9 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Too Focused on Task? Too Focused on Group Dynamics?

Some Facilitators find it a challenge to keep track of group maintenance (how they're feeling) when they themselves are getting swept up in the content of discussions; and others find it hard to focus on the task and content of discussions when they're getting swept up in the group dynamics. Maybe you have experienced both at different times. What are some things you can do about that?

(1) Ask the group about the progress it is making with reference to the desired outcomes. 

(2) AND ask the group about how they feel about this work. 

(3) Some people are naturally intuitive when it comes to the maintenance side of group processes.  Others need some help picking up on cues, as well as some tips to change the energy and dynamics in the room.  If you are less intuitive in this area, you can always ask the group how they feel. For example, Are they energized or tired?  Do they feel ambitious or cautious? Creative or constrained? Then you might get some information and consider how you need to shift gears. 

(4) Create yourself a prompt sheet of ideas! Have some tricks up your sleeve for changing energy and dynamics.  It might be as simple as taking a break, getting some coffee and fresh air, or changing the physical environment (such as by going outside, or rearranging seats). If you’ve been doing lots of group discussion, perhaps take a break for some individual thinking time or watch a short video talk (have some short ones aside).  Ask people to draw what they are thinking or pick and image (have a mixed deck available) which reflects their mood and do some ‘presencing’ to get people back in the room.  Jump around.  Clap.  Make noise a task: such as tasking people with creating a 30 second musical reflection of the event so far using only what they find on their tables.  Have some quick games up your sleeve (we find a great source is the Systems Thinking Playbook) to highlight a relevant point from the event so far.  Consider different scenarios (from people tired and flagging to people playing and laughing too much and not applying themselves to the task) and options for each.

(5) If you know you have a bias towards ‘task’, practice wearing a ‘maintenance’ hat in group opportunities.  In situations where you are not officially ‘facilitating’, try and turn down your ‘task’ hat and tune into group maintenance, thinking specifically about what is happening in terms of group dynamics and what interventions or design choices you could make to strengthen the process for the benefit of group maintenance. 

(6) If the reverse is true and your bias is towards maintenance, try and practice wearing your ‘task’ hat.  Try and step out of your ‘modus operandi’ and flex other thinking muscles.  And note the great things other people do that you might like to incorporate into your own practice.

(7) If you struggle to follow the discussion sufficiently, consider strategies to help you ‘tune in’.  For example, perhaps decide to take notes at a flipchart so that you can structure your thinking – creating a mind-map of the keep points emerging from the discussion.  And if that doesn’t work and an element of group dynamics is really distracting you (e.g. some voices are not being heard and others are overbearing), chances are others may also be struggling – in which case you could go with a different methodology (maybe break from plenary into groups to discuss either the same questions in parallel or different questions according to their interest). 

(8) See also the points about summarizing and synthesizing above.  Use the strategies suggested there, getting others to summarize things for everyone (you included) and using lots of templates that you can review as necessary.

(9) Invite others to review your event designs with you - with knowledge of ‘you’ in mind.  And invite others to observe you in facilitation delivery mode and provide you feedback.  Additionally consider providing feedback forms (or other mechanisms) at the end of each event, providing people with opportunities to help you improve.

Related blog posts:

How (not) to Have a Terrible Meeting
http://welearnsomething.blogspot.ch/2007/12/how-to-have-terrible-meeting.html

Next > 10 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - As the Facilitator, How to Work With Your Personal Desires for Harmony or Debate

8 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Knowing When You Should Summarise and Synthetise and When to Let the Group Do It

For a Facilitator, there is definitely an art to knowing when you should summarize and synthesize discussion for the group; and when it would be better to have the group summarize and synthesize. Here are some suggested strategies for how to work with the difference:

(1) Summarize progress in the process towards achieving desired outcomes to make it more apparent.  For example: “We considered numerous potential project ideas and then, concerned about how to prioritize these, generated a list of criteria for prioritizing.  These were then applied to the ideas, resulting in the selection of the following as the top 3 to take forward…”

(2) Structure your agenda to elicit synthesis from participants as you go along, so that you can steer clear from synthesizing subject matter yourself.  This is a point that some facilitators may debate.  We feel, however, that as the process guide, the facilitator should steer clear from summarizing subject matter and substantive content discussions (and never produce reports!).  Instead, structure your agenda with regular moments designed in, during which participants summarize and synthesize as you proceed through logical, iterative sessions. 

(3) Guide participants in summarizing and synthesising by providing time for reflection (individually and in groups) and rather than asking one person to do the work, distribute the task, potentially using a funnelling approach, where the individuals reflect on their own, and then at tables participants share their reflections and come up with 3 key points, and then these 3 key points are shared in plenary, and then in plenary participants are invited to suggest the key patterns or trends emerging across all the different interventions.

(4) Provide templates to capture synthesized ideas – asking clear questions and providing space for key points to be written in.  Having well-structured templates to capture information makes any post-event summarizing or synthesizing much easier later (for participants).

(5) Use methodologies for synthesizing and summarizing. For example, rather than having an open discussion on various controversial statements, write the statements on sheets around the room and invite participants to place a sticky dot representing their position from strongly agree to strongly disagree, along with a place to write open comments.  Then assign randomly mixed small groups to analyse the various results sheets and describe reasons for the results, and suggest implications for going forward.  This way, rather than lengthy conversation, you quickly and effectively provide everyone with the opportunity to express their perspective, and distribute the role of analysing and summarizing to sub-groups of participants.  You could then combine this with a carousel discussion, where participants add to the work of previous groups doing the analysis and synthesis.

(6) If you feel you really need to summarize (because someone’s gone off on a tangent and you need to bring them back to the task at hand), do it as a question rather than a statement.  For example: So do I understand correctly if I say that the 3 next steps are x,y, z?  Or simply invite someone else to paraphrase for you:  So, could someone please summarize or paraphrase that for me in a few words that I can capture on this flipchart?   (There is usually someone in every group who prides themselves on their ability to synthesize!)

Related blog posts:

Don’t Outsource It! Learning from Reporting
http://welearnsomething.blogspot.ch/2009/02/dont-outsource-it-learning-from.html

More Learning Through Reporting: Using Reporting for Teambuilding
http://welearnsomething.blogspot.ch/2009/04/more-learning-through-reporting-using.html

Next > 9 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Too Focused on Task? Too Focused on Group Dynamics?

7 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Striking the Right Level of Visibility and Intervention (Saying enough, but not saying too much)

As the Facilitator, how do you go about striking the right level of visibility and intervention in your workshop - walking that fine line between saying enough and not saying too much?

Here are some suggested strategies:

(1) Prepare a script for yourself (and edit this during the meeting).  Whether you tend to say too much or too little, this can really help.  Write out key points to communicate to the group about the desired outcomes of the meeting as a whole, the process and methodology of each session, and questions to put to the group to check in on progress.  This will help you make sure you keep on message and say enough, without saying too much.

(2) Repeat yourself without being overly repetitive.  When it comes to groups of people with diverse language skills and learning styles, it is really important to reinforce your messages without repeating yourself in a time-consuming and tedious fashion.  Consider, for example, writing the outline agenda on a flipchart sheet in the room which you keep coming back to, ticking off as you progress through the sessions, and reminding people of the logic of the agenda – connecting what you’ve done (lightly) with where you are heading next.  Similarly, have your desired outcomes visible in the room for reference. 

(3) Be careful about those brief briefings. When briefing a specific session, remember that people digest info in different ways. Some people understand better reading than just hearing what you’d like them to do, whilst others need to talk about something to make sure they have understood.  Write up (on a flipchart or slide) details such as questions for discussion, how much time they have, what and how they should capture the discussion, and how they will share it with everyone afterwards.  Having briefed the session, ask participants in the group to summarize back to everyone the task, checking whether anyone else understood it differently.  And/or ask questions to the group test whether they are listening (e.g. So, if we have 30 minutes, at what time are we going to reconvene – according to your watch?)   

(4) Aim to ask questions rather than make statements.  Asking a powerful question you can make a great intervention, leading participants down a path of questioning, whilst allowing them the space to respond as a group.  If you aim to ask questions rather than making statements, you are less likely to say too much, and participants are more likely to listen to what you do say.

(5) If you have a tendency to take an overly visible (and vocal) role in a group, design in more small group work and less plenary... You can’t be in all small groups at once! 

(6) Be sure to focus what you do say on the process.  Beware speaking about the content, unless relating the content to the process and progress on the task.

See the points below about summarizing and synthesizing.

Next > 8 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Knowing When You Should Summarise and Synthetise and When to Let the Group Do It

6 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Working as a Facilitator With and Without Subject Matter Expertise

How can you have confidence in achieving the desired outcomes when you're not a subject matter expert; and also when you ARE a subject matter expert (but your role is as facilitator)? Consider the following:

(1) Remember that it is better to know little about the subject matter but all about designing a great process to achieve the desired outcomes, than to know everything about the subject but little about process! Mastering the art of client briefing conversations and designing great, detailed agendas are key.  

(2) Remind yourself that facilitators do not need to be subject matter experts (and often are not!) What facilitators need to do is ask the right questions to the client (who may or may not be subject matter experts themselves).  It is paramount that you fully understand – and are sufficiently conversant in – the context of the meeting and what it hopes to achieve.  It is the role of the participants in the room to bring the required expertize.  Your role is to guide the process.

(3) If you are a subject matter expert, think about how you can contribute your expertize before entering the workshop room – both in bringing your expert knowledge to the agenda design process, and potentially through your contribution to other preparatory steps.  For example, contribute to a presentation or video to be screened in the session, or reply to a pre-session participant survey, the results from which are used to focus the conversations.  As facilitator - guiding the process - you contribute greatly to the shaping the direction in which the group thinks and progresses, especially through the questions you ask.  Consider how you can do this appropriately, respecting the trust placed in you as a neutral facilitator.

(4) Check-in with the group, as the meeting progresses.  If you feel happy with the energy and results, ask the group:  I feel good and happy about the progress so far, how about you?  If you feel frustrated and feel that they are too, sometimes it may helpful to acknowledge this and simply suggest taking a break whilst you have a rethink.  You may find it was just fatigue and that people come back refreshed and thinking more clearly with renewed energy and confidence in achieving the desired outcomes.

Related blog posts:

No Such Thing as a Pointless Question: The Impact of Simply Asking

http://welearnsomething.blogspot.com/2006/10/no-such-thing-as-pointless-question.html

Leveraging the Wisdom of Crowds in our Organization

http://welearnsomething.blogspot.com/2007/01/leveraging-wisdom-of-crowds-in-our.html


NEXT >  7 of 11: Suggested Facilitation Strategies - Striking the Right Level of Visibility and Intervention (Saying enough, but not saying too much)