Workshops, meetings and seminars drive momentum in a change project. Even more so, if they are facilitated skilfully. Workshops, meetings and seminars are held to create ownership of required changes – and ensure buy-in from managers, employees or customers. Most organisations involve a facilitator to make sure that this happens. To qualify as an excellent facilitator, you not only need to manage the meeting; you also need to help the group achieve specific results – without taking a stand or becoming involved in their practical work. The facilitator is the catalyst that drives the session to an effective result. This calls for an astute awareness of setting, purpose and the people involved.

1. Facilitation with organisational effect
Leadership

2. 2
Adviser
Trainer
Facilitator
Specialist competences
Process consultant competences
Facilitation is one of the roles you must master in order to drive change
Case attendant
Stager

3. 3
Focus on “the business”
Focus on “the individual”
Focus on the process
Focus on the day
Interaction
Behavioural change
Implementation with effect
Purpose and delivery
The consultant must be able to work the whole dance floor – every day!

4. 4
The word facilitation comes from the Latin word “facile”, which means “to make easy” or “to move freely”.
Ib Ravn (head of research for the group Facilitation of knowledge processes at DPU) describes facilitation as a way of canalising the energies and communication of a group of people in such a way that they profit much more, than if they were left to themselves (Ravn, 2011).
“Facilitation is about process – how you do something – rather than content – what you do.”
(Dale Hunter, 2007)
Facilitation is used to create results and ownership through involvement.
Examples of when to use facilitation
•Formulation of a strategy, basic values.
•Development of an idea or a product.
•Knowledge acquisition or knowledge-sharing.
•Facilitated education (facili-training).
•A wide variety of meetings: decision-making meetings, planning meetings, project meetings, staff meetings.
Facilitation is about focusing on form and goals rather than content

5. 5
To achieve effective processes, you must go through three processes
Before
During
After
Intentional design
Facilitation
Implementation and follow-up

6. 6
3. ENVIRONMENT
Where and which mood? To create an appropriate physical and mental environment for the event.
2. PARTICIPANTS Who? To include the participants in the best way possible in terms of their preferences, relations, context and learning methods.
4. FORM
How? To draw on the most beneficial processing methods.
5. ROLES
Who has which role? To design the process with focus on the roles of the most important stakeholders in the process and on the day.
The design star
1. PURPOSE Why and what is delivered?

7. 7
Example of scenario
Background
Description
Purpose
(Why?)
Deliveries
(What must we do/achieve?)
Context
(Part of the process?)
Participants
(Who, how many, which types etc.?)
Environment
(Place, mood, address etc.?)
Roles
(Who has which role/responsibility – internal + external?)
Form
(Which overall process methods are brought into play?)
Time
Programme item
How and who has the responsibility?
Materials and …?
REMEMBER

Purpose – why do we have this programme item? It is important to be clear about why you choose to spend time on each individual item.
How is the programme item being facilitated + the detailed time schedule.
It is important to consider the requirements for each item (and possibly what is produced).
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER

8. 8
1.
Make sense
2. Manage the process
4.
Ask questions
5.
Be aware of the power
3.
Take responsibility for the energy
Facilitator behaviour at the meeting

9. How do we create better meetings?

10. 10
The good meeting – value for the business and personal importance to the participant
Source: Ib Ravn, Facilitering – ledelse af møder der skaber værdi og mening, 2011
VALUE AND OPINION
Conversational culture
(collective leadership)
“Monologue”
(authoritarian leadership )
Focus on results and value creation
High
Low
Low
High
Involvement and personal meaningfulness

11. 11
19%
52%
21%
8%
0%
1-20%
21-40%
41-60%
61-80%
81-100%
Percentage of working hours spent at the meeting per week
Survey – what is your opinion about your meetings?

12. 12
22%
20%
28%
13%
7%
8%
1%
0%
1-9%
10-19%
20-29%
30-39%
40-59%
60-100%
Percentage of expendable meetings
Survey – what is your opinion about your meetings?

13. 13
11%
72%
17%
The quality of a typical meeting
Low (1-4)
High (8-10)
Average (5-7)
Survey – what is your opinion about your meetings?

14. 14
What is needed to drive change?

15. 15

Joint and individual engagement

To what do we dedicate ourselves individually and jointly?

How do we know that we have succeeded with our plan?
Discovery
Delivery/
destiny
Design
Dream
The 4D model

Discovery of the best of what already exists.

What creates “life”?

When have we succeeded?

Practice of everyday life. What changes must we make to realise the dream?

What specific things can we do more or less of to realise the dream?

Hopes and dreams for the future

How do we succeed even more?

What doors would it open?

16. 16
The AI method’s five basic principles
In every organisation, family or individual person, something works.
1
People grow when they move towards the good and life-giving in life – like plants facing the sun – Heliotrophy.
2
The language we speak and what we choose to focus on create our reality.
3
Our dreams and expectations for the future set the stage for our present and future actions.
4
Behind every problem lies a “frustrated dream”.
5

17. 17
Horseshoe
No position is wrong The horseshoe is a quick and effective way of getting an answer from a group. It provides an overview, piques curiosity and is a good starting point for a dialogue.
Procedure
•Ask the question which the group must consider.
•Define the ends of the horseshoe.
•Think and go. Give them 5-10 seconds to think and sit down.
•Divide people into groups of two, and allow them to discuss their choice of seat.
•Facilitation. Share views. Be curious.
•Work with the future and the required actions.

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