Facilitate … by focussing on participants!

I have just finished three weeks of facilitating highly rewarding and highly challenging sessions. I have been privileged to work with caring and passionate individuals – from a staff team of four people to 40 members of a provincial organization to a gathering of community citizens to a Board and Staff retreat. Some of the sessions were with people I had worked with for six years; in other sessions, we were meeting each other for the first time. The purpose varied from session to session – developing a three-year strategic plan, strengthening organizational unity, celebrating the strengths and assessing the needs of a community, affirming the direction of the organization, and openly discussing board and staff relationships. One session was three hours; another was three days. For some, I could pre-plan; for another, I had to design “on the spot” throughout the event.

This amount and complexity of facilitation activities is not unique for me; in fact, it is the norm! However, at times during the past three weeks, I was anxious at the variety and intensity of the facilitation. I felt the familiar “butterflies in the stomach” as I wondered if I could design and deliver the methods that would help these groups hold meaningful discussions and make productive and beneficial decisions. Oh, and have fun!

Then I focussed on what was important – the participants. I reminded myself that the session is about them; not me. At the start of each day of the facilitation sessions, I visualized the participants – where they were coming from; what they were leaving to attend the session, what they wanted to achieve, and how they might feel about their upcoming experience. During the sessions, I observed the participants – what their body language said and how they interacted. I listened to the participants – what were they talking about? How engaged did they seem? And most importantly, I asked the participants about the design, the flow, the approach, the timing, and the intent of my facilitation activities. In the evenings of the three day retreat with the provincial organization, as I sat in my room and designed the next day, I once again focussed on the participants. What had they told me about the day? What did I notice and hear that gave me clues to the next day’s activities?

During this intense period of facilitation work, I reminded myself of what I need to do to be an effective facilitator. I need to remove the “I” from my mind and think of “We”, that is, the participants and me as a team. While I always want to have some butterflies to keep me from complacency, I know that focussing on the participants will always help me to keep my attention on what is important when I facilitate. I needed to remind myself of that. As always, I calmed myself by focussing on the participants.

My blog conversation question: How do you focus on the participants?

Facilitate ... with Olympic medals!

I am definitely in Olympic withdrawal! Not only because of the amazing performances and grace of our Canadian athletes and the truly fantastic job that the City of Vancouver and Vanoc did but because the Olympics provided exceptional fun and focus for facilitation.
For the past three weeks, I have used the Olympic medals as symbols of success in organizations, communities, and individuals. I bought Hershey chocolate candies wrapped in gold, silver, and bronze shiny paper. At various sessions, workshops, and meetings, I spread the candies on the table and told participants that they were gold, silver, and bronze medals. I asked participants to select a candy and describe the success it represented in their community, group, initiative or organization. What fun and focus! People related extremely well because most of us are closely tied to the Olympics. The success focus came through quickly and profoundly. Participants would laugh and then seriously think about successes. We had many gold medals yet also silver and bronze as participants explained what efforts they still wanted to do to enhance a success.
From community building workshops to sport advisory groups to provincial planning retreats to team development sessions, I enjoyed this Olympic analogy with wonderful Albertans and Canadians. Go Canada Go into the future! We all have our gold, silver, and bronze medals of success!

Facilitate ... with Ground Rules

“Don't 'yuck' someone else's 'yum'!” Now, that’s a great Ground Rule! Using Ground Rules in facilitated discussions is something I have “turned on and off” over the years. I used them … didn’t use them … and now am back to using them.

Ground Rules are the behaviours that people in a group consciously and intentionally agree to use to enable them to work effectively together. Ground rules often cover meeting etiquette, discussion and decision-making processes, and ways that the team members interact with each other. They can range from procedures such as “turn off your cell phone” to ways of discussing such as “actively listen to each other” to values such as “treat each other with courtesy”.

Why do we use Ground Rules? All groups work to some set of procedural and behaviourial rules, spoken or unspoken. Think of times when you assumed or expected people in a meeting to behave in a certain way – only to find that they didn’t!

• One person may think that interrupting another person when she has an important and relevant point is OK; others find the interruption rude.


• One person may think that consensus is full agreement by everyone; another person may think it means everyone minus one or two individuals.


• One person may feel comfortable when someone else directly challenges their opinion in a meeting; others would “curl up and die”.


• Some people may automatically text message during meetings; others expect everyone to leave cell phones and smart phones at the door.

Taking time to clarify expectations and make them explicit in Ground Rules helps the group members to be “on the same page”; to understand how and why discussions will be held; to create an atmosphere that encourages open, respectful communication and participation; and to hold themselves and each other accountable.

Over ten years ago, I stopped using the term “Ground Rules” because the word “rules” seemed too heavy and authoritative for me! I changed to using terms such as “discussion principles, discussion do’s and don’ts, discussion guidelines”. These worked fairly well; however, did not seem to cover the full spectrum or convey the importance of group behaviours. Then, several years ago, I was introduced to the Ground Rules of “The Skilled Facilitator” by Roger Schwarz & Associates (http://www.schwarzassociates.com/). This facilitation approach uses nine Ground Rules which are based on five core assumptions and values. Together, the Ground Rules, assumptions and values speak to the importance of truly listening to each other, sharing all relevant information; acknowledging and being curious about how other people see things … and many other aspects of working together effectively as a group. From learning the Skilled Facilitator approach, I rediscovered the value and importance of Ground Rules and now use them again.

Ground Rules are comprehensive and profound yet also fun! Look at the Ground Rules on the poster above which I found in the blue avocado e-newsletter. http://www.blueavocado.org/content/ground-rules-new-generation. As the newsletter states “Who can resist a "Ground Rules" sign for a meeting at a youth organization that includes the phrase: “Don't 'yuck' someone else's 'yum'?”

When facilitating a group, I now either introduce the group members to “The Skilled Facilitator” Ground Rules and ask their willingness to apply them to their discussion OR I help them develop their Ground Rules. I encourage them to think about logistical procedures (e.g. Start and end on time), values (e.g. What’s important in how we work together?), and discussion and decision-making techniques (e.g. We use collaborative techniques.)


My Conversation Blog Questions are: What Ground Rules do you like to use with groups and why? And what does “Don't 'yuck' someone else's 'yum'?” mean to you?!