Building Cnsensus The Art f Getting t Yes An interview with Michael Wilkinsn, Certified Master Facilitatr and authr f The Secrets f Facilitatin and The Secrets t Masterful Meetings Abut Michael: Mr. Wilkinsn is the Managing Directr f Leadership Strategies Inc, a leadership training and strategy cnsulting firm specializing in grup facilitatin. He is cnsidered a natinal leader in the facilitatin industry. Authr f The Secrets f Facilitatin and The Secrets t Masterful Meetings. Bard member f the Internatinal Institute fr Facilitatin. Funder f the Natinal Facilitatr Database. One f the first five Certified Master Facilitatrs in Nrth America. Named Facilitatr f the Year in 2003 by the Sutheast Assciatin f Facilitatrs. Active in bth the private and public sectrs, he has prvided leadership training and strategy develpment assistance t such diverse rganizatins as The Cca-Cla Cmpany, Unisys, Sears, EPA, CDC, the Gergia Sciety f Assciatin Executives, and the United Way. Interview Ntes What are the mst imprtant steps in planning fr a facilitated meeting? Use the Five P s: Purpse. What s the purpse f the facilitated meeting? Example, I want t get peple t knw each ther and wrk tgether better. Prduct. What s the prduct yu want them t have when the sessin is ver. Use the Three H s. Hands. What d yu want them t have in their hands when the sessin is ver? Example: A set f nrms fr healthy functining. Hearts. What d yu want them t believe that they didn t believed befre the sessin started? Example: That we can wrk tgether better. Heads. What d yu want them t knw after the meeting? Example: Strategies that make teams wrk well and nt s well. Participants. Wh needs t be at the meeting? Prbable Issues. What are the issues that the meeting will address? Prcess. What are the steps we need t take the grup thrugh?
Hw d yu phrase questins that ignite a bnfire f respnses? Let s say we want t find ut hw a grup s hiring prcess wrks. The typical apprach, what we call a Type A questin just asks the questin frm a linear standpint, What are the steps in the current hiring prcess? A Type B starting questin is far mre effective. This type f questin has peple visualize their answer in the questin using the fllwing three steps: 1) Start with an image building phrase. Example: Think abut (imagine, cnsider if yu will, etc.) the last time yu hired smene. 2) Extend the image t answers yu re seeking and give tw examples. Example: Think abut all the steps yu went thrugh, the actins yu tk, the peple yu had t cnsult with. 3) Ask the questin. Example: What are the steps in the current hiring prcess? Hw d yu gain buy-in t the agenda? Get the leader t transfer their pwer ver t yu. Yu have abut 15 minutes t d s. Invlve the grup in building the agenda after the purpse and prduct have been reviewed. Ask them what the mst imprtant issues are that need t be address t deliver the desire prduct. Then shw them yur prpsed agenda and make sure everything they brught up is included. Questin frm Cynthia. Hw d yu deal with inputs frm the grup n agenda items that are at dds with that ne develped with the spnsr? Michael. This desn t happen very ften. When it des, suggest that new item suggestin be added as yu lk the spnsr in the eye shaking yur head. If he agrees, add it. If he desn t agree, suggest parking the issue t addressed later, where yu can speak with the spnsr ut it ffline. What shuld yu d at the beginning f every agenda item t get the grup fcused? Use Checkpints which include three parts. Here s an example arund fixing the hiring prcess at cmpany A. 1) Review. We just talked abut hw the prcess wrks tday, 2) Preview. Our next step is t discver the prblems in the prcess and rt cause f these prblems. 3) Big View. We re ding this because if we can understand the prblems and their rt causes in ur current prcess, we can find slutins that will imprve ur prcess. Hw d yu give directins that are accurate, clear and cncise? Use the PEDEQS mdel. Example using the hiring prcess with a three clumn chart with the clumns labeled: Prblems, Symptms, and Rt Causes. 2
Purpse. The next thing we re ging t d is lk at prblems, symptms, and rt causes in ur hiring prcess. The purpse f this chart is t allw us t identify thse. Example. Let me give yu an example f what I mean. Say we re cking a turkey dinner and the prblem was the turkey cmes ut burnt. The symptm, the turkey is black. The cause culd be that I cked it t lng. But we re nt cking a turkey dinner, we re talking abut prblems with the hiring prcess. Directins. S here s hw this prcess is ging t wrk. We re ging t list all the prblems we can identify with ur hiring prcess and list them in the first clumn. Then we ll g back and list the symptm f each prblem and suspected rt causes. Exceptins. While we re listing a prblem, yu may cme up with smething that is actually a rt cause. In that case, we list the cause in the third clumn at the bttm until we find what it links t. Questins. Any questins? Starting Questin. Using the Type B frmat discussed earlier Hw d yu maintain energy thrughut a sessin? As the day wears n, yur vice and energy will drp. Use yur level 3 vice. Level 1 vice is yur nrmal speaking vice. Level 2 is abve nrmal vlume, mre animatin and energy. Level 3 is higher than 1 and 2 in vlume, energy and enthusiasm. When we begin t facilitate at level 1, after a few hurs ur energy drps t zer. When we begin at level 2, ur energy drps t the level 1. The best ptin is t begin at level 3 s even after a few hurs at best, ur vice level will drp t 2 r 1. What are strategies yu can take prir t the sessin t prevent dysfunctinal behavir? By dysfunctin, we mean any activity cnscius r uncnscius substitute fr saying I m nt happy. We can nly crrect things that we knw abut. Here are three things we can d t deal with dysfunctin. Cnscius Preventin. Set up grund rules at the start f the meeting. Inquire int pssible issues with the spnsr and participants befre the meeting and discuss hw d deal with prblem areas befrehand. Early Detectin. When yu ntice dysfunctinal behavir, address it right away rather than letting it grw. Clear Reslutin. Use this fur step prcess. 3
1) Apprach privately with a general statement arund behavir r statement f grund rule. 2) Empathize with the symptms. This is the mst imprtant step. I recgnize there is a prblem here and I m nt blaming yu. Fr example, if yu ntice smene using a blackberry when it was agreed everyne wuld fcus n the grup. Yu might apprach them and ask, I see yu ve gt a lt f wrk t d and this sessin has gtten yu behind. 3) Address the rt cause. Example: Are we talking abut stuff that s imprtant t yu? 4) Get agreement n the slutins. Wrk t create slutins tgether t address the issue. Questin frm Marty. Hw d we actually reslve issues with Blackberries. Smetimes I get distracted by peple using them and wnder where I m lsing them. Get agreement n grund rule: Only wrk n the sessin during the sessin. When blackberry wrk shws up, yu can start by just walking ver t persn using it and lk at it. Smetimes this is sufficient. If nt, remind the grup that we agreed t wrk nly n the sessin in the sessin. If this desn t wrk, address this during the break. Mst imprtant pint is t nt ignre the actin, as this gives permissin fr thers t break the agreement. Questins frm Julia. As an independent prject management cnsultant I mve regularly frm ne cmpany t anther and have t quickly establish a cultural fit between my skills and the needs f my new client. Many cmpanies I wrk with are nt yet familiar with facilitatin techniques and smetimes resist a facilitated apprach t prject wrkshps, preferring meetings which are far less prductive. This resistance reduces the benefits I can bring and the pprtunities I get t grw and practice as a facilitatr and its frustrating! Hw d I influence a client t quickly adpt a facilitative apprach frm a relative stranger (trust & influence required)? Seek ut an early adpter f change in the rganizatin and discuss using facilitative appraches with them in their meetings. Yu might suggest at the start f a meeting that yu d like t d smething differently. At the end, d a quick review lking f what wrked, what didn t, and hw we can imprve ur meetings in the future. After thers see the value in this, yu can apprach them t see if they d like t try this in their meetings. Suggestins fr imprvement will allw yu t suggest facilitative appraches. Where d I find avenues (ther than training) t further develp/practice the necessary skills regardless f client adptin levels? G t nn-prfit rganizatins and ffer them yur facilitatin skills fr free. This is a great way t build yur skills. Often bard members are business leaders and if they re impressed with yur skills, they may invite yu in fr paid gigs. 4
Resurces Michael s Website: www.leadstrat.cm Bks: The Secrets f Facilitatin The Secrets t Masterful Meetings. Clsing This class recrding and a grwing number f thers n a variety f facilitatin specialties are available n MP3 and CD, tgether with written ntes at www.facilitatru.cm/tele_seminars.html. If yu have ideas fr ther tpics yu d like t see cvered, r experts yu d like t hear, please email yur requests t me at mailt:cntact@facilitatru.cm. Thank yu fr jining us tday and we hpe t see yu again n future calls. 5