires more resources |
Deliberation needs more resources than debate or dialogue but produces superior outcomes for complex decisions.
Principled Impartiality
Facilitators should practice “principled impartiality”:
- Balance commitment to democratic values
- Build and maintain trust with all parties
- Avoid taking sides while still upholding process integrity
Key Facilitator Moves
Practical techniques shared:
- Managing speaking order - Ensuring equitable participation
- Paraphrasing - Reflecting back to ensure understanding
- Perspective-taking prompts - Encouraging participants to consider other viewpoints
Small Group Facilitation
Carcasson highlighted:
- The necessity of small group work for genuine deliberation
- Need for adaptable templates in citizen assemblies
- Importance of trained facilitators at each table
AI & Facilitation
Discussion of how AI tools can:
- Enhance (not replace) human facilitation skills
- Support democratic capacity building
- Help with argument mapping and synthesis
Action Items from Session
- Share Rosa Zubizarreta’s citizen assembly paper
- Connect with Google Jigsaw research
- Start asynchronous discussion about blog post process
Resources
- Colorado State University Center for Public Deliberation
- Rosa Zubizarreta’s work on dynamic facilitation
- Google Jigsaw facilitation research
Attendees
Notable participants included representatives from:
- Google Jigsaw
- Metagov
- Round Sky Solutions
- Block Science
- University of Notre Dame
- UC Davis