Facilitation Made Easy: Practical Tips to Improve Meetings and Workshops

Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
What is a facilitated workshop?......Page 12
The facilitator’s role and style......Page 14
What a facilitated workshop can do (and can’t do!)......Page 17
Test your attitude to facilitation......Page 18
The workshop lifecycle......Page 23
Social behaviour......Page 26
Types of group......Page 29
Pecking order......Page 30
Group norms......Page 31
Typical roles......Page 32
Common goals......Page 34
Getting a clear purpose......Page 35
Inviting participants......Page 37
Doing the right research......Page 38
Designing the workshop......Page 39
Workshop tools and techniques......Page 44
Putting it all together......Page 57
Producing an agenda......Page 61
The facilitator’s responsibility on the day......Page 63
Questioning and listening......Page 65
Managing the discussion......Page 70
Capturing and using workshop data......Page 76
Handling difficult situations and difficult people......Page 77
Body language......Page 85
Extracting workshop actions......Page 87
Making decisions......Page 88
Closing the workshop......Page 89
Location......Page 91
Equipment......Page 92
Seating......Page 93
Safety......Page 94
Group-work areas......Page 95
Pens and paper......Page 96
Name cards or badges......Page 97
6 What to do afterwards......Page 98
Reporting back......Page 99
Dealing with workshop actions......Page 101
What next?......Page 102
Example reports......Page 103
Workshops as part of the organizational change process......Page 110
Using external facilitators......Page 112
Improving your facilitation skills......Page 114
Help-desk review workshop......Page 118
Standards and procedures workshop......Page 122
IT strategy workshop for senior managers......Page 127
Prototype review workshop......Page 131
What is a special case workshop?......Page 136
Top team workshops......Page 137
Cross-cultural workshops......Page 140
Virtual teams – how do they work?......Page 148
Pros and cons of a virtual meeting......Page 150
Virtual meeting technologies and their applications......Page 151
Tips for facilitating a virtual meeting......Page 153
Dos and don’ts for virtual team managers and team members......Page 155
Checklist 1: Questions to ask upfront......Page 157
Checklist 2: Questions to ask when designing the workshop......Page 158
Checklist 4: Questions to ask afterwards......Page 159
Introducing facilitation......Page 160
The psychology of groups......Page 161
Planning a facilitated workshop......Page 163
Running a facilitated workshop......Page 166
The workshop environment......Page 169
What to do afterwards......Page 170
Special case workshops......Page 171
References......Page 174
Index......Page 175