Title: Meetings and facilitation skills
1Meetings and facilitation skills
2Some facts about meetings
- CEOs 17 hours per week
- Senior managers 23 hours per week
- Middle managers 11 hours per week
- Senior and middle managers say only 56 of
meetings are productive - Wharton Centre for Applied Research
3Aims of session
- To improve your skills for facilitating, chairing
and attending meetings. - To explore some principles of working with large
and small groups. - To learn some skills, tools and techniques for a
more creative approach to solving problems
4How well do it
5Problem 1
- When, where, how and why to use icebreaker
exercises effectively
Technique 1
6Progressive charting - method
- A tables - When would you use an ice breaker?
- B tables - What are the potential benefits of
using ice breakers? - C tables - What are the worst things about ice
breakers? - Take your pen with youand move on. A to B, B to
C, C to A. Add new ideas to the list. - Then move on again.
7Feedback
- Feedback on icebreakers
- Each group to pick three IMPORTANT things from
the finished charts - Feedback on progressive charting
- Each group describe one situation where you WOULD
use that technique and one where you would NOT.
8Problem 2
- Setting the ground rules for teams and groups to
work together effectively
Technique 2
- Idea collection
- Using post-it notes
- Using the flip chart
9Idea collection - method
- Identify a facilitator
- In pairs discuss what you need to feel safe and
productive in this group - A groups put each issue on a separate post it
- B groups write the ideas on a flipchart
- The facilitator gathers these comments to compile
a final flip chart with the agreed group
contract
10Feedback
- Three minutes to give me
- One sentence on the problem (what have you
learned about ice breakers) - One sentence on the technique (what have you
learned about idea collection either method)
11Slight pause for thought
- Lets think about being a bit more creative.
12Scores in NASA creativity test
13Scores in NASA creativity test
14Scores in NASA creativity test
15Scores in NASA creativity test
16Scores in NASA creativity test
17Scores in NASA creativity test
18Scores in NASA creativity test
19Scores in NASA creativity test
20Self-Organizing SystemsdeBonos River Topology
Analogy for Thinking
Streams of thinking
Valleys
21Three principles behind all tools of
DirectedCreativity
Attention
Movement
Escape
Paul Plesk
22Creative Problem Solving
2 Data
3 Problem
4 Idea
5 Solution
6 Acceptance
1 Mess
finding
finding
finding
finding
finding
finding
We need both divergent and convergent thinking
23Brainstorming
- Principles
- Defer judgement
- Quantity breeds quality
- Rules of brainstorming
- Criticism is ruled out
- Freewheeling is recommended
- Quantity is wanted
- Combine and improve (hitchhike)
24Problem 3
- Contributing effectively to meetings
Technique 3
- Reverse brainstorming (divergent thinking)
25Reverse brainstorming - method
- Use the principles and rules of brainstorming to
address this problem
26Brainstorming
- Principles
- Defer judgement
- Quantity breeds quality
- Rules of brainstorming
- Criticism is ruled out
- Freewheeling is recommended
- Quantity is wanted
- Combine and improve (hitchhike)
27and nowconvergent thinking! (Technique 4 Top
three)
- Look at all of the ideas you have generated in
the reverse brainstorm - Pick the three that you think will have the most
impact on making the meeting really bad - Turn these around into practical suggestions to
make your contributions to meetings more effective
28Feedback
- What was the best thing about that exercise?
- How will you apply that to your work?
- What was the worst thing?
- How can you learn from this/avoid it when working
with groups?
29Problem 4
- Leading meetings effectively
Technique 5
- Picture provocations (divergent thinking)
30Picture provocations - method
- Look at the selection of pictures you have in
front of you - Remember the principles and rules for divergent
thinking and get out of the mental valleys - Use the pictures to provoke ideas about the
skills, talents, style, approaches, techniques
that make for effective leadership of meetings
31Brainstorming
- Principles
- Defer judgement
- Quantity breeds quality
- Rules of brainstorming
- Criticism is ruled out
- Freewheeling is recommended
- Quantity is wanted
- Combine and improve (hitchhike)
32Technique 6
- Coloured dots
- (convergent thinking)
33Coloured dots - method
- Take five dots each (any colour)
- Walk around the flipcharts and award your dots to
your favourite ideas (ie those you are most
likely to use) - You may award between one and five dots to any
idea, but use up all five dots
34Feedback
- On leading teams which idea has the highest
number of votes on your chart? - On Picture Provocations and Coloured Dots when
could you use these techniques?
35Variations on coloured dots
- All doctors have one colour, nurses another,
managers another etc - Only one vote per idea
- One colour for a positive vote, one for a
negative - and so on
36Planning and preparation
37Planning checklist
- Who are the stakeholders in the design of the
meeting? - What do they want out of the session?
- What is the profile of the group?
- Are you sharing the facilitation? Who with?
- Time available?
- Venue details
- Who is recording?
- Action points and success criteria
- What tools will you need?
38Top Tips forTools of the trade
- Flip chart paper (and stand!!)
- Flip chart pens (different colours)
- Felt pens (for writing on to post its)
- Post its (different sizes and colours)
- Coloured dots
- Blu Tack
- Time things always take longer than you
think !!!!! - Process Tools
- What else?
39Managing a session
- Youre running out of time?
- Unclear objectives?
- People arent listening?
- Domination by one person?
- Someone not contributing?
- Youve forgotten where you are and what comes
next!
40CYNICS?
- Be open to what everyone says
- ACCEPT IT there is probably a good reason for
their views - Build the bridge
FACILITATORS ASSUMPTION People are doing the
best they can with the experience, resources and
tools they have
41And finally always be prepared for the
unexpected!