Charing and Facilitation

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Charing and Facilitation

• Fair Share Trust Workshop
• 8 September 2009
• Gill Dandy

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To chair

• Oxford Dictionary
• to preside over
• the exercise of a position of authority
• Online Dictionary
• to ensure a meeting achieves its aims
• the activity of running a meeting with an agenda.

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To facilitate

• To free from difficulties or obstacles - Oxford
  Dictionary
• To make easier the progress - Collins Dictionary
• Helping a group of people think through ideas and
  achieve a goal.
• Contract
• between participant and facilitator
• to achieve an agreed goal

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Effective facilitation helps..

• Solve problems
• Increase productivity
• Build a team/group
• Motivation
• Develop the confidence and capacity of individuals

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Responsibilities

• Facilitator
• generate a productive environment,
• ensure a productive group process.
• Participant
• responsible for their own learning
• for making a contribution.

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Effective facilitators

• Understand what makes people - individuals/groups
  - tick
• Help establish clear objectives
• Ensure productive physical environment
• Understand and manage dynamics of facilitated
  sessions
• Establish own facilitation style and skills

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Facilitation style

• The role
• How you present yourself - Personal impression
  management
• Your skills
• Planning and structuring
• Encouraging participation

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Role

• You are the servant of the group
• No content input
• Set your intention at the start, help the group
  set theirs
• Integrity
• Transparency
• Keep listening
• Stay grounded

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Personal impression management

• A compelling personal presence
• Confidence
• Self awareness
• Generosity
• Using your voice effectively
• Knowing about body language and a few basic rules
  about what to wear

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Key skills

• Planning and structuring
• Establishing rapport
• Encouraging participation
• Handling difficult situations
• Handling difficult people
• Giving feedback

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Planning and structuring

• Establish objectives
• Plan agenda
• Ensure suitable venue and equipment
• Prepare materials and background documents
• Be aware of group's ground rules
• Prepare explanatory introduction your role as a
  facilitator.

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Encouraging participation

• Open and inclusive style
• Active listening
• Questioning
• Encouraging shy people
• Discouraging bad behaviour

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To chair

• Oxford Dictionary
• to preside over
• the exercise of a position of authority
• Online Dictionary
• to ensure a meeting achieves its aims
• the activity of running a meeting with an agenda.

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Charing responsibilities

• Before
• During
• After
• ..the meeting

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Pre-meeting responsibilities

• Decide purpose and objectives
• Reflect on participants objectives
• Keep in touch with committee members
• Draw up agenda
• Draw up timing plan
• for meeting and agenda items
• Go through the agenda with minute taker

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Meeting responsibilities

• Get off to a good start!
• Introduce items clearly and briefly
• Encourage participation
• Use body language and tone to establish authority
• Ensure decisions are made and recorded accurately

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Chairs role - at a glance

• Formulating, stating and clarifying the aims
• Taking own notes
• Holding the meeting helping other feel safe
  and confident
• Encouraging discussion, stimulating ideas
• Seeking information and opinions
• Supporting

• Giving information and opinions
• Clarifying and elaborating
• Steering discussion
• Analysing
• Making proposals
• Summarising and synthesising
• Listening
• Observation
• Achieving the aims

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Post-meeting responsibilities

• Ensure minutes are accurate and circulated in a
  timely way
• Allow a realistic but short deadline for the
  production of the draft minutes
• Read minutes in draft and correct them
• Return to minute taker promptly
• Take responsibility for action required from the
  meeting - keep an eye on progress on decisions
  made at the meeting

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Charing and Facilitation Skills

• Planning and structuring
• Establishing rapport
• Encouraging participation
• Handling difficult situations
• Handling difficult people
• Giving feedback

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Handling problems

• Four questions
• Is there really a problem?
• If yes, what exactly is the problem?
• Who can solve the problem?
• What if there is no solution?

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Who can solve the problem?

• The facilitator/chair?
• is the room too hot? Has a specific issue not
  been understood? Does needs better explanation?
• The individual participant?
• Is there baggage a participant has brought to
  the session with them - hostility, illness, their
  own agenda
• The group
• Is it part of the group dynamic, or a shared
  problem about the session?

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What if there is no solution?

• Can it be parked?
• Must it be faced now?
• What are the costs/benefits of facing it now?

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Unacceptable behaviours

• Defending
• Attacking
• Blocking
• Shutting out
• Aggression
• Conflict

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Defending

• Where an individual defensively strengthens their
  own position.
• Actions
• Deal with gently. may be reaction to fear.
• Ask
• Ideally, how would you like the situation to
  be?
• What might you need to improve the situation?

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Attacking

• Where someone attacks an individual (rather than
  their views) or is aggressive
• Action
• Be confident and assertive
• Dont get personal
• Use I rather than You statements
• I feel concerned with what you have just said.

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Blocking

• Behaviour which places a difficulty or block in
  the path of a proposal without offering reasoned
  disagreement
• Actions
• Tease out the problem
• Ask for solutions
• Why do you think that?
• What might be a better approach?

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Shutting out

• Behaviour which shuts out, or attempts to shut
  out, another group member by interrupting or
  talking down/over
• Actions
• Refer to ground rules
• if there are any
• Intervene to create space for the person being
  talked over,

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Aggression and Conflict

• Four key issues
• Advance preparation
• Ground rules
• Tone and body language
• Take authority

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Dealing with Conflict

• Advance preparation
• Potentially difficult issues
• People with grievances
• Personality clashes
• Potential conflicts
• History

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Dealing with Conflict

• Ground rules
• Developed by group
• Sturdy
• Contractual
• Remind aggressive participants of the
  contractual agreement

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Aggression and Conflict

• Tone and body language
• Stay calm
• Maintain eye contact
• Open body language
• Dont get personal
• Dont get drawn into the fray

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Aggression and Conflict

• Take authority
• Focus on authority words in your head
• Remind aggressive participants of the ground
  rules
• Suggest (in the last resort) that they leave if
  they are unable to maintain their agreement.
• Call a break for everyone to calm down if you
  think this would help.

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Charing and Facilitation

• FairShare Workshop
• gill.dandy_at_the-centre.co.uk