Over the past 20 years in my career, I’ve had the opportunity to lead, conduct, and facilitate a number of meeting and workshops.  I’ve outlined a few things that I think makes them a success.

Pre-meeting

• Ideally, employees should be prepared, focused and energized for the meeting.
• As the leader, it is not your job to force people learn or be successful; your charge is to create an environment in which people can learn and be successful.
• Meetings must have meaning, make an impact, and lead participants to action
• Approximately 50% of the meeting (if your organization will allow it) should be devoted to simulation(s), case studies, role-playing, etc so that people are actively involved and able to walk away with tools they need to be able to use the skills they develop during the meeting in their day to day work.

Preparation

• Many leaders focus 100% of their preparation time on the content of the meeting.
• High-Impact Meeting or Workshop planning involves the following:
  • 50% content planning:
• What is the message, initiatives corporate initiatives etc you want to present?
  • 50% process planning:
• How will the meeting’s content be delivered to ensure a productive, interactive, high-energy session that leads participants to take action?
  • Pre-work assignments
• What can the participant read or research that will make the meeting more impactful?

Environment

• Set ground rules, or ask the team involved to set rules to which they all agree (flipchart their responses).
• Seating assignments when necessary (don’t do it or use creative ways to do it)
• Juxtapose high energy exercises with low-energy lectures.
• Have participants sit with different person each day to create variety.
• Regulate the room temperature, light to keep participants comfortable.
• Room setup is vital: classroom style is the least conducive for adult learning so try setting the tables in rounds or in a horseshoe.
• Play music before the meeting begins and during breaks (have participants bring in their favorite CDs)
• Completer your preparation for the meeting at a minimum of  30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting,
• Greet participants with a handshake as they walk in the door.
• Place posters that cover topics such as organizational values, motivation, and performance around the room.
• Post your most important poster on the inside of the door to the room.  (Participants will see this poster each time they go in or out.  Message will be ingrained in the participants and could be used as a positive measurement tool or tracking of trends in positive behavior.)
• Give participants short, frequent breaks instead of long, infrequent ones.  This will ensure that the energy of your participants remains high throughout the day.
• Offer different snacks throughout the day.
• Structure your meetings and workshops to allow participants to get out of their seats and participate interactively.
• Keep the lecture component of your meetings to a minimum; ideally digital presentations should be no more than 10-15 slides.

Recognition

• Hang posters around the meeting room.
• Enlarge “Measurements” poster to show progress.
• Recognize as many people as possible, whenever possible.
• Know your staff well enough to acknowledge milestones in their lives, service anniversaries, completion of training, birthdays, marriages, births, etc.

Workshops

• Be sure to model appropriate uses of the materials during the workshop.
• Use role-plays, case studies, and simulations during the workshop so that participants can get out of their seats and get involved.
• Include time for open, honest feedback from other team members in response to role-play exercises
• Provide participants with a concise action list that outlines the “mission-critical” tasks that must be accomplished during the next few months in order for the tam to be successful.   Use positive reinforcement to motivate everyone involved.

Suggestions

There is a wide variety of role-play simulations that can be fun, exciting and a great way to for participants to  learn new materials and roles.

• Three in a Circle
  • Three participants per group.  One presenter plays the role of coach, one person plays the receiver (coachee), and the last one is the observer.  The presenter delivers presentation to receiver.  The observer observes the presentation and interaction between the presenter and the receiver.  The observer then provides feedback to the presenter about what seemed to work well and on what areas he/she might make improvements.
• Battle Line
  • Participants line up across from each other and deliver 2.5 minute presentations. Each team of two presents for a total of 5 minutes.  Upon the leader’s signal, participants move to present to a new teammate.
• Ball Toss
  • The group forms in a circle.  Leader selects one participant to start a presentation regarding the material.  After completing the first part of presentation, the participant tosses ball to another teammate who must continue with the next part of presentation.  The process continues until presentation is complete or all team members have presented.

Sustain

• Develop a to-do list in collaboration with your team.
• Send out follow-up memos within 48 hours of the meeting to thank participants for their attendance and remind them of their commitment to the to-do list.
• If appropriate, ask participants to make a weekly update of their progress to their training partner.
  • The message should include updates on at least one action item that the participant has completed during the week.
• Distribute a short progress memo each month following the meeting.
  • Include the items that participants have agreed to complete.
• Provide daily or weekly feedback.
  • How does each participant see success?
  • What motivates these people to be excited to come to work, to be thoroughly engaged, and to reach beyond their wildest dreams.

I’m confident that if you take a few of my suggestions and apply them to your next event, you’ll have a higher level of success and overall satisfaction from participants.

1. It is ok to cut the meeting short - Don’t feel like you have to use all of the time you’ve scheduled for the meeting. If you don’t have to cover, don’t feel compelled to repeat yourself to fill the time. Also, make sure that the topics that you discuss during the meeting pertain to the majority of the people in the room. If they don’t, either cut down agenda or cut down your guest list.

2. Including the whole office is unnecessary – Intentionally not inviting people to meeting that don’t affect them is perfectly okay. Having too many people in attendance will eventually lead to an overly long meeting, which is neither very cost effective nor a good use of those individuals’ time.

3. Don’t let your meetings run longer than an hour- They say, “Time is money,” so make sure you are getting the most from your meetings. Most people can’t stay focused for more than an hour at a time. If your meeting demands a longer time frame, provide interactive ways to get the attendees involved.

4. Don’t let PowerPoint ruin the discussion- One of the most powerful aspects of meeting with your team is the discussion that will ensue, provoking new ideas and new ways to accomplish your work. But using too many visuals can derail the conversations providing a distraction rather than a source of information. It order to get the ideas flowing ahead of time, it might be a good idea to let the attendees see the presentation prior to the meeting so that they can be better prepared to participate.

5. Meetings should be purposeful not habitual- Regularly scheduled meetings may not be the most beneficial use of anyone’s time. If you’re struggling to put together an agenda for your next meeting, it may be time to reassess its regularity.

Meetings are necessary. They’re important, and having them fairly regularly ensures that the members of an organization are on the same page. But make an effort to lead meetings that are truly productive. Not only will these meetings improve the efficiency (and mood!) and increase productivity of your team members, they will help increase your bottom line.

While I have served on several committees, I have not served on this particular committee before.  I was surprised at the different way this cleric had to handle this group compared to other groups.  While both groups are comprised of volunteers, this committee seemed to be more volatile.

Group Dynamics
Let me give you a list of characters from this group (aliases).  Rich is a fast mover; a “change it now” type of person, while Frank is a traditionalist and feels the tried and proven ways are good enough.  Dave is the resident expert; well-read, but young and inexperienced.  He has a ready answer to any question.  Ryan is ultra -liberal and controversial.  More importantly, he enjoys being out there.  Joanne is the “when I was at… we did it…”  Leslie is quick to pass judgment even before all the facts are on the table.  Joe appears to be a stoic, but actually is very interested.  The problem is he only voices his opinion only to those he trusts and not necessarily in the meeting.  Cindy is very knowledgeable but quiet.  She often feels others don’t respect her opinions and therefore frequently has her feeling hurt.  Karen is willing to bring her agendas to the table, even when the group is talking about other issues.  Do any of these people resemble members of your team?

Tips to Getting Started
You, like our leader, probably see many opportunities that would make the organization more effective in satisfying the needs of those involved.  Unfortunately, you need to get all these personalities to effectively function together in order to seize opportunities.

The following tips will help you maintain sanity in working with your group.

• First and foremost, don’t take the group’s behavior personally. It isn’t you, but the topic that may be frustrating.
• Set the agenda and stick to it. Let the participants know what topics will be discussed and how long you expect the meeting to last. Members will appreciate this courtesy. Also, it alleviates unexpected departures. If someone becomes long-winded, remind them of the group’s time limits.
• Set ground rules. This may seem unnecessary, but you would be surprised how a simple set of rules can set the tone for discussion. For example; CMOE’s meeting rules include:
  • No side conversations
  • Actively participate
  • Avoid becoming defensive
  • Be positive
  • Focus on the topic
  • Avoid stories

• Finally, don’t get discouraged, stay up-beat and confident that the group will come to a consensus resolution, one that each member can commit to.Notice that these tips center on the situation or topics, not personalities or abstract agendas.  It demands that respect for each other is maintained.  Remember though, these tips are no means a guarantee of perfection.  They serve only as a great starting point.

Notice that these tips center on the situation or topics, not personalities or abstract agendas.  It demands that respect for each other is maintained.  Remember though, these tips are no means a guarantee of perfection.  They serve only as a great starting point.

1. Adults are motivated to learn as they develop needs and interests that learning will satisfy.  Therefore, the needs and interests of adult learners are the appropriate starting points for organizing adult learning activities, and are the crucial guideposts for delivering training.

2. Adult orientation learning is either life-centered or work-centered.  Therefore, the appropriate frameworks for organizing adult learning are life-related and/or work-related situations, not academic or theoretical subjects.

3. Experience is the richest resource for adult learning.  Therefore, the core methodology for adult learning programs involves active participation in a planned series of experiences, the analysis of those experiences, and their application to work and life situations.

4. Adults have a deep need to be self-directing.  Therefore, the role of the trainer is to engage in a process of inquiry, analysis, and decision-making with learners, rather than to transmit his/her knowledge to them and then evaluate their conformity to it.

5. Individual differences among adult learners increase with age and experience.  Therefore, adult learning programs must make optimum provision for differences in style, time, place, and pace of learning.

Adapted from:  Frederic H. Margolis and Chip R. Bell, Managing the Learning Process, Lakewood Publications, Malcolm Knowles, The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species, and The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Androgogy.

1. Summarize the training by restating the main points.

2. Review the objects and highlight how they have been met.

3. Provide time for participants to create action plans and set goals for applying the training topics.

4. Use humor.  Here is a humorous way David Peoples from IBM frequently closes his presentations: “I fully realize that I have not succeeded in answering all your questions.  Indeed, I feel I have not answered any of them completely.  The answers I have found only serve to raise a whole new set of questions, which only leads to more problems.  To sum it all up, I feel we are just as confused as ever in some ways, but I believe we are confused at a higher level and about more important things.”

5. Close with a quote.  For example: Confucious said in 451 B.C. “What I hear, I forget; what I see, I may remember; but what I do, I understand.”  Another great quote that is recommended is by C.S. Lewis, “A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.”

Adapted from: Robert W. Pike, Creative Training Techniques Handbook.

• Koosh balls
• Stress balls
• Bouncy balls
• Squishy balls
• Wire puzzles
• Slide puzzles
• Lego bricks
• Hacky sacks
• Play dough
• Modeling clay
• Wikki Stix
• Silly putty
• Foam dice
• Markers or crayons and paper
• Pipe cleaners
• Poppers

Because most of these objects are small in size, soft, and compactable, they are easy to take with in a small plastic container or plastic bag.  Trainer and facilitators can toss them in their luggage. If you can’t find these items in a local novelty store, many on-line vendors that carry these products for a reasonable price.

• Blue: Relaxes people and sparks creativity. Use blue when brainstorming, but avoid it for writing or posting warnings or cautions.

• Red: Stimulates people (increases blood pressure, pulse, and respiration). Use red for cautions, warning and exclamatory tiles. When writing or printing in red, make word big because red is hard for people to see.

• Green: Both excites and pacifies people, so use it with caution. Great is great for borders and accents.

• Purple: Creates a sense of power and confidence. Unlike red, purple reduces blood pressure, pulse and respiration rates.

1. When participants ask you a question, ask another member of the group to answer it.

2. When you feel the need to reach consensus or to move the group along, call on someone to summarize.

3. Give participants enough time to think out their answer to a question before calling on someone to answer.  Then, call on others to add to what was said.

4. Don’t wait for volunteers to answer questions; call on people by name.  This will avoid having the same people answering every time.

5. When someone answers, do not say, “I don’t agree.”  Let the group make their own decisions to ask participants to “weigh-in” on what was said.

6. As leaders emerge within the group, ask these people to summarize your discussions on a flip chart.

7. Encourage participants to sit in different places at each meeting to get to know others in the group and to provide a diverse learning experience.

Adapted from: Scott B. Parry and Edward J. Robinson, Participative Techniques of Group Instruction.

]]> http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cutting-edge-skills-for-training-and-facilitation-increasing-participantion.htm/feed 0 http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cutting-edge-skills-for-training-and-facilitation-identifying-and-handling-resistance.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cutting-edge-skills-for-training-and-facilitation-identifying-and-handling-resistance.htm#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:53:19 +0000 Cherissa Newton http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cutting-edge-skills-for-training-and-facilitation-identifying-and-handling-resistance.htm In most organizations and in most situations, people come into a training session to learn, willing and eager.  But sometimes you may encounter resistance from one or more of the participants.

Clues to resistance include:

• Refusal to participate.
• Disruptive and/or inappropriate behavior.
• Excessive questioning by participants who are trying to make a point rather than gaining knowledge.
• Questions that challenge the relevance of the training and/or the competence of the instructor.
• Questions that are aimed at trapping or baffling the instructor.
• Numerous side conversations between participants.

When you encounter resistance, your first task is to find out why.  Reasons may be due to a perception by participants that they are being controlled, coerced, or manipulated, and have little to do with you, but relate to experiences outside the training.  Most resistance is due to one or more of the following reasons:

1. People being sent to training:

• inappropriately.
• when they are too busy.

2. Participants not understanding:

• why the program is relevant to them.
• why the program is relevant or important to their job.
• why they were selected to attend.

3. Outside influence from:

• family, money, health, etc.
• problems with a superior, subordinate, etc.

4. Emotional issues such as:

• negative past experiences with training programs.
• disruptive interpersonal behavior characteristic of the person (e.g. intense need for attention, need to dominate, etc.).