TOM JUSTICE is an organizational development practitioner and the president of Justice Associates, a consulting firm specializing in organizational capacity.

DAVID W. JAMIESON, PH.D., is department chair, Organization Learning Development, University of St. Thomas and coauthor of Managing Workforce 2000.

The Facilitator’s Fieldbook

step-by-step procedures checklists and guidelines samples and templatesBy Thomas Justice David W. Jamieson

AMACOM

Copyright © 2012 HRD Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8144-2008-9

Contents

Preface………………………………………………………………………..viiIntroduction……………………………………………………………………1Overview……………………………………………………………………….45Overview……………………………………………………………………….115Overview……………………………………………………………………….327Overview……………………………………………………………………….359Overview……………………………………………………………………….387Overview……………………………………………………………………….425Index………………………………………………………………………….465

Chapter One

Section I

PHASE I Preparation

Overview Facilitator Resources

Overview

Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit, and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.—AESOP, 6TH CENTURY B.C.

You can’t hatch chickens from fried eggs.—PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH PROVERB

The process of successful facilitation starts well before you actually begin facilitating a group. The thinking and action necessary for preparing a group session are just as important as the actual group facilitation. Poor preparation leads to poor meetings. In fact, most of the problems and difficulties that arise during the group sessions can be traced to some fault in the design or preparation of the session. Essentially, it is during preparation that contracts, agendas, group processes, and logistics are determined and/or clarified. Weaknesses in any of these elements will eventually lead to problems during the session, when correcting them will be difficult and a hindrance to the group’s success.

Good, effective preparation should produce the following outcomes:

1. The group is organized.

2. Membership is determined.

3. Purposes and outcomes are clear.

4. Roles are clarified.

5. Logistics are planned.

6. The facilitation work contract is clear.

7. Group, work, participants, and context are understood.

8. The agenda is determined and communicated.

THE EIGHT PRIMARY TASKS

In preparing to work with the group, you need to focus on eight primary tasks:

1. Establishing the contract for facilitation

2. Collecting information on context, work, and participants

3. Clarifying the group charter

4. Analyzing stakeholders

5. Selecting group members and the group leader

6. Building agendas for meetings

7. Publishing the agenda and disseminating information

8. Attending to meeting logistics

Task 1: Establishing the Contract for Facilitation

You must begin by establishing a contract with (a) the person or persons in the organization who are responsible for the group you are intending to facilitate, and (b) the person or persons who authorize or approve the group’s work.

The general purpose of the contract is to set the facilitation process up for success—to initiate solid planning for the process. More specifically, the purpose of the contract is to ensure the following:

• You understand what your clients expect from a facilitator and what they do not.
  • Your clients understand what you expect from them, how you work, and what they can expect from you.

    These expectations must be clearly stated, and in most cases, they must be specifically negotiated. Inadequate negotiation of expectations and agreements is a common cause of failure for facilitators. Take the time upfront to reach consensus on expectations, and remember: Adjust the extent of your negotiations according to whom you are dealing with and the situation at hand.

    Contract issues to keep foremost in mind include:

    • The need to establish such things as timelines and schedules. When will the work be completed? What will be the frequency and sequence of meetings? Decision paths and modes will have to be clarified.
      • The nature and membership of the group that you will be facilitating. (Although for complex or extended group work, membership is usually finalized upon completion of a stakeholder analysis.)
        • Follow-up work. This should be identified in clear terms.
          • How meeting proceedings will be documented; assignment of responsibilities for documenting those proceedings.
            • Costs. When applicable, costs must be established. You may need to help your clients identify costs in terms of both personnel time and actual dollars.
              • If you are working as an external consultant/facilitator, you will also need to establish an agreement for the cost of your work. Many internal facilitators also have a cost or fee charge-back system.
                • Initial role clarification

                  — The meeting leader role should be clarified, and a chair or task group leader should be identified. The meeting leader may, and in most cases should, function mostly as an equal member when conducting task group-style meetings.

                  — The role of group sponsor should be considered. Often, it is an asset to have a person with management authority sponsor a group and assist in moving group recommendations through the organization’s decision-making process. This sponsor is not required to attend meetings, but is enlisted for support before, during, and after the group’s work.

                  Once your planning is completed, you should have a basic contract established with the people whom you will be closely working with. It is good practice whenever possible to put the initial contract in writing. You will need to ensure that all parties are clear on your contract with them and to pursue the authorizations necessary to guarantee that you are able to complete the work.

                  By establishing some form of a contract, you come to know and understand the nature of the group you are dealing with as well as some of their values, fears, hopes, concerns, and expectations concerning the work ahead and your involvement as a facilitator.

                  Task 2: Collecting Information on Context, Work, and Participants

                  You will want to understand the context of the work you are about to do. This means that you must spend time gaining a better understanding of:

                  • The work of the group
                    • Who the participants are and what they’re like
                      • How the organization in which the work is being performed operates
                        • The expected outcomes
                          • How the meetings fit into what the organization is trying to accomplish

                            You will also want to gain an understanding of the organization’s broader history, mission, culture, issues, and crises, as well as the group’s history, role, and perceptions.

                            You may find it useful to interview all or some of the people who will be participating in the meetings. In more complex, longer-term facilitation contracts, you may want to set up some job-shadowing sessions with key people in the business so that you come to understand the business in a more experiential way. It will be helpful to get to know some things about the group members. Have they worked together before? Are they “willing” participants? What kinds of work styles, preferences, and personalities are included?

                            Task 3: Clarifying the Group Charter

                            In establishing the foundation for success, your first step is to conduct planning with the people you will be working with to help them clarify their purposes and outcomes for the meetings (or meeting). Two questions are paramount when you are approached for facilitation work:

                            1. What is the purpose of the meetings?

                            2. What are the outcomes for the meetings?

                            The best way to ensure that you keep on track later on, when facilitating, is to ask these questions upfront and stay focused on them throughout your work.

                            In formulating the group charter, you will need to consider the basic nature of the group you will be meeting with. There are numerous types of meetings: staff meetings, official board meetings, team meetings (e.g., management team, reengineering team), strategic planning sessions, quality circles, and work group meetings, to name but a few. Each type of meeting has its own set of standard “operating instructions”—procedures that optimize the meeting’s effectiveness. The wise facilitator will learn the distinctive features of each kind of meeting and operate in a way consistent with the basic purpose and instructions of a given meeting.

                            Working with an intact work group that has been regularly meeting for some time would call for a much different type of charter than would either a task force or a new team that has been formed for a specific planning or problem-solving purpose. Daniels (1993) has made a major contribution to our understanding of the distinctions between such groups in his discussion of regular meetings and task group meetings. (If you are not already familiar with these distinctions, you may find it helpful to review Guide I-15: Different Kinds of Meetings: Distinguishing “Task Forces” from “Regular Meetings.”) As the contract with your client (Task 1) should reflect the nature of the group, it should also reflect the distinctive features of the type of meeting in which you will be working.

                            Formulating the group charter is a very critical task. It creates the group’s reason for existence and what is expected from its work. In the early stages of forming the group, there is often ambiguity or multiple interpretations about the charter. Early facilitation of charter clarity among the key players will go a long way in helping the group reach its goals.

                            FOR MORE HELP, SEE FACILITATOR RESOURCES, SECTION I

                            Guide I-6: Developing a Group Charter Sample I-4: Meeting Agenda guide I-15: Different Kinds of Meetings: Distinguishing “Task Forces” from “Regular Meetings”

                            Task 4: Analyzing Stakeholders

                            Stakeholder analysis is a crucial component of the planning process. If any issue or problem is of such concern to your clients that they are seeking a facilitator to work with their group, then who gets involved is nearly always critical to success. Often, clients tend to narrowly define the membership for a meeting when it would be best to increase participation. When the issues are important, it is best to work with your primary client and a small planning group to perform a stakeholder analysis.

                            The stakeholder analysis is a way of finding out who has a vested interest in the impending work and the nature and significance of each interest. It is useful not only in determining group membership but also in identifying outside contributors—individuals who, though not group members, have much to offer by way of providing input, assisting data-gathering efforts, approving group issues, and the like.

                            FOR MORE HELP, SEE FACILITATOR RESOURCES, SECTION I

                            guide I-4: Stakeholder Analysis and group member Selection

                            Task 5: Selecting Group Members and the Group Leader

                            The facilitator needs to help the client create the best group composition for the task at hand. In selecting members, it is essential to look for individuals who have the data and expertise to move the group forward and who are critical to follow-up implementation; under-emphasis in this area is the most common mistake associated with membership selection. Those whom you choose should be chosen for one of these five reasons:

                            1. They are experts or have critical knowledge or data related to accomplishment of the purposes and outcomes of the meeting. They have content knowledge.

                            2. They know the effects that decisions made by the group may have on key persons or groups needed to implement the decisions. They have data related to the implementation of decisions.

                            3. They are in roles directly involved in implementation.

                            4. They have the ability to block decisions made by the group, and their buy-in is needed.

                            5. They possess personal characteristics or group process skills that will help the group move forward.

                            All five reasons can be valuable in different situations. It is important not to overemphasize any particular one. Many clients tend to overly stress the fourth reason when selecting members, yet the political selection of members does not necessarily lead to increased buy-in for the decisions of the group. If group members are selected politically, but do not have sufficient expertise, the group may become handicapped by their lack of content knowledge. There is at least some truth to the adage that “every group moves just as fast as its slowest member.” The political process of creating buy-in for group decisions can often be better managed through informal communications from meeting leaders and group sponsors to key stakeholders, or through formal review of group recommendations with managers, either individually or at meetings of management groups in the organization.

                            Task 6: Building the Agenda for the Meeting

                            Once your contextual understanding of the work is sufficient and the charter and participants are clarified, you are ready to proceed with the planning of your initial meeting with the group. You should build the first meeting agenda by working from the identified purposes and outcomes and crafting a careful, well-planned sequence of activities, including responsibility and time frames for each activity.

                            You will want to use two types of agendas:

                            1. A detailed agenda—known as a process facilitation agenda—for your use and that of the meeting leader(s)

                            2. A simple agenda for the use of the group members

                            In the process facilitation agenda, critical meeting processes are broken down into steps so that you and the meeting leader(s) clearly understand how the processes work. In the members’ agenda, the expected outcomes and the sequence of meeting activities are presented in a clear, brief fashion.

                            Both types of agendas vary in detail depending on who will be using them. The agendas should be developed with your client(s) or a small planning group who know the participants and organization culture.

                            FOR MORE HELP, SEE FACILITATOR RESOURCES, SECTION I

                            Guide I-10: Planning Meetings Sample I-4: Meeting Agenda

                            Task 7: Publishing the Agenda and Disseminating Information

                            Your agenda should be reviewed with, and approved by, your client in enough time so that it can be distributed to meeting participants beforehand, along with any information and materials (e.g., pre-reading, questionnaires, preparation instructions) relevant to the meeting. This will allow participants time to review the materials and to come prepared to the meeting. Pre-publication of the agenda is one of the effectiveness benchmarks of professional facilitation.

                            Task 8: Attending to Meeting Logistics

                            The handling of meeting logistics is a core competency for the effective facilitator. Failure to pay attention to logistical detail in the construction of meetings is likely to lead to the meeting’s failure to produce the intended results.

                            The physical arrangements of the meeting room are important considerations. The room should be right for the nature of the meeting, and it should be physically checked out in advance whenever possible. When this is not possible, details regarding the space and furniture arrangement need to be reviewed with the person in the organization who is responsible for making the arrangements. Equipment needs, break times, break set-ups, breakout rooms, temperature, and lighting all should be planned. The wise facilitator will learn to become fastidious about his or her involvement in these logistical issues.

                            When you are working with other facilitators, you will want to hold a briefing meeting to review the agenda, and to go over each process in sufficient detail, so they are comfortable with handling their facilitation assignments. You should usually count on such a briefing meeting taking about one-half of the total work time planned for the meeting.

                            Finally, these preparatory planning and contracting steps should not be considered over and done with. The planning and contracting processes are iterative. The wise facilitator will revisit them with clients on a regular basis throughout the process of the facilitation.

                            A checklist for meeting planning and a guide for room arrangements are included in Section I’s “Facilitator Resources.” You should review the checklist with your client (or his or her designate) sufficiently in advance so that you are not caught off guard with unexpected complications on the day of the meeting.

                            FOR MORE HELP, SEE FACILITATOR RESOURCES, SECTION I

                            Guide I-11: A Checklist for Meeting Planning Guide I-13: Meeting Room Designs

                            Careful, thorough preparation is a key success factor in enabling groups to succeed. The time invested in planning and preparing for the meeting is often the critical determiner of the effectiveness of the meeting.

                            When your facilitation involves a single event, you will move through the three phases—preparation, working with the group, and follow-up—only once. However, when you are facilitating an ongoing process, you will continually cycle through some tasks in preparation and follow-up each time you work with the group. The tasks may vary from time to time depending on the nature of the next meeting or event.

                            (Continues…)

                            
                            Excerpted from The Facilitator’s Fieldbookby Thomas Justice David W. Jamieson Copyright © 2012 by HRD Press. Excerpted by permission of AMACOM. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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