Hassle-Free Facilitation Skills
By Michael A. Podolinsky

The CEO asks you to facilitate an upcoming meeting. "No problem," you respond. After all, you are the head of training. "What's the objective and who's attending?" "We want to get engineering and sales to agree on the new proto-type design. All sales executives, design and electrical engineers and the heads of both production plants in Singapore and Malaysia will be present. Oh, yes, three of our key customers from Argentina wanted to sit in. They say if this doesn't work they are going to pull their orders. You can handle this can't you?" asks the boss.

Three problems: One, you know NOTHING about engineering, design or sales. Two, every person attending is senior to you in the company or their own organisation and the intimidation factor can be unbearable. Three, if this doesn't work, it will probably cost you and a couple hundred of your colleagues their jobs.

"No problem boss!" you respond. Why no problem? You have control of the eight essentials of facilitation. They are as follows:

One: Know the players
Two: Know the goal
Three: Know the environment
Four: Know yourself and your limitations
Five: Know how to set the ground rules
Six: Know how to define the roles
Seven: Know how to make peace
Eight: Know how to get consensus for action

1. Having taught facilitation skills for years at the Singapore and Malaysian institutes of management, KOMAG (The largest manufacturer of disk drive materials) and a host of organisations on 5 continents, I've learned the number one thing a good facilitator needs is to get to know the players. If you know what they want, how they want it, what compromises they will and won't make, their temperaments, idiosyncrasies and past performance, facilitation is a breeze. Why? You can plan for energy, where they will sit or stand, how to get cooperation, etc.
   

   How do you get all this information? You don't. I was describing an ideal situation. In 25 years of training and facilitating, I've never had one yet. BUT, you can get a lot of this information by surveying, personal interviews, asking all departments what they expect, who would oppose them and why, what would be their ideal situation and what compromises would they be willing to make.
   

   "But Mike, I heard all facilitators were supposed to do was remain neutral and not interfere." Yea, that's the current thought. They also believe you let the process take as long as it takes. I don't know of anyone or any company that has that kind of time. My form of proactive facilitation is a combination of facilitation skills, negotiations and organisational consultancy. Get the MOST accomplished in the shortest period of time.
   

2. Know the goal you want to achieve. It's usually 90% of what the boss asks for and 5% of what everyone else wants and 5% of your own vision. To make sure all parties are happy, again, make sure you ask directly, put it in writing and on some occasions hand it out ahead of time. The only reason you do not want to have everybody know the goal up front is when it would create some resentment and animosity because they have not come far enough along in the process.
   

3. Get to know the environment in which you will be facilitating. A room that's too warm will create lethargy or hostility. A cold room will keep them awake but may cause them to lose focus. Comfortable chairs, adequate lighting, any support AV needed, the type of tables or lack of them each changes the dynamics of the facilitation.
   

   Think of more than the physical environment as well. Do you have exercises for them to get involved in to take the tension off? Do you plan any breaks for some REAL compromise to take place in the rest rooms? (I'm serious. One company changed it's site in favor of more "private" privies and ruined its processing power). Control the physical, mental, social, dietary environments or they will control you and your process.
   

4. Get to know yourself and your limitations. Lau Tzu, in The Great Learning wrote, "He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise." Can you stand up to the boss? If yes, do it. If not, maybe get someone else to do it for you who has the clout or moxy. If you have a personality conflict with someone in the group, position yourself away from them or maybe find a way to make them an ally, if only for the process. If you are afraid you can't do the job, don't take it on. I'm serious. Get someone else to carry the ball for you who's got the experience. (Unless, of course, you've been polishing up the old resume and feel confident about the prospects out there.)
   

5. Know how to set the ground rules. Most facilitations break down because the participants did not know or understand the ground rules. A simple set of ground rules like the following can make the facilitation process a success and you a hero to your boss.
   
   1. The process must be fair. No one must be taken advantage of in the process. If at any time you feel you are being unfairly treated, you have perfect permission to stop the process and tell me of that fact. Well take time then to discuss the issue.
      

   2. I am not in charge of the facilitation, you are. I'm merely here to help the process flow smoothly.
      

   3. We will have time limits to accomplish the overall goal and individual segments.
      

   4. We will respect all members of this process, regardless of any personal feelings. Hence, no personal attacks, name calling or making fun of anyone's ideas. If I hear any of this going on, I will call it to the attention of the offending party(ies) and stop it at once.
      

   5. We are to stay on task. Since we all are busy professionals, if it appears to me we are deviating off the assigned task, I will ask you if the track you are on is essential to accomplishing the goal. It will be up to you to determine if my observation is accurate.
      

   6. If we become hostile or unproductive, I'll redirect or give you another short term task.
      

   7. Now before we start, I need everyone's commitment to agree to the above rules. (If someone objects, deal with it by compromise or consensus.) Without ground rules like this, you can be in a HEAP of trouble in short order. WITH a set of rules, all you have to do is stick to them and you can control even a relatively hostile situation.
   
   

6. Know how to define the roles. It's a good idea to start with your role. If you are a technical expert who can add advice or insights, let them know that up front as part of your role. If not, tell them you know NOTHING about what they will be discussing, but you know people and the facilitation process. As such you will be relying on them for the content and your role is to manage the process.
   

   Next, define their roles. Introductions if they are not fully informed about everyone there can be helpful. If they know each other well, describe their roles as you see it to help clarify what each one is trying to accomplish. This may seem simplistic, but helps to maintain that simplistic focus instead of getting into a lot of side issue.
   

7. Know how to make peace. If you can get your team to work PEACEFULLY toward an end, you will have accomplished much of your task. When there is conflict, find common ground. "Hey, wait a minute. Let's look at what we've accomplished so far..." "I see you are getting upset, but as I see it, your positions are not that far off. For now, can we switch to the "X" point and come back to this later?" A break may be in order. Talk to a couple people during the break. Be the peacemaker and have a successful facilitation.
   

8. Get consensus for action. Remember consensus is NOT voting. In a vote, someone is always upset. Consensus takes a lot of times to either get them to agree with your point or they agree to yours. Since you do not have unlimited time, consider voting on minor issues (when to take breaks) but ALWAYS strive for consensus on the majors.
   

   You also have to be able to get them to take action. NEVER say, "What do you think?" Thinking is cerebral. You want them to act. Instead, the most magical phrase I've ever heard and used a million times since is, "The next step is..." Wow! It leads them along and you can make whatever suggestion you want and most of the time they agree and act accordingly.