It's alive! Is it human?

In a planning meeting with a client recently there was lots of talk about 'who'.

Who the audience was. Who the workshop was for. Who would be there. Who needed to be consulted with.
I think that we can too often and too quickly group people into .... well, groups, that we can forget they are people. You know, humans! Alive! You. Me. Us. 

When I'm leading a workshop, facilitating a team day or delivering my training programs, as soon as there is talk about stakeholders, clients, customers or teams, one of the tools I use as quickly as possible is a visual that helps humanise the conversation. 

I'm helping us see that the groups we're talking about are actually people and not things. (This icon is a 'click and save' image for you this issue for your visual collection.)

It's easy to sketch - look at each of the elements: a 'hill' shape for the body, a circle, two lines for the arms and then the key word for that person, like 'stakeholder'. They're holding their own little sign! A smiley face adds another human element.

A simple thing? Symbolic? Sure, but time and again I've worked with leaders who are driving change, teams who are shifting the way they work and businesses transforming culture and it's always about what people will be doing now and in the future.

We can more easily identify and connect with the human aspects of change when visuals of people are used. 

Keep an eye out for how you're representing the important people you work with, collaborate with and want to engage with.

Remember they're people ... and not just a bullet point list of words.

A Blueprint for Meetings, Workshops, Conversations

When you get people together - face to face or via a hookup - you need to make something happen. 

 
Is it a briefing or transfer of information?
Is it a consultative thing - you want to ask some questions and find out what they think.
 
Maybe you need to involve them in the design or development of a process, product or service.
Perhaps it's about collaboration: 'let's work on this thing together'. 
 
And sometimes you want them to pick up the ball and run with it, toempower them so that they act and decide.
 
Whichever of these you'd like to make happen, you need to start with that in mind. Here's a continuum or scale that can guide you:



I regularly use these five levels and depths of participation (adapted from the International Association for Public Participation - or IAP2) to guide me in:

• how to prepare for the gathering,
• how to set up and design the environment they'll meet in,
• what processes they'll work through and
• how to handle the stuff that happens during that meeting.

What you do as a leader will make a b-i-g difference in how well the group goes towards achieving the outcome. 

It's not "their fault' or 'up to them'. It's on you. 

If you've called the meeting, are facilitating or leading it or are responsible for getting the outcome, it really helps to get clear about why they are in the room (or dialled in remotely) and how you'll engage them to make something good happen. 

Those crusty old days of workshops or conversations to 'discuss, decree and demolish' are gone. That's disengaging and ineffective. 

Start with this Blueprint and zoom in on the levels that suit the outcome you're after. 

The meeting, workshop or conversation will be more productive, more engaging and the people who've given their time to be there will oh-so grateful you got this sorted!

'Break into groups and ...' *groan*

Facilitators, trainers and group workers beware!

How often do you have in your sessions, plans and agendas and chunks of time where people are asked to break into groups, work on something and then .... report back?

Yes it can be a powerful group process ... but when I have had the pleasure of being a group participant recently, I have sometimes seen it as a lazy, quick and unfocused option of choice for many group leaders!

Groups can take quite a while to get to the heart of the topic or activity.

It sucks to be in a group and not have enough time to go through some great storming and norming before you perform.

Before you jump up and shout about how you see the value of group work as THE most important thing in your world, just check your diary for how long ago it was that YOU had to do the group thing.

I think it's too often a 'go to' activity without uncovering the real need, outcome and purpose of the important work.

There are other options : singular/solo activities, pair activities, whole group, mentor discussions ...

Be sure you :
Plan and prepare.
Uncover the real need and purpose of the team and session.
Have a range of activity options at your disposal.

And if things get tricky or you don't know how you'll fill in time, step out of your normal routine and don't break people in to groups.

Go on, try it. Just a few times.

Your groups will love you for it!

Are we ready to move on?

It's been fun, challenging, interesting to work with some different groups this week - at some point each group needed to make a decision and move on. 

Yes, you can vote, bring out coloured sticky dots or... whatever decision making process you like. But one approach that worked a charm this week was this:

1. Open up the topic for discussion

2. Visually capture key points about the views in the room (on a flip chart or white board) - people can SEE what others are thinking

3. Identify the options or choices

4 Check for agreement. That means 'asking' the question.

I saw several groups this week spinning around content for such a long time. It's great to talk and put everyone's views out there, but once we're looping back around to some of the same points, some clarity is needed. 

Summarising or recapping the main views is powerful and I rarely see anyone use this technique in group discussions. Too busy trying to get their own point across!

Summarise, and then ask - 'any other views...any different views?'

Once you've teased them all out, it's time to check if you're in agreement to proceed. 

Again, I rarely see groups ask the question to get agreement. It's as if a few people are so frustrated that they say 'I think we're all in agreement, let's move on'. That ain't a question!

Closed questions are great. 'Is there agreement?' 'Who disagrees?' 'Who still has views to put forward?' 'Are we ready to move on?' 

Just because YOU think everyone agrees doesn't make it so. 

Somtimes I'm in the role of listener (graphic recorder, visual capture) with teams and groups and not leading or faciliating. This is how I get to see what's really going on in teams and groups. If you had someone just listening to your next meeting, workshop or session - and not participating - what would they say? How would they rate your team's ability to get to consensus and move on?

Solo Operator : Diversify or Die

I'm mentoring some sole business owners through a 10 week program in selling your expertise and at the core of it are a few key principles. 

The principles are almost paradoxes, or ironies or those things that are true one moment and then untrue the next.

While they need to focus and target their efforts to serve a specific market, I'm also encouraging them to diversify or die. 

Of these business owners, one is a coach, one is a facilitator, another is a trainer. 

I'm encouraging the coach to stop being 'just a coach', start offering what they know through other modes of delivery, like writing and speaking and training. They know so much, they're so talented, but they're running out of puff. There are only so many people they can coach in a day and only so much a corporate client will pay them once they're on the corporate coaching panel. 

For the facilitator, a similiar thing is happening. They love working with community organisations but they're finding that despite some briliant positioning, they're running out of clients that have the cash to spend on a great facilitator. They're doing 'mates rates' and 'cheap days' and they're working very hard, for little return once they take out expenses. So it's time to diversify or die. They know great stuff - they can train others, mentor up and coming facilitators and speak on community engagement and change processes. 

The trainer is just plain tired. Full days of contract training, on their feet talking, thinking, walking, listening. All day, every day. They're not able to earn much more per day than the 'going rate' and they too need to diversify or die. They have brilliant skills and knowledge. They could be speaking on the topics they know about, mentoring leaders, or shifting into the facliitation space, given they work well with groups. 

The working world of today demands people with flexibility, insight and agility. You can't be everything to everyone - that dilutes your offer - but you will need to be able to deliver more than just one track, to survive when you're a solo operator. 

I think the expert model of selling your expertise through a number of modes is a winner. Just this week I've facilitated, presented, coached, trained and consulted. And it's only Wednesday. I love the diversity not just for the changing scenes, but for the longevity and flexibility it provides in the long run.

Diversify, definitely.