Elephant in the Room

How this method works

A conversation for raising an issue people notice but do not mention, using a safe process. Use it when tension or restraint leaves problems untouched and collaboration begins to stall. First check confidentiality, the freedom not to speak, and no retaliation, then collect issues anonymously. Choose one by impact and urgency and listen separately to facts, effects, and support needed. The result is an issue summary, agreed next handling, and a formal consultation route if necessary. Do not use it to complete investigation of harm reports, illegal acts, or harassment within this session alone, or force participation.

Phase schedule

Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.

1. Check safety0–8 minutes from the start (8 minutes)

   Action: Check. Participation: Everyone.

   Recording not separately specified for this phase

2. Write issues8–18 minutes from the start (10 minutes)

   Action: Write. Participation: Individually.

   Individual record

3. Choose one issue18–26 minutes from the start (8 minutes)

   Action: Choose. Participation: Everyone.

   Shared record

4. Listen to the background26–50 minutes from the start (24 minutes)

   Action: Listen. Participation: Everyone.

   Shared record

5. Decide the next handling50–60 minutes from the start (10 minutes)

   Action: Decide. Participation: Everyone.

   Shared record

Facilitation steps

1. For 8 minutes, confirm purpose, confidentiality limits, freedom not to speak, no retaliation, and formal consultation routes.
2. For 10 minutes, each person writes unspoken issues anonymously, one per slip, and places them in the box. Do not write personal names or diagnoses.
3. For 8 minutes, the facilitator reads issues and each person uses 2 dots for impact and urgency to choose one issue.
4. For 24 minutes, discuss what is happening, its effects, and desired change in that order, excluding blaming language from the record.
5. For 10 minutes, decide one action for this week, responsibility, and a check date. If formal consultation is needed, keep only where the record will be sent and do not disclose details.

If something changes

Preparation

Materials

• 3 anonymous A6 issue slips per person
• 2 priority dot stickers per person
• One A3 issue-and-next-handling record per venue
• One opaque collection envelope or box per venue

Room and setup

• One seating circle per venue with room for people to approach the box individually and a passage at least 80 cm wide
• One shared surface where everyone can see the record

Adjust for people and time

With 3–8 people, conduct anonymous collection and discussion in one circle. With 9–15, collect and select together, then split only the background-listening stage into 2–3 groups of 3–5, with sizes differing by no more than 1, and bring records back. Provide 3 slips and 2 dots per person. Regardless of size, address only one issue per session; the facilitator stores or disposes of the rest without publishing them.

Manuscript's recorded references

These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.

• Open Practice Library: An Elephant in the Room — Moises Romero

  https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/elephant-in-the-room/

  Adaptation under CC-BY-4.0; changes made. Individual contributors credited; site images, logos, and externally linked materials not used.

• Open Practice Library license notice

  https://openpracticelibrary.com/about/

  CC-BY-4.0 notice except where noted. The Japanese source records that Codex checked the individual page footer on 2026-07-24.

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  CC-BY-4.0 licence text

Diagram, print, and video language

Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.

English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.

The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.

Editorial provenance

Stable method ID

opl-elephant-in-the-room

Japanese source status

Japanese source: field-tested status

Source path

src/content/methods/opl-elephant-in-the-room.yaml

Source SHA-256

6ac4a7b3060b9e0745a0bc914ac3f430c92f94f63ade0a48ab3750b1696450e7

English text path

design-lab/drafts/english-site-20261015/batches/M-019-M-020-local-draft-20261017-1445/methods/opl-elephant-in-the-room.json

English text SHA-256

b6c43365d3f44fd890eaa33f8a8a53ca40ac811783fc1d7bd3875a412f4a0eb2

Historical fixed-text English acceptance record

local-draft-not-independently-reviewed

Historical fixed-source recorded publication hold

Source-specific translation/reuse check pending

Original Japanese asset identifiers (not rendered here)

• main: opl-elephant-in-the-room-main.svg
• print: opl-elephant-in-the-room-print.svg
• thumb: opl-elephant-in-the-room-thumb.svg

Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.