Everyone is doing it! Not very good at it though. If you ask them, every single one of them tells you they are great at it. I am talking about Facilitation! Everyone is thinking they are doing it. Many of them have an idea about it, maybe through word of mouth. The funny thing is that everyone is claiming to be great at it. This time, I am talking about Coaching! Facilitation is what we do on a daily basis, no matter what our roles are. If we are talking to more than one person, we are probably using some facilitation techniques. People that are working with teams use that more often. Facilitation is a human centric activity. It gets more complicated and more complex by the number of people involved, and that's not the only factor. There are many factors involved in that. Coaching is not something we necessarily do on a daily basis unless you are a coach; and a coach by heart. It is very easy to call yourself one and not be one. It is hard to be a coach. Coaching is a deliberate stance we take. In coaching, depending on your client's situation, you use different tools and techniques. In their core, Coaching and Facilitation are not very different. One is mostly focused at a person's personal level, and one at a group's personal level. When you look at the group as one entity, you can apply techniques and tools for both. Similar to the scaling challenges you might have encountered, you can not necessarily apply the exact same techniques and tools to the bigger picture. However, you can rely back on the pillars of Coaching, Facilitation and vice versa. Shahin is a passionate Coach and an enthusiast Facilitator. Please join him for a session to talk about Coaching and Facilitation; the techniques that we can use and apply no matter who and how many people are we interacting with. Let him share with you his personal coaching & facilitation experiences, and through that to help you identify your own unique charismatic stance of Coaching and Facilitation. Outline/structure of the Session Introduction and discussion to Facilitation and Coaching Introduction and discussion on Tools and Techniques used for Facilitation and Coaching Facilitation and Coaching techniques and tools similarities and differences When to use which How to switch between them Experiment (Simulation) with your learnings from this session to realize your unique style of Coaching and Facilitation Learning Outcome Deep(er) understanding of coaching and facilitation and their interconnectivity New way of approaching challenges at work and/or in your personal life Understanding your unique style of Coaching and Facilitation

1. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Facilitation ≅ Coaching @
Scale
Shahin Sheidaei
Nov 20, 2017

2. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
● Agile Coach, Change Therapist, Professional Disruptor, & Developer!
● Coach people, teams and organizations to become more effective
● I am very passionate about Coaching, Facilitation, & Communities
○ Simple Coaching Model (simplecoachingmodel.com)
○ Agile Lunch (agilelunch.org)
○ Powerful Questions (powerfulquestions.com)
Who Am I?
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3. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Who has done it before?
Let’s talk about it!

4. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
It all starts with a conversation
Building Relationships
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5. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
You had some questions!
What they were talking was interesting!

6. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
● It’s a two way street for having a conversation
● Both partners in it
● Can empower them to explore on their own
● Have an Open mind,
○ What you hear as answer might not what you expected
● Easiest way to show your curiosity
Asking Questions
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7. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Let’s listen!
With all you have!

8. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
● Hearing or Listening?
● 3 Levels of listening
Active Listening
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9. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
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Who has done these before?

10. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
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Who has done these before?

11. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Rank yourself
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Sample
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Basics, Good, Great
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14. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
● Encouragement
● Deeper conversations
● Face you with the cold truth
● Support
● Awareness of perspectives, beliefs, and
attitudes
● Self-discovery of values, goals etc
● Future looking
● Help them help themselves
● Accountability
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Coaching
Not for everyone

15. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
● Encouragement
● Deeper conversations
● Face you with the cold truth
● Support
● Awareness of perspectives, beliefs, and
attitudes
● Self-discovery of values, goals etc
● Future looking
● Help them help themselves
● Accountability
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Coaching @ Scale
Coaching is very personal
Every person is different
Solution: Hire more coaches!
OR could we think outside the box?
What’s closes to coaching? That might
be the answer!

16. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Facilitation
What this is really about?

17. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Facilitation is ...
Give everyone homework
before meeting
Having an Agenda
Running a meeting
Time boxing
Getting agreed upon by the
end of the meeting Summarizing
Asking Questions
Staying Neutral
Insisting on meeting norms
Stopping to check on the
process
Managing the Climate
Calling on quiet people
Calling timeouts and breaks
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18. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Facilitation Manifesto
I am uncovering better ways of facilitating
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work I have come to value:
Listening to peopleover hearing stories
Asking questions over leading them them with answers
Building relationshipsover managing them
Responding to dynamicsover following a process
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, I value the items on the left more.
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19. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Facilitation Manifesto
We are uncovering better ways of facilitating
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Listening to peopleover hearing stories
Asking questions over leading them them with answers
Building relationshipsover managing them
Responding to dynamicsover following a process
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
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20. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
I am uncovering better ways of facilitating
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work I have come to value:
Listening to peopleover hearing stories
Asking questions over leading them with answers
Building relationshipsover managing them
Responding to dynamicsover following a process
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, I value the items on the left more.
Facilitation Manifesto (Example)
Following an Agenda
Time boxing
Getting agreed upon by the end
of the meeting
Staying Neutral
Stopping to check on the process
Calling timeouts and breaks
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21. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
We are uncovering better ways of facilitating
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Listening to peopleover hearing stories
Asking questions over leading them with answers
Building relationshipsover managing them
Responding to dynamicsover following a process
That is, while there is value in the items on
Facilitation Manifesto (Example)
Following an Agenda
Time boxing
Getting agreed upon by the end
of the meeting
Staying Neutral
Stopping to check on the process
Calling timeouts and breaks
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22. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Retrospective Scenario
● Release process is slowing us down, no one is looking at getting a release pipeline in place (from
outside the team)
● One person is talking a lot of and he is angry.
● Two people are looking down the floor
● As a facilitator, what would you do?
I hear this is very frustrating for you. What is
another aspect that we can look about it?
Or What could we do about the frustration? (+ How)
I understand the significance. Who is going to take
a lead on it? We just need someone to follow up
with release engineering team.
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23. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Stand Up Scenario
● A person is sharing they are blocked by a dependency and moved on to another task.
● The task was not part of the Sprint goal, nor related to it.
● As a facilitator, what would you do?
I understand that Shahin picked another task.
What’s the importance of working on this task for
the team? (asking from the team)
I want us to remind us that for every decision we
need to refer to our team agreement. Part of that
agreement is to check with others before picking a
new task. Have you done that? 23

24. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Coaching & Facilitation Core Beliefs
● People are intelligent, capable, and want to do the right thing
● People are more committed to the ideas and plans that they have helped to create
● People can be trusted to assure accountability for their decisions
● People can manage their own conflicts, behaviors, and relationships if they are given the right
tools
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25. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Facilitation ≅ Coaching @ Scale
● With a different perspective
○ I.e. Facilitation Manifesto
● To truly believe in
○ I.e. Coaching & Facilitation Core Beliefs
● You can have the same and even more promising effect on people of coaching while facilitating
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26. Shahin Sheidaei | sheidaei.com
Thanks! Handouts are available @ sheidaei.com
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