My last job for IMO – in Fiji

My favourite maritime activitySTCW 95: Bridging the Competency GapIn Seaways, March 2003, pp 21-23. The International Journal of The Nautical Institute: London.

STCW 95: Are minimum standards good enough?In Seaways, Dec 2001, pp 22-25. The International Journal of The Nautical Institute: London.

Maritime Publications

Facilitation Skills – Linking to Online Component

• Activating Prior Knowledge:o What specific questions/ points for further clarification do you have from the online tutorial?o What concerns do you have about using facilitation in the SP context?

Key Practices in SP context:o Quick Thinking – you have it or you don’t have it - right?o Sensory Acuity – what is this, and what do you need to do specifically?o Good questioning - what is good questioning and how does it work?o Managing Information – generating information, organizing information and making meaning of

information – how do you do this effectively?o Giving and receiving feedback – what is important about this, and how to do it well?

Managing the overall Facilitation Sessiono What’s the key stages?o What are the key things to do well?

The Power of Questions

“Questions are the primary way we learn virtually everything”

“Thinking itself is nothing but the process of asking and answering questions”

“Questions immediately change what we focus on and, therefore, how we feel”

(Anthony Robbins, 2001, pp.179-8)

“All answers come out of the question. If we pay attention to our questions, we increase the power of meaningful learning”

Ellen Langer

What are Good Questions in a facilitation Context?

Using Questions (ACTIVITY) to promote Good Thinking

The effective use of questions is a powerful means ofpromoting specific types of thinking, for example:• What are the similarities and differences between the previous and the revised docking

regulations on port entry for bulk carriers entering Singapore?

• In what ways are these differences significant?

• How might we explain the high rate of accidents on vessels with multinational crews?

• What inferences and interpretations can be drawn from the existing data on the collision between X and Y?

• What other data might we need to access to get a fuller picture of the likely causes of the event?

• How might we evaluate the effectiveness of the New STCW standards for improving X

• What other ways might we make ship personnel more diligent on reporting corrosion on A and B

A Model of Thinking

Metacognition

Comparison& Contrast

Inference &Interpretation

Evaluation

Generating Possibilities

Analysis

8

Details in Chapter 2

Activity: Making Inferences & interpretations, based on

Analysis• Speech Samples• Volunteers were asked to rate the attributes

of people using these different speech styles (with exactly the same content).

• High pitched speech• Slow talking speech• Fast talking speech• Expressive speech

Read the short summary of the research – how might we explain the results?

• Read the article on the experiment conducted in France

• What do you think the outcomes were?

• How might the results differ in Singapore, and how would you explain this?

Connecting with the Unconscious – A Must• “The pitch, timbre, volume, and cadence of your voice, the speed in which you speak, and even

the way you modulate pitch and volume, are all hugely influential factors in how convincing you are, and how people judge your state of mind and your character.” (Mlodinow, 2012, p.132)

• “The gestures we make, the position in which we hold our bodies, the expressions we wear on our faces, and the nonverbal qualities of our speech – all contribute to how others view us.” (p.110)

• “Touch seems to be such an important tool for enhancing social cooperation and affiliation that we have evolved a special physical route along which those subliminal feelings of social connection travel from skin to brain. That is, scientists have discovered a particular kind of nerve fibre in people’s skin – especially in the face and arms – that appears to have developed specifically to transmit the pleasantness of social touch.” (p.137)

The Serial Position Curve80

70

60

50

40

30

20

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Position on List

Pro

port

ion

Cor

rect

Primacy Effect

Recency Effect

von Restorff Effect

Model of Human Memory

Sensory MemorySight

HearingTouchSmellTaste

Sensory MemorySight

HearingTouchSmellTaste

WorkingMemoryExecutiveOrganizingFunction

Limited Capacity5-9 bits of

information

Long –TermMemory

ENVIRONMENT

Infinite CapacityForgetting

Integrating –Conscious,

Subconscious&

Unconscious

Use of Process ToolsOne of the main tasks in facilitation is the effective generation and management of information.

Process Tools help to manage information in a structured manner. It is important that the right tools are used for the purpose in hand:

• Generating new ideas (e.g., Brainstorming, Mind-Mapping, Forced Association)

• Gathering/organising information (e.g., Process Flowchart, Mind-Mapping, Force-Field Analysis

• Group decision making (e.g., Plus-Minus-Interesting, Evaluation Matrix)

• Dealing with conflict (e.g., Thinking Hats, Building Common Ground)

“Facilitation tools are simply a combination of words and lists that areorganised around lines, circles, boxes, graphs and pictures. They areused to enable groups, to bring together ideas and make decisions.” (Howell, J. L., 1997)

BRAINSTORMING

• DEFER JUDGEMENT

• STRIVE FOR QUANTITY

• FREEWHEEL

• HITCH HIKE

Force-Field Analysis Tool

This is a tool for generating and organizing information.Through the use of brainstorming, identify:

• the desired situation (where the change wants to go)• Identify the current situation (where things are now)

• Identify factors that are supporting change towards the desired situation(give them a rating on how important they are)

• Identify factors that are resisting change towards the desired situation(give them a rating on how important they are)

• Identify ways to enhance the factors supporting change• Identify ways to reduce the impact of factors resisting change• Identifying if some of the resistors of change can be used against each other

Plus-Minus-InterestingPLUS MINUS

INTERESTING

Forced Associations (Random Triggers)

Forced Associations is a technique for linking another thinking pattern into the one we are presently using. We do this by selecting a random concrete nounfrom a different field and combining it with the problem under consideration.

For example, we might be looking at ways to make lifts quicker.

By choosing a random word ‘Mirror’ could lead to installing mirrors by lifts. As we know this is a popular solution for ‘slow lifts’. The lift doesn’t go faster,but people waiting don’t notice this as they look in the mirror.

Force Associate with ‘Mirror’

The Importance of Good Rapport

“Rapport is the ultimate tool for getting results with other people”

(Robbins, 2001, ‘Unlimited Power’, p.231)

Activity

1. Think of people in your life with whom you have great rapport – family members, friends, whoever

2. Think of people with whom you have very little rapport; people whose attempts to communicate with you leave you confused, annoyed, frustrated or simply indifferent.

3. Now compare and contrast the two – what are the differences and what is significance about these differences?

Stages in Conducting a Facilitation

1. Design & Preparation2. Starting the Facilitation3. Managing the Facilitation4. Ending the Facilitation5. Follow up on the Facilitation

Activity

Identify a topic that you teach, which will involve some of the specific types of thinking:

o Critical Thinking: Analyse, Compare & Contrast, Infer & Interpret, Evaluate

o Creative Thinking: Generating many, different types of, and novel possibilities

Design an activity (or question set) that will facilitate the specific types of thinking as students engage with the content area (e.g., concepts, principles, procedures) to build Understanding