Module 8 – Facilitation & Brainstorming

LeanSigma® Facilitator Training Module 8 – Facilitation & Brainstorming

Topics Facilitation • Six Thinking Hats …………………………………………………………….6 – 8 • Communication ……………………………………………………………….9 – 14 • Behavioral Styles ………………………………………………………….14 – 20 • Difficult Personalities……………………………………………………..21 – 22 • Facilitator Nerves……………………………………………………………23 - 24 Brainstorming • Idea Generation Techniques………………………………………….25 - 29 • Affinitizing and Prioritizing…………………………………………….30 - 34

Lean Sigma has six steps to optimize processes.

Because lean events are team-based, you will need strong facilitation skills to improve processes. • Communicate and teach effectively • Understand that one person processes information quite differently from another • Display confidence • Manage team dynamics

As a Lean facilitator, you are teaching and coaching people with different learning styles. • Tie the topic to the participant (WIFM) • Organize topics clearly • Create an open atmosphere • Vary the ways to learn Experience Auditory Tactile Visual

The Six Thinking Hats Assessment gives insight into how you and others think. • The color of your “hat” determines what approach to problem-solving you value. • Use it to modify your approach to communicate with team members in a way that is meaningful to them. • It can help you interact better with the team and even dictate the kind of pre-work you need. The Logical Positive Judgment / Pessimism Creativity Data Driven Feelings / Emotion Process

Six Thinking Hats • White – Data Driven • What information do you have? • Where are the gaps? • What data do you want? • Red – Feeling & Emotion • What is your intuition and feeling? • How do others feel? • Black – Judgment / Pessimism • Potential risks or negatives • Think FMEA

Six Thinking Hats • Yellow – The Logical Positive • Benefits • Opportunities • Logic • Green – Creativity • Alternatives, proposals, What’s interesting or provocative? • Typical brainstorming • No bad ideas • Blue – Process Control • “Meta-Cognition” – Thinking about how we are thinking • What are we not spending enough time thinking about • What have we over looked?

There are 3 components of communication. Listening Nonverbal Speaking

Rules for Effective Listening • Stop talking! • You can’t listen while you are talking. • Put the speaker at ease • Help others feel they are free to talk. • Show that you want to listen • Look and act interested. Listen to understand rather than to reply. • Minimize distractions • Paying full attention is a sign of valuing. • Be patient • Allow plenty of time. Don’t interrupt. • Hold your temper • Go “hard on the process, easy on the people”. • Ask questions • This encourages the speaker and shows you are listening. Listening

Click! Click! Click! Nonverbal Cues communicate more than your words. Don’t become a distraction Nonverbal Establish eye contact Vary your position in the room Use visual aids Use body language effectively

Communication: Speaking Skills (Voice) Speaking • Volume: • Talk to the back of the room • Use volume variation for emphasis • Pace: • Vary your speed – too fast is overwhelming; too slow is boring • Use brief silent pauses to emphasize a point • Jargon: • Avoid jargon, it isolates people • Many listeners won’t admit to not understanding and become lost

Asking Questions Ask open-ended questions Start with less risky questions before asking ”loaded” questions Direct questions toward quieter students to draw them out Fielding Questions Encourage questions Listen to the entire question Readily admit it if you don’t have an answer Managing Student Interactions – Questions

Facilitators need to work well with different personality types. • A simple model describes 4 behavioral styles: • Amiable style • Expressive style • Driver style • Analyst style • Recognizing others’ behavioral styles can help you determine how to “connect” with them. • Being aware of your own style, tells you how to compensate to work with others. • Good teams generally have people with a balance of styles.

Amiable Style (Supporting, People Style) • Irritated by insensitivity and impatience • Under pressure, an Amiable will submit Description • Casual but conforming • Maintain relationships, avoid confrontation • Want to be appreciated Do • Be friendly & show interest in them • Be prepared for casual conversation before getting down to business • Uncover their needs with open questions • Be alert for non-verbal cues of disagreement • Be informal Don’t • Get straight into the topic • Cause them to respond quickly • Dominate or control the call • Be rapid or abrupt • Keep offering opinions or increasing the complexity of the decision • Make wild claims • Be strictly factual 15

Expressive Style (Free Spirit) • Irritated by routine and boredom • Under pressure, an Expressive will go on the offensive or be cynical • More flamboyant • Dislikes any loss of prestige • Seeks recognition, and dislikes being ignored Description Do • Expect some socializing before business • Give your ideas about the process • Be enthusiastic and energetic • Be fast paced • Offer incentives Don’t • Control the call • Be controlled • Input too much detail • Socialize too much • Be unbending 16

Driver Style (Controlling or Leader) • Like to be in charge, seek productivity, and dislike loss of control • Want you to get to the point • Under pressure, Drivers will assert themselves strongly, and dictate the way things are going to be • Business-like and formal in appearance • Main priority is the task in hand, and the results achieved Description Do • Be well prepared • Get down to business quickly • Be specific • Provide alternatives • Be factual and succinct • Talk about results and outcomes • Avoid too much detail Don’t • Waste their time • Be vague and rambling • Get too personal • Be disorganized • Stray form the purpose of the call • Ask irrelevant questions • Make wild claims 17

Analytic Style (Processing or Task) • Irritated by unpredictability and surprises • Under pressure, an Analytic will withdraw into their own work, and avoid contact with the causes of stress • Somewhat formal and conservative • Main priority is the job at hand, and the process to achieve it • Seeks accuracy, and dislikes embarrassment Description Do • Be well prepared • Get straight down to business • Listen carefully • Be specific and logical • Be persistent and thorough when questioning • Be formal and unemotional when challenging • Give them time to provide point of view Don’t • Be disorganized and casual • Be late • Provide personal incentives • Push or coax • Use testimonials or opinions • Be flippant or gimmicky 18

You can recognize behavioral styles with these clues. 19

What’s your style? Working in your EZ Money teams, discuss the various behavioral styles of players on the team. As you’re trying to convince each other of the best solution for the future state, how will the styles impact you?

Argumentative Say “I respect your opinion and will be happy to continue this discussion after class.” Then ask them to keep an open mind during the rest of the class. Belligerent Confront them in class. Say you can see they have a problem with being in the class. Suggest that you discuss their issue during a break or at the end of the day and ask them to keep an open mind in the mean time. Difficult personalities require special handling. Know-it-all Acknowledge their expertise and enlist their help from time to time by asking for their input. Checked-out Approach them during a break. Tell them you notice their disinterest and ask the reason. If they have a legitimate issue that you can help to resolve, do so.

Manage behaviors that limit good discussion. • Quiet participants • Ask questions to draw them out • Appoint them as group leader of small-group exercise • Use techniques like silent brainstorming where they can participate • Talkative participants • Ask others in the class to respond to their comment • Create a “parking lot” flip chart for things that are off-topic • Break up the teams to minimize the impact of dominating participants • Move close to people having sidebar conversations.

Most facilitators will feel some anxiety. What causes nervousness? • Fear of making a mistake or looking foolish in front of people • Feelings of being judged • Not being comfortable with the content • Lack of self-confidence

Manage Your Nervousness • Be well-prepared • Test technology (phones, internet connections, etc.) • Have supplies on hand • Take a deep breath • Don’t talk about your nervousness • Focus on really connecting and establishing a rapport with the audience, especially during the first 10 or 15 minutes • Find a friendly face in the audience and make eye contact with them • It’s OK to admit you don’t know the answer to a question • Don’t take yourself too seriously – the audience doesn’t expect perfection, you shouldn’t either Simply following the agenda will result in benefits. Results improve with experience!

Brainstorming is an important aspect of the lean events you’ll facilitate. Brainstorming provides: • Fresh perspectives/new ideas • More options • Participation and inclusion • Consensus building

Brainstorming Fundamentals • Start with a problem/topic/issue • Often you can give participants a set of questions to brainstorm: What would dramatically reduce the time to do this process?, How you smooth peaks and valleys in demand? Etc. • Lay out ground rules & a time limit • Generate ideas • Ask students to post their ideas where they apply on the current state map • If there are no opportunities to address visible issues visible (hand-offs, defects, delays), do a second round of brainstorming.

Typical brainstorming ground rules • There are no dumb ideas. All ideas will be recorded. • Don't criticize other people’s ideas • Build on other people's ideas • Set a reasonable time limit • One person speaks at a time • No side comments or sarcasm • “Check your title at the door” Have participants help you set ground rules!

Many different brainstorming techniques are possible. • Individual posts without talking – great for quiet participants • Round robin with facilitator writing – ensures full participation • Open outcry with facilitator writing – many ideas, healthy team

Idea Generation Suggestions • Don't stop until ideas become sparse – allow for late-coming ideas • Go for quantity • You may need to stimulate ideas with a provocative question if you don’t have many ideas. • Don’t say things like “good idea” “interesting” etc – implies that any time you don’t say that the idea wasn’t as good

Assess ideas by affinitizing and prioritizing. • Affinitize • Categorize by logical groupings • Remove any duplicates • Prioritize • Selection matrix (e.g. Impact v. Difficulty) • Build action plans around high-priority ideas • Milestone • Owner • Due date

The Impact/Difficulty Matrix helps differentiate improvements. 1 DO THESE 19 11,12 26 Higher Impact 2,28 40,41 31,37 46 29 44 33 8,9,38 20,36 24 4 22 3,7 23 5 16 21 14 27 30 17 32 Lower Impact 10,35 34 6 13 18,25 Higher Difficulty Lower Difficulty

Other criteria in addition to impact and difficulty could be considered. Weight the criteria (scores must sum to 1) Set the scoring range (e.g. 1 to 5 where 1 is best and 5 is worst) Score each of the options. Calculate the total by multiplying the criteria weight by the option’s score for each of the criteria. Add them together to calculate the total. Determine the rank priority of the options.

Multi-voting is a relatively quick prioritization tool. • Multi-voting • Steps • Each participant gets the same number of “Votes” – represented by dots or stickers • Place as many votes as desired on the various options/groupings • The option/grouping with the most votes is the priority • Advantages • Quick • Build consensus

Brainstorming Exercise Idea Generation: • Let’s use the silent brainstorming technique. • Write 5 ideas for how you can entrench Lean in your department. (One idea per post it note) • Post these on the wall. Affinitization: • Reposition the post-its so similar ideas are grouped together. • Remove duplicates • Create category titles Prioritization: • Plot the ideas on an impact vs. difficulty matrix

Module 8 – Facilitation & Brainstorming