Facilitating with Ease!: Core Skills for Facilitators, Team Leaders and Members, Managers, Consultants, and Trainers

By Ingrid Bens

The definitive guide to running productive meetings

Facilitating With Ease! has become the go-to handbook for those who lead meetings, training, and other business gatherings. Packed with information, effective practices, and invaluable advice, this book is the comprehensive handbook for anyone who believes meetings should be productive, relevant, and as short as possible. Dozens of exercises, surveys, and checklists will help transform anyone into a skilled facilitator, and clear, actionable guidance makes implementation a breeze. This new fourth edition includes a new chapter on questioning, plus new material surrounding diversity, globalization, technology, feedback, distance teams, difficult executives, diverse locations, personal growth, meeting management, and much more. With in-depth, expert guidance from planning to closing, this book provides facilitators with an invaluable resource for learning or training.

Before you run another meeting, discover the practices, processes, and techniques that turn you from a referee to an effective facilitator. This book provides a wealth of tools and insights that you can put into action today.

• Run productive meetings that get real results
• Keep discussions on track and facilitate the exchange of ideas
• Resolve conflict and deal with difficult individuals

• Train leaders and others to facilitate effectively

Poorly-run meetings are an interruption in the day, and accomplish little other than putting everyone behind in their “real” work. On the other hand, a meeting run by an effective facilitator makes everyone’s job easier; decisions get made, strategies are improved, answers are given, and new ideas bubble to the surface. A productive meeting makes everyone happy, and results in real benefits that spread throughout the organization. Facilitating With Ease! is the skill-building guide to running great meetings with confidence and results.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Oct 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781119434276

Book preview

CONTENTS

Cover

More Praise for Facilitating with Ease!

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter One: Understanding Facilitation

What Is Facilitation?

What Does a Facilitator Do?

What Do Facilitators Believe?

What Are Typical Facilitator Assignments?

Differentiating Between Process and Content

Facilitation Tools

Core Practices Overview

What Does Neutral Mean?

Learn to Say Okay

When to Say We

How Assertive Can a Facilitator Be?

The Language of Facilitation

Conversation Structures

Starting a Facilitation

During a Facilitation

Ending a Facilitation

Effective Note Taking

The Rules of Wording

Managing the Flip Chart

Facilitator Behaviors and Strategies

Core Practices Observation Sheet

Process Flow Observation Sheet

Facilitation Skill Levels

Facilitation Skills Self-Assessment

Chapter Two: Effective Questioning

The Principles of Effective Questioning

Question Types

Questioning Formats

The Importance of Follow-On Questions

Asking Sensitive Questions

The Question Bank

Chapter Three: Facilitation Stages

1. Assessment and Design

2. Feedback and Refinement

3. Final Preparation

4. Starting a Facilitation

5. During a Facilitation

6. Ending a Facilitation

7. Following Up on a Facilitation

Seeking Feedback on Your Facilitation

Chapter Four: Who Can Facilitate

When to Use an Internal Facilitator

When to Use an External Facilitator

When Leaders Facilitate

Facilitation Strategies for Leaders

Best and Worst Facilitation Practices for Leaders

Facilitation As a Leadership Style

Additional Role Challenges

Chapter Five: Knowing Your Participants

Conducting an Assessment

Group Assessment Survey

Comparing Groups to Teams

Understanding Team Stages

Forming—The Honeymoon Stage

Storming—The Potential Death of the Team

Norming—The Turning Point

Performing—The Ultimate Team Growth Stage

Adjourning—The Final Stage

Facilitation Strategies Chart

Team Effectiveness Survey

Chapter Six: Creating Participation

Creating the Conditions for Full Participation

Removing the Blocks to Participation

High-Participation Techniques

Group Participation Survey

Encouraging Effective Meeting Behaviors

Group Behaviors Handout

Observing Group Behaviors in Action

Peer Review Instructions

Peer Review Worksheet

Chapter Seven: Effective Decision Making

Know the Four Types of Conversations

The Four Levels of Empowerment

Clarifying the Four Empowerment Levels

Shifting Decision-Making Paradigms

The Decision-Making Options

Decision Options Chart

The Divergence/Convergence Model

The Importance of Building Consensus

Effective Decision-Making Behaviors

Symptoms, Causes, and Cures of Poor Decisions

Decision Effectiveness Survey

Chapter Eight: Facilitating Conflict

Comparing Arguments and Debates

Steps in Managing Conflict

The Five Conflict Options: Pros and Cons

Conflict Management Norms

Giving and Receiving Feedback

Making Interventions

Wording an Intervention

Dealing with Resistance

The Right Approach

Common Conflict Dilemmas

The Facilitative Conflict Management Process

Interpersonal Conflict Worksheet

Group Conflict Checklist

Conflict Observation Sheet

Conflict Effectiveness Survey

Chapter Nine: Meeting Management

Meetings That Work

Our Meetings Are Terrible!

The Fundamentals of Meeting Management

Sample Agenda with Process Notes

Sample Process Check Survey

Sample Exit Survey

Meeting Effectiveness Survey

Facilitating Virtual Meetings

Chapter Ten: Process Tools for Facilitators

Visioning

Sequential Questioning

S.W.O.T.

S.O.A.R.

Facilitative Listening

Appreciative Review

Brainstorming

Written Brainstorming

Affinity Diagrams

Gap Analysis

Needs and Offers Dialogue

Force-Field Analysis

Root-Cause Analysis

The Five Whys

Gallery Walk

Multi-Voting

Decision Grids

Exit Surveys

Survey Feedback

Systematic Problem Solving

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 1

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 2

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 3

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 4

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 5

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 6

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 7

Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 8

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Worksheet

Chapter Eleven: Structured Conversations

Structured Conversation 1—Discovery

Structured Conversation 2—Environmental Scanning

Structured Conversation 3—Team Launch

Structured Conversation 4—Vision and Mission

Structured Conversation 5—Work Planning, Roles, and Responsibilities

Structured Conversation 6—Risk Assessment

Structured Conversation 7—Stakeholder Analysis

Structured Conversation 8—Communication Planning

Structured Conversation 9—Status Update Meeting

Structured Conversation 10—Creative Thinking

Structured Conversation 11—Midpoint Check

Structured Conversation 12—Systematic Problem Solving

Structured Conversation 13—Constructive Controversy

Structured Conversation 14—Survey Feedback

Structured Conversation 15—Interpersonal Issue Resolution

Structured Conversation 16—Overcoming Resistance

Structured Conversation 17—Project Retrospective

Structured Conversation 18—Project Adjournment

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Facilitation Certification

Bibliography

End User License Agreement

More Praise for Facilitating with Ease!

If you're only going to buy one book on facilitation, this is the one to buy! That's what we tell the managers, consultants, and facilitators who attend our facilitation training programs. It's a gold mine of ideas, resources, and practical tools.

—Ronnie McEwan, Director, Kinharvie Institute, Glasgow, Scotland

I have rarely run into a better collection of pragmatic tips, tools, and techniques. If you work with people to accomplish something important, save yourself a lifetime of trial and error: read this book, put its message to use, and start seeing where real collaboration can lead your organization.

—Adriano Pianesi, ParticipAction Consulting, Inc., Washington, D.C.

Ingrid Bens's masterful book Facilitation with Ease! is a must-have for any facilitator regardless of experience. I use it extensively to review processes, tools, and techniques before any engagement.

—George F. Smith, CPF, Summit Consultants, Atlanta, Georgia

Facilitating With Ease! provides clear and effective guidelines for group facilitation. In China we are using this book to help organizations develop facilitative leaders who can successfully invoke the spirit of cooperation and team synergy.

—Ren Wei, Professional Facilitator, X'ian, China

Facilitating With Ease! helps beginners as well as experienced facilitators to find their way along different aspects of facilitation. Easy to understand, this book provides insight into the principles of facilitation and shows examples of practical applications for concrete situations.

—Sieglinde Hinger, Siemens Corporation, Austria

Facilitating with Ease! is by far the easiest-to-use, most comprehensive, and most well-structured resource guide I have ever seen! No wonder both new and seasoned facilitators find it invaluable. A must-have if facilitation is a skill you need in your toolbox.

—Larry L. Looker, Manager, Global Leadership Development,

Amway Corporation, USA

Facilitating with Ease! is the fundamental read if you want to be an effective facilitator. We refer to it all the time and consider it a core competency for our consultants.

—Ian Madell, Managing Director, LEVEL5 Branded Business Advisors, Toronto, Canada

I have been using Ingrid's materials for many years and find her books to be far above everything else out there. This latest revision builds on what was already great and will surely increase the effectiveness of any practitioner.

—Mark Vilbert, Program Leader Boeing leadership Center

This book is just excellent! The comprehensive set of practical tools is for everyone engaged in improving how groups work. Helps you to just do it!

—Ewa Malia, CPF, Polish Insitutute of Facilitation, Warsaw

Facilitating with Ease!

Core Skills for Facilitators, Team Leaders and Members, Managers, Consultants and Trainers

Ingrid Bens

4TH Edition

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Cover image: © poba/iStockphoto

Cover design: Wiley

Copyright © 2018 by Ingrid Bens. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Bens, Ingrid, author.

Title: Facilitating with ease! / by Ingrid Bens.

Description: 4th edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2017029436 (print) | LCCN 2017040993 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119434283 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119434276 (epub) | ISBN 9781119434252 (pbk) : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Teams in the workplace. | Group facilitation.

Classification: LCC HD66 (ebook) | LCC HD66 .B445 2018 (print) | DDC 658.4/56—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029436

Introduction

It's impossible to be part of an organization today and not attend meetings. Staff meetings, project meetings, task-force meetings, planning and coordinating meetings . . . the list is endless. The worst thing about many of these meetings is that they're poorly run and waste valuable time.

Today, there's a growing recognition that effective meetings happen when proper attention is paid to the process elements and when proceedings are skillfully facilitated.

For a long time, facilitation has been a rather vague and poorly understood practice, mastered only by human-resource types. This is beginning to change. We're now spending so much time in meetings and being asked to achieve so many important goals in teams that there's a growing need for skilled facilitation throughout our organizations and our communities.

Instead of being relegated to HR, facilitation is fast becoming a core competency for anyone who leads a team, manages a project, heads up a committee, or manages a department. All of these people need to be able to create and manage effective group dynamics that foster true collaboration.

Facilitation is also a central skill for today's managers, who are riding wave after wave of change. New demands are being placed on them. At the same time, the old command and control model of supervision, which worked for decades, is no longer as effective.

To get the most from people today, leaders have to know how to create buy-in, generate participation, and empower people.

To keep pace, today's leaders need to be coaches, mentors, and teachers. At the core of each of these new roles is the skill of facilitation.

The Goal of This Book

This practical workbook has been created to make core facilitation tools and techniques readily available to the growing number of people who want to improve their process skills. It represents materials and ideas that have been collected, tested, and refined over decades of active facilitation in all types of settings. This fourth edition retains the core tools and instruments that made the first three editions so popular. In addition, new materials have been added to every chapter.

As in the previous three editions, Facilitating with Ease! remains a practical workbook. While it builds on the theories of organization development pioneers such as Chris Argyris, Donald Schön, and Edgar Schein, this resource doesn't aim to be theoretical. Instead, its focus is on providing the reader with the most commonly used process tools in a simple and accessible format. This is not so much a book to be read, as one to be used!

With its focus on asking instead of telling, listening, and building consensus, facilitation is the essential skill for anyone working collaboratively with others.

The Audience

This workbook contains valuable information for anyone facilitating group interactions. This is a huge constituency, which includes:

team leaders and team members

project managers

any supervisor or manager who holds staff meetings

community developers

teachers in traditional classroom settings

therapists who lead support groups

marketing consultants who run focus groups

teachers of adult continuing-education programs

negotiators and conflict mediators

quality consultants leading process improvement initiatives like Six Sigma

consultants intervening in conflicts

anyone teaching others to facilitate

anyone called on to lead a discussion or run a meeting

Since facilitation was designed as a role for neutral outsiders, the strategies and techniques in this book are described from the perspective of the external facilitator. Since more and more facilitation is being done by those who have a stake in the outcome of discussions, the third edition includes strategies that help leaders and group members manage the challenges of staying neutral.

Content Overview

The book is organized into eleven chapters. Checklists and tools have not been collected in an appendix, but instead are located throughout each chapter, near the related materials.

Chapter One outlines what facilitation is and its main applications. It differentiates process from content and outlines the core practices. It also addresses facilitation issues such as neutrality, how assertive a facilitator can be, and how to balance the role of the group leader with that of the facilitator.

Chapter One also describes what facilitators do at the beginning, middle, and end of discussions. It provides information about the language of facilitation, the principles of giving and receiving feedback, plus a thumbnail sketch of the best and worst practices of facilitators.

At the end of the chapter, there are two observation sheets and a four-level skills self-assessment, useful to anyone hoping for feedback on current skills.

Chapter Two is a new addition to this book. It features important information about the central role of questioning in the practice of facilitation and how to use questions effectively. Question types and formats are outlined, along with guidance about the importance of follow-on questions. This new chapter also provides a bank of questions that are useful for learning more about the client.

Chapter Three explores the stages of designing and managing a facilitation assignment. It describes the importance of each step in the facilitation process: assessment, design, feedback, refinement, and final preparation. Helpful checklists are also provided to guide the start, middle, and end of any facilitation session.

Chapter Four focuses on how facilitation can be managed by leaders. This is a major new addition and reflects the growing awareness among leaders of the importance of process management.

This chapter explores the challenges leaders face when they facilitate and provides strategies that help leaders effectively manage a group process. This chapter also discusses the issues encountered when the facilitator feels he or she lacks authority or is working with people of senior rank.

Chapter Five focuses on knowing your participants and provides information about the four most commonly used needs-assessment techniques. Sample assessment questions and surveys are provided. This chapter also discusses the differences between facilitating groups and facilitating teams and passes along strategies for getting any group to behave more like an effective team. The creation of team norms is discussed, along with an overview of the team growth stages and the corresponding facilitation strategies that work best at each stage.

Chapter Six begins with a frank discussion of the many reasons people are often less than enthusiastic to be involved in a meeting or workshop and provides tested strategies for overcoming these blocks, including ideas on gaining buy-in. High-participation techniques are also shared, along with a training plan to encourage effective meeting behaviors in members.

Chapter Seven delves into the complexities of decision making. Facilitators are introduced to the types of discussions and the importance of clarifying empowerment. Various methods for reaching decisions are described and differentiated. The pros, cons, and uses of each approach are explored, along with an expanded discussion of consensus building. Chapter Seven also offers an overview of the behaviors that help decision effectiveness and provides the steps in the systematic consensus-building process. The chapter ends with a discussion of poor decisions: their symptoms, causes, and cures. A survey is provided with which a group can assess its current decision-making effectiveness.

Chapter Eight deals with facilitative strategies for handling both conflict and resistance. It begins with an overview of the difference between healthy debates and dysfunctional arguments. It goes on to share techniques that encourage healthy debates and the steps in managing any conflict. Special attention is paid to strategies for venting emotions. The five conflict-management options are also explored and placed into the context of which are most appropriate for facilitators.

Chapter Eight also provides a three-part format for wording interventions that tactfully allows a facilitator to redirect inappropriate behavior. Also described are the two approaches a facilitator can choose when confronted with resistance and why one is superior. At the end of the chapter, nine common facilitator dilemmas and their solutions are presented.

Chapter Nine focuses on meeting management. There's a useful checklist and meeting effectiveness diagnostic that lets groups assess whether or not their meetings are working. There's also a chart that outlines the symptoms and cures for common meeting ills. The fundamentals of meeting management are outlined, with special emphasis on the role of the facilitator as compared to the traditional chairperson role. Both midpoint checks and exit surveys are explained, and samples are provided. Since virtual meetings are on the rise, strategies are offered for using facilitation techniques during distance meetings.

Chapter Ten contains the process tools that are fundamental to all facilitation activities. These include: visioning, sequential questioning, force-field analysis, brainstorming, gap analysis, root-cause analysis, decision grids, affinity diagrams, needs-and-offers dialogue, systematic problem solving, survey feedback, multi-voting, and troubleshooting. Each tool is described, and step-by-step directions are given for using it.

Chapter Eleven pulls it all together by providing seventeen sets of process design notes, complete with detailed step-by-step instructions. In this fourth edition, the meeting design notes have been updated to include the virtual version of each conversation. These notes will be a real asset to facilitators who conduct meetings with far-flung groups.

The seventeen structured conversations in this chapter represent the discussions facilitators are most often called upon to lead. These examples provide a graphic illustration of the level of detail a facilitator needs to develop before stepping in front of any group.

After years of experience as a consultant, project manager, team leader, and trainer, I'm convinced that it's impossible to build teams, consistently achieve consensus, or run effective decision-making meetings without highly developed facilitation skills. The good news is that these skills can be mastered by anyone! I hope you find the fourth edition of Facilitating with Ease! to be a valuable resource in your quest to gain this important skill.

September 2017

Ingrid Bens, M.Ed., CPF

Questions Answered in This Book

The logo depicting “Facilitation,” where three people are arranged in a circle.

What is facilitation? When do I use it?

What's the role of the facilitator?

What are the main tools and techniques?

What are the values and attitudes of a facilitator?

How neutral do I really need to be?

How assertive am I allowed to be?

How can those who have a stake in the group's decisions

facilitate?

How can I facilitate when I'm not the official facilitator?

How do I balance the roles of chairperson and facilitator?

How do I get everyone to participate?

Can facilitation techniques be used to manage distance meetings?

How do I overcome people's reluctance to open up?

What's the difference between a group and a team?

How can I get a group to act like a team?

What do I do if a group is very cynical?

What do I do if I encounter high resistance?

What if there's zero buy-in?

What are my options for dealing with conflict?

What if a meeting falls apart and I lose control?

What decision-making techniques are available?

Why is consensus building most effective for arriving at a group decision?

What can go wrong in making decisions?

How do I make sure that discussions achieve closure?

What facilitation tools are available?

How do I design an effective process?

How do I know whether the meeting is going well?

What are the elements of an effective meeting design?

How can facilitation be used to manage virtual meetings?

Some Definitions

Facilitator: One who contributes structure and process to interactions so groups are able to function effectively and make high-quality decisions. A helper and enabler whose goal is to support others as they pursue their objectives.

Content: The topics or subjects under discussion at any meeting. Also referred to as the task, the decisions made, or the issues explored.

Process: The structure, framework, methods, and tools used in interactions. Also refers to the climate or spirit established, as well as the style of the facilitator.

Intervention: An action or set of actions that aims to improve the functioning of a group.

Plenary: A large group session held to share the ideas developed in separate subgroups.

Norms: A set of rules created by group members with which they mutually agree to govern themselves.

Group: A collection of individuals who come together to share information, coordinate their efforts, or achieve a task, but who mainly pursue their own individual goals and work independently.

Team: A collection of individuals who are committed to achieving a common goal, who support each other, who fully utilize member resources, and who have closely linked roles.

Process Agenda: A detailed step-by-step description of the tools and techniques used to bring structure to conversations.

Project: A collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.

Process Improvement: A series of actions taken by a process owner to identify, analyze, and improve existing processes within an organization to meet new goals and objectives.

Lean: A production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Basically, lean is centered on preserving value with less work.

Six Sigma: A business management strategy that seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects or errors and minimizing variability. A Six Sigma process is one in which 99.99966 percent of the products manufactured are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million).

Chapter One

Understanding Facilitation

The logo depicting “Facilitation,” where three people are arranged in a circle.

If you look up the word facilitator in the dictionary, you'll see it described as someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to achieve these objectives without taking a particular position in the discussion.

This role basically did not exist until the middle of the last century, when theorists in the emerging field of behavioral science identified the need for a leadership style that contributed structure to complex group interactions instead of direction and answers.

The work of these behavioral pioneers led to the emergence of a new and important role in which the person who manages the meeting no longer participates in the discussion or tries to influence the outcome. Instead, he or she stays out of all conversations in order to focus on how the meeting is being run. Instead of offering opinions, this person provides participants with structure and tools. Instead of promoting a point of view, he or she manages participation to ensure that everyone is heard. Instead of making decisions and giving orders, he or she supports the participants in identifying their own goals and developing their own action plans.

What Is Facilitation?

Facilitation is a leadership role in which the decision-making power resides in the members. This frees the facilitator to focus on creating a climate of collaboration and provide the group with the structure it needs to be effective.

Instead of offering solutions, facilitators offer group members tools they can use to develop their own answers. Facilitators attend meetings to guide members through their discussions, step-by-step, encouraging them to reach their own conclusions.

Rather than being a player, facilitators act more like referees. They watch the action, more than participate in it. They help members define their goals. They ensure that group members have effective rules to guide interaction.

They provide an orderly sequence of activities. They keep their fingers on the pulse and know when to move on or wrap things up. They keep discussion focused and help group members achieve closure. They do all of this while remaining