Step 6

Keep the Meeting Moving and Accomplish Objectives

Long before the meeting started, you and the person who called the meeting outlined clear, measurable, time-bound outcomes. At the beginning of the meeting you reviewed these outcomes with the participants and hopefully came to an agreement that they were achievable. But even well-planned meetings can go astray and, before you know it, the time is up. As a facilitator, it’s your job to make sure discussions and activities stick tightly to the time constraints and drive toward desired outcomes.

It’s not just about watching the clock, however; keeping a meeting on track is more art than science. For example, perhaps a group that has had trouble getting along is finally having a friendly discussion, although it’s way off topic. Or, a brainstorming session revealed a solution to an unrelated problem—important to this group, but irrelevant to the meeting objectives. Use the following tips to understand when to let the group continue down their path, when to reel them in, and how to communicate effectively to accomplish the objectives. Tool 6-1 presents an overview of some facilitation tips that will be discussed in more detail.

TOOL 6-1

FACILITATION TIPS

Tips to Keep the Facilitation Session on Track

Effective meetings rely heavily on excellent use of facilitation techniques both to keep the session on track and to complete each activity. To keep the session and participants on task consider these tips, which are categorized by the factors that affect a meeting’s progress.

Schedule

• Stick to the agenda—The agenda is your road map to accomplishing the defined objectives. Follow it. Deviate only if you confirm with the group that a discussion is taking longer than planned. If the group decides to continue discussing the subject, adjust the timetable as needed; if they decide to table the topic, stick to the agenda timing.

• Keep individuals on track—Gently interrupt if any participant gets off the subject for more than a few seconds. Make sure no participant uses the facilitation session as a platform to vent personal frustrations about unrelated matters.

• Provide necessary breaks—Don’t wait for signs of restlessness by participants; call a short break once a meeting runs longer than 90 minutes.

• Put it in a parking lot—Discussions can raise a lot of questions and ideas that won’t contribute to the purpose of the meeting but are nonetheless valuable. Use a parking lot to record such ideas on a flipchart or whiteboard (learn more about the parking lot in step 3). That way you will have a record of those ideas to follow up on at another time. Individuals can also get unrelated concerns heard, let go of any baggage they may be carrying, and return to focusing on the topic at hand.

• Review periodically—At appropriate points in the meeting, summarize and review what has been accomplished so far and clarify what remains to be done. This will help the group to stay on track and achieve the meeting objectives.

Participation

• Maintain a productive climate—Model the behavior that you expect participants to follow. Listen closely. Speak frankly. Encourage feedback and accept criticism professionally. Keep an open mind. Evaluate ideas, not people. Positively reinforce creative thinking. Do not dominate the meeting.

• Encourage and structure participation—Call on group members for input and ensure that only one person speaks at a time.

• Ask good questions—Use open-ended questions to encourage participation and discussion. Avoid leading, personal, trick, or unanswerable questions.

• Provide constructive feedback—Make sure feedback is useful and includes positive or neutral statements.

• Observe participants—Besides listening to participants, observe their behavior. Watch for signs of boredom, frustration, and other productivity reducers; then deal promptly with the problem. Energize the group with an activity or challenging questions; address causes of frustration, and so forth.

• Maintain professionalism and enthusiasm—Show interest in activities and display patience with participants throughout. Set an upbeat, productive example for participants whose energy may wane.

Interpersonal

• Give or get clarification of vague statements—Persist until the intended meaning is clear. Participants will otherwise interpret according to their individual experiences, sparking later disagreements and time-wasting backtracking to figure out what was meant. (Remember the “wilderness” example from step 4.)

• Discourage generalizations—If participants generalize or use stereotypes, ask them to evaluate the accuracy of their statements. Query these individuals for specific examples to help clarify responses.

• Protect minority opinions—Ensure that the least popular opinions get a full hearing and respect.

• Reduce tensions—Gently interrupt if conflicts between participants get out of hand and threaten to destroy meeting effectiveness. Do not deny or bury conflict, but try to help participants sort out their differences professionally.

• Reframe comments—Rephrasing any judgmental or accusatory comments and posing them back to the group helps to neutralize potentially charged comments and keeps the focus on the issues. This technique helps group members to hear each other in impartial language so that they can continue to move forward with discussions and accomplish objectives.

Virtual

• For virtual meetings—Discourage multitasking by keeping the participants engaged. Call on people by name in a conversational way, even if they haven’t “raised their hand,” to keep them on their toes. Also use polling or survey tools to ask questions and show the results immediately to keep the group interested.

Choose the Right Facilitation Techniques to Accomplish Session Objectives

Once the facilitation session has opened, the next step is to guide the group toward the desired outcomes. For example, an outcome might be for the group to create a list of 10 suggestions to assess the current morale of a particular department. This may be accomplished via questioning techniques to gauge participants’ current knowledge of the situation and charts and graphs to display survey data. In addition to the specific techniques explored later in this step, use the following general tips throughout the session:

• Listen—If you expect the group members to actively participate, then you need to listen to what they are saying. After posing a question, pause and give them time to think and formulate their responses. When someone begins to respond, avoid assuming that you know what they are going to say. Nothing dampens a group’s discussions faster than a facilitator who interrupts or jumps to hasty conclusions about a particular point—which may be incorrect. Pose a question, give the audience time to think, and then truly listen to participant input. Let the group drive the discussions—your role is to guide them to the stated outcomes.

• Accept different opinions and views—If you are asking for ideas, comments, and thoughts on a topic, be prepared for views that differ from yours. If answers to questions aren’t quite on target, then redirect the question and open it up to others by asking, “What do the rest of you think?”

• Know when to keep silent—Silence is a surprisingly effective facilitation technique, and one that novice facilitators often struggle with. Pausing enables the group to process what you are saying and to form their own thoughts and opinions.

The next sections delve into additional facilitation techniques to enable healthy discussions. These include questioning techniques, transitions, guided discussion, storytelling, humor, quotations, metaphors, analogies, and the use of tables and graphs.

Questioning Techniques

Questioning is probably the most common way to encourage participation from a group—and is a skill that serves business professionals both inside and outside of a meeting room. There are several types of questions, including open ended, close ended, hypothetical, and rhetorical. The ability to ask strong questions requires skill, practice, and planning. As a facilitator, remember that your goal is to help participants do the work. Be careful not to ask leading questions—questions that suggest an answer—as that would reflect your thoughts rather than the group’s. For example, rather than ask, “Would using sales quota as a metric improve performance?” ask, “Which metrics might improve performance?”

Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions do not have yes or no answers. They usually require participants to respond by expressing their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and opinions. For example:

• “Based on what we’ve discussed so far, how do you think this new process will affect your job?”

• “What do you think you need to be successful with this new process change?”

• “How do you think you can begin to implement this process change now?”

Asking an open-ended question is an excellent way of getting the participants involved in the meeting, increasing the energy level of the session, and generating group synergy. Open-ended questions often start with:

• “Tell me about … ”

• “Why … ?”

• “What do you think about … ?”

• “How … ?”

Usually questions that start this way help the participants to expound on their answers, revealing information that can be helpful in discussion.

Close-Ended Questions

Close-ended questions are preferable to open-ended ones in certain situations. Closed-ended questions are excellent for getting at specific facts and information.

For example, what if group participants were expected to read information about a new process change prior to attending the presentation? You could ask a closed-ended question requiring a yes or no response to gauge how many read the information, such as: “How many of you had a chance to read the information that I sent last week about the new process change?” You aren’t interested at this point in whether they agree with or are excited about the change, only the percentage of the group that has some baseline understanding of the topic to be discussed. Closed questions have clearly defined, often factual answers, and usually begin with:

• “Who … ?”

• “Where … ?”

• “When … ?”

• “Did you … ?”

Hypothetical Questions

Hypothetical questions are great to get people thinking freely in situations in which many answers may be valid. They often start with “What if … ?”

For example, “What if we could implement a new process that would reduce the amount of time you spend on this task by 50 percent every day?”

Hypothetical questions are excellent discussion starters because they allow the participants to internalize a situation; think through any issues, problems, or solutions; and then actively discuss the impact and their ideas. One warning—because hypothetical questions are so effective at getting the audience to open up and join in the discussion, as a facilitator you may need to rein things in a bit to meet the agenda time constraints.

Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions—while really not questions at all—get the group thinking when you don’t really expect them to answer the question aloud. These types of questions are used to create excitement or interest in the topics and discussions to come.

For example, “We’ve all heard about the new process change, and I know that change is sometimes difficult. But have I told you that this new process has been proven to reduce workflow downtime by 50 percent?”

The success of rhetorical questions, just like the other facilitation techniques discussed in this section, is directly related to how you ask the question as much as what you ask. When using this technique, vary the pace of your speech to emphasize key words and then end with silence. Allow the participants time to process what you have said because rhetorical questions are a great way to prime a group to discuss a topic.

Guided Discussion Questions

Guided discussions are a structured exercise consisting of a series of planned questions designed to get participants to wrestle with topics and issues at a deeper level. As they answer the questions, the facilitator summarizes their content, may also play devil’s advocate to drive for deeper content or application, and guides the discussion to the next question.

Transitions

Transitions help you smoothly move from one part of the agenda to another, or from one specific point to another. They are segues to the different segments of the meeting and are important in making the facilitation session cohesive and understandable. For example, once the group appears to have reached consensus on a topic, check for agreement from the group: “So are we all in agreement? Jack, did we address your concerns? Is everyone okay with the definitions and tasks we outlined for these job roles?”

Storytelling

Stories are memorable, people like to hear them, and they are a useful technique to capture an audience’s attention and illustrate key points. We all know presenters, facilitators, and leaders who seem to have an innate ability to tell stories. They are able to pull out an appropriate tale, with a poignant message, just right for the situation or audience at hand. Good storytelling is a learned skill that comes with practice. You can start a story to get discussions going and leave the rest of the story for later. Or, you can begin the story and then ask the group, “What do you think happened next?”

When thinking through story development, remember that a good story has a beginning and an end. Consider the best point in time to begin your story, and develop an engaging start to draw in participants. Think about the pinnacle moments in the story and how you can leverage them for maximum impact. And of course, your story should have a natural and clear ending. Practice telling the story a few times prior to the facilitation session.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of an effective storyteller is the ability to remain authentic—that is, staying true to your own stories and maintaining the integrity of stories you select to retell. This means sharing truthful and relevant facts and details. Authenticity also shows on your face. When you are truly engaged in the story, the group can tell by your facial expressions and body language. By sharing the emotion you feel in the telling of the story, you help the audience resonate with you and your key point.

Winging it with examples and stories doesn’t work. You can get off schedule in a big way. If you select a story to tell on the spot, you might be stealing your thunder for an important point later. You might get to the end only to discover that the main point isn’t really relevant to the content at hand. Some presenters even get to the end of a spur-of-the-moment story and realize that not only does it not make a point, but the punch line is also offensive. Think through your examples and stories before you begin.

Humor

Humor and laughter help maintain and enhance participant interest in a meeting. Camaraderie begins to develop when the facilitator and participants share a pun, story, or other common experience. Humor fosters a team atmosphere and promotes a positive experience.

Here are some tips for using humor, jokes, and funny stories during facilitation sessions:

• Keep it relevant. Jokes that tie to the subject matter can add some comic relief or segue into new topics. Telling a funny story that doesn’t have anything to do with the meeting can be distracting and a misuse of valuable time.

• Avoid humor that might offend or alienate participants. If you wouldn’t tell your modest aunt the story or joke, steer clear. And, even if your audience appears comfortable with curse words, it’s never appropriate for the facilitator to swear. Remember that this is a professional event, even if the group appears casual.

• Laugh at yourself, particularly when a story or pun flops. This puts the participants at ease and indicates that you are comfortable with the group and self-confident about your facilitation skills.

Quotations

Quotations from others that are strategically planned in the beginning, middle, or end of your facilitation session often have the effect of stimulating people’s thinking. Before you use a quote, however, be sure of its authenticity—especially if you found it online—and its relevance to the subject matter. When you use a quote, always give attribution to the appropriate source.

Metaphors and Analogies

Metaphors are thought-provoking forms of speech that open people’s minds to think differently about a subject or issue. Metaphors compare two things by describing one as another. For example, “My brother is the black sheep in the family.” The man is not literally a sheep; the metaphor means he’s unlike the rest of the members of his family.

One presenter at a career development seminar used the New York City Marathon as a metaphor for the effort involved in searching for a new job. He painted a picture in the minds of his audience of the daunting task of running the marathon. He then explained that conducting a job search was similar because those who are successful in completing the journey in the shortest time are always the ones who spent the most time preparing themselves.

An analogy is another form of comparison, typically used to clarify a concept. Analogies, like metaphors, help paint a picture in people’s minds so they can “see” concepts more clearly. One facilitator, introducing a new financial reporting system, used this analogy: “My understanding is that trying to reconcile the old monthly financial reports was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle only to find some of the pieces missing.” Nodding their heads in agreement, the participants became eager, wanting to learn more about this new, less frustrating system and the project. Analogies differ from metaphors because the comparison is spelled out, rather than implicit; analogies generally use the words “like” or “as” to make it clear that the speaker is comparing two things.

Tables and Graphs

To help participants understand data, consider using a table or graph to organize the information. For example, you might use a graph to illustrate data in support of a problem and then ask the group to come up with solutions. Or, the group might have taken a survey before the meeting, and you use a chart to share the results, broken into different categories.

Be prepared to clarify (or have an expert available who can clarify) the statistical meaning of the data and the implications, and provide sources if necessary. Be sure to proofread the data and ensure the accuracy of the numbers and calculations.

Don’t make graphs too complicated; readability and the ability to understand the information are the keys to making the graph effective. As a general guideline, the audience should be able to read and understand the graph in fewer than 30 seconds. Be careful not to exaggerate the data points by changing the scale (for example, 0–100 or 1–50) or gridlines in the background to make something look more significant than it really is. Tick marks often clutter a graph, so use them sparingly and only if they add clarity for the audience. Gridlines or other graph elements that do not add clarity should be omitted.

Graphs are an effective way to present data, show trends, and demonstrate relationships. However, some graphs are more effective at accomplishing these goals than others. In general:

• Bar graphs—Show relationships between two or more variables at one time or at several points in time. Improve the readability of a bar chart by making the bars wider than the spaces between them.

• Line graphs—Show a progression of changes over time. Be sure to label axes, data lines, and data points clearly.

• Pie charts—Show the relationships between the parts of a unit at a given moment. Include only essential information in pie charts and avoid having more than six wedges of the pie. Smaller pie slices can always be lumped into an “other” category.

Read the Room and Communicate Effectively

Questions, stories, humor, and charts can provide structure and direction to a meeting, but a facilitator must also be adept at reading the room and acting responsively to participant behavior throughout each activity. Everything that goes on in a facilitation session involves both verbal and nonverbal communication. The group shares ideas, listens, questions, and makes decisions. But someone may feel alienated based on the nonverbal communication of other group members. For example, if one chatty group member begins to speak and other participants instantly roll their eyes, this behavior sends a message loud and clear not only to the speaker but to other group members as well. Experienced facilitators communicate effectively with groups using both verbal and nonverbal techniques and encourage this same behavior from the group participants.

Verbal Communication Skills

Verbal communication can immediately engage or irritate a group. Voice inflection enables facilitators to capture a group’s attention and hold its interest. In any meeting, how you say something is just as important as what you are saying. To improve your verbal communication, sharpen these skills:

• Projection—The group has to be able to hear you and other participants in every part of the room. Depending on the acoustics in the meeting room, be prepared to ratchet up your voice projection, and avoid inadvertently dropping the volume after the first few sentences of the meeting opening. As a best practice, repeat some comments or questions from meeting participants to ensure that all group members can hear and follow the dialog.

• Pitch—The dreaded monotone voice has lulled many a participant to sleep. Avoid droning on, never modulating the pitch of your voice up or down. Having a monotone delivery is usually the result of paying more attention to saying the exact words listed on the facilitator outline rather than listening to how you are saying the words. Let the group hear a change in your pitch when you are excited about an upcoming point, the discussion, or an activity. Modulate the pitch of your voice to accentuate more serious information. The group will take its cues not only from what you say, but—sometimes even more important—how you say it.

• Pronunciation—If the group can’t understand what you are saying, it’s as if you didn’t say it at all. Successful facilitators demonstrate exceptional diction—the art of speaking precisely so that each word is clearly heard and understood to its fullest. Be sure to enunciate each word clearly when facilitating, using questioning techniques or rephrasing. In certain parts of the country, slight dialects may be difficult to understand until listeners’ ears get attuned to the sound and how specific words are pronounced. Keep this in mind if you have an accent or when facilitating meetings in certain areas of the country or abroad.

• Pace—Good facilitators adjust their rate of speaking to accentuate a feeling or mood. Although the average rate of speech is about 140 words per minute, to show enthusiasm or energy for a particular point try increasing the number of words accordingly. To emphasize an important point, try slowing down the rate to as few as 100 words per minute. This isn’t science, so you don’t have to get out a stopwatch and count. Rather, understand that you can create a mood and atmosphere for your meeting just by how you use your voice.

• Pauses and fillers—Pauses can add emphasis in just the right parts of any facilitated meeting. For example, a carefully placed pause can help to focus attention on a topic before a group activity or before transitioning to a new topic. Pauses after you pose an idea or question also provide time for the group to think about what you’re saying. By pausing and remaining silent, you encourage the group to share their thoughts or provide feedback.

Meanwhile, fillers are those words that creep into your speech to fill silence while you are thinking or transitioning to a new thought—they include uh, um, er, ah, OK, right, and you know. Filler words are one of the fastest ways to annoy a group and even turn their focus to jotting down tick marks every time you use one. Don’t be afraid to pause and leave silence between your sentences and thoughts. Skilled, confident facilitators are comfortable with silence and use it effectively to get the group to react to what was said and share opinions or ideas.

Nonverbal Communication Skills

Body language—meaning how you look and move—can enhance or undermine your facilitation skills. Based on different studies, it is usually accepted that between seven and 10 percent of the effectiveness of a meeting comes from the words the facilitator uses. Because the remaining 90 percent of meeting effectiveness is attributed to nonverbal communication, facilitators need to be cognizant of their body language (and that of the group as well) and use gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions to enhance communication and sharing of ideas. When facilitating virtual sessions, if at all possible, select a meeting software with a videoconferencing option so your group doesn’t miss out on these important nonverbal communication cues.

Many new facilitators struggle with exactly what they should be doing with their hands and bodies when guiding a group. For example, should they lean on or grip the table for security? Rock or sway? Stand poker straight with hands at their sides? Cross their arms in front of their chests? The answer is—none of these! Keep in mind that a facilitation session is about the participants. As such, the facilitator needs to disappear into the background and let the group run with ideas and discussions. Because facilitators aren’t invisible, they need to use body language and gestures effectively to help communication—to emphasize, show agreement, and maintain group interest. In general, use movement when you want to convey enthusiasm and energy about a particular point or result of an activity during the meeting, ultimately using your body language to emphasize the point of the meeting and engage participants, not to draw attention to yourself. Seasoned facilitators walk to different parts of the room while making eye contact with the group members, especially if they are working in subgroups or on assigned activities. Movement can be used to engage all the group members, especially if you approach different areas of the room. This technique keeps everyone focused as you help to guide the group through a process for them to achieve the session objectives.

Gestures refer to hand and body movements that are part of communication. When you watch a play, the actors use gestures to convey emotions, add emphasis to particular points, paint a mental picture, and so on. Consider these points regarding body language and gestures when facilitating a meeting:

• Assume a good stance—Taking a natural stance is important when facilitating a session. You want to project a comfortable, confident image, without appearing too casual. As a general rule, stand with legs about 18 inches apart or so (depending on your size), and equally distribute your weight on each foot, with your arms in a comfortable position at your sides or lightly resting on the table if you are seated.

• Pay attention to and eliminate unconscious body language—Some gestures and movements can distract the group. Such distractions include fidgeting, pacing, clicking a pen cap, and jingling keys or coins in pockets.

• Use gestures for emphasis—For example, if you say, “There are three steps in the new workflow process,” hold up three fingers sequentially as you articulate each point.

• Observe the audience’s body language—Facial expressions, down-turned eyes, looks of concern, fidgeting, or slouching are all signs of boredom, lack of interest, or lack of understanding.

• Use positive facial expressions—Include smiles, expressive eyes, looks of concern, empathy, and encouragement. Look at your face in the mirror. How do you communicate feelings and emotions? How do you use your eyes, eyebrows, and mouth to express yourself?

• Make eye contact—Show the group that you are engaging with them. How much eye contact is appropriate? As a general rule, spend five or six seconds of eye contact at least once with each member of the group, making sure that you look at everyone when facilitating. Eye contact is also an opportunity for a facilitator to get a feel for how the group is reacting to the meeting, discussions, and other participants.

• Never sit behind a desk or stand behind a podium for the entire session—This establishes a barrier between you and the group. Put more life into the meeting by moving freely about the room. Facilitators who trap themselves behind the podium and venture out occasionally to write on a flipchart appear less than enthusiastic and confident.

• Walk toward participants as they respond to your questions—This encourages them to continue. As a participant responds, nod your head slowly to show you hear what they are saying. If you need to think through what has been asked or to clarify the question, consider paraphrasing the question back or say, “So if I understand your question, you are asking … ”

Above all, demonstrate interest in the topic and the opportunity to facilitate. Your enthusiasm is contagious and often increases attention and optimism from the group.

Accomplish Meeting Objectives

Being on track in a meeting means that the group is progressing with the agenda and is moving toward accomplishing the agreed-upon objectives. If the meeting has been well planned and the meeting outcomes were well defined, reaching the end of the agenda should also mean the group has accomplished its objectives, whether finalizing a decision or brainstorming new ideas.

That doesn’t mean that the group needs to strictly follow the agenda minute by minute, however. As a facilitator, you need to allow the group enough latitude for creative discussions, brainstorming, activities, and healthy disagreements as long as they are helping to achieve the stated outcomes. When trying to determine whether to let a discussion continue, or if it’s time to get the group back on track, consider these guidelines:

• Review the agenda and determine if the time constraints allow for more discussion or if you need to gently interrupt.

• Review the ground rules regarding discussions that aren’t relevant to the agenda and achieving the session objectives. If the discussion is relevant, but is throwing the agenda timing off, ask the group if they want to continue with the discussion (at the sacrifice of something else), or if the discussion should be put in the parking lot until another time to follow the agenda’s timing.

• Assess why the group has gone off track. Confirm that the group members are clear about the session objectives. For example, are participants focused on their own needs over the needs of the group (for example, airing their personal frustrations rather than focusing on the topic at hand)?

• Point out the remaining agenda items, remind the group what needs to be accomplished, and help them to understand the time requirements.

• If one person is getting sidetracked, ask them to explain how their comments link to the topic or objectives to try to get the conversation back on track.

• Offer your unbiased observations—for example, by saying “I’m sensing that the group is having a bit of heartburn about the new pension plan.” Try to uncover the core issue and get the group back on track with the topics and the agenda—or get the group to agree on what items should be removed from the agenda if more time is to be spent on the current topic.

• Post the meeting objectives. As the group makes a decision or reaches an important milestone, write it down on the same flipchart or whiteboard. Keep track of how many more steps or decisions need to be made. If a discussion continues too long or the group veers from the agenda too far, remind the group how much more work there is to do.

• Recap decisions and action items. As decisions are made, review the group’s progress and any action items that need to be accomplished after the meeting. To ensure accountability, write down the due date and person responsible next to each action item.

• Drive toward closure, action, and next steps. Every activity and discussion should get the group one step closer to its objectives. Keep the group tightly focused and help to build consensus so decisions can be made.

The Next Step

As the group progresses toward its goals conflict is inevitable, even among the healthiest teams. The next step is to create an environment that encourages constructive dialogue and diminishes disruption.