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.
You may make copies of this arti­cle and dis­trib­ute in any media so long as you change noth­ing, credit the author, and include this copy­right notice and web address.

Related posts:

1. Meet­ings, Bloody Meetings!
2. Speak­ers’ Top 3 Fears… and How to Pre­vent Them!
3. 3 Tips to Deal With Audi­ences From Hell
4. 3 Tips to Tame Unruly Meet­ings, Part Two

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