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Facilitation

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Why do we need facilitation anyway?

Meetings, away days, conferences, brainstorming sessions, impromptu get-togethers among staff, inter-departmental talks:  these are the kinds of situations most people encounter at work on an on-going basis.  And most of the time, they function very well; or at least, well enough.

However, there are some situations where an objective eye is vital.  It is the thing thats needed to get people out of routine, to stop people time wasting and to get things moving forward.  If you need to take a fresh look at how your meetings work, facilitation is an essential option.

Everyone in business has at some point in their working lives come out of a meeting feeling it was a big waste of time (unless of course, they used it to catch up on some much-needed sleep!).  People get frustrated, bored, lazy or just plain cynical when meetings dont accomplish much and theres little to inspire or motivate.

Common reasons why sometimes these meetings get bogged down or lose their way are:  old squabbles, historic ways of doing things, accepted lines of communication (or miscommunication, as the case may be), being too close to the action, people playing games; people not concentrating or doing two or three things at once (Notice the proliferation of lap tops at meetings?  People supposedly participate and read their e-mails at the same time!).

Facilitators, on the other hand, may indeed come laden with pre-conceived expectations, judgements or ancient history, but they also come with an ability to put those aside in order to make the meeting work better. 

Good facilitators see and hear not only the obvious, but are tuned in to what else might be going on that isnt quite so apparent.  They are skilled in interpreting the difficulties, resolving conflict, cutting through time wasting and diversionary tactics and, most importantly, enabling people to reach agreements and develop new practises that will work.

So think about the more important and crucial meetings in your workplace where everyone keeps going round in circles, and then imagine what clarity you could bring in the role of facilitator.

Lets go a little deeper into why meetings and gatherings arent the perfect forums we want them to be.

Whenever groups of people get together, two things are usually true:

1) Everyone sees the world differently, no matter how similar their points of view may be.

2) Everyone thinks their view is the right one.

When there is a spirit of cooperation and a willingness to arrive at a mutually agreed outcome, disparate points of view can work together, and people go away satisfied that their point of view has been taken into consideration and utilised in some way.

However, there are times, even when the spirit is willing, that the need to be right and the need for everyone else to agree that you're right, can get in the way of achieving any outcome.  It only takes one person with this attitude to create a shambles.

And, of course, if there is antagonism, distrust and an adversarial attitude from the beginning, then people will cling to their view of the world and their need to be right, practically to the death!

Probably the most important insight and skill to acquire if you want to be a good facilitator is that you must work with what other people present or bring into a meeting, not what you would like to have happen.  You need the ability to craft how a meeting goes rather than imposing your will and your point of view.

This is hard.

The most practised facilitators will find themselves falling into the pit of trying to get things to go the way they want them to.  Even Impact Factorys best trainers struggle sometimes not to treat a fresh group of people in the way they treated the last group. 

To see with fresh eyes every time you work with a group takes a special skill that you may have seen in a good mediator or chairperson.  It's more than impartiality.  It's the setting aside of your own prejudices and strongly held opinions so that another view and the person holding that view can be validated.

You need to allow other people's quirks, oddities and differences to be in the room without making them feel odd and different.  It's about creating a non-judgemental, objective environment where people feel they can air their opinions without getting shot down or humiliated.

At the same time, in this particular context, facilitation means being able to influence a situation without imposing your personal agenda.  You want people enrolled not steamrollered.

This is a tall order for people whose job may not normally be one of facilitating others.

OK, so where do I begin?

There are at least two types of facilitators for the purpose of this document:

1) Those that are appointed to do so.

2) Those that arent, but do it anyhow.

Were not trying to be glib here.  There are times when a facilitator is desperately required but no one is ever appointed.  Something needs to be done or it will just be the same old pattern yet again.  People will understandably look to the Chair to shift a difficult situation.  But the Chair may not necessarily be a facilitator.  In turn, not all meetings and get-togethers have Chairs, in which case someone taking on the informal role of facilitator may be required.

Facilitators can be from within the organisation, or they can be an outside resource.  Facilitators can know everything thats going on or they can know very little.  Facilitators can be senior, junior or peer status.

Once you feel you have the skills to be a facilitator, its a good idea to let as many people know as possible.  Volunteer a lot.  This is not about power games (let me see how many meetings I can end up running); this is about being a calming and pragmatic influence that can make a significant difference on the outcome of any kind of meeting, event, forum, etc.

Its important here for us to say that not every meeting, gathering, get-together needs a facilitator.  What we are saying is that there are instances where an objective, impartial voice is needed and the better equipped you are to offer that, the better off those meetings will be.

 
Objectivity

Weve already said that maintaining objectivity can be really hard.  Once you get the hang of it, though, it will be your greatest ally.

One way to look at achieving objectivity is to accept that you dont have to feel objective, you just have to demonstrate it. 

To explain.

Lets say youre in a meeting and a heated debate starts up about, for instance, staffing levels.  One person or group says, Were understaffed and under-resourced. And the other says We have plenty of staff; theyre just not being managed well enough.  Inside, youre thinking, I couldnt agree more; if our managers just managed more effectively, we wouldnt be having this resource issue in the first place.

Thats inside.  You have every right to have an opinion.  If you put it on the table it, however, you would be taking sides.  In the role of the facilitator, the thoughts and feelings stay inside.  You can still have them; they just remain unspoken.  What you are looking to do is to stop a war breaking out because of the polarised positions already being staked out.

One way to practise in situations like this, is to reflect back what youve just heard.  In our example it might look like this:  So what Im hearing is that you think were understaffed, and Im assuming you feel unsupported just now.  And to the other side, What Im hearing is that, on the other hand, you feel the problem isnt with staffing levels, but with the way the staff is managed.

We think this is a good place to start because often when people come together with widely differing points of view, its very hard to hear the other sides arguments.  What you are demonstrating is that you hear both sides.  You are establishing yourself as a neutral observer; one who is able to hear a variety of views and opinions.

Imagine yourself being slightly distanced (physically) from whats going on, sitting just outside the group so you can observe the dynamic of whats going on.  You may still be sitting right in the middle, but part of you is outside looking in.

We know this is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time, but it can be done!   We think its also a great way to stop you getting drawn in and finding yourself taking sides.  Its human nature to want to gather as many allies as possible, and people will be looking to you to support their stance.

As a facilitator, the best support is neutrality.  That way at least one person is able to see clearly whats going on.

When people feel strongly about something, its really hard for them to keep an open mind to other points of view.  By keeping an open mind yourself, you actually model effective behaviour.  In our experience, when this happens, it does calm people down and helps them see that theres more than one way to do things.

 
Smoothing the way

Thats what facilitate means to make things easier, to smooth the progress of and to assist in making things happen.  Like so much of our work, we think that facilitation is about moving things forward.  Its about allowing and creating an environment where things can move forward.  It isnt about pushing or forcing things.

When meetings get bogged down, its like working in sludge.  People can get even more polarised; they get dispirited and fractious and fed up.  Facilitation clears the sludge.  Clarify!  Simplify!

Sometimes a facilitator acts as a translator, not only reflecting back what theyve heard, but also interpreting it in a way that other people can understand.  A good facilitator gets practised in understanding the differing nuances, jargon and meanings in what various people are saying and being able to explain that difference to others.  A useful phrase is So what youre saying is.

This is because what people mean and say will often be very different from how they are heard.  We suggest using analogies to help people understand each other.  Most of us already use analogies a lot of the time.  When we explain something to someone who looks puzzled, well fish around for something similar they might understand in order to help them make a connection. 

Think of beginning sentences with Its liketo help you think of an analogy.

For instance, Jo Ellen went to Papua New Guinea and was trying to explain what it was like.  She could have said it was really, really hot and humid and that she was wet all the time, but she felt that didnt give the true flavour of what it was like.  So she came up with this analogy:  it was like being in a steam room 24 hours a day with your clothes on.

The more you can use analogies to help clarify peoples understanding, the less room there is for assumptions and confusion.  Think of yourself as a translator:  analogies bridge the gap from one persons view of the world to anothers

Effective Chairing:  Agendas, timekeeping and roles

Every meeting goes through its own unique process and no two meetings, even with the same people, are ever the same.  A meeting chaired well is a joy to attend.  Even if tempers flare and emotions run high, a well-chaired meeting can leave people inspired, motivated and energised.

Here are some things that can help you chair a meeting more effectively.

Setting a clear agenda can help a lot.  Agendas are great and we think most meetings need them.  They help clarify what the meeting is about and what needs to be accomplished in them.  However, they can become either too dictatorial or too elastic, and their purpose and efficacy becomes diluted.

Heres what we say about agendas:

Keep them short

Have a stated objective

Know what you want to accomplish

Put the difficult or sticky issues at the front (too often we see these put at the end; then time runs out and they are neatly avoided)

Give a specific amount of time to each agenda item (see below)

If a particular agenda item keeps appearing and remains unresolved, put it at the top or get rid of it

Avoid lumping too many issues under Any Other Business get everyones additional agenda items ahead of time

Agendas are easier if you set a specific amount of time to each agenda item.  You may not stick precisely to those timings, but they will help you keep on track.  You can appoint yourself as timekeeper, or ask someone else in the meeting to take on that role.

If you find yourself going over time, rather than ignoring it or rushing, you can say, Im aware were going over time with this discussion.  We can give it more time or move on.  Or you can make that decision yourself without consultation; the important thing here is that you let people know you are still keeping an eye on the time.

Keep this in mind:  it is far better to spend more time on an issue, than try to get through everything just for the sake of getting through everything.

The most common thing that gets people off agendas is someone going off on a tangent.  Tangents are OK, if they add something, develop an idea or introduce something that needs introducing.  However, in our experience, thats rare.

People tend to go off on tangents because they have personal, hidden agendas, are bored, want to stir things up; are uncomfortable with whats being discussed; feel ignored or marginalised; are angry, hurt or frustrated; have a burning issue or pet project they want included (whether appropriate or not).

Tangents also happen because people either consciously or unconsciously start playing out particular roles.

We have a more detailed document on some of the things that can knock meetings off course, called Death By Meeting, but here are some of the roles people take on during meetings.

Chairman
This person is usually not the actual Chair, but takes on the role when things seem to be slipping away

Conciliator
Tries to keep the peace, sees everyones point of view; defuses conflict

Odd man out
Always seems on the outside of the group; sometimes deliberately, sometimes unconsciously; sometimes because the group keeps them excluded.

Devils Advocate
Often argues just for the sake of it; puts in opposing views

Distractor
Introduces issues or subjects that are off the point

These roles are neither right nor wrong, but it is important to know when you or others are using them.  For instance, theres nothing wrong with saying Im going to play devils advocate for a moment. and then introducing a challenging or contentious issue.  Or, Im going to be a distractor right now and talk about the terrific book Ive been reading on Leadership. 

By saying what you are doing, you are being transparent rather than opaque!

Also, when youre chairing/facilitating, you need to be aware that other people may be taking on one of these roles (among many others) and you will have to intervene - sometimes quite quickly and forcefully - to get the meeting back on course.

There are many ways to intervene.

Theres the old-style yelling version.  We dont recommend this one.

Since the idea is to ease the way for people, its important not to put anyone on the spot, embarrass or humiliate them.  If anyone at the meeting puts a colleague on the spot, you can take the spotlight yourself or manoeuvre it onto someone else who wont mind being centre-stage for a while.

Interventions can take the shape of

interrupting someone, even when theyre in mid-flow (a good, gentle way to do that is to say:  Im going to interrupt you for a moment.)

levelling (telling it like it is without blame, accusation or finger-pointing at anyone in particular.  See extensive suggestions in Death by Meeting)

summing up, when it looks as though there may be too many ideas are floating around

asking for clarity from people with differing points of view

taking a break

Table dynamics

In some companies weve heard of theyve taken the (desperate?) measure of holding their meetings standing up no tables.  The idea is that that will force meetings to not only be short, but will keep people on their toes and more creative.  Maybe that works.  We have visions of people ending up slouching against the walls, but you can see where the idea came from:  We need to do something to break the pattern of boring or unproductive meetings!

Were not suggesting you stand up.

However, its very easy to see how patterns get set and meetings get stale.  Our idea is that no matter what the setting, you can use it to your advantage, rather than feeling imprisoned or stuck.

Lets say you  have a weekly team meeting with the same people, in the same room, sitting at the same table.  People troop in (everyone expects X to be late as usual, and indeed he/she is), carrying their bits and pieces and sitting at the same place they did last week.  Before you call order, the meeting is somewhat calcified already.  Little cliques tend to arise just because of whos sitting next to whom; people assume their set roles (if the same person always introduces difficult issues, after a very short time, everyone else will expect that any difficult issues will be dealt with by that person) and the usual dynamic gets repeated yet again.
We dont want to say that this is the only reason meetings get stuck, but if you are looking to shift their effectiveness, you need to do something different and early on.

Here are some tips:

Get to the meeting before anyone else

Look at how the room is set up and if it looks like the last time do something, anything, to change it.  Think about things such as how the furniture is arranged, how you want the table to look, where you position yourself, etc.

If you use a flip chart put it as far away from you as possible, which means youll have to stand up and walk to it when you need to use it.

During the meeting, think about whether you want to create a formal or informal atmosphere.  You can do this, not just through the language you use, but also through your body language, how you position your own chair in relation to the table, how you handle any material or items to be handed out.

If you find yourself getting drawn in by one person, see if you can open the discussion up by including everyone else around the table.  This is common at meetings:  a conversation gets going between two of you and all your focus goes on that person, effectively excluding everyone else.  They then have total permission to go out to lunch and drift off.

Beware the over-use of Power Point!  Nothing can kill an exciting meeting quicker than a bog standard power point presentation that puts everyone to sleep (Remember!  People read faster than you can speak, so if you are repeating whats written on the slide, you can be guaranteed to lose your audience within a minute.)

Conclusion

Facilitation takes practise, so here are 10 things to remember which will help you become a seriously good facilitator:

Work with what people bring
Avoid imposing your will
Display impartiality
Reflect back
Be neutral and objective
Clarify and interpret
Keep to time
Intervene when necessary
Avoid humiliating others
Break stale patterns

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