Facilitation Micro-Skills: Using Protocols

Monique Uzelac and Ethan LowensteinAdaptive Leadership Network

March 4, 2015

ConnectionsReview agenda (5 minutes)– The tool-time for today is based on your needs and

goals we surfaced last session.– Review options for tool time.

Big picture--the adaptive leadership mindset (Gary) (5 minutes)

5-minute team huddle or individual reflection (if not in a team)– Where are you in the process? Goals for today?

ConnectionsFind someone you don’t know well. • Each person talks for 2 minute, other listens.– Introduce yourself. – What is the adaptive challenge you and your team

faces in your context? – Name a success or a challenge with adaptive

leadership, personal or team • What is similar and/or different about your

success/challenge (1 minutes)

ACTION

What’s the

problem here?

How can I fix it?

Did the problem go

away?

What else is problematic?

No

YesProblem Solving

ACTION

THEORY OF ACTION

What makes Adapti ve Learning different?

We accept the fact that how we make sense of things determines how we act …

…and we acknowledge that we may not know how to actually solve the problem

Adapti ve Learning Process

Sense Making (1-2)

Action planning (3)

Monitoring/Testing (4-6)

Systems ThinkingLogic Models

Activity Desired OutcomesProblem Identification

Root Cause Analysis

Verifying Root Cause

Systems Thinking

Fidelity Impact

Theory of Action

Feedback

Systems Thinking

ALN Process

Connections

Setting the stage

Quick write (2 minutes)• What is one strength you have as a facilitator? • What is your context for facilitation?• What do you hope to learn in using protocols

in this context? What is one hope you have for growing as a facilitator?

Whip around—no more than 1-2 sentences for each prompt.

Setting the stage

• Quick Write (2 minutes)• Whip around– What is one strength you have as a facilitator? – What is your context for facilitation?– What do you hope to learn in using protocols in

this context? What is one hope you have for growing as a facilitator?

Finding themes

What did you hear us doing as we talked aloud about protocols? If you had to name some steps or key things to consider in the process, what would they be? (10 minutes)

Learning to Do: Think Aloud

• Monique—Tuning protocol (10 minutes)• Ethan—Setting the stage, connections, trust

building (e.g., Connections, Ladder of Inference, Hopes and Fears). (10 minutes)

Why use protocols?

• Common language• Common ritual and routine• Maximize reflection, observation, collective

intelligence, participant voice, and individual strengths and minimize jumping to inference.

Selecting the protocol and preparing for facilitation

Select clear goals– Self– Participants– Surface decision-making tensions

Setting the stage– Make connections – Relieve anxiety– Review and clarify the protocol steps

Modify in action and leverage “teachable moments”Debrief, tweak, plan next move, breath deeply and repeat

Write-pair-share

• How do you use this in your own context? Review packet of protocols. Is there one you want to play around with. When? What is your next step? Co-facilitate with someone as apprentice? Use a protocol?

• Go to National School Reform Faculty protocol website and bookmark it. http://www.nsrfharmony.org/free-resources/protocols/a-z

Rules of Thumb

Set clear goals before you select the protocol

Identify goals—both short term and long-term. How does the protocol activity fit into long-term goals? People might be engaged short-term with the protocol but is it part of the big picture? Cool protocols can be seductive!! The purpose is not the protocol.

Identify the set of questions you want to inquire into. One of the keys is making sure your questions are laser focused. Like throwing a ball, if your arm is even a smidgen off, by the time the ball reaches 100 yards…you are more than a smidgen off

Self-Assessment

Identify your own strengths as a facilitator and the new strengths you want to develop. Practice makes perfect. For low stakes meetings, try something new. For high stakes meetings go with your strengths or team facilitate with someone who knows the protocol, apprentice and learn.

Be aware of decision-making tensions to navigate

For example:• Authority v. authenticity • Sharing expertise v. co-constructing knowledge• Depth of inquiry v. time available.• Emphasis on the process v. attention to the

product• Each session goal v. each other session goal• Connections and context v. specific inquiry

question content

Use a strength-based approach

Build on participants’ strengths and experiences. Protocols, generally are constructed to do this, but the connector activity might have to shift people into this frame ASAP in order to set the stage for the protocol.

Connect quickly and with appropriate energy

Determine the level of trust in the group? How much time do you need for rapport building to develop the trust level you need to meet your goals. What sorts of activities develop the rapport you need for the risks you will take? How much individual sharing at the beginning do you need in order for the activity to have meaning for each person?

Emphasize Long-Term Individual and Community Growth

Identify for participants the adult developmental trajectory they can expect long-term. Identify the community development trajectory as well. Knowing that growth takes time and has a predictable flow relieves pressure to “get it right.” For example, “Protocols like these are just tools for us to develop a common language as a staff. In our dominant culture we often jump to inference before we make observations. In my experience it takes a year of practice to learn not to jump to inference so quickly.”

Surface anxieties

What kinds of feelings and thoughts might participants have as they experience the protocol? For example, “This may feel unnatural at the start. This is a normal feeling to have. Just go with it. This is not the only time we will be using this protocol, so we can modify it at the end if it doesn’t work with folks.”

Review the protocol with participants

Review and make sure people know all the steps. Protocols operate at a quick clip and rely on everyone knowing the ground rules. Ask for questions of clarification before you start. People should be able to repeat the steps verbally and to each other before you start. You can say, “what is the first thing you are going to do, then what,…”

Modify in action

You’ve set goalsYou’ve established connectionsYou are aware of tensions to navigate

Then….fault lines appear. The question is a little off, you are not seeing the interaction you want, etc.

Choices: Stick with the protocol and wait until the debrief or call a time out and change it in action with the permission of participants.

Leverage teachable momentsRemember that you and your co-facilitators have expertise and as adaptive leaders you have spent time developing a systems view. You also may have a level of cultural proficiency that not everyone in the room has or is in the position to voice safely.

– Use paraphrasing to emphasize a particular point– Connect what you are hearing to other meetings and the big

picture concepts, goals, and questions the group has established.– Become friends with the proverbial elephant in the room (e.g.,

issues of race, gender, etc.)• E.g, “I notice that 80% of the people that have spoken today are men. Is

this something we should attend to and what does this mean?”

Wrapping up

Always debrief, modify, and repeat

Ask how participants would tweak the protocol if you used it again

Debrief with co-leaders and plan next steps

Don’t forget to breath