Did you know that many judge your effectiveness and leadership skills by how well you run your meetings? The key to a successful group session is having an effective facilitator who can organize the meeting, control it and skillfully guide the team towards achieving their goal for the session.
You may think ‘We already know how to facilitate group sessions’ but you will be surprised at the statistics and costs of how many meetings we all attend yet how little of them are actually effective in terms of reaching their goal!
This seminar is a 1 hour version of my 2 day course on facilitation that covers at a high level what is taught in the class.
Want this seminar presented at YOUR organization? just email Sally@AgileTransformation.com
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Effectively Facilitating Group Collaboration
1. The Art of Becoming an
Effective Facilitator
Presenter: Sally Elatta
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2. About the Speaker
• Sally Elatta
• Founder of AgileTransformation.com
• Enterprise Process Improvement Coach, Architect, Trainer
• Coached over 18 teams on adopting more Agile methods.
• Taught over 600+ students
• Certified ScrumMaster, Scrum Practitioner, IBM, Sun, and
Microsoft Certifications.
• Sally@AgileTransformation.com
• 402 212-3211
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
3. Session Agenda
The Current Reality and Statistics of
Meetings
Top Meeting Dysfunctions
Top 10 Must-Have for Effective Meetings
The Role of a Facilitator
Listening and Questioning Techniques
Information Gathering Techniques
Closing 3
Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
4. The Grim Statistics
• Approximately 17 million meetings occur in the
U.S. each and every day.
• A PM could easily spend 4-5 hours per day in
meetings. That‟s 100 hrs/month!
• A study has shown that 25 - 50% of the meeting
time is unproductive and discusses irrelevant
issues or doesn‟t achieve a concrete outcome.
• 63% of the time meetings have no clear agenda
or purpose. So what does all this mean???
LARGE WASTE of TIME = LARGE WASTE of $$$
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
5. Workshop – Collaboration
Challenges
“Not another meeting! Meetings
are a waste of time!” Have you
heard this before? What are the
top challenges with meetings?
Brainstorming Workshop
You have 4 minutes
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
6. Common Meeting Dysfunctions
No clear purpose or agenda. No agreement on a
Multi-headed Groups. The common goal for the
tendency to go in different meeting.
directions simultaneously. Personal agendas.
Not separating the “What” Attacking other‟s opinions.
from the “How”
No roles defined.
The Dominator who speaks
the loudest! No one “controlling” the
Participants not speaking up meeting process.
or providing input Power abuse.
Late or missing attendees. Not tracking decisions or
action items.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
7. There is a Solution!
Collaborative meetings are one of the most
complex activities you “do”. The success or
failure of the collaboration effort has a significant
impact on you and the group.
To solve “Collaboration Challenges”, we need to
address and improve the knowledge and
skills of the facilitator.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
8. 5 Skills to Improve On
1. Knowledge of the roles
2. Effective meeting preparation and design
3. Listening, observation and questioning
4. The ability to manage dysfunctional
behavior
5. Information gathering techniques
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
9. Roles for Effective Sessions
To truly achieve effective group
collaboration, each meeting must have the
following roles identified:
– The Sponsor
– The Facilitator
– The Participant
– The Recorder
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
10. The Top 10 Steps for
Effective Meetings - Handout
As a Group, Let’s Review the
Handout Titled
“The Top 10 Steps for
Effective Meetings”
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
12. Who is the Facilitator?
The facilitator is the meeting orchestrator. They
control the “Process” of the meeting not the
“Content”.
The facilitator is a servant leader of the group,
neutral and non-evaluating.
Responsible for making sure the participants are
using the most effective methods for
accomplishing their task in the shortest time.
Responsible for helping the group reach its goals.
Skilled at effective meeting preparation, facilitation
and closure.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
13. What Does a Facilitator Do?
Communicates meeting purpose, agenda and roles.
Uses visual tools such as Agenda, Ground Rules, Action
Items, Group Decisions as the Group Memory.
Designs the meeting using a variety of possible techniques to
help the group achieve their goal and builds consensus
around the meeting purpose.
Helps keep the group on track until they accomplish what
they set out to do or change direction.
Provides a „Safe Environment‟ for collaboration. Makes sure
all participants have an opportunity to speak and they are
protected from personal attacks.
Controls meeting dysfunctions such as domination, side
conversations, off topic items, personal agendas … etc
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
14. The Diamond of Decision Making
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
15. Listening and Questioning
• Facilitating open discussion meetings can
be very challenging and requires a
facilitator who can use effective Listening,
Observation and Questioning Skills.
• We call it “Process Listening” as appose
to “Content Listening”.
• Example Listening & Questioning
techniques in the next 2 slides.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
16. Promoting Full Participation
• Techniques for promoting full
participation by all attendees:
– Encouraging
– Uncomfortable Silence
– Round Robin
– Direct Questioning
• Use direct eye contact and physical
proximity to engage and encourage
participation.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
17. Promoting Mutual Understanding
• Techniques for bringing about mutual
understanding:
– Paraphrasing
– Drawing People Out
– Linking
– Tracking
• Also look for body language to gauge if
your audience understand what was just
said.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
18. Dysfunctional Behavior
• Examples of dysfunctional behavior:
– A Dominator
– The Rambler
– Power Abuse by Manager
– Side Conversations
– Naysayer
– Anger/Extreme Emotions
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
19. Managing Dysfunctional
Behavior
Never use anger to confront the person exhibiting
dysfunctional behavior.
Never use embarrassment to resolve the
dysfunction.
Always strive to bring the person back into the
meeting.
Stay mindful of your own dysfunctions. Know what
brings out your bad behavior and control it.
Stay neutral, professional and composed.
Example techniques coming up next.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
20. Managing the Dominator
This is the well-acknowledged expert or the self-
appointed expert in the room. S/He controls any
discussion or decision being made.
Your Options:
– Add or point to an existing ground rule that covers the
“Full Participation” and ask the team to follow it.
– Don‟t give them eye contact, use body language to shift
the focus away from him/her.
– Say “Ok, that is a valid point John, I’d like to hear from
everyone else now ..”
– During a break, thank them for contributing great ideas
and ask for their help engaging others and getting their
input.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
21. Managing the Naysayer
Of course, we have to have one of them in each
meeting contributing: “this will never work!”, “We‟ve
already tried this, it failed ..” “ We will never get
approval to do that”
Your Options:
– “That’s a valid concern John, do you have any positive
ideas of how to make this work?”
– “You might be right John, team, what positive and
creative suggestions do you have for making this
work? ”
– “Great list of concerns, now let’s discuss feasible
solutions”
– Establish and point to “the art of the possible” as a
ground rule.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
22. Managing Side Conversations
This is a dysfunction that attacks almost every
group session.
Two people engaged in a side conversation may
indicate:
– They have lost interest in the meeting
– They forgot that their participation is needed
– They have an interesting thought they want to share
related to the topic being discussed.
Side conversations can jeopardize your group‟s
confidence in you as an effective facilitator.
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
23. Managing Side Conversations ..
Your Options:
– Make sure you have a ground rule stating “One
conversation at a time”. Gently point to the
ground rule and say “Folks, one conversation at a
time please”
– 2nd time: Make direct eye contact with them,
gently smile and repeat the ground rule.
– Stand near them and whisper the ground rule.
– If it is reoccurring, ask them if their conversation
is important enough for others to perhaps join
them?
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
24. Information Gathering
Techniques
• All meetings do not have to be Open Discussion
format!
• There are very creative
and powerful methods
for gathering and
processing information
from groups.
• “*Thinklet” cards are easy to
follow cards that provide you
step by step instructions for how to implement these
activities.
• * Introduced by Dr. Robert Briggs and Gert-Jan DE Vreede
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
26. ThinkLets for Generate
The core of what you do during
“Generate” is brainstorm and list ideas.
Here are some activities/thinklets for
facilitating brainstorming:
– Facilitator-Led Callouts
– Post It-Notes
– Pass the Card
– LeafHopper
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
27. Summary
• To become an effective facilitator, you need
to improve your skills and gain new
techniques that will help you skillfully bring a
team to their desired outcome.
• You need to improve:
– Your knowledge of the roles involved
– Your meeting preparation and design skills
– Your listening and questioning skills
– Your ability to manage dysfunctional behavior
– Your information gathering toolset
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
28. Training & Coaching
Training Coaching & Consulting
•Mastering the Art of • Project Management
Facilitation Skills Assessments
•Effective Requirements • Troubled Project
Gathering Assessment &
• Servant Leadership Recovery
• Real World Agile and • Agile Project Initiation
Scrum team training + and Planning
Project Jump Start • End to End Project
• Executive and Business Execution
Overview of Agile/Lean • Process Improvement
• … More! Roadmap Execution
30. References
Excellent List of Resources:
http://managementhelp.org/grp_skll/resource.htm
International Association of Facilitators: http://www.iaf-
world.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3280
RECFTC:
http://www.recoftc.org/site/fileadmin/docs/CABS/manuals
/Facilitation
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Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2009 www.AgileTransformation.com
Workshop BriefingGoal: The goal of this workshop is to have you brainstorm some of your thoughts on collaboration challenges so we can begin discussing how to address them.
Remember, if only one person is controlling all the decision making then a collaborative meeting isn’t needed. This may also be a sign of participants not having a safe environment to express different opinions. * How do you think you should handle the self-appointed facilitator?
Remember, naysayers have an enthusiasm for killing change. Your role is to move from a “we can’t possibly do that” to the “art of the possible”.“You may be right” and “I can live with it and support it” are powerful tools to introduce to teams troubled by dominators and naysayers.