Facilipation ... or is it ... Particitation

Recently I've been involved in a few informal "lessons learned" for some initiatives we've been working on.

Due to my background, I feel qualified to lead these "retrospective" opportunities.

When doing so - I keep noticing a problem - I'm involved in the content!! How can I objectively led a retrospective and include my viewpoints at the same time.

So I came up with some terms:
Facilipation - This would be facilitate first, participate second
Particitation - the opposite - participate first, facilitate second

Here are some techniques I use in order to manage this ambiguity:

• Time Before. Since I'm planning the agenda, I give myself time before the retrospective to think about my answers to the activities. This allows me to give my full focus attention to the retrospective participants while still being able to provide my insights.
• Create a pause. Usually a topic can go in a direction I hadn't thought before the retrospective. While balancing the need to keep the topic on focus and taking in the information (which can be somewhat difficult) - when the opportunity to provide a break in the topic comes - instead of moving on to the next item/topic/thing, I pause and take a mental stock of the conversation and determine if I have any relevant insights to add.
• Stay objective. At other times a topic my go in a direction I may disagree with. This one can be dangerous as I may have an inclination to bias what is said or written. Objective activities can help reduce this issue - writing thoughts on cards, voting, etc.

In my opinion, in order to achieve an effective retrospective, the goal must be towards Facilipation. I am a facilitator first, a participant second. A poorly run / biased retrospective does no one any good.