Seeking Common Ground

We know that participants in a facilitation session (whether as analysts, decision-makers, learners, or subject matter experts) are seeking common ground. We also know that each participant is most effective receiving and processing information in a particular form, usually as text/data or graphically.

Discovering Relationships

For those that favor the graphic approach to issue management, “issue mapping” is a useful tool for capturing, retaining, and expressing issues and their relationship.

The facilitator serves a critical role in guiding a group to discover and connect issues.

Mapping In Facilitation

Discussion – Issue mapping serves to stimulate discussion. Discovery is especially enhanced as an issue map almost begs for connections.

When a facilitator posts two issues on the wall, a group is almost compelled to connect them. Post fifty issues and useful and cooperative discussions will ensue. Groups are compelled to identify the relationships between issues.

Collaboration – An issue map can stimulate collaboration. When a facilitator posts two issues on the wall, a group is almost compelled to connect them. Post 50 issues and useful and cooperative discussions will ensue. A group will be driven to identify the relationships between issues. Cooperation is implied (although not required).

Managing Conflict – An issue map can level the discussion and thus help manage conflict, power imbalances, and dominating opinions.

Power Balance – An issue map allows for the ideas/issues to be boarded democratically. The issues can be connected and expanded — without implying priority or primacy.

Archive – An issue map is a useful archive. Issue maps are terrific stimuli to draw out ideas and connections. Issue maps serve an equally useful purpose of documenting and communicating the issues and connections to others.

Limitations

A weakness of issue maps is also one of its strengths: the inability to clearly indicate primacy or priority. The issue in the geometric center of the easel or wall or paper does not connote its importance. It may merely indicate that the origin of the discussion. A highly connect issue does not necessarily indicate importance, but it is an easy conclusion for an uninvolved observer to make.

Resources

So what is the technology in issue mapping? Like most other facilitation methods, issue maps can be built with pen and paper, marker and white board. For those seeking more sophistication, the facilitation technology that is helpful for issue maps includes:

Whiteboard capture:

• Mimeo Interactive Xi Bar – This product permits a group to capture their board work in real-time, and with the Mimeo viewer, to retain a history of the board work as a QuickTime movie. The “Capture Kit” is the accessory that is needed to capture the board work.

Software:

• Inspiration – A well-known application (Mac and Windows) that enables graphic illustration of issues and relationships.
• ConceptDraw MINDMAP – An application derived from a Visio-like application, ConceptDraw. MINDMAP is similar to Inspiration. It is available on Mac and Windows.

Consultants and Graphic Documentation Services:

There are many services to assist a facilitator and group document ideas, issues, discussions, conflict, etc. Here are a few (no endorsement is implied):

• AlphaChimp
• Graphic Footprints
• Get The Picture

Facilitator Training:

• MG Rush – The best training available for structured facilitation is from MG Rush. For facilitators (or would-be facilitators), MG Rush offers a five-day course that is designed to prepare the expert and novice for professional-level group facilitation. The course covers group dynamics, managing conflict, stimulating ideas, group discovery and analysis, managing power imbalance, as well as a variety of practical methods ranging from data modeling to strategic planning to project management. And, of course, they provide instruction in issue mapping.

A Simple, One File Website

There are many challenges in facilitation. One challenge is keeping all core and extended team members up-to-date with the issues, schedules, and progress of the team. Creating a website is beyond the skill of many of us. It is easy to get bogged down in the details of web hosting, HTML, databases, and backups.

TiddlyWiki to the rescue!

TiddlyWiki

TiddlyWiki is a “personal” blog application, intended to be a web-based personal notebook. It is a self-contained application with built-in web formatting, styles, and website-type functions (to geeks: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code) — all as a SINGLE file.

TiddlyWiki was created for IT projects, as a simple, light-weight, portable (it can be loaded onto a thumb drive or emailed) “to do” list.

Facilitator Project Management

Facilitating a group is more than the time in preparation and in front of the group. Successful facilitation includes supporting the team members with information in and out of the workshops.

A project website (or, TiddlyWiki page) can serve all of these purposes.

These are examples of the content a facilitator can include in their team support page:

• Member orientation
• Meeting/workshop schedules
• Ground rules
• Inventories of open issues
• Team rosters/contact information

Portable and Accessible

A TiddlyWiki file can be used in several ways. The one thing that is not required is a web server. It can be hosted on a web server, but the only requirement is a browser.

Little configuration is required, so if you wanted to post it on a website, a quick email to an IT staffer is all that is needed to post your own webpage. Alternatively, you can FTP the file to your own website for a instant publishing.

• Distribute Via Email – A TiddlyWiki file can be emailed to team members. As a file, it can be opened and viewed by the user’s web browser. Think of it is an off-line website.
• Off-Line Access – The TiddlyWiki file can be viewed off-line. It does not require a live network or WWW connection.
• Presentation Tool – A TiddlyWiki file can be carried on a thumb-drive. It can be loaded onto a single laptop and viewed on-screen. It can be viewed on a projector.

Resources

For more information about TiddlyWiki, try these links:

• Wikipedia overview
• TiddlyWiki home page
• A wiki about TiddlyWiki
• Google Groups for TiddlyWiki

Alternates

There are few alternatives to TiddlyWiki, but here are the few we’ve found:

• Jacwiki
• Moin
• WikidPad
• ConnectedText
• ZuluPad
• Luminotes
• WoaS (Wiki on a Stick)
• One comparison of efficient wikis – Wiki Comparison

First Impressions

Have you ever been self-conscious about how you started your teleconference? Have you practiced your introduction to achieve maximum impact? Have you wondered whether you could (or could have been) more effective had you included one special comment, or could avoid saying that one comment?

With teleconference technology, you can pre-record your introduction and deliver it flawlessly.

Sensory Overload – The Emotion of the Introduction

One of the challenges that we all face is the abundance of emotion while making introductions. Most of us are listening even while speaking. We are discerning the subtle comments, noises, and reactions while we deliver our best-practiced introductions.

The act of listening can disrupt our speaking, particularly during introductions.

Delivering information while receiving information challenges the best of us. Engineers call this “synchronous” communication. That is, information traveling in both directions. Only novices (and the insensitive) deliver information without receiving it at the same time (“asynchronous”).

The latest teleconferencing technology provides an excellent tool for conference leaders and facilitators to deliver a flawless introduction.

The Self

Some of us are humble to a fault. This appears in facilitation a weak self-introduction. Weak introductions weaken our credibility. It detracts from our ability to lead the group. We are judged less worthy by the participants. We must have strong introductions: confident, appropriate credentials, brevity, and humility.

To start an effective presentation, facilitation, or training, the speaker/leader must make him/herself credible. His/her ability to lead is dramatically affected by the introduction of self. You can pre-record this, too.

Leadership Starts at the Beginning

Your control and leadership of your group event starts with the announcement of the purpose and objectives to everyone before the call begins.

Your leadership starts with a credible introduction of you if you are new to the audience.

Your ability to lead and retain control of the group depends on firm ground rules provided at the start of the teleconference.

Rough Starts – The Late Entrant

One of the socially frustrating events during a teleconference is the late entrant. He or she will enter a teleconference unaware of the content of the event prior to their entry. Being late, they have missed your introduction about the meeting purpose, objectives, ground rules, and the introduction of you, the facilitator.

Don’t you wish you could deliver an introduction specifically to the late entrant – that did not disrupt the conference underway? You can.

Teleconference Technology

Teleconference services now permit you to PRE-RECORD your introduction. Some services permit you to deliver the introduction to a participant BEFORE they join the conference, thus avoiding the need to repeat portions of your carefully scripted introduction.

The advantages of this approach include:

• Delivering an introduction that goes exactly to script
• Avoiding the emotion of the introduction that undermines clear, on-script delivery
• Delivering the introduction PRIOR to a participant joining the call
• Eliminate disruptive behavior by normalizing all participants with identical introductions, late or not

Vendors

One vendor that provides a pre-conference introduction capability is SaveOnConferences.

Your ‘smart phone,’ such as an iPhone®, is a new tool for group facilitation and meetings. Increasingly, our phones are flexible and useful business tools. The iPhone, for example, offers several capabilities to assist your facilitation.

Meeting Notes

PDAs and cameras provide a handy tool for capturing white board contents. When work is completed on a dry-erase board or an easel, a camera expedites note taking.

Phone camera image quality is typically adequate to capture board notes, presentation images, and Post-It® notes.

Phone Sound System

Phones/PDAs are capable of delivering music, podcasts, and other recorded speech and music. Apple, for example, provides connectivity that enables the iPhone to connect to a TV or sound system (connectivity matrix for the iPhone and iPod).

Dock with A/V Output

Presentation Tool

On those days when you wish you could project a image during the meeting but didn’t bring a projector with you, you can use your phone.

An iPhone can be used to project images or video.

The Sparkz is a compact VGA-quality image projector. A VGA-quality projector works great for table-top presentations. The Sparkz (at time of this post) boosts a mere 15 lumens. (But, seemingly reliable with a bulb life of 50,000 hours.) Here is a short YouTube video demonstrating the Sparkz. (At our last check, the Sparkz was out of stock at Amazon.)

Honlai, a Taiwan manufacturer, designs and produces other portable A/V tools include a mini-LED projector, an iPod/iPhone LED projector. Their LED projector output ranges from 10 to 25 lumen, and resolution up to SVGA (800 x 600 pixels), includes speakers, and consumes a tame 25 W.

Did you bring your phone and your projector but need a suitable screen? Honlai also offers a portable projection screen. Honlai claims a viewing distance of as much as 4′ and weighs less than a pound.

Recording

Need to record an idea? A mission statement from a sponsor? Phones are increasingly capable of recording notes, ideas, and “to dos”.

Facilitation technology can enhance the contribution of our groups, and of facilitators. We are increasingly tolerant, if not dependent, upon technology for expression, listening, analysis, storage, and discovery of information. We integrate technology into our decision-making.

It may be that facilitation technology improves, as well as makes more efficient, our thinking (processing). Appropriately used, facilitation technology can retrieve, assemble, transform, present, digest, process, transmit, share, and archive information more efficiently, accurately, and in indigenous form, than ever possible.

There is no question that facilitation technology is increasingly popular.

But, does it make our facilitation better?

Participation

Facilitation technology democratizes decision-making. Facilitation technology improves the accessibility of information, analysis, participation, and decision-making to the lay worker. No longer does it require the CFO, president, senior business analyst, or professor to bring information (and all of its related analysis, debate, and conclusions) to the participant. Whether the participant is a student, business process owner, analyst, or factory worker, facilitation technology elevates their participation to new levels of involvement. Better decisions are the result.

Innovation

Broadening the accessibility of information results in increased innovation. When well guided, the use of facilitation technology spurs faster information gathering, analysis, and decision-making. Arising from the accessibility is the ability to solve for more localized problems. More solutions means greater organizational health. Greater health funds increased resources for development and innovation. Problems are solved faster, more efficiently, and more completely with the proper use of facilitation technology.

Accessibility (not Automation)

Facilitation technology is an aid to human thought. Facilitation technology is not a substitute for thought.

Whether in hospitals, factories, universities, or government, facilitation technology can make accessible the information that was previously only available through, and available to, a select few.

The accessibility of information changes the work- and learning-place. Whereas, workers and students were fed rote tasks or information for rote memorization, the can now digest, and participate in higher-level decision-making.

We need our workers to make decisions, not simply execute decisions made for them by way of the design of their machinery. We need our students to make decisions (and as importantly, analyze) information. We expect our workers and workers-to-be to do more associative processing, and thereby make better decisions.