Resources for Training, Presenting, and Facilitating

Facilitation: Core Leadership Skill For The Millennium

With technology forcing constant change in our workplaces, the true “hot commodity” over the next twenty years will be meaningful, face to face contact. However, that contact must be productive. Increasing facilitation skills - of all employees - is key.

Over 80% of my training participants tell me that the number of meetings they must facilitate has increased dramatically over the last two years. “It’s not really in my job description, but with all the team work and collaborative efforts these days, I have to facilitate - and facilitate competently,” said one participant.

A recent article in USA Today estimates that business professionals spend between 25% to 60% of their time in meetings. They report that 50% of that time is unproductive. “So often, people get into a meeting and talk around an issue,” says Beryl Loeb, a consultant in Needham, Mass. “Then they have to meet again.” No wonder meetings are the butt of Dilbert jokes!

Effective facilitation is the key to effective meetings. Anyone who’s participated in a focused, well-facilitated meeting can attest to its results: increased productivity, focus and accountability. The most productive meetings are often also the most enjoyable. Yet most people learn to facilitate meetings by “the seat of their pants” - and end up repeating the same mistakes.

The Importance of Facilitator Development

Building “in-house” facilitation skills is the way to save money on external facilitators, ensure that all meetings are productive and address the demand for increased participation in decision-making. Developing a home-gown cadre of expert facilitators pays off. Over the last three years, the Seattle Police Departments’ Community and Information Services Bureau has trained approximately 250 supervisors, managers and staff in basic and advanced facilitation skills. These facilitators currently facilitate hundreds of more effective meetings - both in the community and in the Department. Social service agencies, city municipalities, corporations, parks and recreation programs and Court Administrators are also benefiting from improved in-house facilitation skills.

Let’s counter the cynicism and low morale bred by badly-run meetings. With the right skills, anyone can facilitate. Consider investing in developing the facilitation skill levels of all your employees!

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Challenging!

1. What is the 4-digit number (no zeros) in which the first number is 6 times the second, the third is twice the second and the fourth is 3 times the third? (The sum of all the digits is 15.)
2. What three words, formed from different arrangements of the same six letters, will complete the sentence below? The two little _____ children escaped to the _____, where they slept on leaves that were _____ than the cots they slept on at home.

(Answers below!)

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Book ReviewThe Skilled Facilitator: Practical Wisdom for Developing Effective Groups (Roger Schwartz, Jossey-Bass Publishers 1994)This book provides a sound theoretical base and practical ideas for high-quality facilitation. Schwarz helps facilitators develop responses to a wide range of unpredictable situations. Chapter Two, “What Makes Work Groups Effective” and Chapter Thirteen, “The Facilitative Leader” are particularly helpful for managers. The diagnostic approach this volume offers can help both facilitators and group members solve group process problems. This bookês a great resource.

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Excellent facilitation depends on the facilitator’s:

• environmental sensitivity
• behavioral flexibility
• innate (and developable) “people smarts”
• a set of conscious, practiced and expanding skills.

Often overlooked, however, structural tools are essential to these internal assets. Here are four essential structural tools I guarantee will improve your meetings:

1. Use An Outcome-Based Agenda.
   In developing your agenda, think about “what will be different” by the meeting’s end. Put that outcome at the top of your agenda. Ensure that all the agenda items work to achieve that outcome.
2. Develop Group Behavioral Agreements AFTER Meeting Several Times.
   Ask and record “what behaviors have been working well for us so far?” More meaningful suggestions will result after a few meetings.
3. Always Use A Visible “Who-Does-What-By-When” Action Plan.
   Record commitments throughout the meeting; review at the end. Write the Action Plan right into the agenda. Use it to check accountability at the next meeting.

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Answers to “Challenging!”

1. 6126
2. Foster, Forest, Softer

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Read more articles about Facilitation Skills. Learn about Guila Muir’s Facilitation Skills Workshops.

Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com

© 2007 Guila Muir. All rights reserved.
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