facilitation master tools

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This work by The Design Gym LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

FACILITATION MASTER TOOLS: MINDSETS AND SKILLSETS



FACILITATOR’S TOOLBOX

SILENCE It can be uncomfortable, but waiting for someone to respond can be worth it

OWN THE ROOM Change and master your surroundings to create the flow and dynamic you choose.

VISUAL CAPTURE Get people to write their ideas down and put them up. One idea per post-it helps.

THE PARKING LOT It can be cheesy, but it works. If you can’t get to it, or it’s the wrong time, put it in the parking lot.

GENERATE AND SELECT Give people time to think and generate…then ask them to share only their top items

TIMEBOXING Be clear about how long something will take, and keep the team honest

ACTIVE LISTENING Repeat back and ask, “is there more” Also, dig in and ask “why is that?”

RULES OF THE ROOM Co-create the rules of the room with your team, and share the responsibility for good behavior.



FACILITATOR’S HATS LEARNING

DOING

OUTCOMES EXPERIENCE

TEACHER COACH

CONDUCTOR CONSULTANT

• Plan ahead and map experience arcs • Don’t be afraid to express a point of view or

personal experience

• Ask questions more than you give answers • Have a clear idea of what quality looks like • Clearly outline goals

• Research participant and stakeholder dynamics in advance

• Balance activities to manage energy

• Focus on maximizing efficiency, output, and quality

• Plan in advance to align on goals, timeline, and process



ACTIVE LISTENING

IS THAT RIGHT? Ask if you got it right. This gives them a chance to agree or disagree with their own thoughts AND your interpretation

I’M HEARING YOU SAY… Reflect back to your partner what you heard.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE? Give them a chance to add more.

FIND A NATURAL TONE Making active listening work requires it to feel natural for you and your group



OPEN EXPLORE CLOSE

Go wide! Opening is for divergent thinking. When we are opening, we’re not closing. It’s not about good ideas or bad ideas, it’s about getting started and pushing the boundaries.

When we have opened… Well, there’s lots to dig into. Explore by combining and building on what you’ve opened. Great insights and ideas can come from making those connections.

Closing is the time for convergent thinking. Organize your thoughts. Decide what explorations were fruitful and which were less so. Choose the best ideas and information and move forward.

THE THREE MODES



HOW TO OPEN

VISUAL AGENDA

Arrange areas, clearly labeled, for sections of the agenda or places where ideas and insights will be captured.

BALANCE PERSONAL AND GROUP TIME Personal generation and group building and selection.

IMAGES AND OBJECTS The internet is not enough. Paper the wall with stimulus from your user base or your problem set. Objects and artifacts!

SHARED HISTORY How did we get here? What is our plan? What do we want to get to?

RULES OF THE ROOM Co-create the rules of the room with your team, and share the responsibility for good behavior.

OWN THE ROOM Create the right space and environment with furniture arrangements, music and your presence.



FRANKEN-IDEATE/ CONSTELLATE Mix and remix ideas. Find strong ideas and link them. Collide ideas and discover what they deliver.

PRE-CLOSE

Prioritizing concepts and recombining can begin to limit options, making closing easier.

TENSIONS Where are the trade-offs in the design project? Don’t resolve them, but visually capture and clarify them.

SPECTRUMS Arrange ideas along spectrums: focus, design principles, costs, scope. Develop concepts where there are holes.

HOW TO EXPLORE



HOW TO CLOSE

INVOKE THE AGENDA

Make sure people know how much time there is and where they have to get to...and that they have to leave with Clear Next Actions.

USING YOUR FEET

Make areas for the 2-3 main areas of focus…let people choose their teams with their feet and focus on their chosen issue

VOTING With dots or sticky strips, give your team 2-3 votes and get a visual read on the top choices

MAPPING Using your decision heuristics, help the team to organize ideas ahead of a final vote

ROUND ROBIN PITCHES Allow people to choose one concept to pitch to the team ahead of voting



SPRINT AGENDA Get your stopwatch out…

OPEN 5 minutes

GROUP SHARING, CLUSTERING, SORTING AND BUILDING Have them share their top ideas…not all of them. Get the team to move items into piles or spectrums: Good, better, best? Crazy, crazy awesome? Spark new ideas if possible?

INTRO AND PRIVATE GENERATION Give your team the brief and their instructions, then 3 minutes to generate ideas.

EXPLORE 5 minutes

CLOSE 5 minutes VOTE AND SELECT

Strips of post it notes – each can choose three concepts Re-cluster, probe for common threads, and synthesize if possible. Choose one at the end!



VISUAL CAPTURE

USE THE PAGE Use white space and use the page well to convey the important details.

PUNCTUATED LISTS Use alternating color and bullet points to help distinguish lines of text.

ICONS Play with small sketches to help bring more meaning to your visual capture.

PAGE IDENTIFICATION Dates, times, titles can help you later on when the meeting is a pile of pictures in your folder.

SIZE Scale text and icons to make dominant vs. sub-dominant information clear.

WRITE IN CAPITAL LETTERS It makes your handwriting more legible.

VISUAL ALPHABET Use simple shapes to draw recognizable forms.

GRAB A PARTNER Doing group work and visual capture can be a challenge, so tag-team if possible.



TIME

EN

ER

GY

ARCS OF EXPERIENCE



ARCS OF EXPERIENCE

WHERE Where is this happening physically? Where (from an energy and project plan perspective) do you need to get the team?

WHAT What materials do you need in place to feed the team with ideas? With energy? What needs to happen before the meeting?

WHO Who should be there? Who is optional? Who should *not* be there?

HOW How will the team generate it’s goals and outcomes? How will you help them get there?

WHY …aren’t we going to the park? Why is this more important than the other things we have to do? If it isn’t, do something else!



PREWORK/POSTWORK FOLLOW UP • Documenting • Linking back to stated goals • Debriefing • Circulating action items / next steps

PREPARING • Creating an agenda • Aligning on an agenda and scope • Setting up a room • Setting rules • Preparing stimulus, prompts and arcs • Pre-workshop checklist • Timeboxes and tick-tock





HANDLING TOUGH PEOPLE

TIMID Smaller groups or polling the whole group can give them a chance to contribute equally.

ARGUMENTATIVE Remind them of the brief (bringing them into the present), ask them to stay positive and relevant

BULLDOZERS Acknowledge/validate their comments, get them to record their contributions as deltas in the parking lot or other relevant areas

THE PARKING LOT Direct them to capture and cluster information, ask them to focus on an appropriate level of detail according to the phase of the process

INSISTENT SIDETRACKERS Poll the group. If there is support, give the issue time-boxed support, in a side group if required

RAMBLERS Ask them to summarize and focus their thoughts, and direct them to record statements visually

SIDETRACKERS Thank them for their comments, encourage them to record and place in the parking lot

WHAT ELSE? Who have you had challenges with and found an interesting way to work with? Let us know. Really. #toughpeople @thedesigngym





BONUS TOUGH PEOPLE!

MS. KNOW-IT-ALL Offers way too much input and help, wants to be at the center of all conversations

MR. QUESTION/CLARIFICATION Asks too many questions. All the time.

BUSINESS AS USUAL Holds back a project or discussion

LONG WINDED Never gets to the point. Might not have one.

MOVES TO HELP Set Expectations Name the Behavior Have Clear Goals Establish Expertise

FALSE AGREER Says yes but is thinking no!

DETRACTOR Also known as Mr. Yes, But?

MOVES TO HELP Kindness Judo Split into Small Groups Get Buy-in



THE FIVE PHASES OF DESIGN

EXAMINE UNDERSTAND IDEATE EXPERIMENT DISTIL

Dig into the problem. Look at the history, the context, the objects, and (most importantly) the people involved.

Have lots of ideas, good and bad. Don’t stop at the obvious or the impossible.

Try some things out. Make some things. Fail cheap and fast.

Strip your solution down to the essentials and tell the story to others.

Go deeper and find patterns. Establish open questions to build on.



OPEN+CLOSE EACH PHASE

EXAMINE UNDERSTAND IDEATE EXPERIMENT DISTIL