Page 246 - Mike Ratner CC - WISR Complete Dissertation - v6

Figure 3.5. Second Community Conversation on Implicit Bias.

Figure 3.5 is the second Community Conversation event, a presentation explaining what

“Implicit Bias” is kicks off the event to where it was shortened to involve the group to consider

these ideas in a conversation. You can read into the body language and measure interest.

As noted by Cayer (2008), facilitators have multiple roles ranging from proceduralist, to

teacher, to role model (in terms of the display of appropriate behavior, to interventionist). Isaacs

(1999) recommended that after dialogue facilitators get the process underway they should fade

from formal to informal positioning by relinquishing control of the process so that ownership of

the process is shared among all participants. This generally was the case in each of the dialogues.

Scully and McCoy (2005) viewed the role of the facilitator as impartial rather than neutral.

As such, the facilitator is similar to a manager who is responsible for ensuring an impartial process,

without taking on the role of expert or teacher. Isaacs’ (1999) position on the role of the dialogue

facilitator is primarily to get things started. He noted “while a facilitator can get things moving, he

or she must move out of a position of control so that the awareness of process is shared by

everyone” (p. 332). Facilitators for the second and third dialogues on ‘Implicit Bias’ had multiple

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