Facilitating Meetings

 

 

 

 

 

In today’s highly matrixed and networked organizations, the common work unit is the team. Teams are helping business gain huge benefits in faster development, higher quality, creative innovation, reduced product cost, increased customer satisfaction, increased employee commitment, and overall improved communication and collaboration.  At the same time the costs of poorly managed team meetings and work sessions can erase these gains, and can increase frustration and alienation.  Expert facilitation makes all the difference. 

 

 

Benefits to Your Organization

 

These workshops are designed to develop a cadre of expert facilitators who can help the company capture the following benefits:

 

Ø     more accomplished in less meeting time, resulting in a significant savings in work hours

 

Ø     projects brought to successful conclusion with more economical use of resources

 

Ø     faster decision making as a result of clearly defined scope, roles, responsibilities

 

Ø     creative solutions to problems as a result of optimization of team members' expertise

 

Ø     greater satisfaction and commitment of group participants as a result of real engagement and inclusion

 

Ø     (as a side benefit) enhanced leadership skills on the part of the facilitators as a result of their varied experiences in facilitating teams

 

 

The AlexanderHancock Facilitator Model Origin

AlexanderHancock’s approach to facilitation is based on solid theory in group dynamics, interpersonal communication, negotiation, and conflict management.  These well-researched theories and applications have been studied by us in graduate courses, workshops and seminars, current readings, and in over twenty-five years of practical experience in facilitating hundreds of groups and in training thousands of facilitators.  Naming all the influences on our approach would be nearly impossible, but the following researchers/practitioners are very important:

Elton Mayo, Eric Trist, Fred Emery, Solomon Asch

Gordon Allport, Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lippitt, Irving Janis,

David Bohm, Marvin Weisbord, Roger Schwartz

AHA partners, Emmie Alexander and Jerry Hancock, are certified Future Search Conference facilitators, having been trained by originators Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff.  (The Future Search Conference is a large group planning session designed to achieve consensus on an issue of common concern in a short period of time.)  Emmie also attended The Harvard Program on Negotiation held at the Harvard Law School .  Both partners and all our facilitators have attended numerous other workshops to enhance skills in group dynamics, facilitation, interpersonal communication, negotiation, and conflict management. 

Description

The AlexanderHancock Expert Facilitator model includes the following elements:

1.      The Facilitation Agreement

Crafting a working agreement or contract between facilitator and the group or team is a critical first step that often predicts the success or failure of the group’s task.  The product of this phase is a written working agreement.

Ÿ         The Invitation: 

The facilitator receives a request for help, or identifies an opportunity to be helpful and makes an offer. 

Ÿ         The Negotiation:

This critical conversation between the facilitator and the group/team leader or sponsor ensures clarity about the group’s goal/deliverables and constraints, and allows facilitator and team leader to clarify roles and responsibilities, to state their expectations of each other, and to agree on appropriate group processes for achieving the goal.  One of the most important items for agreement is the responsibility for a well-constructed agenda.  The product of this phase is a written working agreement.

2.      Building the Framework

The framework essential for groups to work productively and creatively is crafted both before the group meets and at the beginning of their first meeting.  This step is essential whether this is a single-event meeting, or the chartering of a long term project team.

Ÿ         Team/Group Discipline:

The Expert Facilitator guides the group in setting its own Rules of Engagement by which members will govern themselves.  Rules can cover such elements as attendance, interruptions (beepers and cell phones), how they talk and listen, how they handle disagreements, how they handle confidentiality, how they handle assignments, and most especially what they will do when someone violates one of the rules.

Ÿ         Team/Group Roles:

The facilitator explains his/her role, the team leader role, and their mutual expectations of each other and of team members.  A team Recorder and Timekeeper are also designated and their roles clarified.  These two roles can be rotated if desired.

Ÿ         Team Charter:

If the assignment is to facilitate an ad hoc team that will be meeting continuously to accomplish a specific task, the facilitator guides them in developing a clear, specific charter of their purpose, expected deliverables, accountability, and timetable.

Ÿ         Meeting Agendas:

The meeting agenda becomes the roadmap for accomplishing the group’s task.  It is derived from a work breakdown based on the group’s goal (or team charter).  Items on the agenda are outcome-oriented rather than topics, and indicate who is accountable.  Meeting start and stop times, and time allocated for each item, are included.

3.      Managing Group Dynamics

The interfaces in a human system are often the most difficult aspects of facilitating groups or teams.  As meetings progress, the Expert Facilitator is responsible for integrating human and technical elements, and for ensuring a constructive and supportive climate for high performance teamwork.

Ÿ         Team Development:

The facilitator enables teams to become more self-managing and more productive as they move through the stages of Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.

Ÿ         Group Participation

The facilitator ensures full participation, while accommodating differences in extraversion and introversion; ensures that no one dominates, and that members listen to and engage with each other in doing their work.

Ÿ         Dialogue and Debate; Inquiry and Advocacy

The facilitator helps the group understand the importance of dialogue and inquiry in the early exploratory stages of its work (seeking to understand each other’s point of view); when and how to use debate and advocacy in the decision phase of their work; and how to deal with the inevitable conflict that occurs between the two in the Groan Zone.

Ÿ         Creative Conflict

The facilitator helps the group identify both constructive and disruptive group behavior, and encourages the group to use the Rules of Engagement as a tool for getting behavior back on track.

4.      The Group’s Work Processes

This part of the model addresses the structured processes by which the group does the work of planning, problem-solving, and decision making.  A key part of the Expert Facilitator’s role is selecting and using effective processes and tools to enable the group to work productively and creatively.  Using appropriate processes keeps the group moving forward toward its goal.

Ÿ         Planning processes

The facilitator uses tools such as environmental scans, future scenarios, or Delphi technique to help groups define the future they want to create, and develop strategies to accomplish this task.  The facilitator helps the group deal with the special problems that arise during planning processes.

Ÿ         Problem-solving processes

The facilitator guides the group through a structured problem-solving process, and uses data analysis tools such as histograms, scattergrams, process flow diagrams, fishbone (cause and effect) diagrams, tree diagrams, pareto charts, etc to determine causes and develop solutions.  The facilitator helps the group surface and challenge assumptions that are preventing them from seeing creative solutions.  Creative brainstorming techniques help the group develop breakthrough solutions.

Ÿ         Decision-making processes

The facilitator uses decision making tools such as cost-benefit analysis, weighted criterion rating, paired choice matrix, strategic choice grids, or risk/threat analysis to help the group make well-thought out decisions.

5.      Group Accountability

One of the main reasons why group work falls short of the desired goal is the failure to ensure accountability, follow up and follow through.  The Expert Facilitator pushes the group to be accountable to their mission and charter.

Ÿ         Facilitating Individual Accountability

The Expert Facilitator uses appropriate questions to ensure that individual task assignments have clear accountability and timetables.  The Recorder documents these agreements which are used as the basis of managing the group’s work.

Ÿ         Follow Up and Follow Through

The facilitator in partnership with the team leader ensures that regular reporting on status of tasks is a key part of each meeting, that key milestones are met, and that appropriate documentation is kept.  The group also creates and manages a plan for communicating with key stakeholders all during the work life of the team.

Expert Facilitator Workshop Learning Outcomes

In this workshop you will

Ø     Understand the facilitator’s role and responsibilities, and negotiate mutual expectations with the team’s leader

Ø     Enable teams to effectively plan and organize their meetings to ensure productive use of time

Ø     Ensure that team meetings accomplish specific objectives: decisions are made, responsibilities are assigned, roles are clarified, and issues brought to closure in meetings

Ø     Structure and manage processes by which teams will contract with each other and with outside parties for successful collaboration, creatively brainstorm options, analyze and solve problems, and make consensus decisions

Ø     Enable teams to use conflict constructively by coaching team members on constructive behaviors and discouraging destructive behaviors

Ø     Be able to keep groups on track and on focus when they begin to tire

Ø     Add value to the work of teams and work groups by working with them as a business partner

Typical Expert Facilitator Workshop Agenda

Note: All our workshops are customized to fit our clients’ particular needs. The following will give you an idea of a possible agenda.

Day 1

Ÿ         Scene setting

Ÿ         The need for expert facilitation at your company

Ÿ         Introduction to the Expert Facilitator model, assumptions, and guiding principles

Ÿ         Roles and responsibilities

Ÿ         Negotiating partnership

Ÿ         Videotaped skill practice #1

Ÿ         Team discipline and framework

Ÿ         Team development and the facilitator’s role

Ÿ         End of day check in and feedback

Day 2

Ÿ         Resetting

Ÿ         Facilitating group participation

Ÿ         Group dynamics and behavior

Ÿ         Conflict in groups

Ÿ         Videotaped skill practice #2

Ÿ         Group productivity

Ÿ         Structuring the group’s work

Ÿ         End of day check in and feedback

Day 3

Ÿ         Resetting

Ÿ         Facilitating group planning processes

Ÿ         Facilitating group problem-solving processes

Ÿ         Facilitating group decision making

Ÿ         Helping groups reach consensus

Ÿ         Videotaped skill practice #3

Ÿ         Helping groups choose accountability

Ÿ         End of workshop wrap up and feedback

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