Mastering Facilitation

1. Mastering Facilitation Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology & Radiological Science Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore Maryland Peg Cooper, Radiology Operations Administrator, MBA

2. Introduction • It is impossible to be part of an organization today and not be involved …… • Staff meetings • Project meetings • Task force meetings • Committee meetings • The list is endless….. • Often these meetings are poorly run, waste your valuable time & do not involve the key players.

3. Introduction • With the increase amount of time spent in meetings & in many situations needing to achieve goals in teams, itbecomes essential to have expert facilitation skills. • Historically, facilitation was often viewed as a skill mastered & handled by our human resource staff. • Facilitation skills are now a core competency for both leaders & employees.

4. Agenda • Overview of Facilitation • Core Practices • Process Tools • Case Study

5. Learning Objectives • By the end of this session, participants will be able to: • Understand the benefits of having facilitation as a core competency for both leaders & staff. • Define facilitation terminology. • Describe the key skills required to master facilitation.

6. Success is how high you bounce, when you hit bottom. George S. Patton

7. Why Learn Facilitation? • Achieve more effective results, when solutions are created, understood, and accepted by the people impacted. • Accept that change is the only constant in the workplace. • Chaos of constant change requires the entire team to participate & contribute their skill, knowledge, & expertise. • Adapt to the new workplace. • Roles of leaders & employees continue to change.

8. Why Learn Facilitation? • Changing role for the employee • “Partnership” relationship that is cultivated between leaders & employees. • Many organizations there is an expectation for employees to become involved & make meaningful contributions. • Teams are highly utilized in organizations. • Requires skills to communicate, collaborate, make group decisions, & problem solve together. • Employees want to be involved in decisions.

9. Why Learn Facilitation? • Changing role for the leader • Remember - what brings down a good decision. • The People! • Often due because they did not support, understand, or were involved in the decision making process. • Decisions are made more by consensus & collaboration. • Majority of decisions require the support of team members to be implemented. • Develop skills to move from controlling to facilitating style of leadership.

10. What is a Facilitator? • Provides leadership to others through a process, without taking the “reins”. • Leads a fair & open discussion without advocating a particular point of view. • Assist members to define & reach goals. • Able to get others to assume responsibilities & take the lead.

11. Role of Facilitator • Motivator • From the opening statement to closing words. Ability to ignite a fire within the group, establish momentum, & keep the pace. • Questioner • Listens carefully to the discussions. Learns to quickly analyze, compare comments, & formulate questions that help manage the group decisions. • Bridge Builder • Create & maintain a safe & open environment for sharing ideas.

12. Role of Facilitator • Clairvoyant • Watch for signs of strain, aggravation & disempowerment. • Respond & take action to manage conflict or avoid dysfunctional behavior. • Notice what is NOT said, as well as what IS said. • Taskmaster • Responsible for keeping session on track & group focused on goals. • Praiser • Every opportunity, praise & encourage participants.

13. Core Practices Team engagement Establish rules & guidelines Summarize clearly Active listening Ask questions Group dynamics Conflict resolution Consensus Process Tools Brainstorming Force-Field Analysis Gap Analysis Dot Voting Nominal Voting Process Mapping Reverse Brainstorming Root-Cause Analysis Six Thinking Hats SWOT Analysis Facilitation Skills

14. Team Engagement • Facilitating in any situation would be easy if….. • You could just say a single word & team members would immediately understand what needs to be done, then jump into action. • Key to being a great facilitator is to learn ways to focus & energize the team, so they to want to be part of the solution. • Successful facilitators learn how to engage the team by using the “rules of engagement.”

15. Rules of Engagement • How does the facilitator engage others in the work? • Facilitators need to help create a strong, common purpose for the group. • If team members cannot identify the benefits of getting involved; then nothing will be accomplished, except meeting attendance & grudging compliance. • Engaging your team involves creating a culture that conveys respect & appreciation for their input & contributions.

16. Rules of Engagement • Create a safe environment where honest feelings can be shared, ideas evaluated, & differences respected. • Regardless of position, influence, or connections. • Employees need to feel comfortable & protected enough to say what is on his/her mind. • Employees will pick up signals quickly that their input is really not desired, therefore remain quiet, listening, & very passive.

17. Meetings • Preparation & planning • Decide what methods & tools to use/provide. • Formulate agenda that includes: • Allocated times for each agenda item. • Select a meeting space conducive to the • Type of meeting & number of participants.

18. Meetings • Format • Be friendly & enthusiastic, set a positive tone, plan to have fun! • Explain your role as the facilitator. • Start/end on time, assign a timekeeper, & scribe. • Generate Ground Rules & Parking Lot list. • Utilize “Ice-Breakers. • Summarize any action items at the end of the meeting.

19. Ground Rules • Establish & set expectations • Establish ground rules at your first meeting. • Ensure the group stays on track & refocus any inappropriate behavior or conflict. • Post or distribute ground rules at future meetings. • Opportunity to engage your audience • New teams, first opportunity to participate. • Seasoned teams, can help establish new expectations.

20. Ground Rules • Opening question for establishing ground rules • When you attend meetings, what lights your fire and what burns you up? • Examples • Arrive on time & be ready to end on time • Allow one person to talk at one time • Respect differences • Stay focused on the topic • See conflict as a learning experience • Be an active listener • HAVE FUN!!

21. “Parking Lot” List • Technique used to acknowledge issues that do not pertain to the current topic or discussion. • Helps the group to “hold the thought”, so the idea is acknowledged, but not addressed at that moment. • Utilized if the group or individuals start to get off track. • Do not use this technique, as a way to avoid a topic or issue. • Document the information & ensure follow-up on the issue.

22. Ice-Breakers • Warm-up activity to “break the ice”! • Helps people to get to know each other. • Creates a positive group atmosphere. • Energize & motivates the group. • Helps to focus staff on “the moment”. • Immediately involves the group. • Examples • Variety of quick, fun interactive games. • Use to introduce yourself or team members.

23. My Ice-Breaker • Why the “S” on Johns? • Johns Hopkins(1795 to 1873) • Named “Johns” after his great-grandmother's maiden name, Mary Johns. • Mr. Hopkins donated $7M in 1873 to build a combined hospital & university. • First time a hospital & university were linked together. • Johns Hopkins Radiology Dept • 1,000 employees. • Perform 400,000 exams annually.

24. Group Ice-Breaker “Have You Ever”?

25. Active Listening • Goal of active listening is to improve mutual understanding. • Using active listening skills, the listener checks with speaker to ensure that a statement was correctly heard & understood. • Often when people talk to each other, they do not listen attentively. • You could be distracted, half listening or thinking about something else.

26. Active Listening • Active listening essential, especially during conflict. • Individuals are often busy formulating a response to what is being said. • Rather than paying attention or listening, the individual is focused on how they can respond to win the argument.

27. Active Listening • Reflect or paraphrase the message. • Verifies the message by repeating it back to the speaker. • Clarifies any wrong interpretation. • Re-state in your own words by starting out with • “Let me see if I have this straight”. • “Have I understood you correctly”? • Remember about nonverbal communication • Facial expressions like smiles, gestures, eye contact, and even your posture can communicate information.

28. Ask Questions • One of the most important skills to utilize. • Questions can be used to test assumptions, invite participation, gather information & probe for hidden points. • Effective questions encourage participates to think beyond the symptom & get to the root cause. • If a facilitator learns how to ask better questions, they can help the team come up with better answers every time. • Variety of different ways to “ask questions”.

29. Open Ended Questions • Probe with questions…. • “How did that make you feel”? • “What happened next”? • “Can you tell me more”? • Encourages the speaker to talk. • Allows for a variety of responses & helps to gain a better understanding.

30. Starting Questions • Lead off your discussion with a “starting question” that will ignite the group. • Start with a “image” building phase, such as • Think about…..Imagine……If…….Consider…….. • Leading off with these words in a question, put participants into the scenario & can help them “see” the answers. • Example • Non-facilitator - “We need to improve the hiring process”. • Facilitator - “If one of your employees leave tomorrow, what actions would you take to hire another person”?

31. Reacting Questions • If you start asking questions, then participants typically begin to respond!! • Non-facilitator will often respond back with a statement. • Facilitator will ask another question. • Reacting questions • Provide ways for facilitators to help keep the team focused, engaged, & on track…..all by simply asking additional questions.

32. Reacting Questions

33. Reacting Questions

34. Reacting Questions

35. Reacting Questions

36. Conflict Management

37. Conflict Management • Facilitator has the responsibility for assisting the group to recognize & work through conflict. • Think of conflict, as an opportunity to provide information or educate the individual. • Always keep in mind that difference of opinions are not only inevitable, but vital for making good decisions.

38. Conflict Management • Conflict is about how you manage it, not about the conflict. • Sources of conflict • Uncertainty • Who is doing what • Difference in beliefs • Power & control • Lack of understanding • Personalities & different or hidden agendas • Unresolved prior issues

39. Avoidance Lose/Lose Accommodation Lose/Win Compromising Win some/Lose some Competing Win/Lose Collaboration Win/Win Facilitator’s preferred approach, used 65% in conflict situations. Using this method encourages the group to work together to find the best solution for all members. Conflict Management Styles

40. Personality Types of Participants • Indecisives • Experts • Super-agreeable • Silent-unresponsives • Complainers • Negativitists • Hostile-agressives

41. Strategies for Indecisives • Delay decision making. • Bring issues out in the open & make it easy for them to be direct. • Help them solve problems. • Watch for signs that the pressure to make a decision may be overloading them. • Give them lots of support after they finally make a decision.

42. Strategies for Experts • Knows everything. • Listen to & acknowledge what they say. • Have documentation to support your subject matter & thoughts. • Avoid being a counter-expert.

43. Strategies for Super-agreeables • Often are not reliable on follow-up. • Do not allow them to make unrealistic commitments that they cannot fulfill. • Create an environment where honesty is welcomed. Sometimes they do not agree, but are afraid to tell you.

44. Strategies for Silent-unresponsive • Answers all questions with yes/no. Hardest to read. • Ask open ended questions. • Pause for long periods, inviting them to fill the void. • Discuss one-on-one after the meeting. • Do not place them in an uncomfortable situation.

45. Strategies for Complainers • Listen even through it may be difficult. • Acknowledge by paraphrasing the complaints. • DO NOT agree with the complaints. • Be prepared to interrupt & take control of the situation (individuals love to ramble). • Use limiting responses & keep to specific topic.

46. Strategies for Negativists • Object to everything. • Avoid getting drawn into their attitude. • Do not agree with them. • Be patient. • Be prepared to take on the project with support from others.

47. Strategies for Hostile-aggressive • Try to bully you. • Stand up for yourself, without being threatening. • Give them time to run down. • Speak from your point of view. • Stay positive.

48. Group Dynamics • Individuals can react and behave differently in group settings. • Understand the how & why of these interactions, in order to adapt your facilitation style to the group.

49. Group Dynamics • Side conversations • Disrupting meeting with side conversations. • Possible solutions • Ask participant to share their idea with the group. • Casually walk near the participants having the conversation. • Ask the participant to serve as scribe or to lead the discussion.

50. Group Dynamics • Personal attacks • Group member takes “pot shots” at other members. • Possible solutions • Apply gentle humor. • Restate ground rules. • Confront individual directly. • If continues, talk to individual after meeting.