Making Groups Work - Facilitate Everything

The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants. - Franz Liszt

Orchestra conductors can sometimes agonize about their profession, struck by what some have coined the “Maestro Complex.” The feeling that while they garner the lionshare of the spotlight, attention and big salaries, they are superfluous to the performance.? They take credit for the music, yet don’t generate any sound.? In reality however, conductors are central to the performance, they unify the players, set the tempo and shape the sound the comes from the orchestra. They breathe life into the performance, they act as the soul of the orchestra.

The analogy to agile and scrum teams is an obvious one, the project manager or scrum master are often central to actively facilitating meetings,? but if a team is truly “self-organizing” the opportunity to facilitate is a critical skill for every member team member to master.??

Facilitation is an active approach to meetings, ceremonies and brainstorming sessions, a facilitator sets the tone, attitude and energy level of the scrum and agile process.?

The analogy to facilitation is an obvious one. Virtually every role requires facilitation, diverse people with varying skill sets must come together to solve shared problems and drive enterprise-wide initiatives. The skills of facilitation are absolutely crucial?

Agile and Scrum teams are focused on action, delivering potentially shippable “product” at the end of every sprint.? Whether it’s software, a new clothing line or the latest gadget, issues and problems need to be addressed??

?are geared towards action. There are urgent problems and issues we need to tackle and solve in our communities. That’s the reason we come together in the first place. But for groups to really be successful we need to spend some time focusing on the skills our members and leaders use to make all the action happen.? Both within and outside our organizations.?

One of the most important set of skills for leaders and members are facilitation skills. These “process” skills we use to guide and direct key parts of our organizing work with groups of people such as meetings, planning sessions and training of our members and leaders.?

Whether it is a meeting ( big or small ) or a training session, someone has to shape and guide the process of working together so that we can meet the goals and accomplish what we have set out to do.? While a group of people might set the agenda and figure out the goals, one person needs to concentrate on how you are going to move through your agenda and meet the goals effectively.? This is the role of the facilitator.?

Facilitation Principles

The role of the facilitator is to help guide people through the meetings and ceremonies together.??

A facilitator is a guide to help people move through a process together, not the seat of wisdom and knowledge. A facilitator isn't there to give opinions but to draw opinions and ideas out of the group members.?

Facilitation focuses on How people participate in the process of learning, planning not just on WHAT gets achieved.?

A facilitator is neutral and never takes sides.?

The most important thing is what the team members have to say, so focus on how the meeting is structured and run to make sure that everyone can participate. Things to watch out for include:

1. Making sure everyone feels comfortable participating
2. Developing a structure that allows for everyone's ideas to be heard
3. Making members feel good about their contribution to the meeting

Why do you need facilitation skills?

If you want to do good planning , keep members involved and create space for team members' natural leadership abilities to come through.? The more you know how to shape and run a good learning and planning process, the more your members will feel empowered about their own ideas and participation, stay invested in the organization, take on responsibility and ownership and the better meetings will be.?

How do you facilitate?

Meetings are a big part of organizational life. We always seem to be going from one meeting to the next.??

Can anyone learn to facilitate a meeting?

Yes, to a degree. being a good facilitator is both a skill and an art. It is a skill that people can learn certain techniques and can improve their ability with practice. It is an art that some people have more of an natural ability than others.?

Facilitating actually means:

1) Understanding the goals of the meeting and the organization

2) Keeping the group and the agenda moving forward.?

3) Involving everyone in the meeting, including drawing out the quiet participants and controlling the domineering ones.?

4) Making sure that decisions are made democratically.

How do you plan a good facilitation process?

A good facilitator is concerned with both the outcome of the meeting and how the people in the meeting participate and interact and also with the process.? While achieving the goals and outcomes that everyone wants is of course important, a facilitator also wants to make sure that the process is sound, that everyone is engaged and that the experience is the best it can be for the participants.

In planning a good meeting process, a facilitator focuses on:

• Climate and environment
• Logistics and room arrangement
• Ground Rules

A good facilitator will make plans in each of these areas in advance.? Let’s take a look at some specifics

Climate and Environment

There are many factors that impact how safe and comfortable people feel about interacting with each other and participating.? The environment and general climate of a meeting or planning session sets an important tone for participation.? For example, key questions you would ask yourself as a facilitator include:

Is the location a familiar place, one where people feel comfortable? Face it if your planning to have an interactive meeting sitting around a conference table in the mayors office, some people might feel intimidated.? Comfortable and Familiar is the key.

Is the meeting site accessible to everyone?? If certain members are located far from the meeting location they may feel as if their needs were not considered.? This can dampen communication and participation.?

Is the space the right size? Too large? Too Small? If you’re wanting to make a planning group feel like a team, a large meeting hall for 10-15 people could feel intimidating, they could become self-conscious and quiet.? On the other hand a large team in a small space can invite disruption, restlessness and frequent breaks.

Room Arrangements

Believe it or not how people site whether they are hungry or whether they can hear you can make or break a planning session.? Whether you are directly responsible or not, the logistics of the meeting should be of great importance to you. some things to consider:

Chair arrangements:

Having chairs in a circle or around a table encourages discussion equality and familiarity.? Lecture style seating is too formal and intimidating. Avoid at all costs.

View-ability of Whiteboard:? Often times meetings will require a whiteboard or large flip charts to record issues, ideas or discussion topics.? Make sure that all these elements are set up in advance and readily accessible to the team.??

Audiovisual Equipment: I can’t count how many times meetings that I have conducted started late or were less than productive because of equipment issues.? The number of issues are numerous, everything from bad plugs, poor connectivity and firewalls all stymied a planning meeting.?

To build a safe and comfortable environment a good facilitator must think of issues that can occur with the dynamics of the team, after all these can also have a huge impact on the teams ability to generate ideas effectively and contribute.?

How do you protect folks from having their ideas attacked or mocked? How do you hold back big talkers who tend to dominate while still making them feel good about their participation?? Consider establishing some ground rules:

Ground Rules:

When you want participation to flow and for folks to really feel invested in following the rules, the best way to go is to have the group develop them as one of the first steps in the process, they cn be developed during the working agreements.? This builds a sense of power in the participants and a much bigger investment in following them

1) One person speaks at a time.

2) Raise your hand if you have something to say

3) Listen to what others are saying

4) No mocking or attacking other people's ideas

5) Be on time

6) Respect Each other

A process to develop working agreements:

Begin by telling team members that you want to set up some ground rules that everyone will follow as we go through our meeting.? Use a large whiteboard or flipchart to record the rules.?

Ask for suggestions from the group. If no one says anything, start putting up one or 2 ideas yourself. That usually starts people off.?

Write any suggestion up on the board.? It is usually effective to check-in with the group before you write up an idea, “Is that okay with everyone?”? Once you have 5 or 6 good suggestions? check to see if anyone else has anything else?

When you are finished ask the group if they agree with the ground rules and are willing to follow them.? Make sure you actually get folks to say YES outloud, it makes a difference and punctuates the discussion.?

Facilitating a meeting or planning session: What’s it all about?

Their are 3 basic parts of facilitation:

The process of the meeting

Skills and tips for guiding the process

Dealing with disruptors: preventions and interventions

The meeting process

As discussed the facilitator is responsible for creating a safe environment for the planning sessions.? But the question that first comes to mind is” What do I actually do DURING the meeting to guide the process along?

1. Start the meeting on time.

Few of us start our meetings on time. the result? Those who come on time feel cheated that they rushed to get there! Start no more than five minutes late, ten at the maximum and thank everyone that showed up on time.? If stranglers come in after the meeting has started to stop the flow of the meeting to acknowledge them, wait until a break or another appropriate time to have them introduce themselves.?

2. Welcome everyone.?

Make a point to welcome everyone who comes.? Don’t complain about the size of the group or if the turnout is small.? Nothing will turn off those that did attend faster.? Thank all of those who are there for coming and analyze the turnout attendance later. Go with who you have.

3. Make introductions:

There are lots of ways for people to introduce themselves to each other, that are better than the dreaded going around the room.? The kinds of introductions you do should depend on the type of meeting you are having and how frequently the participants have worked with each other.?

Some key questions you could ask team members are:

How did you first get involved with the organization?

What do you know about the organization or project?

Sometimes we need to add ice breakers to a particular facilitation process.?

4. Review the agenda objectives and working agreements before the meeting.

Go over what’s going to happen at the meeting Check with the group to make sure they agree with and like the agenda. You never know if someone wants to comment or suggest something a little different.? This builds a sense of ownership of the meeting and lets people know early on that you’re there to facilitate their process and their meeting, not your own agenda.

5. Encourage Participation:

This is one of the main jobs of a facilitator. It’s up to you to get those who need to listen to listen?

It’s up to you to get those who need to listen to listen and those who ought to speak to feel comfortable enough to do so.

Encourage people to share their ideas and experiences and urge those with relevant information to share it at appropriate times.

6. Stick to the agenda.

Groups have a tendency to wander far from the original agenda. Sometimes without knowing it. When you hear the discussion wandering off, bring it to the group's attention. You can say”That’s an interesting issue, but perhaps we should get back to the original discussion.

7. Avoid detailed decision making.

Sometime it's easier from groups to discuss the color of napkins than the real issues they are facing. Help the group not get immersed in details. Suggest instead “ Do you really want to be involved in that level of detail.

8. Seek commitments

Getting commitments for future involvement is often a meeting goal. You want leaders to commit to certain tasks, people to volunteer and organizations to support the group.? Make sure you leave adequate time for seeking commitment. You never want to leave a meeting saying “We’ll get back to you to confirm how you might like to get involved.? Seize the moment.

9. Bring closure to each item.

Many groups will discuss things ten times longer than they need to unless a facilitator helps them to recognize they’re basically in agreement.? Summarize? a consensus position or ask someone in the group to summarize the points of agreement and then move forward. If one or 2 people disagree, state the situation as clearly as you can.? “Tom and Lucy seem to have other feelings on this issue, but everyone else seems to go in another direction. Maybe Tom and Lucy can get back to us with ways to accommodate their concerns, or maybe you guys can take a break and brainstorm some options.

?Some groups feel strongly about reaching consensus before moving ahead. If your group is one of them, take a vote, and go with the 2/3rds majority.

?10. Respect Everyone’s rights

The facilitator protects the shy and quiet folks in a meeting and encourages them to speak out. There is also the job of keeping domineering? people from monopolizing the meeting or ridiculing the ideas of others.?

Sometimes people dominate a discussion because they feel passionate about an issue and have lots to say. Other people talk to hear themselves talk,? read the disrupters section later on for strategies to deal with them.

11. Be flexible.

Sometimes issues will arise in the meeting that are so important, they will take much more time than you thought. Sometimes nobody would have thought of them at all. You may run over time or have to alter your agenda to discuss them. Be sure to check with the group about whether this is okay before going ahead with the revised agenda. If necessary take a 5 minute break to confer with participants on how to handle the reconstruction of the agenda. Be prepared to recommend an alternate agenda, dropping some items if necessary.

12. Summarize the meeting results and needed follow ups.

Before ending the meeting, summarize the key decisions and the vision forward and whatever else happened. Be sure to also summarize the followup actions that were agreed to and need to take place.? Remind folks how much good work was done and how effective the meeting hopefully was.

13. Thank all participants.

Take a moment to thank all participants for contributing to the meeting.? Thank everyone for their input and energy and for making the meeting a success.

14. Close the meeting.

People appreciate nothing more than a meeting that ends on time. . IT’s usually a good idea to have some closure in a meeting, especially if it was long, if there were any sticky situations or if folks worked particularly hard.?

A nice way to end a meeting is to ask various participants to say one word that describes how they are feeling now.? Even if the answer is exhausted it usually serves as a moment of levity and laughter, a nice way to close a meeting.

Facilitator Tips and Tricks

Maximizing your role as a facilitator.

1. Don’t memorize a script.

Even with a well-prepared agenda and key points you must make you need to flexible and natural.? If people sense that you are reading memorized lines they will feel like they are being talked down to and won’t respond freely.

2. Watch the groups body language.

Are people shifting in their seats? Are they bored? Tired? Confused? If folks seem hazy you might need to take a breakor change the pace of the meeting ( slow it down or speed it up)

3. Always check back with the group.

Be careful about deciding where the meeting should go. Check back after each major part of the process to see if there are questions and that everyone understands and agrees with the decisions that were made.

4. Summarize and Pause.

When you finish a point or part of the meeting, sum up what was done and what was decided and pause for comments or questions before moving on. Learn to feel out how long to pause to short and people don’t have time to ask questions too long and folks are uncomfortable with silence.

5. Be aware of your own behavior.

Take a break if you feel nervous or you're losing control.? Watch that your not repeating yourself, saying ah between each word or speaking too fast. Watch your voice and physical manner, Are you standing too close or intimidating participants? How you act makes an impact on how the participants feel.

6. Occupy your hands.? Hold a marker or piece of chalk or the back of a chair. Don’t play with change in your pockets.

7. Watch your speech.

Be careful you're not offending or alienating anyone in the group.? Don’t Swear!

8. Use Body language of your own.

Using body language to control the dynamics in the room can be a? great tool. Moving up close to the shy, quiet participant and asking them to speak may make them feel more willing because they can look at you instead of the big group and feel less intimidated. Also walking around engages people in the process. Don’t just stand in front of the room for the entire meeting.

9.Don’t talk to the whiteboard.

If you are on the board, writing ideas wait until you are done speaking to the group.?

Dealing with Disruptors.

Stopping disruption before it starts or dealing effectively with it when it begins is a critical role of the facilitator.? The most common types of disruptors are people who tend to dominate a discussion, or keep steering the agenda of course, have side conversations or think they have the right to ridicule others ideas.

Here are some tips on prevention.

Get agreement on the agenda, ground rules and outcomes.

In other words agree on the process. These process agreements create a sense of shared accountability and ownership of the meeting is run. And group investment in whether the outcomes and goals are achieved.

Listen Carefully.?

Don’t pretend to listen to someone, be present and really listen to what they are saying Check back by summarizing

Show respect for experience.

We can't say it enough. Encourage folks to share strategies, stories from the field and lessons that they have learned.? Value the wisdom and experience in the room.

Find out the group's expectations.

Make sure you uncover at the beginning of the meeting what participants think they are meeting for. When you find out, be clear about what will and won’t be covered. Make plans to cover the issues that wont be dealt with, write them down, agree to deal with them at the end of the meeting or schedule a follow up.

Ask the participants to finish this sentence, “I want to leave this place knowing…..”

You don’t want people sitting through the meeting feeling angry that they're sitting in the wrong place and nobody bothered to ask them what they want to achieve. These folks might act out because they are frustrated.

Stay in the facilitator role.

You can’t be an effective facilitator and participant at the same time.? When you cross the line, you risk alienating participants, causing resentment and losing control of the meeting. Offer strategies, resources and ideas for the group to work with BUT not opinions.

Don’t be defensive.

If you are attacked or criticized take a mental step backwards before responding.? Once you become defensive you risk losing the groups respect and trust. This can inhibit future contributions.

Buy-in power players

These folks can turn your meeting into a nightmare if they feel their influence is not being recognized or respected. If possible give them acknowledgement at the beginning of the meeting.? Try giving them roles to play during the meeting or as a sounding board during breaks to check in with how the meeting is going. You want to be on their side and you need their support.

Interventions during the meeting.

1.Have the group decide.

If someone is dominating the meeting, refuses to stick to the agenda, keeps bringing up the same point again and again or challenges how to handle the meeting:

Try first to remind them about the agreed upon agenda. If that doesn’t work throw it back to the group and ask them how they feel about the person's participation.? Let the group support you.

?2. Use the agenda and the working agreements.

If someone keeps going off the agenda, has side conversations through the whole meeting, verbally attacks others.

Go back to the agenda and working agreements and remind folks on the agreed upon working agreements at the beginning of the process.

3. BE honest, Say what’s going on.

If someone tries to intimidate you, if you feel upset or undermined if you need to pull the group behind you:

It’s better to say what’s going on rather than cover it up. Everyone will be aware of the dynamic in the room. The group will get behind you if you are honest and upfront.

4. Use Humor. If there is a lot of tension in the room, if you have people in the room who don’t want to be there, if folks are scared /shy about participating, if you are an outsider.

Try a humorous comment or joke. If it’s self deprecating so much the better Humor almost always lightens the mood. It’s one of the best tension relievers we have.?

5. Accept or legitimize the point.

If there is someone who keeps expressing doubts about the group's ability to accomplish anything , is bitter or puts down others suggestions and keeps bringing up the same point over and over again, seems to have power issues.

Try one or more of these approaches. Show that you understand their issue by making it clear that you hear how important it is to them.? Legitimize them by saying: It’s a very important point and one I am sure we all feel is critical. Make a bargain to deal with their issue in a short period of time. O.K. let’s deal with this issue for 5 minutes and then move on.? If that doesn’t work agree to defer the issue to the end of the meeting to explore it further.

6. Use body language. If side conversations are occurring, quiet people need to participate if attention needs to be re-focused. Use body language move close to the converserators or the quiet folks,? Make eye contact and? signal that you need their attention.

7. Take a break. If less confrontational tactics are not working , someone keeps verbally attacking or people are fidgeting with papers.

If you have tried all the above suggestions it might be time to take a break. Invite the disruptive person to have a separate conversation and firmly state your feelings about how disruptive their behavior is to the group.? Make it clear that the disruption needs to the end.? But also try to find out what’s going on, and see if there is a way to address their concerns.

8. Confront the room. If all else has failed, if you’re sure it won't cause a backlash and if you’ve tried everything else.? Confront the disruptive person politely but firmly in the room. Tell the person explicitly that the disruption needs to stop now. Use body language to encourage other group members to support you. This is absolutely the last resort and there are no other actions to be taken. You have been warned.

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