Facilitative Leadership

Agenda 1:30pm Welcome 1:50pm Active Learning & Discussion 3:10pm Break Ice Breaker Review agenda Training Objectives Develop & Review Training Agreements 1:50pm Active Learning & Discussion 3:10pm Break 3:20pm Active Learning & Discussion 4:20pm Reflection & Evaluation 4:30pm Closing

TRAINING OBJECTIVES Define Facilitative Leadership Discuss how Facilitative Leaders can support your work Identify how Facilitative Leaders center their efforts Identify and discuss the Principles of Facilitative Leadership Exercise: Explore YOUR personal strengths as a Facilitative Leader Reflect: How can I use today’s lessons in my work/volunteer efforts Questions?

TRAINING AGREEMENTS Be open Show respect Listen to each other One person speaks at a time Silence Cell Phones Participate Share experiences Keep discussion confidential Give feedback in writing

What is A Leader? Leader – A person who has commanding influence (power) Who are some leaders in your life? Work, School, Family, Volunteer efforts.. There are many styles of leadership (click slide) “Leadership at its core, is a very simple process of thinking well or thinking clearly about the situation facing them” Sean Ruth

LEADERSHIP STYLE A Leadership Style refers to a leader’s way of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Your style describes HOW you lead. There are many different leadership styles. No one style is correct for all situations.

Excellent Leaders… Know how to use the correct leadership style for a given situation. Help individuals recognize and maximize their full potential as team members. Energize and engage people by helping them create a meaningful sense of purpose and direction in their work.

What is Facilitative Leadership?

Definitions: LEADER: A person who has commanding influence (power). FACILITATE: To make easy or possible.

A Facilitative Leader: Facilitative Leaders: Empower others to work together and achieve common goals through relationships, processes and outcomes. They make it easier for people to: Think, understand, & communicate their thoughts Work with others and focus on group goals and outcomes Speak up when there are challenges Make and carry out decisions Allow members to develop their own leadership potential Achieve high quality results through the group’s abilities

Leadership Is About Having A Vision Your vision is your picture of your company, project, etc. in the future. It is broad, doesn’t include action items or detailed information. It answers where we want to go. A vision statement is for your team, not your participants. Example of a vision statement: “Within the next five years, the Women’s Center will have helped create a safer, more harmonious community by helping women acquire the education, skills and resources necessary to build self-sufficient prosperous lives.”

Leadership Is About Inspiring Trust What does a team with trust look like? What are some ways you can see distrust exist within a team? Any examples from BSFWWB work? 5 Elements of Trust: Communication, humility, reliability, competence, integrity (quality of being honest)

Leadership Is About Seeing Possibilities

Perspective Rectangles Exercise How many rectangles do you see? Audience participation time. There’s no wrong answer since the question asks “How many rectangles do YOU see?” vs how many rectangles are there. Encourage members to share their number and how they got to those numbers. We all may see this challenge differently

Leadership Is About Seeking New Strategies

Leadership Is About Quality Communication I’m wondering if you’ve noticed that these last slides have described what Leadership is but didn’t say that YOU have to be the only one contributing to these components of Leadership or hold these qualities in your group. One of the main goals listed for Facilitative Leaders, is how they create space to “support others in developing their own leadership potential”.

Facilitative Leadership Key Assumptions Because Facilitative Leaders manage relationships, processes and outcomes. It is important that you take time to learn about yourself so that you can best support others. For example do you understand your: Natural Leadership stance Your innate relationship with Conflict Your communications strengths and challenges Your ability to build trust…quickly All of these will be tested as you practice facilitation skills and engage others. Self-awareness Self-management Facilitative Leadership Group Awareness

Facilitative Leaders Focus On: Setting Direction Inspiring Commitment Building Capacity (skills & knowledge)

Facilitative Leaders Practices: Set Direction Share an Inspiring Vision Balance Results, Process and Relationships Give everyone the handout and ask each member to read a section. We will discuss after each section.

Facilitative Leaders Practices: Inspire Commitment Practice Appropriate Maximum Involvement Create Pathways to Action Facilitate Agreement

Facilitative Leaders Practices: Build Capacity Coach Others for Success Celebrate Accomplishment

Setting The Stage for Great Facilitative Leadership

IMPROVE LISTENING SKILLS Choose to listen Be an effective listener Don’t interrupt unless necessary Listening requires focus. You are paying attention to the story, how it is told, use of language and voice, body language Summarize to verify mutual understanding, even where there is disagreement Don’t impose your solutions, you can ask if they are interested.

**Listening Activity** Facts - A true statement that can be proven with evidence. It can be verified. Feelings – Listen for the emotions you hear Values – What core principles or underlying personal driving forces do you hear behind the feelings Pair off into partners. Each person has 3 minutes to share a story of their choice with their partner. Once the 3 minutes is up, complete the listening exercise sheet for yourself to help evaluate yourself as a listener. Adapted from University of Minnesota Extension. NELD North Central 2014 Chicago Workbook. Created by Jody Horntvedt and Toby Spanier

Encouraging Dialogue vs. Controlling the Conversation CONTROL DIALOGUE Encourages CONFLICT Encourages RESOLUTION C = Critique / Complaint O = Offer new / old information N = Negotiate change in other T = Terminate / Take it personally R = Righteous anger / indignation O = Overt (passive) aggression L = Lay blame

Supporting DIALOGUE Ask open ended questions that encourage broad thinking and participation Use close-ended questions for details Listen actively Don’t evaluate Be comfortable with silence Be observant of body language Seek to understand, identify information to resolve conflict Offer genuine support C = Critique / Complaint O = Offer new / old information N = Negotiate change in other T = Terminate / Take it personally R = Righteous anger / indignation O = Overt (passive) aggression L = Lay blame Open questions examples: If we went that direction, what do you think will happen? That’s interesting. What was the thinking behind that? What do you want me to take away from this? Tell me more about that **Use small group activity if you can’t get members to participate in large group**

PRACTICE EMPATHY Recognize emotions in others Have Fundamental “people skills” Have awareness of others’ needs/wants Consider others’ feelings as factors in decision making Attempt to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to feel & understand the person’s perspective There’s a level of acceptance within empathy. You don’t have to agree, condone or encourage negative behaviors…but there is some level of non-judgmental acceptance. For example.

PRACTICE ACCEPTANCE ACCEPTANCE IS SIMPLY NON-JUDGMENTAL UNDERSTANDING …NOT AGREEMENT, sanction, compliance, sympathy, encouraging, and the like …is simply seeing something the way it is and saying, “That’s the way it is.”

How do you measure as a Facilitative Leader?

Your Strengths: Growth Areas: Your Development Plan Share an Inspiring Vision: Create and communicate an image of the future and get others engaged in its pursuit. Keep the mission out front. Focus on Results, Process, Relationships: Build a structure for performance and satisfaction that balances what gets done, the way it happens, and how people treat each other. The structure should support continued work when you are gone. Seek Maximum Appropriate Involvement: Leverage the talent & interests of others around you by including them appropriately in the decision making process. Work to increase trust and commitment through engagement. Model Actions that Aid Collaboration: Encourage diversity of opinion and honor individual perspectives. Help team members stay focused on the task at hand through modeling. Design Pathways to Action: Guide others in planning how to solve problems and realize opportunities. Help people see alternatives when executing a plan. Bring out the Best in Others: Coach individuals to do their best. Listen as an ally. Support the expression of others’ ideas. Work to overcome obstacles. Celebrate Accomplishment: Seize the moment to authentically celebrate small successes. Acknowledge individuals and teams for their contributions. Your Strengths: Growth Areas: Table Activity.

REFLECTION, QUESTIONS and PLANNING Please share any reflections from today Are there lingering questions? In following sessions we will discuss: Meeting Planning to support excellent facilitation Facilitation Skills Are there other items we want to add?

THE END! THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!