February 2020 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator eNewsletter

35 Years! |Gary Rush Facilitation

On February 25, 1985, Millie and I opened our consulting business, then called MG Rush Systems, Inc. now MGR Consulting, Inc. I created FAST, the first structured facilitation technique, and taught my first class in September 1985. Today, I teach the FoCuSeD™ Facilitator Academy. I've been teaching Facilitators and facilitating workshops ever since, with the exception of one year (2004 - 2005), when we opened Mirácles Restaurant in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. We returned to consulting in 2005 and in 2007, I created my new facilitation technique - FoCuSeD™ - the first holistic structured facilitation technique.

What has changed in 35 years?

When I began, I had to explain to clients what facilitation was, what a Facilitator did, and why Facilitators needed training. Facilitation was used mostly in communities and/or in IT. There was no professional association for Facilitators and no professional recognition.

For the first 19 years, the majority of my students were from IT and the majority of my facilitation was for business requirements or strategic planning. Today, the nature of facilitation is quite different. Facilitation is better known, accepted, and applied. The IAF was founded in 1994 and now recognizes those who wish to pursue an IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation. Organizations know what a Facilitator does and the importance of training. The biggest issue is clarifying the similarities and differences between group facilitation and other forms of engagement - and how facilitation works in every aspect of a business. Facilitation is used in communities, IT, planning, problem solving, human relations, etc. - there are no bounds to its use and Facilitation has been proven to deliver significant value to any organization. My students come from a variety of areas in an organization and I facilitate business requirements, strategic plans, problem solving, and data modeling, amongst others. Instead of cadres of people specialized as Facilitators, we now have many job descriptions that require facilitation skills, making facilitation a must-have skill set for any role.

The Future of Facilitation

Facilitation doesn't stand still. The use of virtual workshops has increased significantly and along with that growth has come improved technology to enable people to work remotely. Organizations are experiencing increased collaboration across silos. They have improved their meetings by training their people in facilitation skills enhancing job performance, driving collaboration, and achieving quality results. Government institutions are increasingly using facilitated workshops to enhance dialog both within the institution and with their constituents. The use of Facilitation engages, empowers, and motivates all levels of the organization. Creative new ideas have been developed and significant financial savings have been realized. But most importantly, the cultures of the organizations have changed to become collaborative, making facilitation skills the must-have skills of the 21^st Century.

Thank you...

We could not have been in business for 35 years if it weren't for you, our students and clients. I've learned a lot from you and appreciate your trust and confidence in allowing me to train you and facilitate your meetings/workshops. I enjoy hearing from you and I wish you all continued success. Thanks for 35 great years... looking forward to many more.

Trainer: Gary Rush, IAF CPF | M

"Why learn Facilitation skills? Because they are a set of behavioral skills that through engaging, empowering, and collaborating, enhance job performance."

Why?  These are the most important skills to develop in the 21^st century.  Because:  A collaborative revolution is coming, and you need to be prepared with the needed critical skills for success.  The ability to bring people together and accomplish good work is a skill set that is easily transferrable from one role or business to another.  Anyone who deals with people benefits from group facilitation skills – properly facilitated, groups develop better ideas that benefit the greater whole.  How?  I provide you with specific facilitation tools to ensure collaborative useful solutions.  See Facilitation Skills in Business and in Life.

This 1-day highly interactive class teaches you not only “how to”; it also teaches you to understand the “why” so that you gain engagement, support, and commitment.  This class covers a set of group facilitation skills and tools along with a selected process of your choosing: Problem-Solving, Project Planning, Strategic Planning, or Data Modeling.  This provides a basis for other techniques such as Six Sigma.  This class develops Servant Leaders.

"This class is ideal for all people."

This class is available onsite, and virtual anywhere in the world. Please contact us for additional information, pricing, and scheduling.

Class Abstract

Duration

One (1) Day

Abstract

This class covers a set of group facilitation skills and tools along with the selected process.  It:

• Gives you effective communication skills.
• Provides specific tools to ensure collaborative useful solutions.
• Develops effective Active Listening skills.

Objectives

FoCuSeD™ Fundamental Group Facilitation Skills – On-Site is designed so that students will be able to:

• Identify facilitation tools to successfully deal with team members and gain engagement, support, and commitment.
• Design an effective structured agenda (process) to accomplish a task.
• Facilitate the process.

Materials

Each student receives:

• PDF Version of FoCuSeD™ Fundamental Group Facilitation Skills by Gary Rush, IAF CPF | Master
• Class Certificate of Completion.

November 2018 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator eNewsletter

Poor Process Skills| Gary Rush Facilitation

A weakness that many Facilitators, meeting leaders, and project managers, to name a few, have in common is poor process skills.  They struggle when defining a process for the group to follow to ensure well thought-out outcomes.  So let’s focus on defining a structured thought-process that helps get you from point A to point B.

How often have you been in a workshop or meeting where people work together well, but can’t get from point A to point B?  It isn’t because they can’t, it’s because something is missing – a structured thought process.  For example, a group is choosing between vendors for a project, but they disagree about the criteria.  There are two (2) major reasons why most groups disagree in this situation:

• They disagree about what to evaluate because they lack an overarching goal to guide the criteria.  

OR

• They disagree about “subjective” criteria (e.g., vendor viability) instead of defining measurable criteria.

Defining a Structured Process

A structured process allows you to organize thoughts in a logical progression.  It allows you to deliberately, logically, and methodicallyorganize thoughts by thinking through “how to” define the problem before jumping to a solution.  

Thought Patterns

When I’m designing an agenda, I look at thought patterns – how we think through something.  The following thought patterns help me set the overall context – the big picture outcome, e.g., Symptoms, Vision, and Overall Goal, then step through what is needed to think about “how to” get from point A to point B – the outcome.

• For Problem-Solving:
  • Symptoms  Cause Solution
  • Problem Statement Objectives à Solutions Select Solution

• For Setting Direction:
  • Vision Goals Objectives Tactics
  • Why Where How When

• For Defining Actions:
  • What Who When
  • What are we Doing What are the Barriers What do we want to Accomplish How do we get There
  • Overall Goal Steps to reach Goal Sequence of Steps

Questions to Think About

As I think through designing the process, I consider the following questions to ensure I’m not missing a key piece of the puzzle.

• Is the group disagreeing about Objectives?
  • Yes – have them define the Overall Goal.

• Is the group disagreeing about Criteria?
  • Yes – have them define a clear Objective.

• Is the group disagreeing about which is first, second, etc.?
  • Yes – have them agree on the end result – the Outcome.

• Is the group stuck on how to solve a problem?
  • Yes – have them agree on a clear Problem Statement.

• Is the group disagreeing about Priorities?
  • Yes – have them define the Overall Goal or Objective.

• Is the group trying to solve a problem but haven’t agreed on the Root Cause?
  • Ask “Why?” five times until you’ve hit the root cause, then have them agree on a clear Problem Statement.

Structured thought processes generally build top-down, i.e., they begin with a broad, overall understanding (the context) and then delve into the details.  This allows me to keep groups on track and methodically enable them to achieve a well thought-out outcome.

Process skills provide deliberate, structured thought processes to develop the right outcome.