Extreme Facilitation

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Extreme Facilitation

• Suzanne Ghais, CDR Associates
• Presentation to IAF North America conference,
  June 17, 2006

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Icebreaker

• What has been your scariest, most difficult, or
  most embarrassing moment as a facilitator?
• Share at your table

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Objectives

• Enhance rapport and influence with participants
  by enhancing authenticity
• Set up a difficult facilitation for success
  through an expanded notion of contracting
• Help groups transcend their limitations by
  drawing on the spiritual capacity in groups

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Extreme Facilitation

• High conflict
• Strong emotions
• Technical complexity, and/or
• Tough external pressures

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Facilitation in these circumstances requires

• Serving as architect of a custom process
• Obtaining deep understanding of the
  groupgoals, needs, culture, and external
  conditions
• Knowing a wide range of possible techniques
• Exuding strong personal presence

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The facilitator must also draw on all of the
groups capacities

• Physical
• Intellectual
• Emotional
• Intuitive/Creative
• Spiritual

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All starts with the self

• Authenticity
• Confidence
• Presence
• Trustworthiness
• Calm

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Exercise on authenticity

• When facilitating, what do you least want people
  to know about you?
• One partner coaches the othere.g.
• Why are you uncomfortable about this aspect of
  yourself?
• What would enable you to feel more comfortable
  about it?
• Is there any way this could be cast as positive?

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Exercise on authenticity, contd.

• Switch
• If time, some additional discussion
• What character traits are you most proud of in
  yourself outside work?
• How could you bring these traits to facilitation?
• How could your non-work and work personas be made
  more congruent?

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Contracting

• 1st milestoneAgreeing on scope of work and
  budget or resources
• 2nd milestoneAssessment report
• 3rd milestoneAgreement with whole group on how
  to proceed (purpose, agenda, ground rules, roles,
  etc.)

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The neglected 2nd milestone

• Assessment report (oral or written) and
  subsequent discussion agreement on how to
  proceed
• Work with point of contact or a steering
  committee/advisory group
• Sets you up for success

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Some 2nd milestone topics

• Purpose
• Stakeholders/participants
• Likelihood of full participation
• Likelihood of success
• Macro agenda (incl. time needed)
• Information needs
• Decision-making process
• Go/no-go recommendation

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Contracting role play
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Role play debrief

• What went well in this scenario, and why?
• What was difficult, and what might have helped?
• What experiences have you had with this kind of
  contracting negotiation?
• Could better contracting have helped with any
  difficult facilitation experience you have had?

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The spiritual capacity in groups

• Helps people
• See each others humanity
• Feel hope in the face of pessimistic
  circumstances
• Let go of selfish agendas in favor of the greater
  good

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The spiritual capacity, contd.

• Involves conveying and inspiring
• Love
• Faith and hope
• Gratitude
• Truthfulness
• Community

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Small-group discussion

• Have you ever experienced a moment in
  facilitation as magic? What led to it?
• What brings out peoples worst?
• What can a facilitator do that helps bring out
  peoples best?

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Happy extreme facilitating!