July 2009 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator eNewsletter

Creativity Skills | Gary Rush Facilitation

Creativity is the engine of innovation. Creativity is generating something new, surprising, unusual, novel, or original that solves the problem, is useful and meaningful. Creativity can be introduced to participants through process and exercises. To do this, you must first understand the skills needed:

• Fluency – lots of ideas
• Flexibility – many different kinds of ideas
• Originality – uniqueness of the ideas
• Elaboration – developing the ideas

Fluency

Fluency is what Alex Osborn developed with brainstorming. Clearly separate ideation (the generation of ideas) from evaluation (narrowing and analyzing the ideas). The trick to engaging participants and making them fluent is to define and enforce rules of ideation that encourage fluency – i.e., lots of ideas.

• Brainstorming – helps fluency by following ground rules during listing.
• Cognitivity – helps fluency by accepting all ideas – new and old.
• Creativity Breaks – helps fluency by tapping a different way of thinking.

Fluency requires P.T.S/P.T.F. (Permission to Suck / Permission to Fail). Organizations need to adopt the concept that all ideas are needed – the good, the bad, and the ugly and that people need permission to fail. The following tips come from Improvisation and help build fluency:

• Stay in the moment
• Suspend judgment – P.T.S.
• Accept the offer – don’t block
• Know how to Follow
• Build on/out ideas – “Yes and…”

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison

Flexibility

Flexibility is the ability to generate different kinds of ideas. Repeating the same idea, with only slight differences, doesn’t help creativity as much as generating different kinds of ideas. Ways to help increase flexibility are:

• Cognitivity – helps look at the common in an uncommon way.
• Creativity Breaks – helps to use a different learning style to bring out ideas.
• “What if…” – this powerful question helps change paradigms.

“When people think about creativity, they think about artistic work – unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. But if you look deeper, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms, such as haikus, sonatas, and religious paintings, are fraught with constraints. They are beautiful because creativity triumphed over the "rules”. Constraints shape and focus problems and provide clear challenges to overcome. Creativity thrives best when constrained. But constraints must be balanced with a healthy disregard for the impossible. Too many curbs can lead to pessimism and despair. Disregarding the bounds of what we know or accept gives rise to ideas that are non-obvious, unconventional, or unexplored. The creativity realized in this balance between constraint and disregard for the impossible is fueled by passion and leads to revolutionary change.” – Marissa Ann Mayer – VP Search Products and User Experience at Google published in Business Week, February 13, 2006.

As a Facilitator, establishing constraints, in the form of visual aids, mediums to work in, etc., you help participants to be creative. Using a variety of visual aids and exercises in the workshop helps to bring in multiple intelligences (visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intra-personal). Engaging the different ways people think and learn helps bring out a variety of ideas. Examples are:

• Role playing exercises – can affect all intelligences depending on how you structure it.
• Musical Chairs – affects bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
• Post-its and other colorful visual aids – affect visual-spatial intelligence.
• Creative Introductions – can affect both interpersonal and intra-personal intelligences.
• Building structures – affects visual-spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences.
• Creativity Breaks – affects visual-spatial intelligence.

Originality

Originality is about uniqueness of ideas. In generating ideas, using tools such as Cognitivity help stimulate new ideas. In analysis of the ideas, using tools such as Affinity Diagramming and Mind-Mapping help synthesize similar or related ideas into one unique idea. Questions, such as, “Why not…?” help in assessing ideas without dismissing those that are unique and original.

Elaboration

Elaboration is about how well you can develop an idea. Questions, such as, “Why not…?” and “What if…?” help get participants to fully describe their ideas and flush out gaps and inconsistencies. Be very clear on what the final result is to look like – define this before the workshop and ensure that it is something that can be taken further. Participants need to be able to take an idea and turn it into an actionable solution, product, etc.

Summary

The skills needed by the Facilitator enables the Participants to use these skills through the processes and workshop environment they bring.

“If everybody is thinking the same thing, nobody is thinking.” – General George Patton

April 2015 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator eNewsletter

Dealing with Difficult People - Building Trust | Gary Rush Facilitation

People can be difficult and cause problems. How to deal with difficult people is not easy. Sometimes, we’d rather avoid them but that would not solve the problem. Keep in mind that people cause problems for a reason. Few people wake up in the morning thinking about how they can make someone’s life difficult (okay, so some people do but they are the minority). Often the person causing the problem can be productive in a different situation. Once you label someone a “difficult person”, you lose the ability to deal with the problem.

When we say that someone is a “difficult person”, we mean that they are disruptive – ineffective in communicating. To deal with a difficult person, you first need to assume that they have good intentions and you need to identify what is causing the problem. In other words, identify the problem, not the “difficult person”.

The Golden Rule

I have found that the key principle for dealing with difficult people is based on, “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” We must assume that:

• People are intrinsically reasonable.
• People are creative when asked.
• People have different goals in life.
• People don’t like to be blamed.
• People prefer the positive to the negative.
• People respect when they are respected.
• People don’t want to be embarrassed.
• People share similar fears.

I know that my assumptions are optimistic, but I believe that when you approach someone expecting good intentions, you get it, because people tend to live up to the good or bad intentions bestowed on them.

When dealing with people, we often forget that everyone is motivated by:

• A need to control (power motivation).
  
  
  • People rebel against a loss of control. Whenever someone is working on a task that others perceive as threatening, he or she feels a loss of control and becomes difficult.
  • Turf issues. Of course, in organizations this never happens.
• A need to excel (achievement motivation).
  
  
  • People don’t want to look bad in a group. Whenever someone has a “brilliant” idea that others don’t accept, he or she feels a lack of respect and becomes difficult.
• A need to bond (affiliation motivation).
  
  
  • People want to be part of the group. Whenever attacks and win-lose situations affect someone’s ability or willingness to bond, he or she becomes difficult.

When one or more of the needs are not met, people display disruptive behaviors. Look to see which need is triggering the behavior. Once you have an understanding of what is motivating the person, use the following guidelines to correct it:

• When one-on-one, talk to the person. When you talk to the person, don’t attack, “You have been very difficult. What is your problem?” You may not get a useful response. Instead, say, “I noticed something is bothering you. What is happening?” You may get a useful response.
  • If the need is feeling threatened, understand why he or she feels that way and work together to find a solution that meets that need.
• When in a group, mitigate the symptom by:
  
  
  • Establishing group behavior norms – e.g., respect each other’s ideas, discuss ideas, not personalities, everyone has wisdom, we are all responsible for the results, etc.
  • Using body positioning – stand near or in front of the difficult person when they are attacking – it blocks the discussion so that you can intervene.
  • Using eye contact – it lets the person know that you are aware of his or her behavior without having to say anything.

A Lack of Trust

A lack of trust is the common denominator, “I don’t trust that they believe in me”, etc. There are four components to Trust: Character, Competence, Caring, and Communication. We trust someone because:

• We are comfortable with his or her character. This speaks to the need to control.
• We view his or her competence as good or better. This speaks to the need to excel.
• We believe that he or she cares for us. This speaks to the need to bond.
• We communicate well. This speaks to any need.

When we don’t trust, it is because we believe that there are flaws in another’s character, competence, caring, and/or communication. Therefore, Building Trust requires engaging in dialog to understand which component(s) are viewed as flawed and working to change the perception and/or developing understanding. When we engage in dialog, we find, for example, that most “difficult people” are not malicious. Through dialog, you may find out that he or she does not trust the competence of others. That gives you something to deal with rather than labeling, where you lose the ability to deal with the problem.

So…

Treat others as you wish to be treated and you will be successful in dealing with “difficult people”.

May 2009 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator eNewsletter

Facilitator as a Profession without Proper Training | Gary Rush Facilitation

While at the IAF North America conference in Vancouver and the Southern New England Chapter PMI Conference in Hartford, we had a number of Facilitators come to our display table. We asked them who had trained them as Facilitators and a common response was, “I learned on the job”. If someone can self-define him or herself as a “Facilitator” without proper training, it’s difficult to justify calling this a profession. This troubles me given that I’ve been working hard to get organizations to view Facilitator as a profession.

My concern with “I learned on the job” is that it is a hit or miss method where mistakes are perpetuated and there is no consistency – trial and error. It demeans the skills developed by those who, through proper "Facilitator" training, spent a great deal of effort learning their skill. “I learned on the job” (unstructured) is very different from “on the job training” (structured). The former lacks any obvious principle of organization while the latter is a purposeful approach.

Let’s look at the Project Manager. Project Managers were in the same position 20 plus years ago. This has changed due to the influence of PMI and the growth of the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. This has made it less likely that one would simply call him or herself a Project Manager. Today, Project Managers receive proper training because organizations realize the importance of their skills.

This needs to extend to Facilitators as well and through the influence of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) and their Certified™ Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation, this also will change.

Different Types of Facilitator Training

Not all Facilitators are the same. The required level of training is different. They are:

• Practitioner
• Professional
• Master

Practitioner

A Practitioner is one who uses facilitation skills in his or her job, such as Project Managers, Business Analysts, and others, who want to improve communication to achieve commitment and support from stakeholders – so needed for business success. Practitioners need what is often referred to as facilitation “soft” skills that are not learned by trial and error, but through proper training. These skills become a set of business, leadership and interpersonal skills that enhance the skills of any PMP (Project Management Professional) and CBAP (Certified Business Analysis Professional) and add value to their job.

Professional

A Professional Facilitator is one who focuses on facilitation as a profession. Professional Facilitators may facilitate a strategic plan, business requirements, team building, problem solving, decision-making, requirements elicitation, etc. They should be working towards their Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation to receive professional recognition that will give them a competitive edge (more and more organizations will not hire Facilitators unless they are certified) and it helps bring additional credibility to their job. Again, these skills are not learned by trial and error; these skills require extensive training. It needs to cover the facilitation “soft” skills as well as:

• People and Process Tools.
• Workshop/Meeting Process and the Emotional Group Cycle Process - the process design must be holistic.
  
• Process Development and Structured Agenda Development.

It is important for Professional Facilitators to continue learning and stay abreast of new trends and methods –required to maintain their professional designation.

Note: You will notice that I didn’t mention anything about industry content. That is because Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Facilitators are process experts and their skills are transferable to any industry – i.e., project management, business analysis, and facilitation are the same regardless of the industry. They are successful when they are able to guide their group through a facilitative process to accomplish their task.

Master

A Master Facilitator is one who has developed a high level of proficiency in the profession. They are:

• Knowledgeable about the history, theory, concepts, and techniques of the Facilitator profession.
• Versatile - they facilitate a wide variety of situations and processes.
• Mentors to others.

Those destined to become Masters, continue to learn through proper training to develop a deeper understanding of "why" they do what they do.

Note: The IAF is the only internationally recognized, non-profit, industry association for Facilitators. It has the only non-commercial certification process and certification must remain non-commercial, association-based to be effective.

Summary

For "Facilitator" to be a true profession, it needs to be taken seriously. It cannot be, “I learned on the job”. You must seek out proper Facilitator training that gives you the effective skills necessary to perform your job effectively and successfully. It takes effort, effective training, and continuous learning.

The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator Academy provides complete and comprehensive training on the concepts of Holistic Facilitation.

FoCuSeD™ On… provides effective facilitation skills and tools geared towards Project Managers, Business Analysts, and others necessary to drive the overall business.

In 1985, I created a structured facilitation technique - FAST - that provided students with the ability to be flexible, yet provide effective structure. I struggled with describing "how to" seamlessly tie together the workshop process while managing the group dynamics. So,

In 2007, I created FoCuSeD™ Holistic Structured Facilitator Training - Facilitation of Collaborative useful Solutions embracing Diversity - from an epiphany I had at the 2007 IAF North America Conference in Portland, OR. The epiphany came at a session given by Sam Kaner, PhD., where he was talking about how groups behave while reaching consensus – they diverge, struggle, and then converge – thank you Sam. I now understood “how to” seamlessly plan and integrate the workshop process with the emotional group cycle by introducing proper exercises depending on the needs of the group along with “why”.

I was able to tie together people skills and process skills in one holistic process. As a result, I completely rewrote my Facilitator training materials around this unique holistic process, added more people skills, specific tools tied to processes, processes covering everything from Strategic Planning and Analysis through Design and Problem-solving, in business and in life, and broadened the class materials beyond IT projects. I added detailed descriptions of the IAF Core Facilitator Competencies and cover them extensively so that anyone who wishes to pursue an IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation will have the necessary skills.

 "The only meaningful certification is when competencies are assessed and conferred by a recognized, independent industry association such as the International Association of Facilitators (IAF)."

FoCuSeD™ is the answer I was looking for - the what; now I had the “why”, the “how”, and the “what”.

FoCuSeD™ Facilitator training is a far more complete, comprehensive, and effective structured facilitation technique than any other facilitation technique available. It gives you:

• A unique holistic structured facilitation process – FoCuSeD™ Holistic Structured Facilitation Process Design – a critical holistic process that enables you to seamlessly integrate the workshop process to build a product parallel to the emotional group cycle.
• Guidance when selecting and using thought processes.
• Guidance on “how to” and why use specific People and Process tools.
• Helpful virtual workshop guidelines.
• Detailed descriptions of the IAF Core Facilitator Competencies and "how to" achieve them.
• Detailed history of facilitation to help build clear context and foundation.
• Orientation towards all aspects of business and life.

JAD was enhanced by FAST. FAST was revolutionized by FoCuSeD™ - continuous innovation makes for better solutions.

FoCuSeD™ Facilitator Academy – Let’s Do This!