Facilitation Skills

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Put It In The Hangar

A technique to avoid sidetracks.

During the session, it's easy for groups to get off the issue, or get sidetracked by other issues, ideas or even people.

Although such issues or ideas may later be determined to be relevant, their relevance is unclear at the moment.

To capture these, label a piece of flip chart paper as The Hangar.

Whenever a side issue or idea emerges, list it there. These issues can be addressed at a later time.

This technique captures all ideas and issues during a session.

It acknowledges the contribution or participation of each member, even if their idea or issue is not the primary one under consideration.

Brainstorming

A technique to generate ideas quickly.

Everyone is familiar with brainstorming.

The conceptual rules are:

• No criticism or evaluation
• Be unconventional
• Aim for quantity
• Hitchhike on other ideas

The practical rules are:

• Everyone contributes
• One idea per turn
• You may pass

Brainstorming can be modified and effectively used in certain situations which require the fast generation of ideas from a group.

In addition, varying the technique introduces a new way of brainstorming and of enjoying the unconventionality of these modifications.

Alternative #1

1. A time limit is set.
2. Each participant works alone.
3. Each participant puts his or her ideas on a 3 x 5" self-sticking note. Only one idea per note is allowed.
4. Each idea is posted to a wall, board, or easel.
5. At the end of the time period, the group uses grouping techniques, like the Affinity Diagram, to combine ideas.

Alternative #2. Same rules as above except:

1. Instead of self-sticking notes, each participant uses index cards. Again only one idea per card is allowed.
2. As they finish each card, participants say the idea out loud and throw
the card into the middle of the group. The facilitator collects them as they're being thrown.

The alternatives have very real advantages for certain situations.
1. They take away judgement and censorship.
2. Pressure to perform is removed.
3. The volume of ideas generated increases.

Because brainstorming produces a lot of ideas without filtering, be sure you know what to do next with the product of the brainstorm and make sure that the participants know what is going to happen as well.

Nominal Group Technique (NGT):

A technique which combines brainstorming and the benefits of individual thought.

NGT is a technique used to:

1. Identify processes.
2. Develop a process statement.
3. List the causes that reduce process effectiveness.
4. Prepare for data collection.
5. Identify solutions that improve processes.

NGT reduces the tendency of groups to evaluate ideas when they're presented.

NGT is a method of drawing out as many ideas as possible and then reducing the field of ideas to just a few.

The goal of NGT is to be as expansive with ideas as possible and then to select the most workable ideas the group can use to go on to the next step in the process.

The facilitator guides the group through the NGT steps.

1. Group members silently generate a list of ideas on paper.

2. All ideas are recorded on a large sheet of paper. Once group members appear to have finished listing their ideas silently, the facilitator will begin by having the member to the immediate right or left give the first idea on his or her list. The facilitator will write the idea, exactly as expressed, on the paper. Initials of the individual giving the idea may be placed on the sheet by his or her idea if further clarification may be needed. Otherwise, don't pin ideas to people. Let ideas become group ideas.

Items should be numbered and written so that they may be easily read by the entire group. When an idea is recorded, it shouldn't be explained or clarified, merely posted. This process continues with each member giving one idea per turn, until all of the members' ideas are exhausted.

3. Ideas are discussed for clarification. Once all the ideas have been listed, the
facilitator will go around the group again and ask each member in turn if there are any items on the list which are not understood or which need to be clarified.

4. Once all items have been clarified and are understood, the group participates in an anonymous vote on the ideas.
The voting is accomplished on secret ballots, which are then passed to a group member to be read and recorded. After tabulation, the group can easily see which of the items is of greatest interest to the group. The natural by-product of this step is that the group's attention is directed to the items that received the largest number of votes.
If votes are evenly distributed, that fact captures the group's attention. The purpose of this step is to determine where group interest lies. Remember that all items listed, no matter how few votes they may have received, remain candidates for future consideration until the group decides otherwise.

5. The group discusses remaining items, if necessary. At this point, all group members should understand what is meant by each item on the list. If a member has strong feelings about an item that was not selected, the member should explain to the group why he or she feels so strongly. If the individual feels strongly that the item should be placed on the selected list, place it there.

6.When all discussion has been exhausted, the group ranks items selected
through a weighted voting process. Once again, each member will cast an anonymous paper ballot, but this time each vote will be weighted on the basis of the total number of items included in the vote. For example, if five items are included in the vote, each member will give five votes to the item that is most important, four votes to the second most important item, and so on.

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