art of facilitation. part 1

The Art of Facilitation

Alexey Krivitsky www.agiletrainings.eu

Workshop  

Three parts 1. Raising Engagement 2. Facilitator’s Stances 3. Designing #Workjams

PART 1.

RAISING ENGAGEMENT.

CHECKING IN  

“What brought you here?”  

OUR DEFINITION OF DONE 1.  Nobody is bored.

2. You feel comfortable enough to facilitate a meeting within next 3 weeks.

3.  In long run you would like to be invited to facilitate meetings at XING.

In theory there are 2 kinds of meetings

“WOAH!” “meh.”

WOAH vs. MEH

what WAS happening on the meeting

that made it so?

Let’s look into some data

Meeting ENGAGEMENT LEVEL NUMBER  OF  PEOPLE  ON  A  MEETING  

PEOPLE  WORKING  IN  A  GIVEN  MOMENT  

Meeting FORMATS USED OPEN  DISCUSSION  

INDIVIDUAL  WRITING  

SMALL  GROUPS  

DOT  VOTING  

ROLE  PLAY  

SCIENCE  FAIR  

BREAK  OUT  GROUPS  

Meeting solution & QUALITY STANDARD  SOLUTIONS  CONSIDERED  

NON-­‐STANDARD  SOLUTIONS  CONSIDERED  

offices with engaged employees ARE up to x% more productive

WORKSHOP      

MEETING versus    

WORKSHOP TECHNIQUES

APPLICABLE  ON  MEETINGS  

NON  APPLICABLE  ON  MEETINGS  

#0: GOAL OF A FACILITATOR

Serve  the  group  with  whatever  it  might  need    to  reach  its  goals  and  fulfill  its  existence.  

#1: GOAL OF A FACILITATOR

Raise   engagement   level   within  the   group   for   the   sake   of   higher  creaOvity,   beSer   soluOons   and  stronger  dedicaOon  to  results.  

ENGAGEMENT VITAMINS

FREQUENT INVOLVEMENT LONG MONOLOGUES

INDIVIDUAL WRITING ALL-IN BRAINSTORMS

SMALL GROUPS OPEN DISCUSSIONS

STANDING SITTING

trumps

trumps

trumps

trumps

CHANGING WORK MODES SAME FORMAT REPEATED trumps

DO MORE – ENGAGEMENT TOOLS DO LESS – DISENGAGEMENT TOOLS

Discuss! 1. Which of the disengagement practices are most common?

2. What Could change A CORRESPONDING VITAMIN is TAKEN?

3. Which vitamins would FEEL most weird in your MEETINGS?

4. Which VITAMINS DO YOU WANT TO TRY applying?

PART 2.

FACILITATOR’S STANCES.

Role Play!

DISCUSSION TOPIC: YOU ARE A TEAM planning the next offsite HOW DO YOU WANT TO RUN IT? WHERE? WHEN?

SABOTEUR

You don’t know why, but you don’t like any of THE proposals.

SELFY

You have a proposal that you THINK IS THE BEST.

You don’t know why you need to care about DISCUSSION AT ALL.

You are interested in the meeting outcomes.

HOSTAGE SUPPORTER

SABOTEUR You don’t know why, but you don’t like any of THE proposals.

Also you don’t have any preference. You don’t care if group agrees or not.

SELFY You have a proposal that you THINK IS THE BEST.

You want everyone to agree on it. other solutions are less interesting unless proven otherwise.

You don’t know why you need to care about DISCUSSION AT ALL.

Stay silent and not involved. You can get involved but this requires energy from the others to pull you in.

You are interested in the meeting outcomes.

Make group reach some consensus. Balance the discussion between loud and silent parties.

HOSTAGE SUPPORTER

ON meetings: HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LISTENING to each other?

NOT HEARING. BUT ACTIVELY LISTENING?

LISTENING LEVELS internal

YOU HEAR BUT THINK OF YOUR EXPERIENCES

focused YOU listen STAYING LASER FOCUSED

global YOU EXPAND CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND WORDS

AH, I’ve had the same story... When I was a kid _______

Yes I SEE… When did it happen last time? HOW WAS IT?

When you said that, it felt LIKE IT STILL TROUBLES YOU. What’s behind this?

FACILITATOR’S STANCES

2: BALANCE INVOLVEMENT

3: ZOOM IN AND OUT

4: HELP GO BEYOND

1: HELP PEOPLE BE HEARD

BALANCING AND ENCOURAGING

REPEATING and summarizing

ASKING EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS

TAGGING AND STACKING

YOU’VE JUST SAID ____. DID I GET IT CORRECTLY? IF I SUM IT UP, IT BOILS DOWN TO ____. DID I GET IT RIGHT?

SO FAR WE’VE HEARD ONE POINT OF VIEW. LET’S HEAR SOME OTHERS.

WE’VE BEEN DISCUSSING A TOPIC-A. NOW WE’RE OPENING A TOPIC-B. HOW ARE THEY RELATED? WHICH ONE YOU’D LIKE TO FOCUS ON NOW?

WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT IT? WHAT ELSE IS POSSIBLE? LET’s ADD TWO MORE …

Exercise! DISCUSSION TOPIC: ….

Guerrilla facilitation

QUICK CHECK 1..5

PART 3.

#WORKJAM DESIGN.

MEETING DYNAMICS IDEALIZED

DECISION  POINT  

NEW  TOPIC  

CONVERGENT THINKING DIVERGENT THINKING TIME  

MEETING DYNAMICS IN REAL

NEW  TOPIC  

We’re wasting time!

WE’RE STUCK!

DIVERGENT THINKING TIME  

Less meetings! [more real work]

QUICK  DECISION  POINT  

NEW  TOPIC  

TIME  

BUSINESS AS USUAL

LOST POTENTIAL

NEW  TOPIC  

QUICK  DECISION  POINT  

TIME  

BETTER  DECISION  

BUSINESS AS USUAL

#2: GOAL OF A FACILITATOR

Guide   the   group   to   explore  beyond  the  “business  as  usual”  zone   for   the   sake  of   increased  group  learning  and  wisdom.  

MEETING DYNAMICS IN REAL

DECISION  POINT  

NEW  TOPIC  

CONVERGENT THINKING DIVERGENT THINKING

THREE PHASES

DECISION  POINT  

NEW  TOPIC  

CONVERGENT THINKING DIVERGENT THINKING

DESIGNING FOR DYNAMICS

DECISION  POINT  

NEW  TOPIC  

CONVERGENT THINKING DIVERGENT THINKING

Meeting design AS USUAL

OPEN DISCUSSION!

USING FORMAT STRINGS

USING FORMAT STRINGS START  

FINISH  

START  

FINISH  

START  

FINISH  

ACTIVITY  1  

ACTIVITY  2  

ACTIVITY  3  

TYPES OF MEETING BY GOALS SHARE INFORMATION

PROVIDE INPUT

MAKE DECISIONS BUILD CAPACITY

ADVANCE THINKING

BUILD COMMUNITY

GOAL: SHARE INFORMATION ”BUSINESS AS USUAL”

PRESENTATION!

PRESENTATION  

PAIRS  

QUESTIONS  

ACTIVITY  1  

ACTIVITY  2  

ACTIVITY  3  

listen  

write  

talk  

GOAL: SHARE INFORMATION #WORKJAM

GOAL: ADVANCE THINKING #WORKJAM

INDIVIDUAL  WRITING  

COLLECT  TOPICS  

BREAK  OUT  GROUPS  

ACTIVITY  1  

ACTIVITY  2  

ACTIVITY  3  

write  

share  &  vote  

talk  &  sketch  

Practicing! Remember a meeting you had recently IN as a participant or a facilitator.

1. Think which goal this meeting is targeted for?

2. Re-write its agenda by applying THE format strings

THANK YOU! This workshop is available remotely for

your team and colleagues.

Checkout “hangout workshops” ON www.agiletrainingS.eu