Facilitation

How to Lead a Purpose-Driven Gathering

“When leaders know how to lead great meetings, there’s less time wasted and less frustration. We have more energy to do the work that matters, realize our full potential, and do great things.” ~ Justin Rosenstein

Keys to Facilitation

Here are our main keys to facilitation:

• Have a prepared agenda. Have a clear and transparent purpose for every meeting. Ideally, you will spend as long preparing for the meeting as the meeting is scheduled (e.g., for an hour meeting, you should prepare at least an hour for the meeting).
• Build community. Have connection-based check-in questions, have pair shares and small group break outs, etc.
• Ensure the gathering starts and ends energized and people feel valued.
• Facilitate action-oriented meetings (i.e., always have an agenda, have meeting goals, and break up into smaller groups when possible [i.e., anytime you have more than four to eight people meeting, then break into smaller groups]).
• Ensure people do most of the work outside of the meeting (i.e., every person should have work to do outside the meeting, not just one or two people).

Preparing and Running Effective Meetings

Key Facilitation Techniques

There are many ways to run an effective meeting, here are the key things to keep in mind.

• Have a prepared agenda. Have a clear and transparent purpose for every meeting. Ideally, you will spend as long preparing for the meeting as the meeting is scheduled (e.g., for an hour meeting, you should prepare at least an hour for the meeting).
• Start on time, end on time. No matter the role or authority of the person, the meetings should be timely.
• Remind participants of key norms for the meeting. It is helpful at the start of each meeting to review the meeting norms. If you are meeting consistently, consider asking a different person to pick a norm to lift up and really focus on this meeting.
• Finish the meeting with clear action items. Do a quick review of any action items and tasks assigned during the meeting. Ideally, every person leaves with an action item.
• Engage in participatory facilitation. The facilitator should draw out ideas and engage all people in the group, rather than dictate or lead the conversation. Use go-arounds, silent written reflections, etc. to hear all voices.
• Encourage people to check-in on each other during the meeting. E.g., Asking a get-to-know-you question at the beginning of the meeting.
• Always have a note-taker. Take notes on key decisions and action items. Unless you need to, avoid taking extensive meeting minutes since most people will not read them.
• Keep the group energized! Do an activity to get the group moving (e.g., stretching, talking to someone they have not talked to in a while, etc.).
• Ask for people to take on tasks. It can be easy to fall into the habit, especially in volunteer settings, where the facilitator takes on lots of tasks. Even if no one volunteers, the facilitator should ask specific people if they are willing to take on tasks.
• End on a positive note. No matter what happens in the meeting, make sure you get all the logistics out of the way and then end on an upbeat/energizing note. (e.g., high vibes, cheer, music, etc.).

Facilitator Tools

Here are some helpful facilitator tools/techniques you can use in almost every meeting:

• Go-arounds. Ask everyone to share an idea, answer a question, etc. This is a good way to increase participation and provide a forum for quieter people to share ideas. It should also be okay to pass.
• Silent reflection or individual writing. This is a great way to get folks thinking more deeply about a topic before making a decision. 
• Straw Poll/Thumb Check. This is a quick way to gauge the level of agreement by asking folks to give a thumbs up (agree), thumbs down (disagree), or thumb sideways (neutral).
• Make proposals. If you are hearing a lot of ideas without a clear synthesis of those ideas, sometimes your role as a facilitator is to offer a proposal on a course of action based on what you are hearing. This can then be specifically adapted and changed, but it can be helpful to move things forward in the agenda.
• Bike rack (also called a parking lot). A bike rack is a way of keeping track of ideas. If someone says something that does not fit into the current discussion, then you can say, “great idea, we’ll put that on the bike rack and talk about it later this meeting or next week.” Just remember to actually go back to the bike rack later in the agenda.
• Keep stack. This just means keeping track of who raise their hand to speak. Call on people in the order they raise their hands.
• Send out a follow-up memo. Immediately after the meeting, the facilitator should send out a follow up memo with a clear plan of action (e.g., tasks, who is responsible, deadlines, and other decisions).

Example Facilitator Norms

Here are some helpful facilitator norms you can remind folks you will be using at the beginning of the meeting:

• Bike rack (e.g., if someone shares an idea/comment that does not relate to the current topic, then you can add it to the bike rack to discuss once you get through the rest of the agenda).
• Remind participants it is OK to take care of themselves (e.g., use the bathroom, keep hydrated, get up and walk around, anything you need to feel comfortable in this space).
• The facilitator will make sure the agenda stays on time (e.g., the facilitator will ask people to finish comments or limit discussion, if needed, or add to a future agenda item to discuss outside the meeting).
• Keep conversations focused and on topic with zero side conversations. This will help make the meeting more inclusive.
• When you notice others not following norms, you should speak up. This meeting will take all of our efforts to be successful (e.g., if you are in a breakout room and folks are having side conversations please speak up and remind folks to stay on track).
• (Digital meetings) Ask people to write their questions or post in the chat their questions or that they want to speak next. This helps the facilitator keep track of who wants to share/speak + makes sure questions are more succinct. 

Putting Together an Agenda

Here is a sample list of things to include in your meetings:

• Check-ins (5 minutes) 
• Review of norms (1 minute) 
• Assign meeting roles (2 minutes) 
• Review of meeting agenda and objectives (2 minutes) 
• Updates on commitments/tasks (5 minutes)
• Core content of meeting (30 minutes to 1 hour)
• Review of action items (2 minutes)
• Reflection (5 minutes)

Guiding Discussions

One of the most important attributes of an effective meeting facilitator is to guide the discussion so that it is inclusive, moves towards action, and stays focused. Here are some best practices for guiding discussions:

• Focus on drawing out the ideas of the group. Your main purpose as a facilitator is to ensure you are getting input from the group. It should not just be you speaking.
• Ensure all voices get heard (not just the loudest ones). It can be challenging if someone is doing most of the talking, or even worse interrupts others. A facilitator needs to immediately take action to stop that (e.g., cutting off someone who interrupts another, asking for 30 seconds of silence for folks to write their ideas, do a go-around to hear from each person, etc.).
• Avoid leading conversation to just what you want. As a facilitator, you should ideally be removed from the decisions of the group, and instead, focus on getting the attendees to find their own solutions. If you do have something you wish to add or suggest, make sure it is clear you are taking off your facilitator hat. 
• The purpose of your facilitation should be clear in every section. You want to be clear in your intentions when you act as a facilitator and what you are guiding the group to decide.
• Remain neutral in the ideation process (unless it has to do with an issue of justice and equity). Avoid commenting on the merits of ideas (e.g., that is a good idea/that is a bad idea) since as a facilitator your words may carry more weight. You want to encourage dialogue. However, if someone says something that impacts justice/equity you need to speak out. 
• Be comfortable with silence. Some folks need longer to think than others, and that is OK. If you are going beyond about 10-15 seconds in silence, either repeat the question, ask a new question, or ask if the comment preceding the silence sparks any ideas for people.

Gatherings

This material comes from Priya Parker’s book The Art of Gathering: “I have come to believe that it is the way a group is gathered that determines what happens in it and how successful it is, the little design choices you can make to help your gathering soar.”

• Priya Parker notes you should have a specific purpose for every gathering, even if you do it every year (e.g., what is the purpose for this annual kickoff? How does this specifically fit into our purpose currently?).
• Parker notes the idea of “Generous authority” which is a gathering “run with a strong, confident hand, but it is run selflessly, for the sake of others. Generous authority is imposing in a way that serves your guests.” 
• Parker reminds us to plan how you want people to feel as soon as they arrive and how they leave (e.g., quotes hung around the room or artwork to look at around the room instead of just going to a seat, ensuring everyone gets a personal conversation as they arrive, etc.). 
• Parker notes the start/end of the agenda should be energizing (e.g., start with a story or pair share, end with a cheer, have a conversation with every person before they leave, etc.).