The Fearless Facilitator

A proven plan for leading successful meetings, dynamic workshops and effective training events

Paul J Maltby

• Publisher: Author Academy Elite
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781647463878
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Meetings & Presentations
• Index: Business

Gain the courage, confidence, and techniques to lead any event with any group, any time! Speaking from personal experience, presenting to a group can be scary. The fear of public speaking is one of the biggest fears people have. However, imagine having to speak to a group and getting them to work with each other, collaborating to achieve a collective goal! Getting a group to work effectively can be challenging. Different objectives, personalities, and opinions can all make the experience feel very daunting.

Over the last twenty years, Paul Maltby has led countless events working with groups worldwide, both face to face and virtually. During that time, he has learned how to prevent and deal with all types of challenging situations. Paul understands how to lead successful events. Through his book, he would like others to benefit from his experience. The Fearless Facilitator aims to equip the reader with a proven plan to eliminate any fear associated with leading a group event. It's packed with tips and techniques that will give the reader the courage and confidence to lead any group event, including meetings, workshops, mastermind groups, lunch and learns and training courses.

Part one focuses on a seven-step process that will show the reader how to plan and prepare for a successful event. The plan will help to reduce challenging situations and increase the chances of success. Part two provides simple yet effective techniques to deal with difficult questions. It will take the stress away from Q&A. Part three focuses on challenging behaviors and provides tried and tested ways of addressing them while protecting the relationship with the group. Using the proven plan and applying the tips and techniques will give the reader everything they need to become a Fearless Facilitator.

PART I
THE ICEBERG

CHAPTER 1
PURPOSE

Why are we here, and what are we trying to achieve?

Some years ago, I delivered Consulting skills courses for junior consultants. It helped to prepare them for their client delivery projects. They learned how to:

• Conduct interviews
• Run workshops
• Present recommendations
• Build client relationships
• Run a small project

Part of the course was a case study where four trainers role-played different clients with different personalities, roles, and responsibilities. The case study company was losing money, and the junior consultants needed to identify the cause of the losses and recommend solutions. To start, the consultants interviewed each client to gather information on what might be happening. They then ran a workshop with the clients to clarify the problem further.

The interview purpose was usually explained to the clients clearly. However, when it came to the workshop, agreeing on the purpose ahead of the exercise tended to cause problems for everyone. Most of the time, the students were eager to find a solution and used the workshop to explore solutions with their clients rather than focus on understanding the problem further.

Not having received any briefing from their consultants, the clients had no clue what to expect in the workshop. They were surprised when the consultants revealed that the purpose of the workshop was to discuss solutions to stem their losses. Two clients usually reacted to this surprise with objections.

“How can we possibly consider solutions when we don’t fully understand where the losses are coming from?”

“How do we know the solutions will fix the problem?”

The other two clients reacted passively to see how the consultants would handle their muted reaction. They would disengage from the workshop, saying very little, showing subtle signs of frustration and disappointment.

The students had a choice—either listen to the clients and change the workshop’s purpose to focus on the client’s need or carry on as planned?

For those teams who adapted the purpose to meet the client’s needs, the rest of the workshop went very smoothly. They made progress in understanding the root cause of the problem. For the teams who stuck to the plan and focused on solutions, the remainder of the workshop went less well. The session felt like a presentation of solutions rather than an interactive workshop. With no clear understanding of the root cause of the losses, the clients struggled to see which solution would be useful.

The learning de-brief of the workshop centered around the purpose and how it differed between what the clients and the consultants were expecting. The students realized that the expectations of the workshop weren’t tested with their clients beforehand. The workshop failed largely due to the mismanagement of expectations and the inability of the students to adapt to the needs of their clients. The students learned that having a clear purpose isn’t enough; it must also align with the attendees’ expectations. Ultimately, they discovered the value of getting the purpose right for an event and how challenging it can be when it’s wrong.

This chapter will look at the value of getting the purpose right. Challenging situations will occur if it isn’t right, and your group will struggle to see the value of the event and them being there.

Three questions to determine the purpose of an event

During my twenty years of designing and running events, I have learned that defining the purpose is critical. It should be priority number one. Determining what the session is trying to achieve will take time and effort, and it will feel counter-intuitive because of the pressure to plan the event. However, it will be time well spent because knowing the purpose will shape the rest of the planning process. If it’s your event, the onus is on you to figure out the “why.” If you’re running a session for someone else, work with them to define the purpose. The new, junior consultants didn’t invest time in shaping their workshop purpose with their clients and experienced resistance because of it. There are three crucial questions to ask yourself or your sponsor to plan an event.

1. Is an event necessary?
2. Is everyone aligned on the purpose and outcome?
3. Whom do you need to achieve the outcome?

1. Is an event necessary?

In today’s business world, people’s schedules are full of meetings; there are even meetings to plan other meetings. Before adding one more appointment into their diaries, consider if the purpose warrants an event. There may be another way of achieving the outcome. For instance, if there’s a need to gather opinions on a topic, that could be more efficiently obtained through a survey or questionnaire.

If the purpose is to share information, there are many software-collaboration tools available, e.g., Slack, Trello, Mural. Team members can contribute to one shared forum and allow everyone to see all submitted entries. They can also comment and post questions against contributions. Such functionality is particularly valuable if the team is virtual, dispersed, or operating in different time zones. You will prevent your group from feeling aggrieved by having to attend a meeting late at night or very early in the morning.

If the purpose is to make a simple decision, one alternative would be to run a poll where respondents could vote for the best option.

TOP TIP

Do not assume you need to run an event. Let the purpose guide you to the best way of achieving the desired outcome.

2. Is everyone aligned on the purpose and outcome?

People typically come together to achieve what individuals cannot do alone. For example, to hold discussions, solve problems, resolve conflict, strengthen relationships, or achieve buy-in when making decisions. The aim of the facilitator is to harness the collective strengths of the participants to achieve the desired outcome required. Whatever the reason for holding an event, ensure you have clarity on purpose and outcome. We’ll use Problem Solving as a worked example. Solving problems can be broken down into three key stages:

1. Defining the problem
2. Identifying possible solutions
3. Determining an action plan to implement the agreed solution

There can be a different purpose for each stage. As the facilitator, the critical question is, “How will you (and your group) know when you’ve achieved the purpose, and the event has been a success?”

Regardless of which stage you’re starting at, ensure the outcome aligns with the purpose by including two key ingredients:

a) Desired outcome—What’s your measurable output?

b) Agreement—What agreement is needed to confirm your outcome?

Example: Defining the source of the problem.

Purpose: To identify why the Company is losing money.

Desired outcome: The cause of the loss is understood, and

Agreement: Everyone agrees with the conclusions made and what next steps to take.

There would be similar statements defining the solutions and action planning stages of problem-solving. The three steps could all be done in one event, depending on the size of the problem. For example:

Purpose: To identify why the Company is losing money, identify options to prevent further losses, and agree on a way forward.

Desired outcome: The root cause of the problem is understood, appropriate solutions found, and

Agreement: Everyone agrees with the actions to implement the solutions.

Being able to combine all three stages may depend on the availability of the people and time needed. If the problem is complex and more time is required to get to the desired outcome, consider breaking each stage down into three separate events.

It will be helpful for everyone to have clarity on why the event is necessary (purpose), what everyone is working towards (desired outcome), and what is required to reach the desired outcome (agreement).

TOP TIP

Ensure the agreed purpose and desired outcome are visible throughout the event using a flip chart or handout as a reference point. It will help prevent folks from drifting away from the agreed purpose and outcome. If possible, get agreement from the stakeholders beforehand to avoid wasting time clarifying and adjusting them at the event. Managing expectations is key to preventing resistance during the event.

3. Whom do you need to achieve the outcome?

If an event is necessary and the purpose and outcome are defined, the next question is, whom do you need to achieve the outcome? It will help to think about:

• How will each person benefit from being there?
• How will each person’s presence benefit the group?

Everyone

The more people you have at an event, the more diverse views there will be. While this is a good thing, it will take more time to cover a topic.

If it requires all the team to attend to ensure that everyone’s had an input to the problem or decision, then include them. Keep in mind that the people in the room should be adding value to the event. If not, they should not be there. Be clear about what you expect. If the numbers become too big to include every...

Table of contents

• PRAISE FOR THE FEARLESS FACILITATOR by Paul Maltby
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION Help!
• PART I THE ICEBERG
• CHAPTER 1 PURPOSE
• CHAPTER 2 RESILIENCE
• CHAPTER 3 ENVIRONMENT
• CHAPTER 4 VENUE
• CHAPTER 5 ENGAGEMENT
• CHAPTER 6 NEEDS
• CHAPTER 7 TEAM
• SUMMARY OF PART I THE ICEBERG
• PART II THE SHIELD
• INTRODUCTION TO PART II
• CHAPTER 8 S – SPECIFY
• CHAPTER 9 H – HAND BACK THE QUESTION
• CHAPTER 10 I – INVOLVE THE REST OF THE GROUP
• CHAPTER 11 E – EVOLVE THE QUESTION
• CHAPTER 12 L – LOOK OR LEAVE
• CHAPTER 13 D – DISTRACT THEM WITH SOMETHING DIFFERENT
• SUMMARY OF PART II THE SIX SHIELD STRATEGIES
• PART III THE SWAN
• INTRODUCTION TO PART III
• CHAPTER 14 THINK BEFORE ACTING
• CHAPTER 15 GREEN INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
• CHAPTER 16 AMBER INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
• CHAPTER 17 RED INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
• SUMMARY OF PART III THE SWAN
• EPILOGUE
• Notes
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR