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Additional Praise for The Skilled Facilitator

“Practical, credible, insightful, and relevant, the newest edition of The SkilledFacilitator is sure to find a special place on your bookshelf. Roger presents the mostcurrent practices that are both steeped in theory and immediately applicable.”

—Elaine Biech, author of Training and Development for Dummies,and editor of 101 Ways to Make Learning Active Beyond the Classroom

“The third edition of The Skilled Facilitator is a winner. The mutual learning approachbuilds in transparency and integrity in conflict resolution processes, its integration withthe team effectiveness model makes this the preferred approach for team interventions.This is the stuff that organizational TRUST is built on. It will continue to be my go-toresource in my work as an organizational ombudsman and coach.”

—Thomas P. Zgambo, former World Bank Group ombudsmanand former President of The Ombudsman Association

(now the International Ombudsman Association)

“Roger Schwarz smartly updates his classic text on facilitation, taking into accountcontemporary brain research and framing his approach in terms of the proper, ‘mutuallearning’ mindset for working with groups effectively. Schwarz offers a system thatwill help professionals in the field become trusting, trusted, and—with practice—terrific facilitators.”

—Ed Frauenheim, Director of Research and Contentat Great Place to Work, and coauthor of Good Company:

Business Success in the Worthiness Era

“The expanded, revised edition provides new, innovative approaches and insights notonly to professional facilitators but also to those who want to use facilitation skills to beeffective leaders, consultants, or coaches. Roger makes facilitation skills and techni­ques understandable and usable. These skills are particularly important in labor-management relations and other settings in which leaders must generate commitmentrather than compliance and where mutual understanding is critical to productiverelationships.”

—Robert Tobias, former president,National Treasury Employees Union,

and professor of public administration, American University

“In an increasingly demanding business setting, the ability to adapt quickly is critical.Skilled facilitation is a key competence to making change happen. This insightful andpractical book offers all those involved with facilitation tools they can use. By usingthese tools, they will help their organization win in changing markets.”

—Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business,University of Michigan, Partner, the RBL Group

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“Roger Schwarz’s third edition of The Skilled Facilitator is a must-read for anyone whois responsible for facilitating team meetings, leading group discussions, or conductingtraining sessions. His insights and practical tips for managing group process and groupdynamics are invaluable. Whether you are new to facilitation or a seasoned pro,Schwarz’s techniques, models, and concrete examples will help you get better resultswith the groups you lead and manage.”

—Karen Lawson, PhD, president, Lawson Consulting Group, Inc.,and author of The Trainer’s Handbook, 4th edition

“The Skilled Facilitator continues to be an outstanding resource for both new andseasoned facilitators, managers, and organizational leaders as well as consultants andcoaches. The additions and enhancements in the third edition, particularly the newchapter on facilitating virtual meetings, make this well-written book a must for anyonewho works with face to face and/or virtual groups. Roger is an exceptional consultantand inspirational teacher who walks his talk.”

—Nadine Bell, Certified Professional Facilitator, past Chair of theInternational Association of Facilitators, inaugural inductee to

the International Association of Facilitators Hall of Fame

“Roger’s book is still the best text on group facilitation available in English. The thirdedition continues his thoughtful and completely useful guidance on facilitating groupprocesses and has benefited from the ongoing dialogue he has shaped within thefacilitation field. Readers will get the core skills and mindsets necessary for effectivegroup facilitation and perhaps more importantly, will be cautioned against themultitude of missteps that can sabotage the best intentions. His precision withlanguage led to a number of changes in the new edition that clarify and simplifydescriptions of the key facilitative rules and the applications of facilitation in coaching,training, and consultation.”

—Douglas Riddle, PhD, Senior Fellow,Center for Creative Leadership

“At the heart of the Skilled Facilitator approach is the premise that how you think ishow you facilitate—or consult, coach, train, or mediate. No matter our profession,Roger’s book offers us all practical and useful information for making any humaninteraction more effective and successful. After reading The Skilled Facilitator, I foundmyself listing all the ways I could immediately use Roger’s six-step mutual learningapproach, eight behaviors of mutual learning, and especially the content from‘Diagnosing and Intervening on Emotions (the Group’s and Yours).’ The SkilledFacilitator is an outstanding reference book that I will come back to again and again.I am glad I have it on my trainer’s bookshelf!”

—Sharon L. Bowman, author of Training fromthe BACK of the Room and The Ten-Minute Trainer!

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Praise for the Second Edition

“Everyone wants to be a facilitator: consultants, managers, even teachers. What isdesperately needed is a common, practical reference for understanding facilitation indiverse professional settings. No one has done a better job than Roger Schwarz ofsynthesizing the major theoretical underpinnings and translating them into clear,usable guidelines for practitioners.”

—Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline

“I recommend this book with enthusiasm to professionals in all fields, to consultants,graduate students, and thoughtful managers. Schwarz has done an excellent job ofintegrating social science theories with valuable advice. He makes both come alivewith rich, excellent examples.”

—Chris Argyris, James Bryant Conant Professor,emeritus, Harvard University, and author of Knowledge for Action

“Roger Schwarz has written the perfect book to transform mediators into skilledfacilitators. It is all here: the theory, the practical suggestions, the guidelines, theanalysis of groups. The only thing better than this book is the book and the workshop.”

—Zena D. Zumeta, president, Mediation Training &Consultation Institute/The Collaborative Workplace

“As a new entry to the facilitation field, I wanted to find out what the industry thoughtwas the best resource for combining theory with the practices of facilitation. Isubmitted my request to the largest online discussion forum for active, professionalfacilitators. Roger Schwarz’s book The Skilled Facilitator was by far the favorite choiceof people in the profession. I am ordering my copy now!”

—Malcolm Dell, former executive coordinator,Woodnet Development Council, Inc.

“People with group and team expertise often referred to Roger Schwarz’s first editionof The Skilled Facilitator as ‘the facilitators’ bible.’ The enhanced, revised edition willeasily retain that title. The millions who have to cope with ineffective meetings on adaily basis would be wise to quickly acquire and absorb the key points. Merely usingthe list of behavioral ground rules would so enhance the effectiveness of their meetingprocess that it would pay for the book many times over. Using the rest of the ideas inthe book would generate significant bottom-line return through swifter, higher-quality,more easily implemented decisions at all levels of the organization.”

—Michael M. Beyerlein, director, Center for the Study of Work Teams,and professor of industrial/organizational psychology,

University of North Texas

“The Skilled Facilitator has many good tips and practical suggestions to help everybodybe a better facilitator, which is the task for all of us.”

—Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting and Stewardship

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The Skilled Facilitator

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The Skilled FacilitatorA Comprehensive Resource for Consultants,

Facilitators, Coaches, and Trainers

Third Edition

Roger Schwarz

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Cover image: David Kerr DesignCover design: Wiley

Copyright 2017 by Roger Schwarz. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Previous editions (also published by Wiley): Copyright 2002 and 1994 by Roger Schwarz.Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except aspermitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the priorwritten permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee tothe Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax(978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission shouldbe addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts inpreparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy orcompleteness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties ofmerchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by salesrepresentatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not besuitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither thepublisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, includingbut not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact ourCustomer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at(317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and byprint-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be includedin e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not includedin the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. Formore information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Schwarz, Roger M., 1956- author.Title: The skilled facilitator: a comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators, managers,trainers, and coaches / Roger M. Schwarz.

Description: Third edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2017] |Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016029060 (print) | LCCN 2016042887 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119064398 (cloth) |ISBN 9781119064411 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119064404 (epub) | ISBN 9781119176572 (obook)

Subjects: LCSH: Communication in management. | Communication in personnelmanagement. | Group facilitation. | Teams in the workplace. | Conflict management.

Classification: LCC HD30.3 .S373 2017 (print) | LCC HD30.3 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/5–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016029060

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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To Kathleen, Noah, and Hannah

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CONTENTS

Preface to the Third Edition xvii

Features of the Book xxiiWhat’s Different in the Third Edition xxiii

What The Skilled Facilitator Is About xviiWho This Book Is For xixHow the Book Is Organized xix

PART ONE The Foundation 1

1 The Skilled Facilitator Approach 3

The Need for Group Facilitation 3Most People Who Need to Facilitate Aren’t Facilitators 3Is This Book for You? 4The Skilled Facilitator Approach 8Experiencing the Skilled Facilitator Approach 10Making the Skilled Facilitator Approach Your Own 11Summary 12

2 The Facilitator and Other Facilitative Roles 13

Choosing a Facilitative Role 13Basic and Developmental Types of Roles 23

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xii CONTENTS

Serving in Multiple Facilitative Roles 25When It’s Appropriate to Leave the Role of Facilitator 25The Group Is Your Client 28What Is Your Responsibility for the Group’s Results? 29Summary 33

3 How You Think Is How You Facilitate: How Unilateral ControlUndermines Your Ability to Help Groups 35

How You Think: Your Mindset as an Operating System 36Two Mindsets: Unilateral Control and Mutual Learning 37How You Think Is Not How You Think You Think 37The CIO Team Survey Feedback Case 38The Unilateral Control Approach 41Values of the Unilateral Control Mindset 41Assumptions of the Unilateral Control Mindset 45Unilateral Control Behaviors 46Results of Unilateral Control 50Give-Up-Control Approach 55How Unilateral Control Reinforces Itself 55How Did We Learn Unilateral Control? 56Moving from Unilateral Control to Mutual Learning 57Summary 58

4 Facilitating with the Mutual Learning Approach 59

The Mutual Learning Approach 59Values of the Mutual Learning Mindset 61Assumptions of the Mutual Learning Mindset 75Mutual Learning Behaviors 77Results of Mutual Learning 80The Reinforcing Cycles of Mutual Learning 84Are There Times When Unilateral Control Is the Better

Approach? 85Summary 86

5 Eight Behaviors for Mutual Learning 87

Using the Eight Behaviors 87Behavior 1: State Views and Ask Genuine Questions 89Behavior 2: Share All Relevant Information 94Behavior 3: Use Specific Examples and Agree on What Important

Words Mean 97Behavior 4: Explain Reasoning and Intent 99Behavior 5: Focus on Interests, Not Positions 101Behavior 6: Test Assumptions and Inferences 103

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CONTENTS xiii

Behavior 7: Jointly Design Next Steps 114Behavior 8: Discuss Undiscussable Issues 117Learning to Use the Behaviors 119Summary 120

6 Designing and Developing Effective Groups 121

How a Team Effectiveness Model Helps You and the Teams andGroups You Work With 122

The Difference between Teams and Groups—and Why ItMatters 122

How Interdependence Affects Your Work with Teams andGroups 127

The Team Effectiveness Model 128What’s Your Mindset as You Design? 132Team Structure, Process, and Context 133Team Structure 134Team Process 139Team Context 143Interorganizational Teams and Groups 150Helping Design or Redesign a Team or Group 150Summary 153

PART TWO Diagnosing and Intervening with Groups 155

7 Diagnosing and Intervening with Groups 157

What You Need to Diagnose 158What You Need to Intervene 160The Mutual Learning Cycle 160Summary 163

8 How to Diagnose Groups 165

Step 1: Observe Behavior 165Step 2: Make Meaning 171Step 3: Choose Whether, Why, and How to Intervene 178Challenges in Diagnosing Behavior and How to Manage Them 186Summary 192

9 How to Intervene with Groups 193

Key Elements of the Intervention Steps 193Using the Mutual Learning Cycle to Intervene: An Example 196Step 4: Test Observations 198Step 5: Test Meaning 200

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xiv CONTENTS

Step 6: Jointly Design Next Steps 203How to Move through the Intervention Steps 205Choosing Your Words Carefully 209Summary 212

10 Diagnosing and Intervening on the Mutual LearningBehaviors 213

How Mutual Learning Behaviors Differ from Many GroundRules 213

Contracting to Intervene on Mutual Learning Behaviors 214Intervening on the Mutual Learning Behaviors 218Behavior 1: State Views and Ask Genuine Questions 220Behavior 2: Share All Relevant Information 220Behavior 3: Use Specific Examples and Agree on What Important Words

Mean 221Behavior 4: Explain Reasoning and Intent 222Behavior 5: Focus on Interests, Not Positions 223Behavior 6: Test Assumptions and Inferences 225Behavior 7: Jointly Design Next Steps 227Behavior 8: Discuss Undiscussable Issues 230Summary 231

11 Using Mutual Learning to Improve Other Processesand Techniques 233

Using Mutual Learning to Diagnose and Intervene on Other Processes 233Diagnosing and Intervening When Groups Are Using a Process

Diagnosing and Intervening on Processes That Are Incongruent with Mutual

Diagnosing and Intervening on Processes That Espouse Mutual Learning: Lean

Ineffectively 235

Learning 237

and Other Continuous Improvement Approaches 244Summary 246

12 Diagnosing and Intervening on Emotions—The Group’s and Yours 249

The Challenge 249How People Generate Emotions 250How Groups Express Emotions 252Managing Your Own Emotions 254Deciding How to Intervene 256Intervening on Emotions 259Helping People Express Emotions Effectively 259Helping People Reduce Defensive Thinking 259Helping the Group Express Positive Emotions 265

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CONTENTS xv

When People Get Angry with You 267Learning from Your Experiences 267Summary 268

PART THREE Agreeing to Work Together 269

13 Contracting: Deciding Whether and How to Work witha Group 271

Why Contract? 272Five Stages of Contracting 272Stage 1: Making Initial Contact with a Primary Client Group

Member 274Stage 2: Planning the Facilitation 283Stage 3: Reaching Agreement with the Entire Group 293Stage 4: Conducting the Facilitation 295Stage 5: Completing and Evaluating the Facilitation 295Summary 297

14 Working with a Partner 299

Deciding Whether to Partner 299Dividing and Coordinating the Labor 306Allocating Roles within Your Division of Labor 308Developing Healthy Boundaries between You and Your

Partner 310Debriefing with Your Partner 314Summary 314

15 Serving in a Facilitative Role in Your Own Organization 317

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internal Facilitative Role 317How Your Internal Facilitative Role Is Shaped 320Shaping Your Facilitative Role 321Changing Your Facilitative Role from the Outside In 329Summary 330

PART FOUR Working with Technology 333

16 Using Virtual Meetings 335

Choosing Which Type of Virtual Meeting Technology to Use—If Any 336The Challenges That Virtual Meetings Create 339Designing and Facilitating Virtual Meetings to Meet These

Challenges 341Summary 345

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xvi CONTENTS

Notes 347

Acknowledgments 361

About the Author 363

About Roger Schwarz & Associates’Work with Clients 365

The Skilled Facilitator Intensive Workshop 367

Index 369

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PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

S ince I wrote the first edition of The Skilled Facilitator in 1994, it hasbecome a standard reference in the field. Many readers have told me thatthe book has fundamentally changed how they help the groups theywork

with. They return to it again and again when faced with challenging or newsituations. I am gratified that many people in different roles across many fieldshave found the book so valuable. I hope you will be among them.

WHAT THE SKILLED FACILITATOR IS ABOUT

The Skilled Facilitator is about how you can help groups become more effective,whether you’re a consultant, facilitator, coach, trainer, or mediator. When Iwrote the first edition, facilitative skills were something you called on afacilitator for. Now these skills are recognized as a core competency for anyoneworking with groups.

The book describes one approach to facilitation—the Skilled Facilitatorapproach. It’s a relatively comprehensive and integrated approach, so youcan learn it and use it as you work with groups. The approach is based onresearch and theory that I cite throughout the book.

The Skilled Facilitator approach has several key features. It’s based on a set ofcore values and assumptions—what I call mindset—and principles. Whether

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xviii PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

you’re serving as a facilitator, consultant, coach, trainer, or mediator, you canalways figure out what to do in a particular situation by turning to the corevalues, assumptions, and principles to guide your behavior.

The Skilled Facilitator approach integrates theory and practice. Throughoutthe book, I answer three questions: “What do I do? How do I do it? Why doI do it that way?” By answering the first question, you understand whatspecific tool, technique, or method to use in any particular situation. Thisgives you a general idea of how to respond in any situation. By answering thesecond question, you understand exactly what to say in that situation.Answering these first two questions is necessary, but not sufficient. Byanswering the third question, you understand the theory and principlesthat make all the tools, techniques, methods, and your specific behaviorswork. When you know the answers to these three questions, you no longerhave to use the tools and methods exactly as you learned them—you canmodify them and design your own tools and methods to help a group, nomatter what situation you’re in.

The Skilled Facilitator approach is a systems approach for helping groups.All the parts of the approach fit together and reinforce each other because theyare all based on the same set of core values, assumptions, and principles. Thelogic of the approach is transparent, and you can share it with the groups you’rehelping. This makes the approach more powerful and practical.

In the Skilled Facilitator approach, the mindset and behaviors that you use tohelp a group are the same mindset and behaviors that the group can use toimprove its effectiveness. There isn’t a secret set of principles, techniques, ormethods for you and another set for the group. When you act effectively, you’remodeling effective behavior for the group. This makes it much easier for you tohelp the group increase its effectiveness. Recently, I wrote Smart Leaders,Smarter Teams for the groups and teams you are helping. The book uses thevery same approach (including the same models and behaviors) that I describehere to help teams develop the mindset, skill set, and team design to createbetter results. If you find The Skilled Facilitator useful and want to help teamslearn how they can apply it in their leadership roles, Smart Leaders, SmarterTeams will show them how.

At the heart of the Skilled Facilitator approach is the premise that how youthink is how you facilitate (or consult, coach, train, or mediate). Research showsthat in challenging situations almost all of us use a mindset that leads us tobehave in ways that reduce our ability to help the groups we’re hired to help.The Skilled Facilitator approach teaches you how to rigorously reflect on yourown thinking and feeling so that you can more consistently operate from aproductive mindset. This will enable you and the groups you help to get threeresults: better performance, stronger working relationships, and individualwell-being.

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PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xix

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

Most people who need to use facilitation skills aren’t facilitators. If you needfacilitation skills to help groups that you’re not a member of, I wrote this bookfor you. The Skilled Facilitator will help you work more effectively with groupsso that they can better achieve their results. You’ll find this book useful if youwork in any of these roles:

• You’re a facilitator who helps work groups: boards, top leadership teams,management teams, work teams, task forces, committees, labor-management groups, interorganizational committees, or communitygroups. This includes facilitators who specialize in Lean, Six Sigma, orother process improvement approaches.

• You’re a consultantwho works with groups as you provide expertise inany content area, such as strategy, marketing, operations, processimprovement, or any other area.

• You’re an organization development consultant who needs facilitativeskills to help groups and organizations manage change.

• You’re an HR consultant who serves as a business partner to theleadership teams you support and are often involved in difficultconversations regarding employee performance or behavior.

• You’re a coachworking with teams, groups, or individuals.

• You’re a trainer who facilitates discussion as part of your training.

• You’re amediator who wants to develop your facilitative skills or workwith groups.

• You’re a faculty memberwho, as a practical scholar, teaches courses ongroups or teams, facilitation, consultation, coaching, organizationdevelopment, or conflict management, in the fields of management,health care, engineering, public administration, planning, psychology,social work, education, public health, or in other applied fields.

If you’re the leader or member of a team, I’ve written another book for you:Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams. It uses the same approach that I describe in thisbook, but it’s designed for your specific role. If someone has suggested you readThe Skilled Facilitator, you might find Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams a better fitfor your needs.

HOW THE BOOK IS ORGANIZED

I have organized The Skilled Facilitator into four parts. Here are brief descrip­tions of the chapters within them.

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xx PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

Part One: The FoundationIn Part One, I lay the foundation for using facilitative skills.

Chapter 1, “The Skilled Facilitator Approach.” In this chapter, I give anoverview of the Skilled Facilitator approach, including what it will help youaccomplish and the questions I answer throughout the book.

Chapter 2, “The Facilitator and Other Facilitative Roles.” How do I figure outwhat role to use when working with a group?What do I do if I need to play morethan one role? In this chapter, I describe how you can use the Skilled Facilitatorapproach in any role you serve: consultant, facilitator, coach, trainer, ormediator. I describe each role, explain when to serve in each one, and discusshow to serve in multiple roles when working with groups.

Chapter 3, “How You Think Is How You Facilitate: How Unilateral ControlUndermines Your Ability to Help Groups.” The most challenging part of facilitat­ing, consulting, coaching, or training is being able to work from a productivemindset. This chapter describes how almost all of us operate from an unpro­ductive mindset—unilateral control—when we’re faced with challenging groupsituations. I describe howunilateral control leads you to think andbehave inwaysthat reduce your effectiveness and your ability to help groups.

Chapter 4, “Facilitating with the Mutual Learning Approach.” The mutuallearning approach is the foundation of the Skilled Facilitator approach. In thischapter, I describe how the mutual learning mindset enables you to think andact in ways that help you and the groups you’re working with get results thataren’t possible with a unilateral control approach. I describe the specificvalues, assumptions, and behaviors that make up the mutual learningapproach.

Chapter 5, “Eight Behaviors for Mutual Learning.” This chapter describes theeight behaviors that put the mutual learning mindset into action and how youcan use them to increase your effectiveness and to help groups increase theireffectiveness. I explain how each behavior contributes to better results andwhen and how you use each one.

Chapter 6, “Designing and Developing Effective Groups.” If you’re helpinggroups get better results, it’s important to understand what it takes for groups toget those results. Building on the mutual learning approach, this chapterprovides a model of group effectiveness that explains how to design newgroups to be effective and how to help existing groups improve their results.

Part Two: Diagnosing and Intervening with GroupsIn Part Two, I describe how to observe a group, figure out what is happeningthat is limiting the group’s effectiveness, and intervene to help the groupbecome more effective.

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PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xxi

Chapter 7, “Diagnosing and Intervening with Groups.” How do I figure outwhat’s happening in a group that’s reducing its effectiveness? What do I say tothe group when I figure it out? In this chapter, I introduce the mutual learningcycle that you can use to answer these questions and to diagnose and interveneeffectively with a group.

Chapter 8, “How to Diagnose Groups.” There are so many things to payattention to in a group; how do I decide what to look for? In this chapter, I showyou how to use the mutual learning cycle to look for the important thingsoccurring in a group, figure out what they mean, and decide whether tointervene with the group.

Chapter 9, “How to Intervenewith Groups.”After I decide to say something tothe group, what exactly should I say, who should I say it to, and when shouldI say it? In this chapter, I show you how to intervene so you can determine if thegroup is seeing what you’re seeing and decide together what, if anything, thegroup or you should do differently.

Chapter 10, “Diagnosing and Intervening on theMutual Learning Behaviors.”In this chapter, I give verbatim examples of how to intervene when groupmembers are not using each of the eight mutual learning behaviors.

Chapter 11, “Using Mutual Learning to Improve Other Processes and Tech­niques.” This chapter shows you how to use the Skilled Facilitator approach tohelp a group improve how it uses any process or technique, such as Lean and SixSigma processes, performance management processes, strategic planning, orproblem solving.

Chapter 12, “Diagnosing and Intervening on Emotions—The Group’s andYours.” What do I do when people start to get emotional? What do I do whenI start to get emotional? In this chapter, I explain how you and the groupmembers generate your emotions, and how you can help group membersand yourself express emotion so it makes the conversation and problemsolving more productive.

Part Three: Agreeing to Work TogetherIn Part Three, I describe how to reach an agreement to work with a group; howto decide whether to work with a partner, and if so, how; and how to workinternally in your organization.

Chapter 13, “Contracting: Deciding Whether and How to Work with aGroup.” The agreement you develop with a group about how you will worktogether creates the foundation for your helping relationship. Poor contractinggenerates problems throughout the relationship. In this chapter, I describea detailed five-stage process you can use to ensure that you and the groupdevelop a healthy working relationship that meets both of your needs.

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Chapter 14, “Working with a Partner.” Working with a partner can be morevaluable to a group—if you and your partner can work well together. In thischapter, I describe the potential advantages and disadvantages of working witha partner, how to decide whether to work with a partner, and ways to divide andcoordinate your work effectively.

Chapter 15, “Serving in a Facilitative Role in YourOwnOrganization.” If you’rean internal facilitator, consultant, or coach, you face different challengesthan your external counterparts. In this chapter, I describe how your internalfacilitative role develops, the potential advantages and disadvantages of theinternal role, and specific strategies you can use to be effective in your role,including contracting with your manager.

Part Four: Working with TechnologyIn Part Four, I describe how to work virtually with groups.

Chapter 16, “Using Virtual Meetings.” Increasingly, groups are meeting invirtual spaces rather than face-to-face. In this chapter, I describe when to usevirtual meetings, how to decide among different virtual meeting technologies,identify the special challenges of virtual meetings, and explain how to effectivelyaddress the challenges.

FEATURES OF THE BOOK

This book offers several features that will help you navigate and learn the SkilledFacilitator approach:

• Key principles of the Skilled Facilitator approach are in boldface type, andkey terms are in italics type.

• A book cannot substitute for the skill-building practice of a workshop(which is why we offer The Skilled Facilitator Intensive Workshop).Still, throughout the book I give verbatim examples that show youhow to put the principles into practice. This includes real cases ofhow group members act ineffectively and how you can intervene insuch cases.

• I share my own stories and my colleagues’ stories to illustrate how toapply the Skilled Facilitator approach—and how not to apply it. There areexamples of my own ineffective facilitation; I have learned from them andassume you will, too. In all the examples and stories, I have disguised thename and type of the organization, as well as the names of individualmembers. I have sometimes created a composite of several stories toquickly illustrate a point.

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PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xxiii

WHAT’S DIFFERENT IN THE THIRD EDITION

If you’ve read the second edition, you may be wondering how this edition isdifferent. There are a number of significant differences:

• I focus more on the consultant, coaching, and trainer roles. In this edition,I explain throughout the book how you would approach a situationdifferently depending on your facilitative role.

• There is a new chapter on using virtual meetings.

• All of the models are completely revised. The unilateral control approachand mutual learning approach have new core values and assumptions,behaviors, and results. The Team Effectiveness Model has new corevalues and results.

• The mutual learning approach and the Team Effectiveness Model arecompletely integrated. The mutual learning approach is completedembedded in the Team Effectiveness Model.

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PART ONE

THE FOUNDATION

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CHAPTER ONE

The Skilled Facilitator Approach

This book is about helping groups get better results. If you’re reading this,you may be exploring how to or are already working with groups. Youmay be serving as a facilitator, consultant, coach, or trainer. In any case,

you want to develop facilitation skills to help groups become more effective.

THE NEED FOR GROUP FACILITATION

Groups are the basic work unit in many organizations. Organizations are toocomplex for individuals alone to have all the information they need to produceproducts and services, or make key decisions, without creating unintendednegative consequences. So, organizations create groups to get all the neededinformation in the same room, resolve different and conflicting views, andcommit to a common course of action. Groups need to work effectively. But ifyou’ve worked with groups, you know they’re often less than the sum of theirparts; theymake poor decisions, createmistrust and low commitment, and leavemembers demotivated and stressed. It doesn’t need to be this way. This bookwill show you how to help groups achieve what they want and need to achieve.

MOST PEOPLE WHO NEED TO FACILITATEAREN’T FACILITATORS

If youworkwith groups, you need facilitation skills. Most peoplewhoworkwithgroups don’t think of themselves as facilitators, and technically, they’re not.Essentially, a group facilitator is a content-neutral third party who helps a group

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4 THE SKILLED FACILITATOR

improve how to work together to get better results. But even if you’re not afacilitator, you can still use the same approach—the mindset and skill set—that facilitators use to help groups get better results. At its core, facilitation issimply away of thinking andworkingwith groups that increases the chance thatthey’ll perform well, develop strong working relationships, and maintain orimprove members’ well-being. It’s valuable for any relationship worth yourtime. If you serve in any of these roles, you’ll benefit from facilitation skills:

• You’re an internal or external consultant, providing expert advice toorganizations. You may be an expert in the area of strategy, finance,accounting, IT, HR, marketing, logistics, organizational change, or anynumber of other areas. Your purpose isn’t to facilitate groups, but youneed to work with groups to understand your clients’ challenges andneeds, and propose and implement solutions.

• You’re an internal or external consultant whose purpose is to helpgroups improve their results by improving their process in someway. You may specialize in process improvements such as Lean, SixSigma, value engineering, quality improvement, or other relatedapproaches. You may feel challenged when dealing with problems thatstem from the soft side of groups, like resistance to change. Or you mayspecialize in a key element necessary for effective groups such asmanaging conflict productively, building trust, increasing diversity, ordemonstrating leadership.

• You’re a coach, now working with teams. You generally work withindividuals but increasingly find yourself working with teams. You realizethat helping a team requires more skills than working with someoneone-on-one.

• You’re a trainer who helps people develop knowledge and/or skills ina group setting. You need to actively engage people as you meet theirlearning needs while simultaneously making sure you stay on task and ontime.

If you’re a member or formal leader of the group you’re trying to improve,facilitation skills are also essential for your work. I’ve written the book SmartLeaders, Smarter Teams (Jossey-Bass, 2013) for people in your role. It usesexactly the same mindset and skill set I describe in this book, and it includesspecific examples to help you in your formal and informal leadership tasks.

IS THIS BOOK FOR YOU?

This book is for anyonewhoworks with groups to help them get better results. Itprovides a comprehensive approach to facilitation that you can apply in a variety