Facilitation II

Some skills, attitudes and approaches for facilitating meetings.

In brief

The facilitator’s primary task is to guide the meeting toward the objectives. You do this by:

Keeping discussion to time.
Managing disagreement by interrupting unhelpful conversation, summarizing the viewpoints and consensus and putting topics in the Parking Lot.
Ensuring that the loudest voices don’t set the tone of the meeting and supporting quieter voices in having an equal platform.
Ensuring that decisions and actions are documented.
Carefully listening and watching - being empathetically present.

Who is the meeting facilitator?

The facilitator is (ideally) the acknowledged “leader” of the meeting. They are not necessarily the person who is presenting at the meeting or speaking on the topics, although for many meetings the facilitator is also the person doing planning, preparation and presentation.

For some kinds of meetings it may be as simple as having the most senior person in the room as the unspoken facilitator. Many of these facilitation behaviours can be done in a semi-formal capacity by someone with authority, to help a meeting proceed smoothly.

You might also notice people doing this informally.

Things to do before the meeting

1. Arrange a scribe

If the type of meeting needs a scribe. Short, frequent meetings won’t need a scribe and the facilitator can jot down notes.

Organise this before the meeting. Don’t always choose the same person. If you do have any women in your meeting, remember that women are traditionally delegated the note-taking job, so be careful of that default. Anyone at any level can be a scribe.

The scribe is expected to jot down the decisions and actions of this meeting and not be biased. Share these notes with the participants after the meeting.

Others may also take notes for their own purposes, that is ok.

2. Decide on the objective and purpose of the meeting

This doesn’t need to be stated at the beginning of every meeting, especially for short quick ones. It’s important for the facilitator to keep it in mind, so that they can guide the meeting toward that objective. Some good reasons to share it upfront are:

This is a new or infrequent meeting.
This is a long meeting.
There are new participants.
People simply need a reminder.

3. Prepare a schedule

For a very short and frequent meeting this may be as simple as having a start-time and end-time. For longer meetings put in sufficient blocks of time for each topic, time to summarize sections, and time to collaboratively decide on actions and outcomes. Don’t forget to make time for breaks. Leave a few minutes to process any Parking Lot items (see below.)

Most importantly:

Stick to the schedule. Meetings far more often run over time because of unnecessary repetition and argument. Having an end time for a topic gives you the power to say “we are out of time for this discussion, let’s park it.”

Be flexible. Lean on your experience. The schedule is for the participants, not the participants for the schedule.

4. Choose a format

Most meetings use a default format: “get everyone together and talk about the topic.” For most meetings this is fine (with suitable facilitation.) For some meetings you might find that a different or more rigid structure will lead to improved outcomes.

Some questions to ask if you are evaluating your meeting format:

Does this meeting need a lot of different or creative ideas?
Is there a strong potential for conflict?
Is there a strong potential for groupthink?

I’ve used Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats as an alternative, ideating format here; there are of course many more.

Things to do during the meeting

1. Amplify quieter voices

Not everyone is bold and ready to speak up. A good facilitator pays attention to all participants and looks to make space for quiet people to speak.

There are a few ways to know when to do this:

They haven’t said anything yet.
They started saying something but stopped because someone else was speaking.
They sit up in their chair, expecting to add to something.

Don’t hesitate to ask someone who has been saying a lot to hold on for a moment to let a quiet person speak. In a lull you can also say “What do you think x?” to give them a platform.

Don’t nag though. Sometimes people are quiet because they genuinely have nothing to say, or they don’t feel safe doing so for reasons that can’t be addressed in the meeting.

2. Talk less

Facilitation is a full-time role. It takes a lot of focus to listen carefully to those talking, while also paying close attention to the body language of every participant while also internally summarizing multiple viewpoints for later reflection. If you’re thinking about how to phrase your own opinion or respond to an argument you won’t be listening to what the meeting is saying. It is difficult wanting to respond but not saying anything. You are far more effective being a strong facilitator, channelling useful conversations and guiding participants toward the objectives. A clearly biased or involved facilitator reduces trust and safety in the meeting.

3. Ensure alignment before moving on by summarizing

You can do a lot to maintain the flow of the meeting by regularly summarizing the points made. Doing this will give participants the opportunity to agree, and to clarify what they have said. This is also a tool for ensuring alignment; participants won’t always agree completely, or will sometimes be saying the same thing but with different words, thinking they are not understood. As the facilitator you can summarize what’s been said, gain agreement if necessary and move on if the topic has had sufficient discussion.

Knowing when and how to do this is an art in itself. Some tips:

listen carefully to what everyone is saying, picking out key phrases and points.
Try to summarize using the words and phrases shared in the room.
Be careful of summarizing in a way that appears biased to a specific point-of-view (if that is a concern.) Using different words can help here.
Don’t be afraid to say that you don’t understand completely, but you are having a go at it. Let participants clarify your summary, and then repeat what they have said, looking for agreement.
Don’t be afraid to interrupt participants who are repeating themselves. There may not be a natural lull.

4. Watch for repeating topics

Sometimes participants will bring up something that has previously been discussed / has had tacit agreement / has actions ready to go, in an effort to belabour a point or change the outcome.

Don’t entertain this behaviour, instead gently guiding them back to the topic. If it’s too much of a sticking point for them then put it in the Parking Lot. You may have to be a little awkward about interrupting them, for the benefit of the meeting.

5. Watch for soap-boxing

A participant might end up using the captive audience to give a speech, argue a hobby topic of theirs, or generally try to “take over” the meeting. It’s your job as facilitator to gently guide them back to the topic or put it in the Parking Lot.

This can be difficult to challenge. A participant might be unable to explain a point succinctly, instead needing to draw the whole picture they see in their head, which could involve long stories or needless detail. Summarizing a topic, or even getting to the point, is a skill that not all participants will have. A skilled facilitator can help a participant focus in on the topic or the point of their soap-boxing with targeted questions. You might ask:

What is the connection with “the topic” ?
How about starting with your recommendation, then we can work backwards to understand your thinking?
Can you draw a diagram of that on the whiteboard?
We have “n” minutes left on this topic, if you could give us the 2 minute summary of what you are thinking that would be very useful.

They may well respond negatively to your questioning, but gently ignore their display of emotion. Your role is to guide the meeting, and that is exactly what you are doing.

6. Manage conflict

You may find participants becoming more heated or frustrated in their disagreement. Displays of emotion are perfectly acceptable, and you don’t need to quickly jump in to cut it short or set the tone right.

Some questions to consider in deciding how to respond:

Is there a significant power dynamic at play?
Is at least one of the parties managing the interpersonal conflict?
Are there signs of escalating conflict?
Are any of the parties side-tracking?
Is it becoming personal?

Your priority here is to de-escalate unhealthy conflict and help the conversation move towards the meeting goals. If you decide you need to take action here are some possible actions you might take:

Help parties explain themselves better - use “Yes, and” or “What I hear you saying is” here. Rephrase into neutral or objective language. Solicit agreement with your summary.
Make space for others in the room. You could even call out individuals. Bringing in a peace-maker or adding an alternate view can de-escalate conflict—but be aware it may not!
Step in and halt or Park the conversation. This is likely to be awkward.
If the situation has become especially tense, take a few minutes break. This level of heat is a relatively rare situation to be in, and the strong feeling and unmet needs they brought to the meeting can’t be dealt with in the moment—they are beyond the scope of your responsibility as a facilitator (and beyond the scope of this document.)

7. Enable conflict

After writing about de-escalating conflict it may seem odd to suggest enabling conflict. Conflict in itself is not negative and disagreement and discussion can lead to better outcomes. If “conflict” is too strong a word here then think of it as “enabling disagreement.” Some groups may struggle to open up and engage because they are afraid to be disagreeable.

Some questions to consider if you are sensing this situation:

Is there only one powerful voice talking?
Would additional viewpoints or insights expand the quality of discussion? The negative alternative here is side-tracking, distraction or even negative conflict, which you don’t want to encourage.
Is the group learning anything new or merely rehashing the same ideas?
Do you have insight into feelings and thoughts the group (or individuals) have, that are not being aired when this is the platform for them?

If you decide you want to enable more disagreement, then try:

During a pause, verbally open the floor to the rest of the group - e.g. “What does everyone else think?”
Call out an individual - e.g. “Other Person, you’ve mentioned topic in the past, what do you think?”
You may need to interrupt the powerful voice to open up the floor - e.g. “Thank you Person those are good points, what does … think?”
Directly question the groupthink - e.g. “Is this the best way we can solve this?” or “What would we do differently if we had more time/money/etc?” Thinking exercises can help you structure these conversations, although pre-preparation, teaching and strong leading will likely be required (see “Choose a format”.)

8. Use the Parking Lot

The Parking Lot is a space to acknowledge topics that are out of scope of the meeting. The facilitator gets enough agreement that the topic is out of scope, and writes it down in the Parking Lot. This can be a space on the whiteboard or pinboard if you are using either of those.

At the end of the meeting look at each Parking Lot item and ask whether (and how) they need to be turned into an action. This is probably best done as part of the broader Actions analysis.

Often the Parking Lot items don’t seem as important as they did in the middle of the meeting. Deal with that with kindness and understanding.

9. Take breaks

While you probably have scheduled breaks in place, take stock of the energy of the room. If participants look worn out, or an argument is going on too long, consider making some time for a few minutes break. It can be enough to give a stalled discussion a fresh start.

Good luck!