I call these “The 12 Rules and Guidelines of Proactive/Confrontational Facilitation for the PACT Processes for T&D.”

They are:

1. Go Slow to Go Fast.

2. Be Declarative.

3. Write Stuff and Post It.

4. Be Redundant by Design.

5. Use the Four Key Communications Behavior Types.

6. Review and Preview.

7. Write It Down and Then Discuss It.

8. Use Humor.

9. Control the Process and the Participants.

10. Be Legible on the Flip Chart.

11. Beware of Group-Think.

12. Assign Parking Lot Valets.

The 4th of these is covered in more detail in the following text.

Read them. Learn them! Practice them! Use them.

4. Be Redundant by Design
All marketers know that for a message to penetrate the psyche of the receiver and convey the intent of the message, it will need to be repeated . . . and repeated . . . and repeated.

Enough said?

I don’t think so.

If you’ve said it once, you’ll probably need to say it again.

And then repeat it again.

This becomes a problem for those who are quicker on the uptake. Just as group-paced, traditional training is usually held hostage by the slowest in the group, so too are meetings. More on this later.

Active Listening – Applied to Facilitation
You know – paraphrasing what someone else said to “check for understanding” and/or “summarize” – so that you/someone can move on. So that they know that you know! And that everyone else knows too (this might require a round-robin of summarize your understanding – potentially putting everyone/someone on “the spot” – not a good practice for a facilitator.

Because the facilitator isn’t the only one responsible for moving the meeting along.

Playing to the Quick or the Slow?
Back to Quick versus Slow.

Those who get it quicker will get irritated with you for thinking they didn’t get it sooner. Because you are being “so” redundant that YOU MUST THINK THAT THEY DON’T GET IT!!!

This is tricky.

Who do you play to: the quick or the slow?

I play to the slow. If I sense that some individuals are getting annoyed with me for this, I talk with them on break and enlist them in my efforts to get everyone else on board. They are usually way cool with it, because they’re in on it and know that I know it’s not them! (I told you this was tricky!)

Usually they will step in during my next bout of “redundantitis,” and help me explain my point.

Often they have better command of the group’s language and jargon and can provide better examples, non-examples, and analogies that may actually cause the cognitive breakthrough I was struggling to create. The whole group breathes a collective sigh of relief when they all get it or know that everyone else has finally gotten it and that I will quit beating them over the head with it.

I could let my own ego get in the way and not create the tension that redundancy by design causes by saying it once and moving on. But having been burned by that, I have learned to face the short-term wrath of the group in order to ensure that the train is moving ahead with everyone on board.

Also, some of your clients may feel that since they get it (they are often in our same business and naturally want and try to get it ASAP), everyone else must have, too. They may make the mistake of thinking that your redundancy is no longer tolerable because they see the quicker “learners” of the group squirming. But they aren’t often in a position to read the clues and cues in everyone’s eyes as you are from center stage. Balancing the clients’ needs to keep the group happy and see progress without getting impatient can be tricky.

You’ll need to determine when it’s safest to proceed―when you can leave someone behind conceptually. When will it do little or great damage to your next steps? Will it cause problems in these next steps, will it cause rework, will it cause greater frustration in the rest of the group, will it then destroy any group “teamness” that may be starting to form? Tricky, eh?

Next…or really…later…

In the future we’ll cover the remaining 8 rules/guidelines — one-by-one until done!

In the future we’ll cover the remaining 8 rules/guidelines — one-by-one until done!

In the future we’ll cover the remaining 8 rules/guidelines — one-by-one until done!

Cheers!

– Sourced and edited/embellished from Appendices C of: “lean-ISD” – a book by Guy W. Wallace – available as a free 404 page PDF at http://www.eppic.biz/

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