Managing Facilitated Processes E-Book

Dorothy Strachan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 214

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Managing Facilitated Processes Managing Facilitated Processes helps people make thoughtful decisions about managing successful gatherings. The book's ten chapters are divided into three parts: From Contact to Contract--building customized agreements; eighteentypes of facilitated processes, their deliverables and unique features Approach and Style--ensuring integrated, customized, and systematic elements; a forget-me-not prompter; effective management styles Management x 5: Participants, Speakers, Logistics, Documents,Feedback--practice guidelines, examples, and time-saving tools Managing Facilitated Processes also includes a companion Web site with handy e-versions of the book's tools and templates. Praise for Managing Facilitated Processes "This book honors the importance of the details and care that every gathering deserves.It should be a standard reference?for people who come together to produce results." --Peter Block, author of Community: The Structure of Belonging, and consultant and partner, Designed Learning, Ohio, USA "The authors' combined experience of nearly 60 years in process facilitation is generously shared in this clearly written guide." --Sharon Almerigi, certified professional facilitator (CPF), Barbados International Association of Facilitators, Latin America and the Caribbean "In a world of 'expert-centered' workplaces, Managing Facilitated Processes offers a much-needed focus on the process of creating effective, customized environments for learning and work." --Marilyn Laiken, professor and chair, Department of Adult Education and Counseling Psychology, The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada "A comprehensive and practical guide to making group sessions effective and outcome driven--great insights from cover to cover and a terrific 'go to' reference guide." --Gabriella Zillmer, senior vice-president, Performance Alignment and Compensation, BMO Financial Group, Canada "A time-saving gem for planning facilitated sessions effectively. It is unique in its thoroughness without being overwhelming. To be pulled off the shelf over and over again." --Julie Larsen, associate adviser for social policy and development, United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Previous Books by Dorothy Strachan

Table of Exhibits

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

The Authors

Introduction

About This Book

A Quick Lookup Resource

Part One - From Contact to Contract

Chapter 1 - Initial Contact

Completing a Preliminary Screen

Decision Making After the Screen

Communicating a Decision

Chapter 2 - Building Agreements That Work

Types of Agreements

Drafting Agreements

Agreements in Action: Four Maxims

Work Plans and Cost Estimates

Acting on Values

Part Two - Approach and Style

Chapter 3 - Approach

Integrated

Customized

Systematic

The Approach in Action: Integrated, Customized, Systematic

Chapter 4 - Style

High-Tech Teddy

Controlling Caroline

Loosey-Goosey Lucy

Overconsulting Oliver

Anxious-to-Please Annie

Bureaucratic Bill

Optimizing Management Styles

Part Three - Management × 5: Participants, Speakers, Logistics, Documents, Feedback

Chapter 5 - Participants

Clarify the Rationale for Participation

Monitor the Mix and Number of Participants

Create the Invitations

Chapter 6 - Speakers

Speaker Management

Presentation Guidelines

Chapter 7 - Logistics

Select and Set Up the Site

Enable Participant Engagement

Mobilize Yourself

Love Those Logistical Letdowns!

Chapter 8 - Documents

Match the Documents to the Process

Produce the Documents

Chapter 9 - Feedback

Review Feedback Approach and Tools

Finalize and Produce Feedback Tools

Sample Feedback Tools

Chapter 10 - Endings and Beginnings

For the Session

For Yourself

References

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Types of Facilitated Processes

Table 2.1 Types of Agreements

Table 5.1 Participation: Five Options

Table 7.1 Room Layout Options

Table of Exhibits

EXHIBIT 1.1 : The Preliminary Screen

EXHIBIT 3.1 : Process Management Prompter

EXHIBIT 5.1 : Participant Database Checklist

EXHIBIT 5.2 : Participant Database Information Form

EXHIBIT 5.3 : Invitations and Announcements Checklist

EXHIBIT 5.4 : Feedback on Draft Invitation

EXHIBIT 5.5 : Confirmation Letter Checklist

EXHIBIT 6.1 : Identify Speaker Functions

EXHIBIT 6.2 : Speaker Confirmation Letter Checklist

EXHIBIT 7.1 : Logistics Checklist

EXHIBIT 7.2 : Enabling Participant Engagement Checklist

EXHIBIT 7.3 : “Mobilizing Yourself ” Logistics Checklist

EXHIBIT 9.1 : Feedback Map

EXHIBIT 9.2 : Form for Reviewing Feedback Tools

More Praise forManaging Facilitated Processes

“This comprehensive guide is an outstanding resource and learning tool for event planners, administrators, and consultants!”

—Barbara Metcalfe, executive assistant, Ottawa, Canada

“If you’ve ever participated in a session facilitated by Dorothy Strachan, you have witnessed the effectiveness with which she practices her art. Managing Facilitated Processes captures the essence of this art in a practical, step-by-step fashion that I’ve used for facilitating management sessions as well as meetings of volunteer little league baseball coaches. It works!”

—George A. Herrera, vice president, donor services, Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, New Jersey, USA

“As a consultant, Marian Pitters demands a lot and delivers a lot. This is clear in Managing Facilitated Processes, which is filled with practical examples from a broad range of fields, up-to-date technologies, and approaches. Whether you are doing it yourself or hiring an expert, this book is easy to follow and a great investment!”

—Lise R. Talbot, professeure titulaire, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

“Strachan and Pitters leave no detail unexamined in their book, Managing Facilitated Processes. The practical formats, checklists, and examples alone make this book a must-have for anyone planning, organizing, or facilitating an event of any kind.”

—Ann Epps, founder, former board member, and long-time group facilitator, International Association of Facilitators, Colorado, USA, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

“The brilliance of this book lies in the scope of its advice, the abundance of useful tools, and the practicality of its examples. Everything you need to know to successfully manage facilitated processes is here. I wish I had this book twenty years ago when I began consulting!”

—Helen Lampert, certified management consultant (CMC), and partner, The WISDOM™ Practice, Toronto, Canada

“If, like me, you are one of those people who struggle with the details when planning a facilitated process—keep this book close at hand! It provides a wealth of tips and forget-me-not tools that will guide your preparation, keep you on track, and ensure your success.”

—Christine Partridge, facilitator, Kinharvie Institute of Facilitation, Glasgow, Scotland

“Facilitation has become a core competency for team leaders, managers, and executives in all sectors worldwide. Strachan and Pitters have created a gold mine of ideas, tools, and checklists to support those responsible for managing successful facilitated processes.”

—Susan Ward, IAF certified TM professional facilitator (CPF), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

“Based on many years of professional experience, Strachan and Pitters provide a practical reflection on what works and what doesn’t when it comes to process facilitation. An explicit, how-to guide for both rookie and veteran facilitators alike.

—Emily Gruenwoldt Carkner, founder and national co-chair, Emerging Health Leaders, Ottawa, Canada

“Managing Facilitated Processes is a great companion to Dorothy Strachan’s previous two books on facilitation. This refined perspective on the complex process of facilitation management can only be done by an author who has high professional standards coupled with extensive and rich experience.”

—Branka Legetic, regional adviser, Pan American Health Organization, Central and South America and the Caribbean

“Managing Facilitated Processes is a basic reference book for consultants. It provides a comprehensive collection of tools, approaches, and processes that will enable any consultant to navigate a productive pathway through unique and challenging situations.”

—Richard Tiberius, director and professor, educational development office, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Florida, USA

“A rich, must-have resource for those who engage in process design and facilitation or who hire others for this work. This desktop handbook contains a wealth of practical instruction and tools, reflecting the extensive experience and wisdom of the authors.”

—Mary Ellen Jeans, president and CEO, Associated Medical Services, Toronto, Canada

Copyright © 2009 by Dorothy Strachan and Marian Pitters. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

Illustrations: Albert Prisner, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Research: Karen Metcalfe, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataStrachan, Dorothy. Managing facilitated processes: a guide for consultants, facilitators, managers, trainers, event planners, and educators / Dorothy Strachan and Marian Pitters. p. cm.—(The Jossey-Bass business & management series) Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN : 978-0-470-52243-1

1. Group facilitation. 2. Consultants. 3. Planning. I. Pitters, Marian II. Title. HM751.S772 2009 001—dc22 2008051603

The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series

Previous Books by Dorothy Strachan

Making Questions Work: A Guide to What and How to Ask forFacilitators, Consultants, Managers, Coaches, and Educators

Process Design: Making It Work—A Practical Guide to What to DoWhen and How for Facilitators, Consultants, Managers, and Coaches(with Paul Tomlinson)

Acknowledgments

WE OFFER A SINCERE THANK-YOU to the clients, participants, and stakeholders in countless facilitated processes who have taught us that what many consider to be the smaller and less significant decisions are in fact some of the most important decisions that we can make.

Several colleagues provided thoughtful reviews of an earlier version of this book. Their rich experience and insightful feedback also contributed to the quality of this publication.

Writing is a commitment that authors, their families, and their friends take on together. We appreciate the patience and support that those close to us have shown during our frequent absences in body, mind, and spirit over the past two years.

The Authors

DOROTHY STRACHAN AND MARIAN PITTERS have been designing, facilitating, and managing a broad range of processes for many years.

Dorothy has been a professional facilitator since 1974. Her practice addresses three main areas: process design and facilitation, organizational interventions such as strategic planning and team development, and the creation and facilitation of customized workshops and learning programs. She is the author of publications in leadership development, facilitation, strategic planning, and effective coaching in high-performance sport. Dorothy is a partner in Strachan-Tomlinson, a process management firm based in Canada with a special interest in the health sector. She may be contacted at www.strachan-tomlinson.com.

Marian has worked as a process consultant, facilitator, and writer for organizations for over twenty-five years. She enjoys this depth and breadth of consulting experience in both the not-for-profit and private sectors in areas such as financial services, community and social services, health, insurance, government, retail, manufacturing, and education. In addition to her practical experience, Marian has a doctorate in adult education and is particularly attracted to integrating theory and practice in her work with clients. She may be contacted at www.pittersassociates.ca.

Managing Facilitated Processes is a companion book to two previous Jossey-Bass business publications: Process Design: Making It Work, by Dorothy Strachan and Paul Tomlinson (2008), and Making Questions Work, by Dorothy Strachan (2007). All three resources are practical desktop tools incorporating the extensive experience of the authors.

Introduction

If you set up and manage workshops, meetings, and other types of facilitated sessions, this book is for you. And you are in good company because managing facilitated processes is becoming an essential skill for project managers and leaders, professional facilitators, management consultants and committee chairs, teachers and trainers, community organizers, lawyers, physicians, accountants, and human resource professionals, as well as mediators, negotiators, social workers, and counselors.

The list is long because more and more of the work of organizations is being done in facilitated group sessions—both virtual and face to face—where success requires sensitive and thoughtful attention to setup and management.

As designers, facilitators, and managers of these sessions, we have spent a great deal of time thinking about what makes them successful. One thing we know for sure: participants are more likely to have great experiences in facilitated processes when careful attention is given to all the details influencing the activities, technology, and settings that make things run smoothly. This includes making thoughtful decisions about how participants are selected and invited, what space is appropriate (virtual or face to face), how presentations are aligned with objectives, how handouts and worksheets are used, what types of reports are written, and what questions are selected for feedback purposes.

About This Book

This easy-access resource has a strong focus on the practical.

Each chapter includes management guidelines and insights, lessons learned, strategies for difficult situations, and examples based on the authors’ many years of experience, as well as many exhibits containing prompters, checklists, and other tools. Electronic, adaptable, and expandable versions of these exhibits are provided on the Jossey-Bass Web site, at www.josseybass.com/go/dorothystrachan. We’ve used a Web icon in this book to identify the exhibits available on-line.

The nine chapters of Managing Facilitated Processes are divided into three parts:

1. “From Contact to Contract”

2. “Approach and Style”

3. “Management x 5: Participants, Speakers, Logistics, Documents,

Feedback”

Part One describes how to build customized agreements, from the initial contact with a client (Chapter One) to the confirmation of how everyone involved will work together throughout a process (Chapter Two). Chapter Two also profiles eighteen types of processes, their deliverables, and their unique features.

Part Two outlines two areas in process management: approach and style. Chapter Three explores the need for an approach that is integrated, customized, and systematic. It includes a forget-me-not prompter that helps you to scope a session you are managing and to diagnose challenges and opportunities for five key elements: participants, speakers, logistics, documents, and feedback. Chapter Four discusses the need for a management style that builds on strengths and mitigates weaknesses in support of healthy relationships and productivity.

Part Three offers a comprehensive look at managing the five key session elements: participants, speakers, logistics, documents, and feedback. A full chapter is devoted to each area, offering practice guidelines, examples, and time-saving tools that you can customize to your situations.

When a company or client holds a workshop, retreat, conference, or other similar activity, more often than not only one or two people are responsible for designing, facilitating, and managing the entire event. Our focus in this book is on guiding people in any organizational role to manage meetings, workshops, and other facilitated processes successfully by attending to these five elements.

Finally, Chapter Ten, “Endings and Beginnings,” emphasizes the importance of looking past what happens before and during a session and toward what happens after the last person leaves. This is the time when follow-up activities take place and session conclusions and decisions are put into practice and begin to show an impact.

Although each chapter is designed to stand on its own, the chapters are also interrelated. For example, the decisions about participants and stakeholders described in Chapter Five will have an impact on the decisions about location and setup discussed in Chapter Seven, which in turn will support the decisions about speaker requirements discussed in Chapter Six.

Investing in due diligence at the front end of a process enables the process designer, facilitator, and manager to understand the people, the situation, and its challenges so that a customized environment will support the achievement of expected outcomes at the back end. This book takes a practical approach to this due diligence: don’t manage a process without it.

A Quick Lookup Resource

The table of contents for this book is also the index. Skim the headings in the Contents to search for the topic you want. On the outer edge of this book, we’ve used gray tabs to help you find each chapter quickly. Hold the book with the front cover face down. On the back cover, put your thumb on the gray tab for the chapter you want. Then slide your thumb down the edges of the pages until you come to the gray stripe that corresponds to the tab on the back of the book.

Part One

From Contact to Contract

FROM THE FIRST point of contact to the confirmation that an agreement is in place, effective contract management smoothes the way.

Whether you are setting up an informal agreement or a detailed legal contract, it pays to be clear up front about exactly what will be done for and by whom, at what cost, and by when. Building a strong communication base from the start can prevent misunderstandings as well as lengthy and expensive contractual arguments.

Chapter One provides a preliminary screen for exploring an initiative and making a decision about whether to proceed. Chapter Two outlines three types of agreements and describes how to customize them to suit specific processes.

Life being somewhat unpredictable, the steps to an agreement don’t always happen in the order they are presented in these chapters. If, for example, you have a standing offer with an organization or department, the financial aspects of your relationship with this client may already have been negotiated, and the effort discussed in Chapter Two, “Building Agreements That Work,” may not be required.

These first two chapters lay the groundwork for getting facilitated processes off to a good start with focused, fair, and transparent agreements in place.

Chapter 1

Initial Contact

IT MAY HAPPEN with a phone call, through an advertisement, a request for a proposal, or on the basis of a discussion with a colleague. Regardless of how it occurs, an initial contact to explore possible process consulting work is all about people screening one another, the situation, the expectations, the time, and the cost involved in completing a potential assignment.

During these preliminary discussions, basic information and impressions are exchanged so that all parties can decide whether to move forward and develop an agreement or not. This chapter provides the information needed to support productive exchanges among the various parties during these first encounters.

When external process consultants are involved, they are usually looking for information that will help them be successful in bidding on a project or make a decision about whether they can or want to do the work. When internal process consultants are involved, they have often been assigned the work and are looking for information to help them do the best job possible, either on their own or working with colleagues. In situations where the manager is also the process designer and facilitator, the same information needs to be gathered to support the development of a meaningful process. Exhibit 1.1 contains an outline you can use when conducting a preliminary screen. The following section of this chapter offers guidelines and definitions for completing this tool.

When this preliminary screening is completed, all parties should have a sense of the potential scope of the proposed process, the people involved, and whether this would be a good fit for each party. When push comes to shove, it’s a lot like buying a house or starting a new job: you only really understand what’s involved by living in it.

EXHIBIT 1.1: The Preliminary Screen

Completing a Preliminary Screen

Here are practical guidelines for making decisions about the elements often discussed by parties involved in an initial screen as outlined in Exhibit 1.1.

Coordinates: Date(s) and Location

First, determine what session date (or dates) will work with people’s schedules.

• Ask what date would be attractive to the facilitator, to the designer, to the manager, and to potential workshop participants, and why.

• Think about the timing relative to what needs to be done. Does the proposed date allow enough preparation time for the participants and the planning committees?

“Lean on your experience and trust yourself. Your social intelligence—the capacity to engage in satisfying and productive interpersonal relationships—is an important source of information” (Goleman, 2006, p. 82).

• Ask whether other events going on at the proposed time might complement or conflict with this session. How close is the date to national, state or provincial, religious, or school holidays?

Also determine whether the client has identified a location, and if so, explore the possible implications of this location. It’s also important to find out whether some steps will be done virtually.

Purpose, Objectives, and Deliverables

Consider at least these three questions about the purpose, objectives, and deliverables:

• Are they clear and specific, or is the client expecting that they will be clarified during the early part of the session?

• Can you anticipate the most obvious issues and questions that will be involved in managing the session with respect to participants, speakers, logistics, invitations, and essential documents (the elements discussed in Part Three)?

• If the deliverables have been defined, what does your experience tell you about the workload involved in managing a session with these deliverables?

Process Leadership

How a process is led has implications for how it is managed.

Process leadership comes in many shapes and sizes: it may include a client, a process consultant (facilitator and designer), a workshop manager, and two additional staff members to do logistics; it may involve just the client and a facilitator who are responsible for the entire session; or it may be just one person doing everything. Much depends on the size and complexity of the process.

The preliminary screen helps determine what decisions have been made or need to be made about the leadership functions in a process, as itemized below.

The primary client owns the challenge being addressed through a process. This person is usually the individual sponsoring the session and has decision-making authority for what happens before, during, and after a session (Strachan and Tomlinson, 2008, p. 49).

Given the considerable range of situations in which sessions happen, the primary client may be a committee chair, the president or chief executive officer of an organization, the senior manager of a department, the volunteer leader of a community group, or the members of a collaborative or network. Sometimes all the key roles for a process are carried by a single person: in this situation the primary client is also the designer, facilitator, manager, and sponsor for a session.

Be prepared to ask specific questions about the challenges that this process will be addressing. These questions might explore the relationship between the primary client and other clients, who your main contact person is, the relative urgency of the situation, and the nature of participants’ needs and expectations.

One classic question is whether a session should be led by a process consultant, a facilitator, a chair, or a moderator, or someone who combines these functions. For example, an internal client may be thinking that a process consultant is required to design and facilitate a symposium. At the same time, an experienced facilitator might recognize that because symposiums typically have a large number of speakers and offer no time for small-group discussions, a credible chairperson is what is required. Has this decision been made, or are people still discussing what type of leadership needs to be in place given the session purpose, deliverables, and type?

Regardless of how large or small a session is, having a planning or advisory group of two or more people provides a range of perspectives on what to do when and why. Planning group members are also brought on board to build capacity for implementation.

Process Leadership Definitions

• Chair or chairperson: an appointed or elected person with positional authority.

• Moderator: a nonpartisan person who presides over a meeting.

• Process consultant: a person who designs and facilitates processes and also frequently manages them.

• Facilitator: a person who attends to group process. Many people do facilitation as a regular part of their work and yet don’t think of themselves as professional facilitators; they are included in this definition.

Source: Adapted from Strachan and Tomlinson, 2008, p. 49.

Timely liaison knits together people fulfilling these leadership functions with a range of others, such as an organization’s support staff, on-site employees, travel agents, audiovisual technicians, and conference and maintenance personnel. The devil is certainly in the details.

Eighteen Types of Processes

Clarify up front what type of process is being considered. Names of processes can be confusing as there is no single accepted taxonomy for process types. In the past, for example, the term seminar described a series of presentations followed by a brief opportunity for questions and answers. Today a seminar may include both presentations and small learning groups, and participants may experience both activities either in person or virtually.

Some organizations develop their own names for processes that are combinations of the eighteen types listed in Table 1.1. They may use terms such as roundtable seminar or consultation workshop. However, because different types of processes require different types of agreements, it’s important to have everyone on the same page with respect to what is going to happen.

Most processes are held face to face or virtually, or both at the same time; some are conducted solely through on-line exchanges. The general rule is to decide what you want to accomplish and then explore the best ways to meet those outcomes. It is usually the process consultant, client, and members of the planning committee who decide together which meetings and sessions should be virtual, face to face, or in some combination thereof. This decision may be quite obvious at the outset. Table 1.1 describes the eighteen processes listed in Exhibit 1.1, related deliverables, and key features.

Sometimes it is easiest to determine what a session is not, and then to name it by looking at what is left.

Table 1.1Types of Facilitated Processes

Decision Making After the Screen

The preliminary screening is an opportunity to assess the overall fit between what needs to be done with whom and to determine how people might work together to accomplish what needs to be done. This is the time to pause and reflect before making a decision about agreeing to the work. What are your thoughts and feelings telling you? Should this preliminary discussion move to the development of an agreement or not?

Recognize your preferences. What kind of work do you like to do with what kind of people? If you value a strong focus on productivity tempered by some humor, are you likely to find that combination in this project? At this stage in your career or business can you afford to be choosy about what work you take on, or do you need to take whatever comes your way?

Clarify the give-get.