GUERILLA FACILITATORS AND OTHER MEETING HAZARDS!
By Steve Massey-Crouch,
The
SCRLC LA-SIG (Library Assistants' - Special Interest Group) hosted a workshop
on March 31, 2007 entitled Effective
Meetings and Dynamics. This workshop was facilitated by Mary Tomaselli, Staff Development and Training Director at
Highlights of the workshop were:
Meetings Dos: Have a prepared agenda, start and stop the meeting on time, warm up and wrap up, encourage humor, encourage relaxation, flexibility, and creativity. Inform every participant of the goals in advance, and evaluate the meeting.
Meeting Don'ts: Surprise attendees with unprepared topics, let late comers disrupt the meeting; allow others to dominate the meeting. Don't be too rigid or too boring. Don't lecture too much or talk at people instead of to them, and don't come unprepared.
Facilitator Tips: A good practice is to present information for 20% of the meeting and then have 80% group interaction. Never compete with group members or put others on the defensive. Involve every member of the group in the meeting and treat everyone like a vital part of the group. Give respect to everyone, acknowledge their interaction, and don't be afraid to smile. Smiles are disarming and generate trust. Gaining a reputation as an effective or even as a great meeting facilitator will lead to high energy, comfort, and participation by all concerned.
Successful meetings: Create trust, safety, support, and genuine caring. To ensure these, have an ice breaker to start the meeting. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers to problems. Build consensus. Be upbeat, humorous, keep a high degree of energy and maintain a positive and optimistic attitude. Using the above, the Theory of Team Development shows a progression: SAFETY > TRUST > SYNERGY > TASK > VISION.
Unsuccessful Meetings: The converse of good facilitation and good team development is allowing dysfunction and negative/dysfunctional meeting behaviors. Do not meet dysfunction with disrespect. Do not judge participants or require justification for their actions but do not ignore their behavior. If the facilitator can not maintain order, respect, compassion for others, and productivity, then he should step down and allow others who can to facilitate.
Strategies for Maintaining Order: The Acknowledged Closing is a very effective way of bringing order back to a meeting developed by Rich Gallagher (author of Great Customer Connections). This tactic calls for a facilitator to actually listen to a talkative meeting member that is participating in a sidebar conversation. The facilitator then calls that person by name, acknowledges what they are saying, asks the person a yes-or-no question based on that conversation, and then gently guides the person back to the meeting topic by inviting him or her to contribute to the meeting topic.
Other strategies include:
* Check In -- Stop the meeting momentarily to check in with the participants and ensure that all involved in the meeting have a mutual understanding of the topic, any decisions made, or any questions that should be addressed.
* Agreement Reminder -- make sure everyone is on the same page by having them say so.
* Approach in Private -- take someone aside to deal with personal issues.
* Rephrasing -- reword topics, subjects, or procedures that are less than clear for all meeting participants.
Guerilla Facilitator: One unique phenomenon of meetings involves one or more meeting participants who attempt to undermine the facilitator by using power plays to run the meeting from the sidelines. They may monopolize time, ask others for agreement with their point of view, and avoid recognition of the actual facilitator. Use the above strategies to bring order back to the meeting.
5 Techniques to Ensure Successful Meetings:
1) Keep the objective in mind
2) Keep the discussion on track
3) Document any decisions or consensus
4) Give a chance for all to contribute
5) Create a summary and action plan