How can you manage disruptive behaviors during facilitation?

It's easy to judge what looks like "disruptive" behavior, but a skilled facilitator will realize there may be something lurking beneath the surface. Avoidance, disengagement, interruption, etc. could be symptoms of feeling unheard, excluded, or having a dissenting POV on what's being discussed (and we actually want diversity of ideas). How engaged people feel will be a reflection of the environment you create and the mutual agreements that everyone established at the start. So before jumping to solutions, consider what might be going on that's driving the perceived disruption. And if it turns out they're just being an intentional nuisance, then having a private candid conversation about their impact would go a long way.

I think it's a good idea to have the participants work together to establish the "ground rules" for the session by choosing 3-4 important things to remember when participating in the session. Write them on the board or chart paper so everyone can see them if they need to be reminded. This gives the participants ownership of their learning and/or participation.

An ounce of prevention may be helpful. That is, before the meeting or at start of it, review the ground rules. I recommend posting them on a white board, a flip chart and even on the agenda . That itself may be a reminder to folks. And when they stray it may suffice to point the ground rules out, even encouraging others to do that sort of peer pressure.

Preparing for difficult situations by reflecting on what might be challenging situations that happen and how would we want to act/react if they happen is a very valuable practice. Why? Because within the situation itself we have: 1/ a Lot on our mind (structure of the process, many participants each with their emotions and needs, content or instructions to explain, activities to navigate etc) 2/ We might be in heightened emotion if a conflict or uncomfortable situations raises - and when we get into fight-or-flight state of mind, it puts us in more of a tunnel vision, our cognitive abilities are lower, and we are not at our most resourceful state That is why having the "plan" & tips for yourself prepared in advance can be very helpful.

Be sure though in practicing active listening to reflect the feelings you are hearing/seeing, as well as the content. Not only does it demonstrate you are listening, it models that behavior for others to emulate.

I would actually use passive listening- if there are people chatting, not paying attetion and disrupting session, I would simply stop talking and let them realize that this was because their behavior. Done it many times in the past and has worked everytime.

And you need to make sure the environment is safe and comfortable, conducive to participation. Trauma informed education for staff and trauma informed supervision too, would be helpful.

Here it helps to get to really know your staff, especially there preferred way to receive communications, to run and participate in meetings.

I frequently end meetings with a flip chart for listing what worked and what did not work. With the availability of monkey survey, you can seek feedback while allowing anonymity.

Setting the right ?? atmosphere for the conversation, ?? clear expectations and guidelines, ?? motivation to be constructive and ?? positive relationships within the group ?? rapport and trust between the participants and the trainer right from the beginning will help you avoid most of difficult situations in training! So, do reflect on how to resolve challenging situations, but more than anything, focus on setting the right stage, and the rest will be much much easier.