Meeting facilitating techniques (crash course)Key take aways from a training session

I’ve participated in.

shared by Hilde Alstad

A facilitator is not a team leader

A team leader usually… A facilitator usually…• Sets agenda • Ensures an agenda is set.

• Plans the meeting • Discusses plan and advise team leader/manager on how the meeting should be run to improve effectiveness.

• Contributes directly to achieve the task

• Ensures that the team makes a plan of the activities needed to be undertaken and that roles are allocated.

• Supports individuals • Observes team behaviour and feedback to the team leader. Provides in session management of dysfunctional behaviour.

• Participates in review of meeting / process

• Manages review of the meeting / process

Counsellor

"You do it;I will control the

process"

Coach

“You do it; How can I guide you to find the correct path”

Partner

"We will do ittogether and learnfrom each other."

Facilitator

"You do it;I will attend tothe process."

Teacher

"Here are someprinciples you can use to solve this

problem."

Modeller

"I will do it; you watch so you canlearn from me."

Reflective observer

"You do it; I willwatch and tell you

what I see and hear."

Technical adviser

"I will answer yourquestions as you

go along.”

Hands-on expert

"I will do it for you;I will tell youwhat to do."

Main

tain

con

trol of

pro

cess

Providing solution / answer

A set of “consulting” roles- what is your preferred role??

Key phases in the facilitation process

Facilitate group processes

Encourage participation

Summarise, check for agreement and push for action.

Review process and results from meeting

Agree on next steps

Debrief with team leader

Get agreement on process, agenda and timing

Prepare to be flexible

Agree purpose of workshop and aim to contract with the participants

“Contract” ….• Objectives• Expectations• Ground rules• Scope • Level of

participation• Next steps

Identify and define purpose, objectives, roles, process and output of meeting

Prepare and contract on objectives, process and roles with project SPONSOR

Prepare Focus Plan Do Review

Before a workshop During the workshop End of/ after workshop

Prepare Focus Plan Do Review

• What levels of goal is appropriate?

• What communication with stakeholders is required?

• Do I know my audience?

• Do I need to manage people’s expectations?

• Are my aims realistic?

• What is the best environment? (room, layout props etc.)

• What hidden agendas could there be?

• What will be a good agenda to put to the group?

• What goes into my introduction?

• What problems should I anticipate?

• Engage the group

• Contract with the group (ground rules).

• Set shared/owned objectives

• Keep visible records as you go for ground rules, objectives and output

• Clearly define your role. Be sure understanding of ‘facilitator’ is shared

• Set an appropriate emotional tone for the event

• Consider asking the group what they think the purpose is (may raise hidden agendas)

• Involve everybody – build commitment

• Test assumptions

• Understand what the outcomes should be

• Get the group to own the responsibility to succeed

• Plan the process (stages, timings, milestones, signposting)

• Agree and draw the plan but but be ready to be flexible

• Ensure there is understanding and commitment to the plan

• Agree any roles or responsibilities. Delegate key roles such as a time keeper and a writing assistant

• Agree what will constitute a decision (e.g. majority vote, consensus, unanimous agreement)

• Consider to use techniques like nominal group technique, solution matrices, ranking, fishbowl and thinking hats

• Separate emotions/issues from people

• Adopt the appropriate style• Say what you see • Be flexible if you find the goalposts

shift• Use the group’s language and

terminology• Encourage participation from all• Use the full range of question types• Ensure visual aids and flipchart

writing is readable• Get all the issues out on the table• Show respect and empathy• Voice others’ opinions in neutral tone

and language• Draw the fire and protect the

vulnerable • Balance the discussion across the

whole group• Use the group creatively• Focus on the group’s strengths• Don’t just hear the loud people• Use the environment to your

advantage• Use breakouts as a time to step back

and think at a higher level• Don’t be scared of silence• The right outcome is more important

than an outcome!

• Ask somebody else in the group to summarise (not you)

• Give a sense of closure

• Leave it on a high note

• Plan the next steps together

• Think about your own personal development (what did I do well/badly?)

• Gather formal and informal feedback from the group

• Follow up the meeting with some communication at a later date?

Hints and tips when facilitatingBefore

meeting

Aftermeeting

In themeeting

In themeeting

In themeeting

Session 10: Facilitation Techniques

Different techniques can be used to vary the atmosphere and focus in the group

Opening up creativity• Ask the guru• SCAMPER• Forced relationships• Brain writing pool• Ideal world• Prop analogies• Thinking hats• “Yes, and..”• Set unrealistic goals• Handling crisis

Narrowing down options• Lists and voting rights• Grids• Filtering

Driving forward• Scaling• The Consultant• Questioning• Take a break• Parking lot

Create confidence & trust• Systemic thinking• Who are you?• Change of behaviour

Systemic thinking This exercise enables the group to warm up to each other and also

demonstrates how people interact with each other dynamically in an organisation

How to run the exercise:Ask all the people in the group to choose two spots

in the room and stand directly in the middle of these two spots

Now, ask everyone to choose one spot and one person in the group, and then stand in the middle of the spot and the person

Then, ask everyone to choose two persons in the group and stand in the middle of these two persons

Who are you?

This exercise provides an easy and quite fun to get to know the group members, and is also quite useful to get people to start talking to each other about other things than work

The main point of the exercise is to group people who have something in common – and then change the subject and establish new groups

An example: “Everyone that lives in a house gather by the window, and everyone who lives in a flat

assemble by the door. The rest of you can go to the whiteboard and gather there” “Now, everyone who has a main background from HR gather by the window, everyone with

a main background from sales go to the whiteboard, while everyone with a background from consulting goes to door”

Etc

Other subjects can be e.g. nationality, where you were born, number of siblings, how many subordinates you have, favourite colour, type of pets or how many different line managers you have had in your career..

Change of behaviour

This exercise enables the group to warm up to each other and also demonstrates how difficult it is to change established patterns

How to run this exercise: 1. Ask the group to walk around until you say “stop”, and start walking again when

you say “walk”2. Say “stop” and “walk” a couple of times (“walk”, “walk”, “stop”, “walk”, “stop”,

“stop”, etc)3. Inform the group that “stop” now means walk, “walk” means stop4. Say “stop” and “walk” a couple of times (“walk”, “walk”, “stop”, “walk”, “stop”,

“stop”, etc)5. Repeat 1-4 above, but this time use the words “jump” and “make a curtsey ”6. Now, say all the words in random order (stop, walk, jump, make a curtsey) -

remember that “stop” still means “walk”, and “jump” still means “make a curtsey”

Ask the guruSeeing the problem through someone else’s eyes

brings a totally new perspectiveHow would the following people approach this

problem?Hans Christian AndersenCharles DarwinWalt DisneyRichard BransonNapoleonMadonna

Take initial ideas and keep forcing developments - often the best ideas are not the immediate ones

Example - inspiring new ways of thinkingGuru = Madonna Changes image Controversial Dances Acts Sings Fashion Concerts Number One Raunchy

Implications for the car:Make it more sporty

Adverts to get it noticed

Consider movements -balance/suspension

Consider implications for driver image

Sound systems

Possible to change colours regularly

Use lighting to show best aspects.

Win awards

Associate with stars that stand for quality

SCAMPER checklist

This can be used once a few ideas have been tabled.

This is for both building on ideas and generating new ones.

S ubstitute – one idea for another

C ombine – ideas to make a better one

A dapt – change the idea or the problem

M aximise/minimise – make it bigger or smaller

P ut to other use – use the idea for something else

E liminate – eliminate or go-around the problems, don’t solve it

R everse – think how you could make it worse!

Forced relationships

Wall StreetAcupuncture

Snowboarding

Formula 1

Tabloids DentistryOscarnight

Nutrition

Cruiseliners PlumbingSoap

operasSpacetravel

Take a word or images selected at random, and try to force a relationship between it and the issue in hand – what new insights are generated?

Example: Find a name for a new - best seller - drink.Using the words above, the following names spring to my mind: Summer cruise, nutrition bomb, snow powder…

The brain-writing pool1. A problem is presented to the group.

2. Each person writes down four or five ideas on an A4 sheet. These are then placed into the centre of the room.

3. Each person then picks one of the idea sheets and builds on the ideas to develop further ideas.

4. The process can be repeated for three or four rounds - it can help to play music while this is happening to stimulate creative thinking!

5. The facilitator then captures and categorises the ideas.

The ideal world technique 1. Identify and explain the problem.

2. Brainstorm a wish list of all the things which solve this problem in an ideal world.

3. Hand out a selection of magazines to the group, and ask pairs to build on ideal world solutions using words and images - either ripping out pictures or jotting down ideas.

4. Each pair presents their images and ideas to the rest of the group for further idea building.

Prop analogiesTake a prop out of the bag and find away to link it to the problem that the group is solving.

Alternatives and creative ideas

Values and benefitsWhy something might work

Cautions and difficultiesWhere things might go wrong

Intuition, feelings and hunches

Information available and needed

Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats® proposes six different ways of thinking about an idea. By grouping the hats into 3 pairs you open up new angles by asking suitable questions

Overview of the process

Thinking Hats

Facts v Feelings

Strengths v Weaknesses

Creativity v Structure

White Hat - neutral and detached thinking

What are the facts?

What information is missing?

What further research do I need to do?

What does logic tell me to do?

Red Hat - intuitive thinking

How do I feel about it?

What's my gut reaction?

What's my hunch?

How should I investigate my hunches?

Red and White – Facts v Feeling

Black Hat - logical thinking (negative)

What's the bad news?

What (factual, logistical, or ethical) problems do we see?

Where is the strategy weak?

What are the biggest threats?

Yellow Hat - logical thinking (positive)

What's the good news?

What benefits do we see?

What parts of our strategy demonstrate a strength?

What are we confident of?

Yellow and Black – Strengths v Weaknesses

Green Hat - creative thinking

What are the possibilities?

What haven’t I thought of yet?

What are the other ways of looking at this?

-

Blue Hat - procedural thinking

Where do I go from here?

Is it time for a summary?

What are the consequences?

Green and Blue – Creativity v Structure

Scaling• Used to rank for example performance on a scale from 1-10 • First you rank “as is” on the scale and describe WHY• Then you increase the score by max 2 on the scale, and describe “to be”

and actions needed• Finally you describe max on the scale and actions needed

10

7

5• A• B• C

• D• E

• F• G

”To be” - areas of improvement

”As is” – what you are good at today

The consultant Useful when the group is stuck, lacks energy, is frustrated, or in other

ways needs another perspective to move on

Ask the group to gather in a corner of the room. Tell them that they are now consultants with an assignment to analyse the meeting they just attended

Help the group by asking them questions like “What sort of behaviour do you see in this group?” “Why does the group appear to be stuck in the same discussion over an over

again?” “What sort of advice will you give the group (alt.: a special person) in the group

to help them move forward?”

Note that the group members are not allowed to use names or personal pronoun. Use e.g “the man in the blue shirt”, even if they are talking about themselves

Lists and voting rights

• Consider sensible criteria: e.g. likely market value, risk, speed to market, fit with current brand positioning.

• Give everyone 3 votes and mark their choices against the long list of ideas with ticks or stars – take the most popular ideas forward for further development.

• Ideas can also be quickly classified into groups e.g fast to market, high market potential etc

• This is an informal approach which has the advantages of speed and buy-in, and provides a start point for screening.

• It’s sensible to review all the ideas again later in order to ensure nothing has been missed.

GridsIdentify key criteria for evaluating ideas and

set up two-dimensional grids to screen each idea (this works well with post-it notes)

Criteria should fit with overall strategy

Fit with existing resources

Impact on performance

Filtering ideasEliminates the least useful ideas by filtering

through objective criteria Appropriate when the need to cut down the

number of ideas is more important than the need to preserve their variety.

Choose objective criteria to act as filters. The earlier criteria should be designed to screen out a lot of ideas, whereas later ones should provide more refined filters.

Example:1st filter: Evidence of market need?2nd filter Ready for testing in under 6 months?3rd filter: Strategic fit?

What technique is the most appropriate depends on the situation in question?

Opening up creativity• Ask the guru• SCAMPER• Forced relationships• Brain writing pool• Ideal world• Prop analogies• Thinking hats• “Yes, and..”• Set unrealistic goals• Handling crisis

Narrowing down options• Lists and voting rights• Grids• Filtering

Driving forward• Scaling• The Consultant• Questioning• Take a break• Parking lot

Create confidence & trust• Systemic thinking• Who are you?• Change of behaviour