The Facilitator’s toolkitGet results and build a team

Ice breaker

I live in this city (center = yes)

I am technical person (center = yes)

I have kids (center = no kids)

I know a lot about facilitation (center = yes)

It’s my first agile event (center = yes)

Who am I?

Sylvain Mahe

• Agile and Lean coach since 2008• Publishing, Telcos, Industrial Property, Banking...

• Passionate about behaviors and team dynamics

• Enjoys the journey, the goal is secondary

• Always tries to understand the why before jumping to the how

• Transformational coach since 2014 (International Coaching Federation)

Cedric will co-facilitate the session with me. Thanks Cedric!!!

Twitter: @mahe_sylvain

LinkedIn: https://sg.linkedin.com/pub/sylvain-mahe/2/275/8b0

Context

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Agile promotes collaboration, face to face communication, shared vision, make problems visible, alignment…

It’s also true with Lean Startup, Design Thinking...

So you decide to put people together.You’re lucky, Agile offers a lot of opportunities…

Vision workshops

Sprint Planning Meetings

Inception

Daily Stand Up Meetings

Trainings

Sprint Reviews

Retrospectives

Brainstorming sessions

Workshops

...

What happens?

Typical challenges for change agents and agile teams : lack of engagement, lack of buy-in and ownership, poor outcome, unclear

goals, some individuals dominate...

Facilitation is key

Facilitation is keyTransition from meeting to workshop

What is facilitation? - Definition

Facilitation is a process, a role - the facilitator- and set of toolsto be able to work with and manage groups to achieve outcomes.

Benefits

• Engage and empower participants

• Align people

• Achieve tangible outcome faster

• Build a team

• Have fun!

Facilitation techniques can be used in a variety of contextsIdeation/brainstorming, vision, alignment, requirements gathering,

planning, retrospectives, team building...

Designing a session experience

Universal model

• Opening/setting the stage (check-in +

icebreaker) - capture mood and allow

participants to clear their minds

• Align - align all participants

• Exploration (brainstorming, divergence)

• Decision/Prioritization (convergence)

• Closing (crystallization + check-out + get

feedback) - summarize decisions/learnings

The facilitator picks activities that serve the goal.

Participants should ideally receive a report within

48 hours detailing decisions, actions and the

product of the workshop.

Time to experiment !

The facilitator - Attitude

Role

• Designs the workshop in order to achieve the

goals (structure, people)

• Keeps the groups focused and on track

(timeboxing…)

• Catalyst

• The role evolves as the group matures

Positioning

• A diplomat, a referee, a guide, a mediator

• Attentive to feelings and levels of energy

• Neutral

• Not responsible for the content

• Independent of workshop outcome

• Trusts that group can make good decisions

• Readjusts format in real time if necessary

• Does not force decisions and agreements

Is not

A trainer, a consultant, a coach

The facilitator - Skillset

• Enjoys working with and helping people

• Analysis skills

• Is a good observer

• Practices active listening

• Asks powerful questions

• Leadership

• Warmth

Tips

• Experiment new formats

• If an activity does not work, try

something else

• Consider co-facilitation

• Flexibility in format, but clearly

defined objectives

• Use visuals, record visually

• Improve your listening & questioning

skills

• Learn about models

Going further - Explore models

Development

• Spiral dynamics

Communication

• Non Violent Communication, Toltec

agreements, Transactional analysis

Team dynamics

• Tuckman model

Personalities

• Process Communication, MBTI, 16PF

Change

• Kubler-ross

Dealing with dysfunctional behavior

Going further - Graphic Facilitation

Going further - Graphic Facilitation

Going further - Whole experience

Source: http://www.wheretofromhere.asia/

Further reading