Chapter 3

Facilitation—It’s an Art and a Science

In This Chapter:

• Facilitation versus Subject Matter Expertise

• The Roles and Responsibilities of the Facilitator

What is facilitation? Facilitation is different things to different people. We offer the following definitions for consideration. Facilitation is:

• A process in which an objective meeting chairperson helps a group, composed of people with diverse expertise and styles of interaction, work together effectively to achieve a predetermined outcome

• A process to foster team collaboration, manage group behaviors, and minimize conflict to accomplish meeting objectives, reach group consensus, or solve identified problems

The facilitator focuses on fostering positive group interactions to drive toward a stated goal. Just like the project manager, the business analyst is often thrown into the facilitator’s role—that of a group leader or team leader. Business analysts, as a rule, have no decision-making authority. Indeed, their goal is to combine the creative juices of the participants to pull the best decision from the group. The business analyst, however, contributes to the substance of the discussion by asking leading questions, summarizing discussions, and continually testing for consensus. The business analyst as facilitator leads the group process and helps to improve the way the participants communicate, examine and solve problems, and make decisions.¹ Good facilitators help groups stay focused, think outside the box for maximum creativity and innovation, and be more efficient and productive than they would be without expert group process guidance.

Lessons learned through quality assurance practices, the Total Quality Management movement, and the Six Sigma quality measurement and improvement program have shown us that participation is important, teams perform better than individuals, and the team process affects outcomes. It is through the efforts of the skilled facilitator that team performance is optimized. When a group of people come together in a meeting, they are not yet a functioning team. Expert facilitation and team-building techniques are used to quickly convert the participants into a collaborative, high-performing team.

Using expert facilitation skills when conducting requirements elicitation, analysis, specification, and validation sessions has numerous benefits for the business analyst. Table 3-1 offers a list of the benefits of effective facilitation when applied to business analysis.²

Table 3-1—Benefits of Using Effective Facilitation

Facilitation Versus Subject Matter Expertise

It is important for the business analyst to be keenly aware of the distinction between content leadership and process leadership. Content leadership is fulfilled by an expert in the matter under consideration, who usually intends to influence the outcome of the discussion. Process leadership, on the other hand, is performed by a facilitator who directs the group process and encourages the participants to discuss the content and come to consensus on the decision or final outcome. The facilitator provides the structure, methods, and techniques so a group can be free to focus on the content of the issue at hand. Table 3-2 shows the differing perspectives of the two leadership functions.

Table 3-2—Content Focus Versus Process Focus

The Roles and Responsibilities of the Facilitator

The group facilitator uses the facilitation process, tools, and techniques to encourage meeting participants to assume responsibility for the meeting objectives and work collaboratively to produce results. The business analyst performs myriad activities as the group facilitator, including:

• Developing high-performing teams

• Leading discussions

• Planning for success

Developing High-Performing Teams

The Art

It takes a considerable amount of intuition and good old-fashioned gut feeling to build a great team. High-performing teams are unstoppable. Consider the nature of high-performing teams such as surgical, paramedic, firefighter, U.S. Navy SEAL, and NBA basketball teams. What do they have in common? Qualities like those listed below do not come without a considerable amount of leadership and effort. Business analysts and project managers need to learn how to build and sustain high-performing teams to better serve their organizations. High performing teams:

• Have strong leadership

• Are multiskilled

• Are small in number (small, but mighty)

• Are highly trained and practiced

• Are passionate about the mission

• Have clear roles and responsibilities

• Back up others that need help

• Help new team members make entry

• Are driven and do whatever it takes to achieve the goal

• Help drive discipline into the group

• Help create a climate of trust

• Turn diversity to advantage

The business analyst must understand that all teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. Teams are much more effective than groups. An often-used definition of a team put forth by Katzenbach and Smith in The Wisdom of Teams is:³

Today’s cross-functional project teams are composed of a set of multiskilled subject matter experts that are brought together because their collective knowledge and proficiencies are needed to create an innovative and integrated solution. It is through this cross-disciplined collaboration that creativity thrives. By their very nature, the multiskilled subject matter experts have widely varying personalities and work styles. It is the facilitator who ensures that the group is effective and that everyone in the group influences decisions. The facilitator encourages team members to leave their titles at the door because power differentials work against team effectiveness. Participants are asked to challenge ideas, accept dispute and questions, and listen to new approaches. The facilitator becomes concerned if ideas are not discussed and challenged sufficiently. The skilled facilitator also models behaviors and coaches team members to act as full, high-performing, and fully committed team members.

The effective facilitator shares the lead and mentors others in the process. The facilitator’s leadership role expands and contracts as the team and situation dictate. At the same time, the facilitator is aware not only of where the project is and where it needs to go to achieve its goals but also of where the team is and where it needs to go on its journey from a group to a high-performing team.

There are a multitude of team-building activities, including brief warm-up activities used at the beginning of meetings to get everyone energized and exercises to help teams work through typical team problems. The first and perhaps most valuable team-building activity is preparing for and conducting the first group meeting. At this meeting, the participants are likely to be anxious about what their role will be in the requirements management process and in the overall project. Team-building activities are designed to help the participants work together effectively. Become familiar with an array of team-building activities and use them appropriately but sparingly. Libraries are filled with books that describe team-building exercises of all kinds. One we suggest is The Team Handbook, third edition, by Scholtes, Streibel, and Joiner.

The Science

The business analyst does not simply facilitate meetings expertly; she also focuses on building an effective requirements definition and management team to work together throughout the project. In her team-building role, the business analyst:

• Understands group dynamics, manages disruptive behaviors, and leads the group differently depending on the maturity of the team

• Understands individual differences, work styles, and cultural nuances and uses them to the group’s advantage

• Provides the foundation for the team to work together by establishing team ground rules and encourages the group to evaluate its progress and establish areas for improvement

• Establishes a sense of trust and ethics among team members

When the business analyst is facilitating a group, it is helpful to understand team dynamics and team development models and to know how to guide the team through the early formation stages to the high-performing stage as quickly as possible. Many models of team development are available for study and guidance. The most widely used is Bruce Tuchman’s stages of team development, depicted in Figure 3-1. This model serves as a guide for taking into account the development issues that could cause dilemmas for the business analyst and the project manager. The model demonstrates that team maturation is dynamic and that the team is constantly adjusting to new input into the team. For example, when a new member joins the team, the team might revert back to the early formative stages for a time. In fact, all team development stages are always present to some degree, though one tends to be dominant. At each stage the business analyst has a certain role to play to maximize team effectiveness.

Figure 3-1—Team Development Stages

Refer to From Analyst to Leader: Elevating the Role of the Business Analyst, another book in the Business Analysis Essentials Library, for a detailed discussion of team development.

It is also important for the business analyst to understand the body of work that defines the diverse personalities and preferred work styles of individuals, referred to as psychological types. Only then can the business analyst help the group to embrace differing work styles and optimize the value of each participant. One commonly used instrument, based on a theory of human personality that is based on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung and further refined by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®). The theory proposes that human behavior is not random but instead follows identifiable patterns that develop from the structure of the human mind. The MBTI^® helps people understand their preferences for:

• Energy

• Information gathering

• Decision-making

• Orientation to the outer world (lifestyle)

The MBTI^® is a self-report questionnaire designed to make Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types understandable and useful in everyday life, and it is invaluable when applied to groups of individuals working in teams. The MBTI^® is a measure of personality, not intelligence, aptitude, or achievement. It measures a person’s preferred way of thinking or behaving. The MBTI^® reports preferences on the four dichotomies (preference scales):

Leading Discussions

Perhaps the most important facilitator role for the business analyst is directing discussions to drive the group toward the best decision. Toward that end, the business analyst uses various facilitation techniques to achieve these goals:

• Foster a climate conducive to participative decision-making, dialogue, and interaction

• Provide structure and guidance to help the group achieve its goals

• Actively listen and periodically summarize discussion points, focusing on areas of agreement

• Define the focus of the team and modify the team focus when needed

The Art

The successful business analyst becomes quite skilled at directing communication in groups. Mastering the art of leading discussions requires one to jump in head first and gain valuable experience. Several of the techniques discussed in the next chapter—including the art of asking pointed questions and how to listen, summarize, and reframe ideas—are learned and polished only through experience.

The Science

Many theories about communication and communication models are designed to ensure that communication occurs optimally. Communication has many dimensions:

• Written and oral—listening and speaking

• Internal and external—within the project and to the customer and other external stakeholders

• Formal and informal—reports, briefings, and reviews; memos, conversations, and email

• Vertical and horizontal—up and down and with peers

To successfully lead discussions, the business analyst hones her skills at listening and speaking and leading informal group discussions. Group discussions led by the business analyst must always be purposeful and intentional.

When planning the discussion approach, it is helpful to be mindful of different communication categories.

• Acknowledgment. This type of communication takes place when you let people know that you see or hear them, as you nod, or when you rephrase a comment to confirm that you have understood the message.

• Questioning. This type takes place by asking or inquiring about the content under discussion, but beware: if the question is not stated carefully, it can be interpreted as a challenge.

• Providing feedback. Through pointed questions or declarative sentences, give speakers your impressions of their comments. Feedback must be crafted with careful consideration for those with whom you are communicating.

• Teaching, instructing, or guiding. In requirements elicitation meetings, some training takes place and information is provided. Keep the training informal and brief.

• Ordering or directing. Use this type of communication only in extreme situations, when a decision must be made immediately.

• Bad faith. This message is consciously or unconsciously directed at being disruptive, negative, or inappropriately critical. The facilitator must become skilled at managing disruptive behaviors.

• Play. Even at work, we communicate messages of play—joking. Humor is a wonderful strategy to break tensions and reduce stress as the team does its work.

Often when communication is not clear, it is because people are not clear about the type of message. You might feel that someone is asking for information, but instead that person might actually be presenting a strong message. In this case, the interaction might get off track and the message might get lost. Start over and clarify the purpose. Call a time out, and walk through the discussion slowly and carefully.

The next chapter presents some of the approaches most often used when facilitating group discussions, and it provides a host of tools and techniques to become a masterful discussion leader. Refer to From Analyst to Leader: Elevating the Role of the Business Analyst for a detailed discussion on communication.

Planning for Success

The business analyst does not facilitate the requirements definition and management process alone. Rather, the business analyst collaborates with the project manager, the technical lead, and the business visionary to plan and execute the requirements activities. To ensure success, the business analyst:

• Develops and plans for requirements activities in collaboration with core team members

• Secures commitment from management of the business units and the performing organization for the resources needed to complete the requirements activities

• Designs and plans the sequence and timing of requirements elicitation, analysis, specification, documentation, and validation meetings

• Periodically conducts lessons learned sessions to continually improve the collaborative approach to requirements definition and management

The Art

The business analyst works in close collaboration with the project manager and other key team members to plan the requirements definition and management activities. To master the art of planning, your project manager is your best resource. In addition, the general techniques discussed in the previous chapter will help you to plan any meeting you will lead.

The Science

The science of planning is covered in detail in the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition (PMBOK^® Guide)⁴ and the vast array of project management books and classes in the marketplace. The business analyst benefits from becoming a generalist in the art and science of project management. Again, to understand the science of planning and apply it to organizing your requirements activities, your project manager is your best resource. In addition, the detailed discussions in later chapters of this book will help you to plan the specific meetings facilitated by the business analyst.