Survival Guide to Group
Process Facilitation
The great basic primer on group process facilitation:
[These notes courtesy
of Stuart Forsyth, unless otherwise noted.]
- Doyle & Strauss,
How to Make Meetings Work
- Groundwork --
- Find a good location
- Arrange it
- Everyone around
a U so they can see each others' faces
- Open portion
of U facing the wall notes
- Figure out the
clear and specific purpose
- Get the relevant
information
- Send it out in
advance
- Only invite those
necessary
- Post the schedule
- Timekeeper
- Deal immediately
with --
- Why am I here?
- Why are all the
rest of the people here?
- What are we doing
here?
[orientation: first step suggested by
Grove Consultants, headed by David Sibbet (used to
be called "Graphic Guides"), first step of a seven
step dynamic common to all human process, which Sibbet
adapted from Arthur M. Young]
- Doyle and Straus
and Sibbet both suggest you:
- mail the
agenda in advance AND post it clearly in the meeting where
every participant can see it;
- begin the
meeting with introductions and an explicit statement of
the roles for everyone involved (who called the meeting,
who is facilitating, who is recording, how results will
be disseminated and by whom, who the participants are
and why they were invited;
- allow the
participants to express their expectations of the meeting
and, if necessary, adjust the agenda accordingly;
- clarify and
POST the groundrules for the meeting process.
- Go around the
room
- Introduce yourself
- Say what you
think you are going to get out of this meeting
- Outcomes
- Expectations
- Make things as
explicit and obvious as possible
- Be creative
- Process
- Outcomes and
expectations (from each participant)
- Agenda (vetted
and revised, if necessary)
- Roles
- Contribute ideas
- Contribute information
- Make presentations
- Rules (established
by the group)
- Approach very flexible,
dynamic; antithesis of Roberts' Rules of Order:
- Very hierarchical
- Very structured
- Not easy to brainstorm
in such a meeting
Nominal Group
Technique*
Objectives of Nominal Group Technique [NGT]:
- To ensure different
processees for each phase of examining and solving a problem;
- To balance participation
among members; and
- To incorporate mathematical
voting techniques into the aggregation of group judgment.
Advantages
of the NGT Method:
- Unique group processes
are used for the separate phases of a) independent idea generation;
b) structured feedback; and c) independent mathematical judgment;
- Increased attention
is given to each idea; and
- Each individual has
greater opportunity to ensure that his or her idea is part of
the group's frame of reference.
Preparation:
Two flip charts;
Marker pens -- for recording items on the charts;
Masking tape -- for hanging flip charts on walls;
Pads and pencils for participants; and
3" x 5" cards for participants.
Welcoming
Remarks
- Extend a cordial and
warm welcome;
- Give the group a sense
of the importance of its task;
- Clarify the importance
of each member's contribution; and
- Explain the use or
purpose of the meeting's output.
STEPS IN THE
NGT PROCESS...
Step 1. Presenting
the Question and Silently Generating Ideas in Writing
- Present the question
to the group in written or verbal form;
- If presented in written
form, read the question aloud;
- Ask the group to write
three to five ideas, in brief phrases or statements, that respond
to the question; and
- Ask the group to do
this work silently and independently.
Step 2. Round-Robin
Recording of Ideas
- Begin with one person
in the group and ask for one of his or her responses;
- Write that response
verbatim on the flip chart;
- Ask a second person
for an idea, and write that on the chart;
- Continue around the
group until each person has given one response [taping
pages of flip charts on the wall as needed]; and
- After completing the
first round, begin a second and continue the process until all
ideas are recorded.
- Important:
Do not allow discussion of ideas at this step. As the leader,
do not remark on the worth of ideas.
Step 3. Serial Discussion for Clarification and Merging.
Serial discussion means taking each idea listed on the chart,
in order, and allowing a short period of time to discuss it.
- Point to item one,
read it aloud, and ask if there are any questions about the idea;
for statements of clarification; for statements of agreement or
disagreement; and for further discussion of the ideas;
- Do the same for all
other ideas, in the order they were suggested. Important:
Do not allow an inordinate focus on any one idea. Do not allow
discussion to become argumentative.
- As each item is reviewed,
ask if any of the previously reviewed items are the same as the
one currently being examined. If they are the same, link them
together and consider them as one combined item.
Step 4. Preliminary
Vote on Item Importance
The purpose of this step is to aggregate the judgments of individual
members in order to determine the relative importance of individual
items. Ask group members to select from the list of ideas the
five priority items each thinks are the most important.
You then have two options:
Option One: [standard process]
- Have group members
place each of the five priority items on a separate 3" x 5" card,
using the number of the item(s) recorded;
- Have the group members
rank order the cards, numbering them from "1" to "5" with "1"
being the highest priority;
- Collect the cards
and shuffle them; and
- Record the votes on
the flip chart.
Option Two: [abbreviated process]
- Have group members
record the numbers of their five priority items;
- Through a show of
hands, record the number of people who selected each item by asking,
"How many selected item 1? Item 2? Item 3? (etc.)";
- Tally the votes for
each item; and
- Review those five
items that received the most votes.
Step 5. Discussion
of the Preliminary Vote (not used in the abbreviated process)
The purpose of this step is to provide an opportunity to
discuss again those items which are perceived as receiving too
many or too few votes.
- Explain that the purpose
of this discussion is to clarify, not to apply social pressure;
- Discuss the items
serially; and
- Keep discussion focussed
and brief.
Step 6. Final
Vote (repeat Step 4)
*Source:
United Way of America, Environmental Analysis, Guideline
Booklet No. 2, in Strategic Management and the United Way
-- A Guideline Series, Appendix 2. Strategic Planning Division,
701 N. Fairfax Street, Alexandria VA 22314-2045, USA.
[notes from Stuart
Forsyth, continued:]
DeBono, Six Thinking
Hats [see handout]
- White hat
- Neutral and objective
- "Just the facts,
Ma'am"
- Facts and figures
- Generally creates
action items
- Keeps people
honest re the data they use to back up arguments
- What information
do we need?
- Red hat
- Emotions and
feelings
- Never justify
the feelings
- Two types of
feelings
- Ordinary emotions
- Gut feelings
- It is valid to
have an emotional response
- Keep it very
short
- Quick, gut reaction
- Do not
say why! Feelings are entirely subjective, cannot be explained
rationally, and SHOULD not be.
- Black hat
- Critical evaluation
- Negative assessment
- Not argumentative
- Objective negativity
- Judge the idea
against the past or the future
- Points out weaknesses
- Yellow hat
- Speculative-positive
- Positive assessment
- Positive spectrum
from logical & practical to dreams, visions & hopes
- Constructive
and generative
- Synthesizes ideas
- Green hat [classic
brainstorming]
- Creative-lateral
thinking
- Search for alternatives
- New ideas
- Movement forward
instead of judgment
- Blue hat
- Control of thinking
- Focus (of all
thinking)
- Control and monitor
- Program design
- Summaries and
conclusions
- Sensitive to
the process
- Facilitator's
hat
- Make communication
as clear and explicit as possible
BRAINSTORMING AND PROVOKED
BRAINSTORMING
- The
difference between a regular facilitator and a futures facilitator:
- Futurists
- Have to do more training;
- Have to teach
people how to think about the future; must often offer examples
- Facilitators more
focussed on staying neutral, less likely to offer examples
- In either role, don't
judge;
- Create an atmosphere
of trust;
- Use deBono's rules
of six hat thinking and communication;
- THEN apply his provocations
for creativity:
- Challenge
- Ask "Why?"
- Question everything
- Exaggeration
- Taking something
to its most absurd
- Ask "What if?"
- Distortion
- Take the familiar
and render it unfamiliar
- Put something
in another context or to a different use
- Reversal
- Reverse assumptions
- Reverse a situation
- State it as its
logical opposite
- Wishful thinking
- Daydreaming
- Visioning
- Ask "What do
you want?"
- DeBono's views on
creativity -- "lateral thinking" -- and what constrains
it:
- We tend to want
to reduce chaos in our life
- We build boxes
of categories in our mind
- We try to force
new information into existing boxes
- Synthesize
- See the world
from a different perspective
- DeBono's "po"
- Something outrageous
is about to happen here
- Enact a creative
function in this space
- "orchid" po
"chorale" results in
- A flower that
sings
- Think of as many
outcomes as you can that combine these two concepts
SMALL GROUP CREATIVITY
EXERCISE
Pretend that we are GM:
Car (personal
transport device) po kangaroo / butterfly / squid / gazelle
NEXT MODULE:
Read:
Michael, Donald N.,
The Futurist Tells Stories
Le Guin, Ursula K.,
The Language of the Night
Brin, David, "Afterword"
from Earth
Skim:
Parnes, Sidney, J.,
ed., Source Book For Creative Problem-Solving: A Fifty Year Digest
of Proven Innovation Processes
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