Library of facilitation techniques

You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. 

• A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate. 
• It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably. 
• A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail. 
• Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward. 

A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” 

The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

A Reflective Teamwork Activity (RTA) involves participants creating a checklist and then evaluating their performance by using the same checklist they created.

Here's an outline of this activity: Participants are organized into groups of five. Members of each group are randomly assigned to the roles of a manager, an assistant manager, and three employees. Each participant prepares a list related to a different management topic. The manager has the lengthy task and additional supervisory responsibilities. Other group members have simpler tasks. After the list preparation activity is completed, a debriefing discussion relates the manager's behavior to the items in her list.

An engaging variation on a feedback activity that focuses on future changes and positive action, rather than dwelling on what went wrong.

✓ Understand the ‘how’ of influencing.

✓ Demonstrate an understanding of the 5-Step IWA Model and its application.

✓ Understand the role of authority in influencing others.

✓ Develop a Game Plan for immediate implementation (if appropriate).

Build common understanding about culture, customer, future, strategy or next needed steps for a team or organisation based on the Agile Manifesto.

You can quickly and effectively share several innovations or useful programs that may lie hidden within a group, organization, or community. Shift & Share gets rid of long large-group presentations and replaces them with several concise descriptions made simultaneously to multiple small groups. A few individuals set up “stations” where they share in ten minutes the essence of their innovations that may be of value to others. As small groups move from one innovator’s station to another, their size makes it easy for people to connect with the innovator. They can quickly learn where and how new ideas are being used and how they might be adapted to their own situations. Innovators learn from the repetition, and groups can easily spot opportunities for creative mash-ups of ideas.

A short, two-round game shows the cost of switching tasks in under 15 minutes.

Participants complete the same data sets twice. First, they switch between tasks (multitasking). Then, they finish one task before starting the next (mono-tasking).

The change in speed and accuracy is clear and hard to deny. It works because people do not just hear that multitasking is inefficient, they feel it. The first round is stressful and slow. The second round is calm and fast.

🌐 Online A ready-to-run digital version of this game is available at https://facilitatorkit.co/multitasking-myth-online. The facilitator creates a session and shares a link — participants join in their browser and play on their own device. Results and charts are generated automatically at the end.

Team energiser for a virtual classroom or web conference meeting

This process is used to aid in planning projects by showing all activities that have to take place in the chronological order so as to reach a goal.

The art of questioning to better listen. 2 rounds for the same team to discover the secret profession of the facilitator (or one of the participants).