1. Building Your
Facilitation Skills
Driving Meetings

2. Introduction
Call-in number is (415) and access code is
To submit live questions, click on the “Questions” panel, type your question, and click “Send”
Presentation materials and audio will be posted at

3. Today’s Panel Michelle Magee Karrie Tam About Harder+Company
Harder+Company Community Research is a comprehensive social research and planning firm with offices in San Francisco, Davis, San Diego, and Los Angeles, California. Our mission is to help our clients achieve social impact through quality research, strategy, and organizational development services.

4. Purpose & Overview
Second webinar of a two-part series from the John Burton Foundation California College Pathway’s project to strengthen your network
Today we will focus on facilitating meetings
An effective meeting facilitator supports a group to do their best thinking

5. Building Your Facilitation Skills
By the end of the webinar, you will…
Understand how to effectively facilitate meetings
Learn how to manage a group
Gain concrete strategies on facilitation during each stage of group behavior
Have a ready-to-use guide and tools to put into practice

6. Recap from Last Webinar:
Role of the Facilitator

7. Team Roles
facilitator
time keeper
note taker
participant

8. Role of a Facilitator The facilitator... Draws out opinions and ideas
Focuses on the how and what
Helps the group stay on topic
Supports full participation
Summarizes discussions and conversations
Brings closure to the meeting with an end result or action
Maintains neutrality

9. Managing the Group

10.  Team Behavior Stages of Convergent and Divergent Thinking
create choices
groan zone
convergent
make choices
Types of Divergent Thinking
Types of Convergent Thinking
Generating alternatives
Free-for-all open discussion
Gathering diverse points of view
Unpacking the logic of a problem
Evaluating alternatives
Summarizing key points
Sorting ideas into categories
Arriving at general conclusions

11. Examples of Team Behavior
Divergent Thinking
Convergent Thinking

12. Divergent Thinking: Strategies for Getting Ideas Out
Brainstorm
Use active listening
Draw out opinions
Support full participation

13. Brainstorming Best Practices
Brainstorming Strategies
Brainstorming Best Practices
Everyone should agree on the question or issue being brainstormed
Don’t spend too long brainstorming; min should work well
Never criticize ideas
Write every idea on a flip chart; make sure the words are visible to everyone at the same time to avoid misunderstandings and remind others of new ideas
Leave explanations and clarifications until later

14. Allow participants 5- 10 min to write ideas.
Brainstorming Strategies
Round Robin 1 2
Have participants share their ideas, moving one- by-one around the group.
Allow participants min to write ideas.

15. Team Idea Map Brainstorming Strategies 1 2 3
Give the group a well-defined topic and have participants brainstorm individually for min.
Ask participants to share their ideas in random order. As ideas are put forward, chart them on a large “idea map.” 3
Allow participants to consider the map and think about new ideas that have emerged or associations between them. The group can then prioritize and/or take action on emerging ideas.

16. Allow participants to write ideas on a sticky note.
Brainstorming Tool
Sticky Notes 1 2
Allow participants to write ideas on a sticky note.
Then, have participants cluster their ideas in the middle of the table or on a wall. 3
The group is then allowed to pull out one or more ideas for inspiration. With these notes, the team members can create new ideas and variations, or piggyback on existing ideas.

17. Techniques Active Listening
Encouraging: Convey interest by using non-committal words with a positive tone
“I see...” “Tell me more...” “That’s interesting...”
Restating: Help the speaker grasp the facts by putting it in your own words
“If I understand, your situation is...” “In other words...”
Reflecting: Let the speaker know you understand by empathizing with the speaker’s basic feelings
“So you feel that...” “You were pretty disturbed about...”
Summarizing: Pull important ideas, facts, etc. together by restating and reflecting major ideas and feelings
“These seem to be the key ideas...” “If I understand you, you feel this way about this situation...”

18. Strategies for Managing Conflict and Difficult People
Groan Zone:
Strategies for Managing Conflict and Difficult People
Use ground rules
Accept, deal, defer
Take a break
Use body language
Stop the meeting
Use encouraging language

19. When the conversation goes off track:
Parking Lot
When the conversation goes off track:
Designate a chart labeled “Parking Lot” to “park” ideas
When the conversation gets off topic, briefly stop the meeting and write the off-topic idea on the chart
Before ending the meeting, return to the “Parking Lot” list and decide as a group how to address the ideas

20. When a group member dominates the conversation:
Ground Rules
When a group member dominates the conversation:
A simple ground rule is to establish that “Everyone participates: share the floor”
This sets up the expectation that you want to balance participation
Enforce this ground rule during the meeting

21. When a group member is confrontational:
Accept, Deal, Defer
When a group member is confrontational:
Accept that what they are saying is true; don’t ignore it
Deal with it right there by spending some time on the issue
Defer it to the group for a decision about what to do

22. When a group member is confrontational:
Take a Break/Discuss Later
When a group member is confrontational:
When less confrontational tactics haven’t worked, you can deal with this issue outside the room, at a naturally- occurring break in the action

23. When a group member has side conversations:
Use Body Language
When a group member has side conversations:
Make eye contact
Smile (or don’t smile)
Change your seating/standing position

24. When a group member has side conversations:
Stop the Meeting
When a group member has side conversations:
Comment that it is difficult for you to hear the main discussion or concentrate on the topic
Check in with the group
Example: “I sense we are losing people’s attention and interest, can we do a check-in to see where people are on this topic?”

25. When group members are not participating:
Use Encouraging Language
When group members are not participating:
Ask open-ended questions and language to engage group members and encourage follow-up questions
Example: “Could you please tell us more about...?”
Example: That’s interesting, what do others think about...”
Example: Go on, we’d love to hear more...”

26. Strategies for Setting Priorities and Making Decisions
Convergent Thinking:
Strategies for Setting Priorities and Making Decisions
Generate a list of options
Agree on criteria
Vote
Summarize and rate areas of agreement

27. Narrow down and prioritize decisions:
Priority Setting
Narrow down and prioritize decisions:
Generate a list of options
Have the group agree on criteria for selecting and eliminating options
Identify each option and have members vote by writing down the number of the item or placing a sticker next to it
The options with the most votes are then prioritized for further discussion
When eliminating ideas, it is good to check the group for strong opinions to the contrary

28. Structured discussions:
Decision Making
Structured discussions:
Help members agree on criteria for selecting options
Have members take turns expressing their opinion without discussion
Summarize the areas of agreement and have the group discuss areas of disagreement
Stop the group at various points to see how close they are to consensus
The facilitator may want to use straw polls in between, continuing the discussion until it reaches an appropriate level of agreement

29. Closing the Meeting

30. Tips: Closing the Meeting Review the meeting results
Confirm any key agreements
Identify next steps
Determine when a follow-up meeting will be held, setting a date, time and location
Evaluate the meeting through a feedback form or ask participants to quickly identify what they liked most, what they liked least, and what they would do to improve it
Congratulate the group on a job well done!

31. Ready-to-Use Tools and Guide

32. Tools are available for download at

33. Questions?