The Tourism Association

We facilitated two workshops with the Tourism Association on July 10^th and  17^th.  After our introductory meetings with them, it became evident that there was a strong need for increased collaboration between members, as well as strategic planning.  So we planned a session using exercises in the hopes of getting to the root of the reasons for the dysfunctionality within the association, while also brainstorming possible opportunities to combat those problems.  The workshops additionally served as team-building exercises, having asked the participants to work in groups throughout the meetings.  I have to thank our fluent teammates, Julían and Larissa, for carrying us through most of the talking of these meetings.  Without them, we all would have just been sitting in a room playing charades.

The focus of the first workshop was to identify the causes and effects of the lack of functionality of the organization.  We split the room of 16 participants into two groups and facilitated an exercise called “The Problem Tree.”  As a result of this exercise, the overwhelming consensus was that the reasons for the lack of cohesion within the association stems from a lack of leadership, communication, and organization.  After identifying the problems, we asked them to turn their problem trees into opportunity trees.  Once the problem of dysfunctionality was changed into the opportunity of “an operational association” it was easy for them to recognize objectives that they would need to accomplish in order to reach success.  The workshop was a success.  People began to think more critically about why they hadn’t accomplished anything within the association this year, and they also began to talk and think with a more united voice.

Th problem tree exercise was a perfect segway into the focus for our next workshop: goal-setting and task breakdown.  The second meeting was off to a shaky start, as only 3 association members showed up on time.  The association is in the middle of a re-election and restructuring of the members, so many members aren’t even sure if they will be continuing on with the tourism association.  But after some time passed, a few more people trickled in and we ended up with 7 participants; not as many as we had hoped, but it was enough to do the exercise we had planned.  We used the tasks that the groups had identified from the problem tree exercise: forming committees, more organized leadership, official notifications of association activities, creation of a tourism booth at the town square, and more marketing of La Merced.  From here, we had the members identify the specific problem and objective that they were addressing.  In addition, they were asked to list what resources they would need to complete the task, and by when they planned to have it done. Our hope was that as a result of this meeting, we could deliver a planned calendar of activities that the association could use to more actively carry out projects.  However, given the currently unstable climate of the association, the members did not feel comfortable assigning participants to each of the tasks.  This was understandable, considering the restructuring that they have been trying to do.  They completed what they could for the exercise, and presented their progress to the rest of the association in a meeting that weekend. 

I really don’t know what will come out of the work we have been doing with the association while we’ve been here.  They are at a pivotal stage where they are changing their constitution and hopefully gaining better leadership.  There is still so much foundational work that they need to do before they can consider projects that they want to work on.  I just hope that they realize how significant strategic planning will be for them.  Despite the frustration of many members and the dormant state that the association has been in this past year, it was encouraging to see those members who haven’t given up on it yet.  They still show up to the meetings, they still participate, and they still try to think of better ways that they could be working together.  I truly hope that these people can take the calendar that they have created with us and put it into action once the association is ready for it.  Unfortunately, I don’t get to be here long enough to see what that will look like.  But we have been here long enough to do our job.  We saw the needs of this group of people, and we facilitated a plan to address the problems that they were encountering.  At this point, it will be up to them to put that plan into action.