This is the third in a series of articles that I am writing about the International Association of Facilitators Foundational Facilitator Competencies. These competencies were developed over several years by IAF members with the support of facilitators from around the world.  The competencies include the basic set of skills, knowledge, and behaviors that facilitators must have in order to be successful facilitating groups of people collaborating for a purpose.  

There are six competency areas and several sub-competencies.  Competency Area B is Plan Appropriate Group Processes.   The sub-competencies include:

1. Select clear methods and processes that: foster open participation with respect for client culture, norms and participant diversity; engage the participation of those with varied learning/thinking styles; and achieve a high quality product/outcome that meets the client needs
2. Prepare time and space to support group process: arrange physical space to support the purpose for the meeting; plan effective use of time; and provide effective atmosphere and drama for sessions

Keeping in mind that the initial work with the client is to clarify needs, determine purpose of the session, desired outcomes, roles and responsibilities, and logistics, it may be appropriate to gather some feedback about processes, tools and techniques. I use the terms process, tools and techniques as follows:

• Process – the steps or activities that transform the Inputs (People, Information, Purpose) into the session desired Outcomes.  Some types of processes include; strategic planning, action planning, problem solving, decision making, communication planning, etc.
• Tools – the facilitation methods that enable a group to collaborate to achieve the outcomes of a specific step in the process.  Some types of tools include; brainstorming, listing, grouping, prioritizing, etc.
• Techniques – the way in which an activity (step in the process or tool) will be managed.  Some types of techniques include: large group, small group, silent refection, round robin, etc.

Discover what processes have been used in the past. Certainly, if the client’s desired outcome is a strategic plan, I will ask what strategic planning processes have been used in the past.  What worked well, what should change?  Also, I will ask if the sponsor has any suggestions regarding processes, tools, and techniques.  Usually some process ideas come to mind during this conversation, so I will test my ideas with the client and note the feedback.  So…the answer to the question above- do you take direction from the client?  My answer is yes…and.   Yes, I consider input from the client, and I consider input from the participants.

Listen to your participants. My next step in creating a facilitation plan (plan appropriate group processes) is to conduct brief conversations with the participants.  Typically, the conversation focuses on the purpose of the meeting, their expectations, and anticipated challenges.  During this conversation I usually gather feedback about possible tools and techniques to use.  Participants usually tell me that they like to work in small groups, that they like to change group make up and move around the room (especially for all day and multi-day sessions), and they will weigh in on whether or not they are comfortable being completely honest and if they think others will be honest.  Lately I am hearing …please don’t use power point.  In addition, I like to find out from the participants if they like team building, ice breaker, game type activities.

Apply your own expertise. Having collected information about the meeting design from the client and participants, now it is time for my expertise to kick in.  I strongly believe that each session must be customized to meet the client’s and participants needs in order to maximize participation and buy-in and commitment to the outcomes. Sandwiched between an opening and close the bulk of the work happens and where the participants’ expertise (content) comes into play.   There are many options for arranging process steps, tools and techniques to most effectively surface the wisdom and knowledge of the group in order to achieve the desired outcomes.   Based on client and participant input and my knowledge and experience, I create a draft facilitation plan. I never underestimate the power of a strong opening that enlightens, engages, excites and energizes the group, and a strong close to maximize commitment to the outcomes.  Even though I use a standard process for the opening and close, the tools and techniques are customized for the group.

Most of the time, my clients want to review the detailed facilitation plan.  They appreciate the thought and effort that goes into the plan, and typically have a sense of success before the session begins.  Also, I advise them that if a part of the process, tool and/or technique is not working for the group that I will be prepared to modify the plan on the fly. What about you – do you take direction from the client and participants when planning appropriate group processes?  Do you customize all sessions?  What seems to work well for you?  I would like to hear from you.

My training partner and I developed and deliver facilitation training based on the IAF competencies to our clients on-site and to the public. During the three day Facilitation Basics training session participants learn and practice basic tools and techniques, and the standard components of great openings and closings.  The one day Advanced Facilitation session focuses on developing a facilitation plan (planning appropriate group processes). For more information about up-coming training sessions go to www.peryamassociates.com.

posted by Susan Peryam

Having agreed-upon operating principles up front might have helped the drilling team avert this unnecessary disaster, just as they can help any kind of team make well-informed decisions quickly. For virtual teams, it’s especially important to have explicit operating principles, since there are so few opportunities for needed discussions when a momentous decision must be made with great urgency.

So what makes a good operating principle? It should be…

• Specific enough to drive behavior –i.e., it should be clear to all what decisions and actions are needed as a result
• Energizing and engaging (and often, inspiring) 
• Simple and clear – preferably one sentence or phrase
• Worded in the positive – i.e., state what your organization is about versus what it is not about 
• Written in the present tense, as though the principle is in practice today, vs. sometime in the future 
• Able to be tested and validated with real-life scenarios

Once a team has agreed on the wording of a principle, the next (and arguably harder) step is discussing the real implications. For the BP drilling team, let’s imagine a principle: “We take all measures possible to safeguard the safety of our team members and the environment we have pledged to protect.”

Do we really mean all measures, even if it means that to stop drilling will cost us millions of dollars, and hours (or days) of delays? Who’s to say what’s “possible?” What if some of us feel the operation is safe and some don’t? Who has the right to shut down the operation? What if our team members are likely to be safe, but the risk to the environment is great? Questions like this need to be answered and agreed to up front. Only then will people know what this principle really means.

posted by Nancy Settle-Murphy

Yes, indeed I do. This is an excellent practice that allows a facilitator, presenter, moderator or panel to tweak their material as they go.  I usually have a chat tool open (Skype, AIM, etc) while conducting a webinar or virtual meeting in order to talk with a co-facilitator. I find it extremely helpful if more than one of us are steering a session. We have developed some useful ground rules around this:

1. Decide on the roles each of us will play ahead of time and discuss the kind of input that will be helpful during the session (time reminder, when to slow down or speed up, interject an interesting question or comment, reminder of a question missed or a person with their hand up, and so on).
2. Send messages that are short and to the point. We don’t want to interrupt the flow of the meeting and if lots of messages come in it can actually be a distraction. Better to give feedback about the session afterwards and focus in-meeting messages on what will be most helpful in the moment.
3. Avoid having chats open with too many people. I find a co-facilitator can be extremely helpful, especially with larger groups. However, too many facilitators using SMS can be more of a distraction than a help. Those who are not actively involved may fall into the trap of having a side conversation on chat and cause the speaker/facilitator to lose their train of thought. 
4. Turn your computer volume OFF (mute) so that participants don’t hear a beep every time you receive a message. Often, I let my participants know that someone will be helping me on the call and that we may be exchanging messages in the background. This also gives me permission to talk directly to that person if need be during the call, making it perfectly natural to ask if we are running on time, if there are other points to add or how they think the conversation is going. Sometimes it is easier to talk to a person than it is to type and to keep the meeting going at the same time.

Posted by Julia Young, Facilitate.com

Design Interactive Webinars & Virtual Meetings that Keep People Engaged

Thursday, July 8th at 8:00 AM PDT (11:00 AM EDT; 4:00 PM BST) – Pre-work required; limited to 20 participants. Register now.

The one-way nature of most webinars and web conferences misses an opportunity to engage an audience and draw on the wisdom of the group. As the use of web conferencing extends to management training and leadership development, online workshops and virtual meetings, the requirements shift from pushing information out to pulling ideas and knowledge in through many-to-many collaboration and interaction. This requires a new look at the design and facilitation of virtual meetings and webinars and the technology tools used to deliver them.

In this one hour webinar – with required pre-work – we will discuss and demonstrate eight principles for designing interactive webinars and virtual meetings that prepare and engage participants. This webinar is particularly suited for facilitators and trainers who are looking to transition an existing face-to-face workshop to a virtual environment or to include some virtual elements in a blended design.

If this topic interests you, click here to download the accompanying white paper. Register now.

How to Use Breakout Groups to Add Pizazz to Your Webinars and Virtual Meetings

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT (1:00 PM EDT, 6:00 PM BST). Register now.

Can you use breakout groups to keep 15 or 1500 participants fully engaged in a virtual meeting? Absolutely!

This interactive webinar will explore the use of breakout groups as a way to keep virtual meeting or webinar participants busy and engaged. We will share meeting design ideas as well as facilitation tips and techniques for productive use of breakout groups during a real time virtual event as well as for pre-work activities. This webinar will give you a hands-on experience of breakout groups in action with a demonstration of the interaction of FacilitatePro web meeting software and the conferencing service MaestroConference. All participants will need access to a telephone (or SkypeOut) and the Internet during our session; headsets recommended. There will be a brief amount of pre-work required. Register now.

Got questions? Contact: Julia Young.

Imagine a virtual meeting with a clear concise animated presentation of 10 minutes. Not only is the message clearly articulated, it is beautifully drawn so that we are captivated as we listen. What a great way to start off a conversation and promote a conversation about rewards and incentives. Enjoy!

In last Saturday’s New York Times, an article entitled Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price paints a more startling picture. The main character is your typical 30-something small business owner, who falls asleep every night with a laptop or iPhone on his chest, and goes online as soon as he wakes up. Seems his family has noticed that he gets downright “crotchety until he gets his fix”.

The article references several studies, in particular a 2004 Stanford study, that point to the possibility that the excitement of responding to a constant wave of applications, tweets, and other bursts of information is akin to the primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation causes bursts of dopamine to the brain and can become quite addictive. People with addictions often think that they perform better under the influence, and many people think that multitasking makes them more productive, but research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress. What’s even more interesting is that scientists have demonstrated that this can have a  permanent effect, so that the brain becomes wired to multitask no matter what the situation:  “the chime of incoming e-mail can override the goal of writing a business plan or playing catch with the children”.

So what do we do? I think the answer is – we acknowledge the problem and mitigate. Multi-tasking is an essential survival skill in certain situations, and a health concern in others. Once we recognize the imbalance we can consciously build habits that bring us back to center. For example:

•  Build in moments of focused single-tasking, which could be as simple as getting up regularly to stretch, look around and observe your surroundings.
•  If you feel the urge to check your email or switch to another task, stop yourself. Breathe deeply. Re-focus yourself.  Take a few minutes to meditate.
•  Set aside blocks of time which are exclusively for one activity (could be work related, or recreational).  Practice focusing in an enjoyable way.

In the workplace,

•  Prioritize tasks and set up blocks of time to do each one, starting with the most important, interspersed with periods for checking in and catching up on all the new stuff that’s come in. Be disciplined about how long you give yourself to check email, tweets and all other information sources.
•  Design a creative thinking space for yourself, as did NASA Langley Research Center, as part of their overall Center Innovation/Creativity Initiative. This is a private work area for researchers to be away from their usual setting, a comfortable and quiet space to focus.
•  Keep meetings focused and participatory. By using the right technology tools, such as group decision support software, you can keep participants engaged and away from their emails.

Nicholas Carr wrote in response to this article “Life would be intolerable if we weren’t able to multitask. Imagine not being able to cook a meal while listening to the radio or chatting with your spouse.” I agree – the ability to multitask in appropriate contexts and in moderate amounts is a valuable skill; we just need to recognize that too much of any good thing can be bad for your health.

posted by Danuta McCall

Point taken! I wanted to find out more about Alia’s perspectives, so I suggested we book a call and maybe even write a blog together.  This post is a recap of our conversation co-written (virtually) by both of us.

In any given team, there are bound to be differences—in cultures, personalities, communication styles, work habits, expertise, seniority, and many other aspects. Rather than view differences as a challenge the team must address, think instead about how we can leverage differences, and at the same time nurture each team member to thrive in a virtual work setting.

The first and often toughest step for a virtual team, especially where members don’t interact frequently, is to understand the styles and preferences of each member. Using tools like DiSC, Social Styles and Myers Briggs can help with initial assessments.

But these assessments are simply starting points. The leader has to dig deeper to really understand what will motivate and engage each person.  Our advice: take your best guess about activities most likely to be a good fit for each person based on your interactions with them and possibly the initial assessments performed. Use your intuition and instincts. Try out different people on different tasks until you get a better sense for how best leverage the skills, styles and preferences of each team member. Consider having people share control with someone with complementary qualities and strengths, so they both can learn.

For example, I pointed out earlier that social butterflies tend to thrive in a virtual environment as their personalities drive them to create and maintain connections with members of their group.  What if one of your team members is shy and reserved? Assign her a task with someone who’s more extroverted (but not domineering!) who can serve as an informal coach or mentor. Make sure the task requires real-time conversations to work through it, for example, conducting phone interviews. Find ways to draw her  out of  her comfort zone in such a way that  she will gradually feel more confident interacting with others. We suggest that you don’t assign  shy workers to tasks that can be done independently with little need for interaction, such as research or writing. That will do nothing to help coax them out of their virtual shell.

Disciplined time management and organization skills are important in a virtual environment.  What if a team member, perhaps very communicative and creative, struggles to keep deadlines and manage  their calendar? Make sure he understands the effect this behavior has on other team members. For example, when he acknowledges that  he is behind schedule during a team call, pointedly ask others what effect this will have on their work. (E.g.: “Mary, I noted that one of your critical path items requires that David complete his assessment by Monday. How does this delay affect your ability to get your work done?”) This kind of “public” discussion will have far greater impact than continued private prodding. It shows that you’re serious about upholding important group norms about respect and communication.  

But what if team members need certain traits to get their jobs done, and those traits seem to be altogether absent? Try to meet them halfway by modeling the desired behavior. This can be tricky for a virtual leader, who is restricted to certain times, places and communication channels to get subtle messages across.

If, for example, someone needs to be a liaison between two virtual groups in her role as a technical consultant, you’ll want to model exemplary facilitation skills in your own team meetings. As the virtual leader, giving the collaborator an opportunity to identify those needed skills (as you make subtle suggestions to help the identification process) will go a long way to get her buy-in so she can own her development as a virtual collaborator. The key is shift people naturally, building on skills and strengths they have, and never pushing them too fast, or too far, outside of their comfort zone.

On the flip side, one of the most useful characteristics a virtual leader can exhibit to remain calm and nurturing when working with a diverse group, which defuses stress  and lets people feel more included and a vital part of the team. People can hear impatience, intolerance and frustration and when people sense stress, they feel stressed. Always be aware of where people are, and be adaptable and accommodating until they can get where they need to be.

The bottom line is that even though certain individuals don’t have what you may call “successful virtual collaborator qualities’ does not mean they should be excluded or denied the opportunity to collaborate in in a virtual team.  As our world dives deeper and deeper into an ocean of virtual interactions we must find more ways to find suitable roles for everyone regardless of the traits they possess.

By Nancy Settle-Murphy, Guided Insights and Alia Selim, General Physics Corp.

I began by thinking about different types of meetings and how they might impact the optimal virtual meeting space. How would the requirements or possibilities be different when the focus is communication and conversation vs. learning and development or innovation and joint problem solving vs. consensus and decision making? This lead to several ideas to mix and match according to the situation.

[*See related article “The Where Factor – New Environments for Innovative Thinking” by Laura Powell at http://www.facilitate.com/support/facilitator-toolkit]

• Start with your own virtual meeting space. Look at your immediate surroundings – your desk, your office, the floor, the walls, the view, and your neighbors. Consider your mood in these surroundings – whether you feel organized or muddled, forward thinking or backward looking, stuck in the past or ready for something new, efficient or unproductive… Think about how you can accentuate the positives and remove the negatives.
• Ask participants to think about their own environment – Where do they feel most comfortable, attentive, alert (or distracted, uncomfortable, bored)? Ask them to select and schedule a place to attend the virtual meeting that will allow them to be focused and engaged.
• Start a virtual meeting at 15 minutes past the hour to allow people to finish up their last activity and provide a few minutes of quiet time before your meeting begins. This can help create the mental space for an effective virtual meeting.
• Provide an environment conducive to active or attentive listening when communication is the main purpose of a meeting. I often find that if I turn my chair away from my computer screen or go sit in a comfortable arm chair with a cup of tea, I am much more ready to listen. If we close our eyes and listen to what is being said we often hear a whole lot more.
• Pay attention to the audio quality of a virtual meeting so that participants and presenters can clearly hear and be heard. Sometimes the visual component of virtual meeting technology is emphasized while the audio component is neglected. Ensure that the audio technology can easily cope with the number of connections, turn off Blackberries and phones that cause distortion and suggest each person has a good quality headset.
• Provide access to meeting and learning materials ahead of time and encourage participants to print a copy of presentation slides or interactive workbook. I recently coached a facilitator who was running her first virtual workshop and expecting over 150 participants. She created a colorful workbook to accompany her session to encourage participants to take notes, write down their ideas, answer questions for themselves and fully engage with the materials during the session as well as afterwards. 
• Look for ways to interact with the local work environment. Many training sessions will be work related so we can take advantage of this. What if a participant was walking about the office or was out on the shop floor – either during the virtual meeting or half an hour before? What if the first part of the virtual meeting got people to stand up and look at their surroundings and make an assessment their work environment or look for clues that connected to the learning principles or subject matter at hand?
• When the focus is innovation and idea generation we need a meeting space that can help us look at a situation from a new angle. Ask participants to bring with them half a dozen objects, encouraging them to collect them from different parts of their lives – home, family life, outdoors, sports and hobbies, other associations, friends – not just off their desk. You don’t necessarily need to say how these objects are to be used. Magazines with photos, articles and advertisements might also provide objects to stimulate new ideas when combined with a creative thinking exercise. One colleague sent out a box of customized cards that they use during their face-to-face workshops so that participants would have the same props and prompts for generating ideas in the virtual environment.
• Arrange for participants to join in from a place other than their office or normal work environment. Virtual meetings offer the possibility that people can participate from pretty much anywhere – the park, the beach, a hotel lobby, the top of a sky scraper, at the museum or aquarium. Encouraging people to place themselves outside the usual “box” of their office.
•  When the focus is collaboration and joint problem solving the concept of bouncing ideas off of each other is extremely valuable. So we might consider how to provide visual representations of our group – as a whole or in teams. One way I do this is by collecting photos through online introductions ahead of time and turning this into a pictorial meeting place – sometimes with the group of us sitting round a table, other times organized into teams or sitting classroom style in rows. This then becomes a handout at the beginning of the session and a useful prop to facilitate team work, cross-talk, round robins and other formats to engage everyone in conversation.
• Online visual aids such as whiteboards, shared electronic flip charts or a presentation screen are obviously useful visual aids that keep everyone on the same page. Local, low tech props such as a flip chart or pad with colored pens and pencils where everyone is encouraged to make their own notes and draw a diagram of a problem can help people conceptualize an issue and benefit from different takes on a problem and possible solutions. Sometimes being on a different page may help people express themselves more fully and creatively capture what they are hearing from others.
• Our physical surroundings substantially change our ability to focus – on the topic at hand and on what others are saying. Ask participants to remove clutter and distractions on their desk and their desktop. Close the office door. Shut down computer applications. Moving to another meeting space such as a conference room might distance participants from distractions and interruptions.
• Consider standing meetings. Sitting at a desk readily leads to distraction. Encourage participants to stand up and walk about wearing their headset and carrying a portable phone. Physical movement – whether walking up and down the stair case or stretching in place, pumps the blood and activates the mind. As a facilitator I also like to find ways to stand up during a virtual meeting. I find that this focuses my mind and has me think more about the people on the call and the subject we are discussing rather than the words on a screen in front of me. (Get a new iPad and take the screen with you!)

The bottom line for us as facilitators is to pay attention to the physical environment of our virtual meeting participants. We can’t completely control it but we can get creative and instructive in how we encourage people to be aware of their surroundings, make space for attentive listening and provide tools and props to support their engaged participation. I am interested to hear what other ways you have used to manage the virtual meeting space.
Posted by Julia Young, Facilitate.com

Posted by Julia Young, Facilitate.com