Category: Facilitation Skills

  • “Difficult People” Versus Difficult Dynamics

    Presenters wanting to learn to respond to ruckus-causing participants discover an industry dedicated to techniques, programs and articles, but especially labels. Experts in the “difficult people” business love labels.

    Here are several labels for different kinds of “difficult people”:

    • The Know-It-All
    • The Show-Off
    • The Rambler

    But Guess What? We Are All “Difficult People”

    To be a person is to be difficult. “Difficult people” are often just regular people responding to difficult dynamics. Difficult dynamics can include:

    • Organizational change
    • Bad room set-up or temperature control
    • Mandatory attendance
    • Ambiguity about how the event will benefit the individual
    • Personal challenges, such as hunger and low blood sugar.

    What trainers, facilitators and presenters need to know is:

    • You cannot fix people.
    • You can reduce difficult dynamics, thus lowering the risk of reactive behavior.

    3 Ways to Reduce Difficult Dynamics

    You may have little control over organizational change or mandatory attendance. However, these steps will address a broad spectrum of difficult dynamics:

    1. Set Up the Room for the Outcome You Desire
    For engagement, interaction, and accountability, seat people in groups of 5-6.

    2. Clarify the Benefits
    You MUST clearly express on why this topic is important to the participants and how it will benefit them.

    3. Model Both Authoritative and Cooperative Behaviors as a Presenter
    Encourage people to express themselves and to ask questions. Simultaneously, set and hold limits.

    To achieve smooth dynamics, don’t label human beings. Instead, prevent difficult dynamics before they occur.

  • Using the “Six Limbs” of Facilitation to Make Meetings Work

    Understanding the “six limbs” of facilitation will help you juggle meeting dynamics better.

    What Are the “Six Limbs?”

    A facilitator needs to keep six avenues of awareness open to facilitate effectively. Awareness of the “six limbs” is a kind of hyper-awareness that we don’t tend to need during other parts of our lives. This hyper-awareness underlies all the specific skills (such as summarizing and paraphrasing) that a facilitator uses. Maintaining this heightened awareness is hard work, and is largely what makes facilitation such an art.

    Familiar to anyone who has ever written a term paper, the six avenues of awareness are:

    • Who
    • What
    • When
    • Why
    • How
    • What if…?

    During a meeting, you need to maintain your awareness of:

    Who is talking, who is silent, and who is expressing themselves non-verbally? Who has been heard, and who needs to be heard?

    What is going on, both on the surface and underneath? What are the “vibes?” On another level, what time is it? What needs to happen before the meeting ends?

    When is it time to break? When is it appropriate for you to intervene in the meeting’s process?

    Why do you feel you must intervene?

    How can the group’s work best be accomplished?

    What if… the meeting outcomes are not met this time around? What if a particular person hasn’t yet provided input? What if yelling occurs? What if you decided to take a whole new path to solving the problem?

    Juggling Dynamics

    If using the six limbs sounds challenging, it’s because it is. Facilitation is both an art and a set of skills. Keeping all six tracks of awareness open will help you bridge those two worlds—and make you the best facilitator you can be.

    Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help you improve your meetings!

  • How to Keep Meetings Active and Productive

    As a facilitator, you are responsible for achieving the meeting outcomes, maintaining full participation, and ending on time. How do you maintain meaningful, focused conversation throughout? These five tips will help.

    1.  Playback
    Reiterate what a participant has said as closely as you can. Try not to infer meaning.“Greg, I’m hearing you say that you want this to go a little more slowly. Did I get that right?”

    2.  Consolidate
    Pull together ideas, showing their relationship to each other. “As you can see from Juan’s and Cathy’s comments, there seem to be enough resources and commitment to take this on.”

    3.  Play Devil’s Advocate
    Disagree gently with a participant’s comments to stimulate further discussion. (Remember, you maintain your neutral role even though you put out the Devil’s Advocate statement.) “Is that always the case?” “This has worked elsewhere. What makes this different?”

    4.  Relieve Tension
    State what you see calmly and without evaluation. “Bill and Mary are bringing out two different sides of this issue.” “I see many furrowed brows. Let’s take a quick break to reflect on this.”

    5.  Change the Process
    Alter the method of participation. “Let’s break into small groups to see how many alternate options you can come up with.”

    Try implementing these skills in your next meeting. Chances are, it will move along faster and be more productive.

    Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com

    © Guila Muir.

  • The Most Important Tool for Online Meetings

    What’s the REAL secret to effective online meetings? An outcome-based agenda.

    An outcome-based agenda is an action plan. It states “what will have changed” by the end of the meeting. All agenda items should lead toward achieving those changes.

    A Plan, Not a Grocery List

    If you’re thinking that “something changing” seems like a big leap for a 30-minute meeting, consider these outcome stems:

    1. By the end of this meeting, we will have discussed…
    2. By the end of this meeting, we will have brainstormed…
    3. By the end of this meeting, we will have decided…

    Take a look at the differences in complexity of each outcome above. Typically, the more complex, (such as #3), the longer a meeting you will need. *

    If you cannot think of anything that will change, do not hold the meeting. A meeting without an outcome is just a waste of time.

    The Future Perfect Tense

    Note that outcomes use a verb with an “ed” on the end. Using the future perfect tense makes it obvious that you have a clear end in mind.

    Take the time to figure out exactly what is achievable in the time allotted. Then state that using the future perfect form of the verb: “By the end of this meeting, we will have ________ed)…” Magically, by stating your outcome this way, the meeting gains a much better chance at success.

    By using an outcome based agenda, your meetings will become shorter, less painful, and more productive.

    * By the way, the outcome is NOT a pre-determined “solution”. (For example, consider: “By the end of this meeting, you will have come up with the answer I’ve already decided.”) The group must feel ownership for the outcome they achieve.

    Want to improve your facilitation skills? Try our “Leading Stellar Online Meetings” workshop. Contact Guila today.

  • 3 Tips to Tame Unruly Meetings, Part Two

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    The Prickly Role of Meeting Guidelines

    (more…)

  • RULES? Who Needs RULES? Part One

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    The prickly role of Meeting Guidelines (more…)

  • The “Tuned-In” Facilitator: When and How to Intervene

    Picture this: You’re running a regular, non-eventful meeting when…

    Scenario One: Suddenly, as if some invisible button has been pushed, unexpected emotion erupts from the group.

    Or…Scenario Two: You suddenly sense a strong feeling of resistance from the group. No one says anything about it, but you can’t shake your own awareness of “push-back.”

    Or…Scenario Three: You notice that Bill has his arms crossed over his chest and is rolling his eyes as others talk.

    Have you been there? Is there a “right” thing to do in these instances, and if so, what is it?

    Three Stages of Tuned–In Facilitation

    Stage One: Practice Internal Awareness
    Great facilitators acknowledge the tangible and intangible aspects of the facilitation environment. How does it “feel?” (Is the room set up in a way that adds or detracts from a feeling of open collaboration? What attempts have been made to “de-institutionalize” a sterile environment?) What hints about their emotional states do the participants give as they walk in? What do you see, hear, and feel throughout the meeting?

    Stage Two: Diagnose
    As you notice behavioral shifts, changes in the “feeling” of the meeting, or verbal hints, ask yourself: “What’s going on?” It is this internal, ongoing acknowledgement of dynamics that enables the facilitator to make the right choice: to intervene or not to intervene.

    An example: Susan notices that Pat and John, who are sitting next to each other in a meeting, often speak to each other in low tones. Susan asks herself “What’s going on?” Pat and John could be laughing at her or at the meeting itself, they could be processing information to understand better, they could be discussing last night’s episode of “America’s Next Top Model…”

    Susan realizes that Pat and John will play unique roles in the changes under discussion, so when she thinks, “I bet they’re talking about THAT…” she feels she may have gotten it right. The sense (call it a guess) of “I believe THIS is going on…” is all there is to Stage Two.

    Three essential reminders at Stage Two, the Diagnosis Stage:

    • Your diagnosis is yours alone. It may be off the mark.
    • Your diagnosis guides your actions. Your actions impact the group.
    • You are not obligated to go to the next stage.

    Stage Three: Intervene

    In the example above, Susan will only intervene if she gets the feeling that “Something needs to change.” When the facilitator intervenes, s/he holds up a mirror to the participants so that they can see their own process.

    Here are some questions to ask yourself while deciding whether to intervene:

    • Could this situation go away on its own?
    • Is it necessary to stop the action? Why?
    • What impact will intervening have on the flow of the meeting? The environment?
    • What will happen if I do nothing?

    Here is some helpful language when intervening:

    • I’m noticing that…
    • Let’s stop for a moment and look at what’s going on.
    • It strikes me that…
    • I’d like to suggest…

    A tuned-in facilitator is a good facilitator. And a good facilitator continually decides if and when to intervene in the group’s process.

     

     

    Read more articles about Facilitation Skills. Learn about Guila Muir’s Facilitation Skills Workshop.

    Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills.

  • Who Cares About Facilitation Skills?

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    Why Facilitation Skills are Important: A different kind of power (more…)

  • How to Prevent Meetings from Hell

    A creative business team busy at a meetingWith technology forcing constant change in our workplaces, the true “hot commodity” over the next twenty years will be meaningful, face to face contact. However, that contact must be productive. Increasing facilitation skills – of all employees – is key.

    Over 80% of my training participants tell me that the number of meetings they must facilitate has increased dramatically over the last two years. “It’s not really in my job description, but with all the team work and collaborative efforts these days, I have to facilitate – and facilitate competently,” said one participant.

    A recent article in USA Today estimates that business professionals spend between 25% to 60% of their time in meetings. They report that 50% of that time is unproductive. “So often, people get into a meeting and talk around an issue,” says Beryl Loeb, a consultant in Needham, Mass. “Then they have to meet again.” No wonder meetings are the butt of Dilbert jokes!

    Effective facilitation is the key to effective meetings. Anyone who’s participated in a focused, well-facilitated meeting can attest to its results: increased productivity, focus and accountability. The most productive meetings are often also the most enjoyable. Yet most people learn to facilitate meetings by “the seat of their pants” – and end up repeating the same mistakes.

    The Importance of Facilitator Development

    Building “in-house” facilitation skills is the way to save money on external facilitators, ensure that all meetings are productive and address the demand for increased participation in decision-making. Developing a home-gown cadre of expert facilitators pays off. Over the last three years, the Seattle Police Departments’ Community and Information Services Bureau has trained approximately 250 supervisors, managers and staff in basic and advanced facilitation skills. These facilitators currently facilitate hundreds of more effective meetings – both in the community and in the Department. Social service agencies, city municipalities, corporations, parks and recreation programs and Court Administrators are also benefiting from improved in-house facilitation skills.

    Let’s counter the cynicism and low morale bred by badly-run meetings. With the right skills, anyone can facilitate. Consider investing in developing the facilitation skill levels of all your employees!