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The Electronic Discussion on
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The Electronic Discussion on
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Faciliation Tools and Processes
From the Electronic Discussion on Group
Facilitation
www.albany.edu/cpr/gf/
Compiled
by Mary Margaret Palmer
(to
give it it's full title) -
Spencer
(1989) Purpose is to:
-
provide the questioner with a framework which is based on Kolb's
experiential learning model
-
enable participants to reflect on an event or commonly shared
experience and to interpret the experience
and decide what to do
as a result.
The
facilitator leads the group by preparing, then asking questions to
which
the group respond.
There are
four stages (which we in Perth, Western Australia, have
abbreviated
to SAID but Spencer, 1989 uses the acronym ORID) - let me explain.
Stages:
(look at the first letters of each stage)
1.
Situation
2.
Affective Domain (feelings)
3.
Interpretation of Events
4.
Decision (what are you going to do as a result?)
Outcomes:
the group develops a shared understanding of the event and
the
desired outcomes.
Ref:
Spencer,L. (1989) Winning through
participation - meeting the
challenge
of corporate changes with the technology of participation.
Kendall
Hunt Publishing Company: Iowa, USA
Kolb,
D.A. (1984) Experiential learning
experience as the source of
learning
and development. Prentice Hall Inc: Englewood Cliff, New Jersey
provides
a structure for effective communication
that is
based on our natural thinking processes.
The facilitator directs
the
thinking of the group towards making a decision using a sequence of
specific
questions that takes them through the four levels of awareness:
objective,
reflective, interpretive, and decisional.
The
purpose of this process is to - enable participants to think
holistically
and contingently.
Basically
it goes like this:
1. Participants
bring a question which is based on previous material.
2. The
question must fit the following 10 guidelines:-
a.
provide the basis for group discussion
b. not
be simply factual
c. be
central to the shared reading material
d. open
to a variety of interpretations
e. be
concisely worded
f. be
easily understood
g. not
be ambiguous
h.
require reflection before answering
i.
relate to the course (training, etc)
j. be
open (more than a yes/no response)
3.
Participants form groups (6-8 people), discuss their questions and
pick
their "best question"
4. Two
teams are randomly picked to submit their question to two other
randomly
selected teams. The latter leave the
room and prepare answers.
5. The
two questions are graded by the remaining people in terms of the
criteria
outlined in 2.
6. Two
teams return and present their answers.
The whole group then
discuss
the answer.
7. Time
allocated for the whole exercise is ten minutes (believe me - you
can do
it!)
8. Questions
are graded by the group and the lecturer (facilitator)
Ref:
Delbecq, A. (1992) Firing Line. Handout from the Organisational
Behaviour
Teaching Conference, University of Calgary, Canada, June 1992.
The
last "tool" takes some getting used to but it gives participants the
opportunity
to test their questions - after all, poor questions usually
elicit
poor responses (implications for continuous improvement and
the
whole TQM process).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
Andrea Tannenbaum, IntraGroup Dynamics
(Originally
posted under the thread Facilitator's Toolkit)
I think
it
was
developed by Disney studios originally, and it got tweaked along the
way. This technique is utilized for planning
actions (or stories). It
can be
used for 'simple' projects, or complex efforts.
Compression
Planning:
- start
with a concise statement (e.g. what are the steps to....)
- the
answer is brainstormed.
- Similar
to clustering, the ideas can then be grouped, but the process
is much more controlled. Headers are created for each grouping. You
should be able to go backwards (if I do all
these *headers*...will I have
*concise statement*?).
- The
process is then repeated within each grouping, with subheaders
identifying distinct processes that add up
to the header.
- and
repeated again, until you have as much detail as is necessary.
The end result looks something like an
organization chart.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
Sandor P. Schuman
S.Schuman@albany.edu Albany,
New York
An
excellent source for processes and techniques is:
VanGundy,
Arthur B. Jr. (1988). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
He
reviews about 110 structured techniques organized into the following
categories:
Redefining
and analyzing problems
Generating
ideas
Evaluating
and selecting ideas
Implementing
ideas
Eclectic
and miscellaneous techniques
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
"ChRoseW" <rwentz@casey.org>
One
additional facilitor process you could add to your list.
1. Bring together a group of people interested
in the same general topic
and with a desire to solve the problem or
work together. This can
work with small or large groups.
2. The trainer opens the session and sets the
tone for working together.
The trainer asks everyone to list all the
issues, people involved,
impacts, etc. related to the topic. What the trainer asks for varies
depending on the topic. The goal is to get all the various
compentents
of the topic in writing. The participants are not to focus on
solutions
in this activity. Each item is written on
a seperate piece of paper.
The paper can be large post it notes or
plain paper. If it is plain
paper the trainer needs a large sheet of
paper sprayed with 3M spray
mount.
3. Have people meet in small groups or
dyads. They share all their
written ideas. Then the group must choose 3 or 4 top items. They
should save all the other ideas.
4. The top ideas are posted randomly on the
large poster paper.
5. The trainer reads all the ideas and makes
sure they are understood by
the group. As the ideas are read some groupings will become obvious.
6. The trainer takes the group through a
process of grouping all the ideas.
The goal is to get consensus on the
groupings. After all the ideas are
grouped labels for each grouping can be
determined. The trainer can ask
the participants if there are any ideas
from their orginial list that
are not represented in one of the
groups. If there are more ideas they
can be added at this time.
7. In small groups the participants are asked
to write a sentence or two
that represent the groupings listed.
8. The sentences are shared in the large
group. The facilitator helps the
group form a sentence(s) that represents
the ideas on the board.
9. A similar process can then be done around
problem solving the statement
that has just been written.
I have
found this process to be amazing in allowing people with very strong
diverse
opinions to come together. This process
allows people to hear each
other,
to find the common ground, to focus on what they agree on rather than
what
they disagree on and to begin to work on developing agreed upon
solutions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:
Thu, 02 Nov 1995 08:42:07 EST
From:
DAVID SOOCK <cas26eab@ibmmail.com>
This is
a graphical representation of brain storming used to dewvelop a vision of what
a particular topic, issue, role or person should consist of. The topic to be
mapped is drawn in a circle in the centre of white board of flip chart. Then branches relating to that topic are
created. Secondary and tertiary branches are developed. Graphics as well as key
words are represented on each branch. Particiapnts are encouraged to be
creative when represneting branches.
Relationships between branches are represented by connecting branches. This
technique is very useful for, but exclusive to, those with a predominantly
visual learning style.
I use
this technique alot when trying to clarify roles and responsibiltiies of a
procedure or process. All of the people or positions involved int he process
are listed down the left side of a page. The horizontal dimension of the page represents time,
though not to any specific scale. Participants are asked what they do in each
step of the process and who they pass the fruits of their labours on to. The ideal
situation is to have only one arrow to
and one going from each process step box. It is very helpful when trying to
simplify processes and provides a great diagramtical alternative to flow
charts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
DUANETWAY@aol.com
I use
personal "Visioning" as a way to get folks to be open about what
motivates
them and to recognize that they share many values with their
co-workers. I instruct the group to take a sheet of
easel paper. Then I
instruct
them to close their eyes and imagine what it would be like to have
things
in their work-group working so well that they just couldn't wait to
get to
work, had to be forced to go home in the evening, etc. Visualize what
is going
on in the workplace. What is
happening? What are relationships
like? What is happening with your
"customers," both internal and external?
Now, in phrases and sentences, write down
what you are "seeing." What
is
going
on? How do you feel about it? What is happening between you and your
co-workers? What is happening with your
"customers?" I give no
instuctions
to
"sign" the sheets.
Once
everyone is done writing, I have them post their sheets on the walls of
the
room with masking tape, and then call for a "break." Without any
instuctions,
people begin to walk around and read what the others have
written. I let this go on until people spontaneously
go back to their seats.
Then I pass out sheets of "inventory
stickers" that you can get from any
office
supply store (in green). The
instructions are to walk around and put
a green
sticker on any statement that you agree with, incuding your own. (If
folks
run out of stickers I give them another sheet). Then I give them four
or five
(depending on the size of the group) gold stars, with the instruction
to put
the stars next to the statements that you would "die for," but you
can't put them on your own statements.
Once
this process has been completed, I have folks walk around the room and
look at
the the statements again. Then we begin
a process of using the most
"starred"
and "stickered" statements to develop a group "purpose
statement."
A statement of purpose is a statement in the
form "What are we making better
for
whom, including ourselves?"
This
process only takes place after I have done a lecturette on trust. Trust
is
essential to getting people to be open and honest in the processes that
follow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
Andrea Tannenbaum, IntraGroup Dynamics
- Mind mapping
- Compression Planning
- Decision Grids (4 quadrants)
- PMI & other DeBono processes
- "Pink Sheets" (my own technique)
- Synectics & other uses of metaphors and
analogies
- Habitual question posing
- Storytelling
- any electronic medium that will help with
organization (including WP
and
spreadsheeting)
- NGT (Nominal Group Technique)
- strong agenda's
- respectful ground rules
- risk analysis
- 'option papers'
- force fits/brute think
- future thinking; visioning
- scenario building
- coaching, nurturing, modeling desired
behaviors/attitudes
- optimism
- realism, tainted by optimism
- WIIFT (what's in it for them?)
- purposeful accountability (who will do what,
by when, for whom?)
there's
a ton of creativity techniques, icebreakers, exercises, toys,
etc.,
out there. I believe that a
'professional' facilitator brings a
comfort
level with a whole host of tools and techniques that can be mixed
and
matched for the best effect. And is
always ready to *play* and to
learn
more!
I guess
that is what I mixed in to your process and techniques, some
skills
and attitudes. I'm sorry if that
muddies the water...but it's a
critical
piece of the puzzle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
Jim Rough <jrough@olympus.net>
Mary,
in my four day seminars on "Dynamic Facilitation Skills for
Participative
Leadership" which I have been leading for the past 6
years,
I teach a process that I call "Choice-creating." It is a way of
supporting
the natural energy flow of a group as it moves from head to
heart,
intuition to analysis, concerns to mission, creativity to the use
of
accepted patterns, etc. It is used for all kinds of issues including
those
you asked about.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
And,
finally, digested from my training manual, the following, some
of
which are repeats of the ones above.
is used
to force the participants to take on roles that
are
both unfamiliar to them and to make those roles geared toward
accomplishing
a task or experiential learning.
Simulation exercises
often
involve role playing.
or idea
generation (also called Blue Sky) is used to
generate
ideas without judgment, evaluation, criticism, or comment. It is
- a method for rapidly generating
ideas or issues
- a way to involve all participants in
contributing insights
- a process which gets the group's
best initial thinking
Brainstorming
can be done individually, in small teams, or with the whole
group. If brainstorming isn't well directed it can
result in more ideas
than
the group can handle.
is used
when it is easier to generate and evaluate
creative
ideas within a small group than in the large group. This is
especially
true when you are working with large (over 16) groups of
people. However, whatever is generated in the small
groups must
eventually
be validated by the large group.
is used
to organize information collected during
a
brainstorming or idea generation session.
The information collected
must be
on magnetics/cards/post-its/cut paper pieces that can be moved
around
into groups. Affinity Diagraming is a
variation of this process
by
which the group silently organizes the ideas created during a
brainstorming
session.
Three approaches to grouping are:
- Categories first (top-down)
- Associating similar items (bottom-up)
- Paired comparisons (bottom-up)
combines
idea generation, small group work and
bottom-up
clustering to collect, organize, and label information.
is a
process for facilitating discussions
that
ensures everyone has a chance to speak.
One participant starts and
when
they are done the next participant can speak.
With the talking stick
or
ball, an object is passed around and only the person in possession of
the
stick or ball can speak. Usually there
is some time limit placed on
how
long a person can talk. Also, during
this exercise, no one can
interrupt
the speaker.
is used
to analyze the complexity of a project.
The
major functions of the project are written down the side of the matrix
and the
organizational units associated with the project are written across
the top
of the matrix. When a relationship
exists between a function and an
organizational
unit, the appropriate cell is checked.
Sometimes codes are
used to
identify the nature of that relationship, for example C=critical,
M=moderate,
and L=limited.
uses
words plus word formats (grids, matrices, etc.)
plus
pictographs, images, icons and simple shapes that represent concepts
and ideas. For example, a circle to represent a whole,
a notion, a problem,
an
organization, an event, etc. The
circle's line distinguishes what is
internal
and what is external to the issue; thus the minds of the group
members
begin to perceive the issue conceptually.
Either the facilitator
or the
participants can employ this technique
which is very useful for,
but not
exclusive to, those with a predominantly visual learning style.
The
different formats for framing information and ideas graphically
includes
- Boarding - Graphically recorded
input
- Poster - An image to convey a
central them whose purpose is
to propose
- Lists - An arranged list of ideas
(most common method)
- Clusters - Groupings of related or
connected ideas
- Matrices - Used for clarification
and decision making
- Diagrams - Models of information and
processes (flowcharts,
mind maps*)
- Drawings - A metaphor, shared
vision, or image of an idea
- Mandalas - A centered, unifying
model whose purpose is to master
or show the whole
can be
used to develop a vision of what a particular
topic, issue, role or person should
look like. The topic to be
mapped is drawn in a circle in the
center of a white board or flip
chart with branches relating to that
topic attached. Secondary
and tertiary branches are developed.
Graphics as well as key words
are represented on each branch. Participants are encouraged to be
creative when representing branches.
Relationships between branches
are represented by connecting
branches.
is a
temporary model created as a result of pre-work. The value
of the
strawman model is that it provides a starting point for discussion.
It
gives the group something to edit, change, accept, or reject. It is not
owned
by any one in the group.
is used
to evaluate ideas against a set of criteria where
the
ideas are listed on the vertical and the criteria along the top of the
matrix. The codes used in the matrix cells rate the
ideas. For example,
5=high
priority and 1=low priority.
was
originally developed for use by
quality
improvement teams to improve work flow processes. The steps for
creating
a block diagram are outlined below and were adapted from PQMI
Consultants
training materials.
1.Identify and name the process to be
diagramed.
2.Identify the major groups that are
actively involved in
the process from beginning to
end. Groups can be anything from
an individual to an organization to a
system. Outside groups
can also be included if they interact
frequently throughout the
process. The names of these
"groups" become the column names in
the diagram.
3. Identify suppliers and the inputs
they supply. Inputs can be
anything that is necessary to carry
out the process.
4. Identify customers and the outputs
they receive. Outputs can
be anything that is delivered as a
result of the process. Outputs
can leave the process at any time and
not just at the end.
5. Set the boundaries of the process
by identifying where the
process begins and where it ends.
6. Record in boxes the tasks and
activities that must occur
between the two boundaries. Each box is placed in the column
of the group that performs that task
or activity. Boxes are
joined by arrows that indicate the
flow of the process. If a
decision is required, a diamond is
used in the same way as it
is used in flowcharting. Ideally the process should flow from
the upper left corner to the lower
right corner with no decision
boxes. The question to ask is, "who gets what was just done and
what do they do with it?"
7. After the diagram is completed,
review it by "reading" to the
participants what they have just
described.
8. Diagrams should be kept
simple. Some boxes can actually
represent sub-processes that need to
be diagramed themselves.
9. To use the diagram to improve a
process. First create the
diagram of how the process REALLY
works and then start moving
and eliminating boxes. If there are lots of lines crossing over
each other, this is a good indicator
that the process needs to be
improved.
was
advanced by Kurt Lewin as a framework for
problem
solving. The technique examines both
supporting and resisting
forces
to a change or option. A strategy for
accomplishing the change
can be
developed from the insights that result from doing this process.
The
fishbone diagram is a version of force field analysis.
The five steps of force field analysis
are:
- Define the problem and write out a
problem statement.
- Define the objectives; the desired
results if the problem
were solved.
- Define the driving forces; those
conditions, actions, events
that promote or will promote change.
- Define the resisting forces that
inhibit change.
- Given the identified drivers and
resisters, develop a
solution strategy.
- Compare the strategy to the
objectives.
can be
used to determine what will constitute
agreement
or consensus among the participants.
Using the technique takes
the
ambiguity out of decision making. The
decision-making scale is created
at the
beginning of a workshop and then used whenever the group must make
a
single choice decision. Steven Saint
and James Lawson in "Rules for
Reaching
Consensus" define consensus as "a state of mutual agreement among
members
of a group where all legitimate concerns of individuals have been
addressed
to the satisfaction of the group."
Consensus does not mean group
conformity
where everyone thinks alike, nor does it mean majority rule, nor
does it
mean everyone agrees on everything.
is a voting
method used to select posted
items. Participants are given a certain number of
colored dots with which
they
can vote by placing the dot or dots by the desired items. They can
place
all their dots on one item or place one dot on many items. Another
variation,
is to use a second color of dots to represent "no" votes.
as
originally conceived by physicist David Bohm,
dialogue
"explores an unusually wide range of human experience: our
closely
held values, the nature and intensity of emotions, the patterns
of our
thought processes, the function of memory, the import of inherited
cultural
myths, and the manner in which our neurophysiology structures
moment-to-moment
experience. . . [It] explores the manner in which thought
is
generated and sustained at the collective level." (From the Foreword of
On
Dialogue by Dr. David Bohm).
Recently
there has been a profusion of variations on the process. One that
is
useful to use with groups where the attention needs to be focused on the
subject
rather than the speaker works in the following way. The group sits
in a
circle and directs all questions, responses, and comments to the center
of the
circle. The result is that the focus is
taken off of the speaker and
directed
towards what is being expressed. This
allows an individual to
express
him/herself without being biased by the outward reactions of others.
A
basket or bowl is often placed in the center of the circle as a focus point
for the
group.
is a process
used for planning whereby basic trends and
uncertainties
are identified and a series of possible future scenarios are
constructed
often with the aid of statistical analysis.