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FOCUS ON FACILITATION
Boost the Quality of Conversations by Attending to Details
Often a sign of expertise is noticing what doesn’t happen.
—MALCOLM GLADWELL
I almost titled this chapter “Near Misses.” I’ve attended company retreats where we were nestled in the Swiss mountains, fed fine food, woke to the roosters, and left with a binder of corporate information, little inspiration, and a few fun facts gathered from loose-lipped attendees at the bar. Equally, I have seen underfunded hospital teams travel hours by bus, at great expense, to learn together only to have a few dominant voices overtake the sessions as the other attendees struggled to keep awake. I’d give those events a B–, maybe a C. Big corporations spend countless dollars on summits and large-scale conferences. Small enterprises struggle to find funding for training sessions. Commercial and community organizations gather colleagues for strategy meetings (colleagues travel from around the world or from across the street). In each instance the meetings are meant to educate, stimulate, and, of course, contribute to success. Much effort is exerted getting “the right people” to the “right place” and jamming the agenda with timely topics. The result is that the event is done to us, with speakers talking at us.
When setting an agenda, out of anxiety, organizers often leave little to chance. They pack the day with speakers, schedule only a few minutes for unstructured discussion, and typically underestimate the time needed to move between sessions or catch up with colleagues during a break. More is always more seems to be the policy. The more team members (or if you have the funds, the more famous folks) speaking, the more the attendees will get out of the session. Push the content in, squeeze the time for questioning out. Time for reflection isn’t built into the agenda. The vast amount of knowledge contained in the room isn’t released when participants become passive audience members.
In contrast, too much is left to chance when it comes to facilitating social interactions. Simply getting everyone into the same room doesn’t mean people will speak to each other! Introverts retreat, staff who share the same native tongue seek refuge together after a day of listening in another language, the cliques save seats for each other, and the shy hope to sneak out of the meals unnoticed.
In order to get the most out of the investment of time, money, and human spirit, I suggest lots of advance attention to the details. Focus on the facilitation. This doesn’t mean having a heavy hand on the day of the event. If you set things up thoughtfully, you can trust that grateful attendees will do their part.
Once the dates are set, if you work in a large company, it’s not uncommon for leaders to delegate the planning to support functions that are tasked with executing an event without the authority or knowledge to address the nuances that will make the difference. Management may decide on a theme (e.g., the environment, empowerment, the future of work), which is translated into logos on apparel and welcome banners. What’s missing is careful choreography of the entire experience to ensure that strategic, social, and practical goals are met. Whether you gathered 5 or 500 people, take the time to consider: In what way do we hope to shift mindsets? Who needs to meet each other? How can we make sure that happens? What do we expect participants to do differently on Monday morning, having attended this meeting?
Think about: How will this event reflect the values of the organization (e.g., only use recycled materials, employ immigrant chefs, provide fuel-efficient transport)? Who is being offered a platform and whose voice is left out? Large and small events, meant to create unity, can be undermined when latent biases are revealed through insensitive behavior. This includes whose voice is featured, whose name is continually mispronounced, or who is seated on the margins—or not given a chair in the room at all. When making the effort to bring people together, don’t miss the opportunity to create meaningful connections and demonstrate what you (and your organization) value.
THIS IS FOR YOU IF
• You have more windows open on your computer than sight lines into what makes your colleagues interesting.
• You’ve hit your diversity hiring targets, but the views in your documents reflect the longstanding opinions of the majority.
• “Hidden” biases are on full display, and you are going to do something about it.
• You’ve asked your colleagues to give up part of their weekend to set a strategic plan and you don’t want to blow the chance to energize the group and have some fun together.
TAKE ACTION
Open the proceedings with a thought-provoking question or two that will become the connective tissue for the subsequent discussions. Revisit this question at the end of your meeting. Leave adequate time for all attendees to share their responses. If you have a large number of people, allow participants to speak in groups of two, then four, then at their table, and then appoint a representative from the table to give feedback to the entire room. This can be done in 45 minutes.
Allow participants to learn from each other’s expertise. Set a five-slide limit so the speaker can talk with the audience rather than focusing on getting through prepared material. Leave time for questions, and if the room is large, have a microphone for the audience. Have cards available to send anonymous questions to the speaker. Some people get insecure or self-edit, especially in a large group. Even if there is a moderator asking questions of a panel, be sure the audience gets a voice. Too often “we have run out of time for questions” protects speakers from defending their views, which diminishes mutual learning.
Know that everyone speaks longer, and everything takes more time than you may think. Don’t fear having some empty space in your agenda.
If you are planning a conference, do your speakers represent old cronies and the usual suspects while omitting women and people from underrepresented communities? Take a risk on someone less known. If you have reservations, ask a less experienced speaker (or one from outside your sector) to practice at one of your smaller team meetings so that you can provide feedback and additional context if necessary.
Members of underrepresented groups are often reluctant to declare themselves “experts” and may self-select out of the proceedings. Whether it’s an in-house training session or an industry-wide convention, when you invite women and/or colleagues of color, expand on why you respect their contribution and indicate what you hope to learn from them. Make it easy for them to accept your invitation.
Be aware of subtle biases. If you get a question from the audience that relates to gender, don’t just turn to the women in the room or on your panel to answer it. Men can answer, too.
Avoid constructing an all-male or all-white panel and then tacking on a woman or person of color as a moderator.
Be careful not to refer to male experts by their titles, but to women by their first names, especially when they hold the same position. Be consistent: if you use “Doctor” or “Professor” for one person, use it for all doctors and professors.
Who is in the room? Make quick verbal introductions. Is it a big group? Ask a few questions that, with a show of hands, allows people to have a sense of their fellow attendees. If possible, place name cards in front of guests so they can be addressed personally and to help participants put names to faces. This is useful even in a small group if people don’t know each other. It’s better to have the name cards available and then toss them aside, than be relegated to pointing a finger to encourage someone to respond.
If it’s a large gathering, circulate the guest list with contact details at the start of the meeting so people can seek each other out (they may recognize a name but not a face). This also allows for easier follow-up in the future.
Assign seats to relieve social pressure, add an element of surprise, and ensure exposure for people who might not otherwise meet. Company meetings of even six people are enhanced by shaking up who sits with whom.
If your audience is not seated at tables, consider arranging chairs in shapes that are more conducive to conversation, such as a circle or horseshoe.
Don’t forget to assign seats at meals. Appoint a table captain to be sure everyone is introduced and to ignite conversation. Try putting some amusing questions on the table as prompts to get the discussion going. Eyes may roll, but secretly even the most outgoing folks are often relieved to have an icebreaker.
KEEP IN MIND
• Provide sufficient notice for social events that may be attached to a conference and indicate if attendance is mandatory. This allows employees to arrange child or elder care.
• Select bonding events that will be enjoyed by staff of all ages and groups of all sizes. Past clients of mine have bristled when paintball was considered an inclusive recreational event (it ruins your hair for the rest of the day). Being carried, touched, or blindfolded doesn’t sit well with everyone. Be sensitive.