Transcript Group Facilitation Essentials

Introduction to
Group Facilitation
Learning Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Discuss the foundations for facilitators
Understand the facilitator role
Understand the difference between
content & process
Plan and focus meeting objectives and
lead participative, effectively managed
meetings
Understand the stages of group
development
Apply some of our learning with your
own examples
Presented by:
L. Melanie Chase, M.P.A.
CDPHE/Office of Local Liaison
1
Foundations for
Facilitators
Communication
Skills
Change
Management
Focus on SelfAwareness and
Development
Performance/
Quality
Improvement
Principles
Group
Development
Knowledge
Coaching
Skills
Facilitator
Meeting
Management
Principles
Content and
Process
Understanding
Role Clarity:
Facilitator &
Leader
2
Focus of This Session
Communication
Skills
Change
Management
Focus on SelfAwareness and
Development
Performance/
Quality
Improvement
Principles
Group
Development
Knowledge
4
Coaching
Skills
Content and
Process
Understanding
Facilitator
Meeting
Management
Principles
3
Role Clarity:
Facilitator &
Leader
2
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3
Role Clarity:
Facilitator & Leader
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The facilitator role is to focus on:
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group process, not task or content; balance between
two ideal
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staying neutral and problem-solving without
exercising decision-making authority

removing internal or external obstacles so that the
group can function efficiently—suggesting structure
and method for focusing group energy
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using group decision making to gain full commitment
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helping the group to establish procedures for handling
quick decisions
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encouraging full participation and a climate of risktaking and creative problem solving

creating the structure that increases the likelihood
objectives will be accomplished and that people
participate
The work or job of facilitator is essentially to:

Get all group members to use the same approach,
at the same time, on the same issue, and to keep
them there until the group has accomplished what it
set out to do, or until the group wants to change
direction.
The art of the facilitator is to:
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Flow with the group, serve the group, surface their
best to help them realize their mission and goals.
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Be focused, patient, supportive, yet not attached to
outcome—let the group decide the outcomes it
desires.

Know which technique or tool will meet the group to
support the task.
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Content and Process
Understanding
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What the facilitator does to manage
group process:
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Guides the group to help it get its work done
Somewhat of a traffic cop to provide rules and norms for the
group and monitor the group’s compliance (keep the meeting
in functioning order)
Builds consensus
Coaches others’ decisions
Empowers others
Teaches/trains others
Listens to others
Asks questions
Uses different facilitation tools
Focuses the group on the objectives or content

Process: how the group relates, solves problems,
handles conflict, makes decisions, participates.

Task or content: what the group is discussing,
working on, doing.
Examples:
Process:
Content:
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Content and Process
Understanding
For the examples below, check whether it is a
CONTENT or a PROCESS.
1.
Brainstorming done during a
problem-solving session
2.
Small group discussion
3.
Use of a flip chart
4.
Discussing the learning from
an example
5.
Information on a new
regulation
6.
Status report on a new
implementation
7.
Statement of the problem to
be solved with specific criteria
CONTENT
PROCESS
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Meeting Management
Principles
Skills the facilitator needs for effective
meeting management:
1. Designing, planning and focusing meetings
2. Encouraging participation
3. Recording people’s ideas
4. Managing the group process
5. Organizing, connecting and summarizing
data
6. Bringing a group to consensus and closure
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Meeting Management
Principles
Essential Tools for Designing, Planning and
Focusing Meetings:
1. Agendas: provide a concrete guide for the
meeting, a means to manage group
dynamics and keep the focus. Elements to
include depending upon the group’s needs:
- Agenda item
- Objective for each agenda item
- Expected outcome for each agenda item
- Time allotted
2. Ground Rules: establish group agreements
that the facilitator and group members can
use as basis for working together and for
evaluating group functioning during and/or
after the meeting
3. Parking Lot: provides a placeholder for
issues that surface in discussions that are
slightly off task/topic to be addressed later
4. Action Items/Next Steps: serves as a
summary sheet for the meeting
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Meeting Management
Principles
Skills the facilitator needs for effective
meeting management:
1. Designing, planning and focusing meetings
• Set a clear agenda
• Clarify objectives and time allotted
• Plan the meeting flow
• Clarify expectations and outcomes
• Include specific outcome from each
agenda item if the group is not very
manageable
• Work in small groups to increase public
accountabilities
2. Encouraging participation
• Ask open ended questions
• Phrase requests to encourage a
response
• Ask for specifics or clarification
• Be nonjudgmental and respectful
• Avoid interjecting own ideas while
facilitating
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Meeting Management
Principles
Skills the facilitator needs for effective
meeting management (cont.):
3.
Recording people’s ideas
– Use visual aids
4.
Managing the group process
- Set structure
- Summarize and bridge
- Mirror back to the group
- Get the group unstuck
5.
Organizing, connecting and
summarizing
6.
Bringing a group to consensus &
closure
– Ask specific open ended
questions
– Recap agreements, next
steps
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Meeting Management
Principles
Encouraging participation
Techniques include:
A.
Open-ended questions
B.
Encouraging a response
C.
Acknowledging and praising
D.
Asking for specifics
E.
Redirecting questions/comments
F.
Directing to nonverbal people
G.
Encouraging different points of
view
H.
Paraphrasing
I.
Avoid stating own opinion (group
may tend to agree with it and not
own the decision)
J.
Refer to what others have said
K.
Addressing dominant people
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Meeting Management
Principles
Encouraging participation
For the descriptions below, match to the
technique from the previous page.
1. Ask ______________________.
“What is your reaction to X? What alternatives do we
have? Why do you think this is occurring?”
2. Phrase requests to ___________________________.
“Describe the process you used. Can you explain the
difference between X and Y?”
3. _________________ and _______________
contributions by participants.
“Thanks. Good idea. That’s interesting.”
4. Ask _________________________.
“Could you give us an example?” Could you take that
idea a bit further?”
5. _________________________ to other members of
the group.
“What do the rest of you think about that?” “Let’s
discuss that as a whole group.”
6. Encourage _____________________.
“Bill, do you have any reaction to what John just said?”
“Maria, we haven’t heard from you yet.”
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Meeting Management
Principles
Encouraging participation
For the descriptions below, match to the
technique from the previous page.
7. Ask for and encourage
____________________________________________.
“Is there something we haven’t thought of?” Can
anyone think of a way this wouldn’t work?”
8. ________________ for clarify and participation.
“Carla, if I understand you correctly, you’re saying…”
“Did you mean?”
9. Avoid ________________________ while facilitating
(or at least reserve it until you get enough participation)
Be silent.
10. ______________ to contributions others have
made.
“That sounds like what John said earlier.” “You’ll
remember Susan said.”
11. _________________________.
“Bill, you bring up some good points.” “Let’s hear from
some of the others.”
“We’re not going to solve this all today, Bill.” “Let’s
focus on step 1.” “What are some other thoughts about
___________?”
“Bill, please, if we were just going to meet to discuss
this with you, we would not have invited all these
people together today (more of a last resort), don’t you
agree?”
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Stages of Group/Team
Development
Bruce Tuckman (1965) developed a 4-stage
model of group development. He labelled the
stages:
1. Forming: The group comes together and gets
to initially know one other and form as a group.
2. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and
challenging, testing and refining of group
processes
3. Norming: Eventually agreement is reached on
how the group operates (norming)
4. Performing: The group practices its craft and
becomes effective in meeting its objectives
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Stages of Group/Team
Development: Group Focus
1. Forming: The group comes together and gets
to initially know one other and form as a group.
Group Focus:
Follow directions, assess the situation
2. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and
challenging and refining of group processes
Group Focus:
React, request feedback, test out dialogue, relationships,
boundaries
3. Norming: Eventually agreement is reached on
how the group operates (norming)
Group Focus:
Participate when requested in planning, directing, controlling,
critical thinking; engagement with others
4. Performing: The group practices its craft and
becomes effective in meeting its objectives
Group Focus:
Take responsibility for establishing planning, direction and
control
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Stages of Group/Team
Development: Facilitator Focus
1. Forming: The group comes together and gets to
initially know one other and form as a group.
Facilitator Focus:
Leadership, structure, procedures; build consensus around goals
PURPOSE & GOALS
2. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and
challenging and refining of group processes
Facilitator Focus:
Manage conflict, affirm leadership, authority, ground rules,
agreements; clarify roles/responsibilities, establish decision making,
conflict resolution processes, etc.
ACCOUNTABILITIES, ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES,
PRACTICES/PROCESSES
3. Norming: Eventually agreement is reached on how
the group operates (norming)
Facilitator Focus:
Giving and receiving feedback, establishing productivity and selfregulation for the group
REINFORCING LEARNING, REFLECTION, SHARING,
EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS, CELEBRATION OF
ACCOMPLISHMENTS/MEANINGFUL RITUAL
4. Performing: The group practices its craft and
becomes effective in meeting its objectives
Facilitator Focus:
Releasing self-managing and facilitating responsibility to the group
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Additional Information
Follows
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What to Look for in
Effective Groups
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All members participate but in different and
complementary ways.
Members do not ignore seriously intended
contributions.
Members check to make sure they know
what a speaker means before they agree or
disagree with a contribution.
Each member speaks only for her/himself
and lets others speak for themselves.
The group senses any difficulty in getting
work done and tries to figure out why.
The group accepts responsibility for what it
does.
The group brings conflict into the open and
deals with it.
The group holds its own by working together
to honor its agreements and practices.
Adapted from the Heartland Center publication “Building Local Leadership”
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Tips to Jump Start Group
Effectiveness
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Plans (Accountabilities):
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Purpose (Goals):
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Document plans, deliverables, update and keep them
accessible
Keep the focus with follow-up, coaching, direction and
acknowledgement
Document and adopt charter, governing documents,
mission, vision statements
Clarify roles, responsibilities
Discuss individual hopes for contributions
Establish collective measures of success
Process (Practices):
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Outline key group processes:
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Decision-making
Meeting management/agenda setting
Conflict resolution practices
Learning, reflection, sharing
Evaluation of effectiveness
Celebration of accomplishments/meaningful ritual
Other processes to achieve purpose and plans, as
appropriate
Principles (Relationships):
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Discuss values and embed them as guiding principles
for working relationships, i.e. teamwork, shared
leadership, active listening, mutual respect for ideas,
nothing is personal
Establish written ground rules/meeting principles
For more information on facilitation: see the International
Association of Facilitators at www.iaf-world.org.
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Stages of Facilitation
Being outside the task or content is ideal for a facilitator. This is
simply because it is difficult to separate your own fabulous thinking
from the objectivity required to facilitate a group. When asked to
facilitate and yet still participate, it makes it difficult to focus the
group and share your own ideas. For example, how do you contribute
your own ideas, then maintain objectivity to make sure they are
absolutely on focus? It may be easier to see someone else’s ideas as
less on focus than your own. Therein lies the challenge, and
potentially, the disservice to the group.
When serving as facilitator, keep in mind the various stages:
1. Contracting/start-up: assessing meeting needs/objectives,
managing expectations
2. Planning and design: managing structure for the meeting
3. Delivery: using tools and guiding the process
4. Closure and evaluation: focusing on results, summarizing and
evaluating meeting/group effectiveness
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Essential Tools
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Facilitator Tools
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Normative Brainstorming:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Clarify the question or topic to be brainstormed
3.
Set a time limit
4.
Individually write down ideas
5.
In group, share ideas
Use: Good all-purpose technique for generating options or alternatives.
Response Rounds:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Give the group members a task / question to work on individually
3.
Ask members to respond one at a time
4.
Record responses
5.
Repeat until all responses are exhausted
6.
Summarize each round of responses, as appropriate
Use: Good to use if you anticipate a moderately high level of conflict will
exist when the group discusses a particular topic. Also, good when
the majority of group members share the same general opinion, or
when quieter members are being pushed out of the discussion.
Buzz Groups:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Divide into subgroups of 2 – 5 people
3.
Provide a clear question or task and set a time limit
4.
Ask subgroup to self-assign a spokesperson and recorder
5.
Each subgroup reports out to the whole group
6.
Post subgroup’s work or record when whole group reconvenes
7.
Optional: whole group can analyze trends, pick out commonalities,
pick out uncommon items, circle favorite one, two, etc.
Use: Useful in situations that would benefit from small group discussion
and creative energy. Good way to keep a group stimulated because
you get to talk more in subgroups.
Silent Reflection:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
In silence, ask members to think about their response to a stated
question or suggestion for two minutes
3.
Have members write down responses without discussion
4.
Ask for comments one at a time at random, or a round of responses
from the circle, etc.
Use: This allows for reflective thinkers to be put on equal basis with the
extroverted thinkers and allows for some peaceful silence to follow
what might have been a chaotic moment in the group.
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Essential Tools
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Facilitator Tools (cont.)
 Force Field Analysis:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Explain goal or problem statement
3.
Groups members list factors or forces that help or hinder stated goal
Use: Useful when group has a need to prioritize where they will put their
energies.
 Prioritizing:
Prioritizing a List:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Define criteria:
Need
Enthusiasm
Ease (opportunity for success)
Visibility
3.
Align each item on the list with criteria
4.
Option that meets the most criteria is first priority, etc.
Success Matrix:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Define criteria
3.
Align each option with criteria
4.
Option that meets the most criteria is first priority
Use: Good for weighing several alternative options. The option that meets
the most criteria should be the first to try.
 Problem Solving:
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Collect/share relevant information
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Identify and test assumptions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Identify significant opportunities (symptoms)
Define the problem
Identify root causes
Establish criteria for evaluating solutions
Generate solutions
Evaluate solutions
Select best solution
Pilot best solution
Monitor, evaluate pilot
Revise solution (if needed) and implement.
SEVERAL OTHER IN-DEPTH PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESSES DESCRIBED IN:
The Memory Jogger, published by Goal/QPC, Salem, NH.
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Essential Tools
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Facilitator Tools (cont.)
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Decision Making:
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Autocratic: one person decides
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Fastest
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Good in crisis
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Less likely to be wisest decision
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Les likely to be accepted unless survival is at stake
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Consultative: autocratic with advice from others
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Minority: expert, or those with vested interest
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Better decision
Based on common principles and values
All opinions aired
Promotes synthesis of ideas
Elicits more commitment
Takes more time
Requires mature members
Progress can be blocked by one person
Best in small groups…difficult in large groups
Can end up operating on lowest common denominator
Unanimity: everyone totally agrees
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Can be used with any size group
Most people know this process
Win/lose mentality
Lack of commitment by losers
Issues become personalized
Consensus: a formal process that develops a decision that is best for
the group and organization
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Decision by “experts”
Faster than whole group
All points of view not necessarily heard
Not necessarily representative
Majority: voting
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Fast
More ideas and information
Takes more time
Less chance of acceptance and commitment by others
Most comfortable
Almost impossible to achieve with more than two people
Action Planning:
1.
Explain purpose and process
2.
Group participants by interest or by items needing to be completed.
Have each person/group identify:
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What needs to be done
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Who needs to do it
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When it needs to be done
3.
Document the what, who and when
4.
Have each person/group present their plan and integrate feedback
SOURCE: Equinox Consullting.
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Essential Intervention
Skills
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Facilitator Interventions:
Six broad types:
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Task: includes any question, observation or suggestion directed
toward a subject under discussion.
 “Does that suggestion relate to our focus during this time
of clarifying direction? Should we put that on the parking
lot for later?”
Process: includes any suggested method or approach directed
toward how a group is to achieve a task(s).
 “Let’s brainstorm a list, then evaluate collectively based on
the selection criteria. “
Within the person: includes any comments or questions
directed to one person.
 “Sally, you seem really elated whenever the group moves
back to task.”
Between the people: includes any comments or questions
directed to one person about another person or group member.
 “Carla and Bill, I suspect your disagreement over this issue
has some history to it, and the rest of us are not privy to
it.”
Group: includes comments or suggestions directed to the group
as a whole.
 “The level of energy in the group today is strikingly low.”
Use of Self: expressing own feelings or views as observations
to the group as trial balloons as long as they are not punishing
or blaming.
 “I am feeling as though I’m dragging here, is it only me?”
Adapted from:
Reddy, W. B. Intervention Skills (1994)
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Essentials Group DecisionMaking Methods
Group Decision-Making Methods:
 Autocratic: one person
decides
 Consultative: autocratic with
advice from others
 Minority: expert, or those
with vested interest
 Majority: voting
 Consensus: a formal process
that develops a decision that
is best for the group or
organization
 Unanimity: everyone totally
agrees
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Other Resources
Websites:
American Society for Quality www.asq.org/teamwork/
Institute of Cultural Affairs www.ica-international.org
and www.ica-usa.org
International Association of Facilitators www.iafworld.org
Resources for Facilitators: (A complete online library for
nonprofits and for profits)
http://www.managementhelp.org/grp_skll/resource.htm#anchor125
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Books:
Bacon, T. R. (1996). High Impact Facilitation.
Linkemer, B. (1987). How To Run A Meeting. New York:
AMACOM
Reddy, W. B. (1994) Intervention Skills: Process
Consultation for Small Groups and Teams. San Diego:
Pfeiffer & Company.
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