and implement consulting services. Good morning and welcome to this learning nugget about facilitation. My name is Maria and I'm a consultant in Implement Consulting Group, have been so for the past five and a half years. What I work a lot with is facilitation. I think you could maybe even say that I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to facilitation. So I'm also super happy that I got the chance to stand here today and give you some tips and tricks about how does a good facilitation practice look like. I have a background in communication and psychology from Roskilde University. And some of the examples that I will share with you today also comes from my time as a student doing a lot of project work each semester. I would have some good examples of when it went well, but also some examples of when our meetings and project collaboration could have been a bit more efficient and effective. And I hope you can also gain a little bit of inspiration of these kind of war stories. Let's have a look at the purpose of today. So the purpose of today is first of all to give you insight into what is facilitation? What do we actually mean when we say facilitation? And then I also hope to give you some inspiration on how can you take your meetings to a higher level? How can you facilitate more effective and meaningful meetings for you and for those being part of your meetings? And hopefully you are so inspired at the end of this session that you also feel motivated and equipped to start applying some of the tools that you will meet in this session. This will be a very practical session where I would give you a lot of tips and tricks and even a recipe on how good facilitation looks like. So take whatever makes sense for you and maybe try avoid to implement all the tools from tomorrow, but take the one thing that resonates most with you and then build on top of that as you move forward with your facilitation practice. And before going completely into the program, I have also brought a couple of ground rules. Having ground rules when we are having meetings together with other people is often a really good idea to establish the social contract of what is important for me to make this a good meeting and what is important for you to make this a good meeting. The ground rules for today is basically or mostly an invitation to you because this is more one way communication. So I don't have the possibility to to interact with you in this call. But normally when I set ground rules, I would do it as a involved involving process with those being part of the meeting. So I could have brought a couple of ground rules and then I would say, so how how does that sound? Can you agree with this? And what do you want to add to also make this a good meeting for you? Ground rules for today is first of all, I want to invite you to allow yourself to be present and lean in for the next 40 minutes. That of course means turn off all other devices and apps or whatever might might disturb you in this period of time. And then also take on your curiosity hat. So whenever a question comes to mind, please don't hold yourself back to put it into the chat. I will try my best to to answer the questions during the session. But if there are questions that I didn't manage to answer in the session, I will, you know, answer them after the session and that would be shared with you in the follow up mail. That was a little bit about me. Now I'm actually curious to see whether we actually have people on the other side and who are you. So and this is also a little bit a test to see it to see whether the chat is working. So in the chat, I would kindly ask you to put in your name. What are you studying and where are you joining from? So I'm joining from Hellerup Implements Head Office. So where are you joining from? Please put it in the chat and we will play a little bit of music for the next 15 seconds. We have Emma, Johnny from Hellerup, Katrine from Amager, Oscar, Riksberg. A couple from International Business, Digital Innovation and Management. Oh, and we have one from Sweden, Kara, welcome to you as well. Cecilia from Copenhagen. From Copenhagen. And maybe we have more people on the call who just didn't reach the chat yet. And we have Marie as well from Frederiksberg. Welcome to all of you. Let's have a look at how the agenda looks like. So the agenda for today looks like this. We are in the middle of the welcome and introduction. Then after this, I will give you a definition of what do we mean by facilitation. You will get some tips and tricks to the good facilitation practice that you can already apply from tomorrow. Then there's also something about establishing this clear team contract with your project team. For instance, while being a while being a while being a while being a working on your semester project, for instance, because without a good team is really hard to have good meetings. So that will also be a topic of today. Then I have also brought a little bit of inspiration on how we can improve, improve our way of making decisions. And then I will end with an energy check as energy is super, super crucial when it comes to facilitation as well. At the end of the session, there will be a small surprise for those sticking to the end of the session. So please stay tuned and see whatever comes at the end of the session. But now I think let's kick it off. And I see that more people are typing in the chat. That's really nice. So please just keep doing that. Starting with what facilitation is. Facilitation comes from the Latin word faculis and it actually means to make easy. So good facilitation is about to help a group do better than if they were left on their own. So imagine that you are the facilitator of a project meeting with your study group, for instance, and the higher the level of your facilitation is, the more likely it is that you and your group will come to much better results. So if you leave a meeting and you realize, okay, maybe it would have been good enough just to share an email with that information that was shared in the meeting, then you actually don't need a meeting. And some of the reasons why we have so many meetings that are not effective or not meaningful is because we have a tendency to just call into meetings when we don't know what else to do. And in that way, we end up wasting too much time. And when it comes to the role of the facilitator, it also says here that the facilitator is interested, not interesting. And that's actually kind of important to pay attention to. So if we have a pure facilitator role in a meeting, that means that what we are most interested in, that is to facilitate a discussion amongst different perspectives of those being in our meetings. But we are not as interested in sharing or arguing or making campaigns for our own ideas and perspectives. That is not included in the facilitator role. Then, of course, I also know that if we take the context of you being part of your project team, that it can, of course, be hard to only take on the facilitator role. But let's say that you have agreed with your team that you are the facilitator. But you, of course, also have some expert knowledge to be brought into the project discussions and so on. And in this case, it's just important to know when is it that I step in and out of the facilitator role. And you can do that by explicitly say, so if I could just share my perspective, that means that you are stepping out of the facilitator role. And in the other part of the process, you will be the one thing. So what do you think? Do you have something to add? You know, you try to kind of connect the dots of what is being said in the group. Yes. Then we also try to distinguish between facilitating and designing for a meeting versus a workshop. And for this session, we will have mostly focus on the meetings, but just to, you know, define what is actually the difference between these two kind of human interactions, you could say. So a meeting is a touch point where two or more people, they come together to discuss something, a topic that is related to what you are collaborating about. And meetings are most often they are used to share information, but also make decisions about something that is important for you to move forward with the project that you are working on. And a workshop that is typically that has a that that would be longer, that will be a higher level of involvement of the participants being part of the meeting. So that could, for instance, be in the beginning of a project work or project collaboration, you might not have yet defined what exactly you want to work on. So having that kind of open brainstorming process where you together come up with ideas and put things on the wall to to come to a place where you you you have created a prototype or an idea of what you would like to focus on for this semester project. So that is kind of the differences where you can see in meetings that it might be more the format might be more like telling and sharing of information and gaining a little bit of feedback or comments from from the other people. So that you are in the right now you don't have to think about it right now. You don't have so much time and energy to give and when you leave this meeting, you actually have the feeling that it was kind of a waste of time and you should have stayed home instead of taking the bike to the university to meet up with your study group. Try to have this picture in mind and then and think about this question. What could be improved in this meeting to have given you another experience of that meeting? I will give you 30 seconds to think about this and then we will play a little bit of music while thinking. Thank you so much for sharing your input in in the chat. I would just share a couple of those that came in. There was no clear agenda. So people came in with very different expectations to the meeting. What are the expectations for the meeting and setting upcoming tasks, for example. So there are some similarities in the two first here. What are the expectations? Clear goals and actionable steps for the meeting. Expectations for the meeting should have been discussed and agenda should have been made. The efficiency of the meeting, the role of each person having a recap for all at the end. So there's also something about being able to actually document what did we agree with which actions do we need to take from here. Having done a dynamic for primped conflict as well, understanding the different personalities that are coming together for that group work. So a lot of really, really good inputs that I could not agree more with. Leaving with shared goals and plans of what needs to be done before our next meeting. So actually what you are all kind of reflecting here is that there are something in order to make good meetings, there's something about being able to do. something where we need to do something before, then we need to do something when we are in the meeting and then there's also something about what happens after the meeting. How do we ensure that before, during and after process? But let's continue and have a look at some of my tips and tricks on how we can do this even better. Some of them will resonate with what you just shared in the chat. Now, I would say that some of the tips that I will share with you now, they are low hanging fruits that you can start applying already tomorrow. So one thing is knowing the purpose of the meeting. So, and that also aligns with what you put in the chat. So often we call in for a meeting and we don't know at all what the purpose is. The purpose is a minimum thing that we need to have in place. Also, even though that we in the beginning of a project work, we have all already scheduled the meetings taking place for the rest of the semester. But each of these meetings and all the touch points and interactions that we have in a project that is supporting our ambition of reaching the goal and the purpose of the entire project. So if we waste time in these touch points, if we don't spend them effectively and efficient enough, then we don't have the same possibilities. to reach the ambition with our project. So knowing the purpose. And when we know the purpose, it's also possible for us to make a clear agenda. And the agenda in a meeting is the same as a project plan in a project. So we need to know what's the plan, because that's a really good starting point for aligning expectations. Then there's also something about having a clear roles and responsibility. I have put in a minimum a facilitator who will be responsible for the process. That doesn't mean that it should be the same in all the meetings, but you could take turns being the one responsible for the meetings, collecting agenda item in advance, and ensuring that people are prepared for the meeting. Then there's something about the strict timeframe. And that is actually also one of my favorites, because when I train people in facilitation skills, I always say when we say that a meeting ends at 4 p.m., it ends at 4 p.m., not 4.01. It is so draining that I cannot be sure when this meeting will end. So when you call in for a meeting, ensure to know when does it start, when do we end. Also, if you meet up at university and you have a full day together, where part of that day, that would be you having meetings and discussing certain things around your common project. But also part of that full day will be you working individually on specific tasks in your project. So knowing that from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., that is our first meeting in the day, a check-in meeting, making the plan for the day. And maybe we then have a meeting scheduled for later on the day to check out and see how much did we progress during the day. But not having that strict timeframe is really hard for us then to stay engaged in the meeting if I don't know when it ends. And then it comes focus on energy throughout the meeting. Focus on energy is just super important. So if you are in a meeting and you can sense that people are starting to zooming out, the dynamic going on in the meeting is not as good as it was when you started the meeting, then call a break. And I have some tips and tricks on when you might need a break that I will share after this one. But really try to have a good feeling of what do we need to do in terms of energy. Sometimes we need a break. Sometimes we need to open a window. Sometimes we need to change the process a little bit if we have been talking a lot. Maybe we need to you know, you know, do different things. Then there's this about the social contract. So set some ground rules when your meeting starts. And then everybody create a safe space for you to share opinions openly and challenge one another's perspectives. And that is something that of course takes some time and you need to get to know each other and, you know, find the right form. But that is also super important if you are to make the right and best decisions on things consider before, before, doing and after, as I said, just before. Times and processes. That is also one that can be super good to have in mind when you are in a meeting or preparing for a meeting. Physical versus virtual meetings. There are some that are a little bit, there are some variations to that, but 20 and 10 minutes. That means that after a, in a physical meeting, after 20 minutes, we need to create some kind of variation in our program because our brain has a hard time concentrating a longer time than 20 minutes. And in virtual meetings, it actually goes for 10 minutes. So if you have a one hour meeting, then you know that after 20 minutes, I need to do something different. It could be 20 minutes of presentation, 20 minutes of discussion and 20 minutes of a plenary debrief or whatever it might be. And the 60 minutes means that after 60 minutes, we need a break. So you can have that as a rule of thumb that when one hour has passed, you need a break and it doesn't need to be a long break. It could be like 10 minutes. Let's go grab a cup of coffee, chit chat, you know, just gain some energy again. And then, and then you're good to go. And then it says on the slide, 10.30, but it's actually also 1.30 and 3.30. That is the times during a day where our energy level will typically be lower than normally. So that is also good to have in mind when you are preparing for your meetings. If you know you are having a meeting in that period of time, then you might consider that could some of the processes in your meeting or discussions, could that be done as a walk and talk? Or do they all have to be in a meeting room where it's hard to keep up the engagement yourself? 15 minutes goes for within the first 15 minutes of a meeting. Everybody should have heard themselves say something. And that is from research. We know that if I have heard myself say something within the first 15 minutes, it is more likely that I will stay engaged and be engaged throughout the meeting. But if it goes long time before I hear my own voice in the meeting, I would slowly just zoom out of the meeting. So if you have issues with people being engaged, that can be something that can be good to think of. Things would be so much easier if I did it myself. Now we have addressed a couple of things that we could do to take more responsibility for improving our meetings. The thinking that many of might have had that it is so much easier if I just did it myself. And that comes when we are super frustrated about some kind of collaboration that doesn't work. My point is that we cannot do things ourselves. We are dependent on other people. And that is actually why I encourage everybody to, when they start up a new project, work that they establish a team before starting to work on the project. And then I also know that many of you might be in a project team together with your good friends. And that is the reason why I brought this quote that I heard from another good guy who is also a student. It feels awkward to make a team contract with my friends. And I totally understand that feeling. We are, we hang out together. We are good friends. And then when we are in this, you know, student setting, then we are supposed to be a team. We are supposed to have this formal conversation about how do you collaborate. What are your preferences and so on. But my question is also, do you, can you actually afford not to spend the time on, on, on setting that contract, even though it's your friends? So, so for me, it's really crucial. And I, I also remember from a time in university that the way that I selected my project, that was, you know, choosing from what my friends, they also, had a preference for, then we met up, but it was actually also kind of a, you know, critical to, to our friendship, if we didn't manage to collaborate in a good manner on this project. So that is also just another reason for why you should do that. And to make that a little bit easier for you, I have brought a couple of, you know, you could call it a conversation guide. So a couple of questions that could maybe guide that conversation you could have in the beginning of a project. I have divided it into two categories because there's something about our personal preferences for going into a collaboration that can be important for us to talk about when we first meet. That could be something that is related to who are you, what's your background, what are you passionate about, what do you do when you are not studying, what are you working with outside, you know, student works, what are your hobbies, family stories, and so on. There are so many stories around one person that can explain how I go into collaboration with others that can be super important to know about. And then it's also fun to explore more about each other. Then I think one thing that is also super important to have aligned upfront, that is, what is your ambition with this project? Some might go after, you know, a straight A's and others would just have a preference of, I need to do well, but right now, a lot of other things are taking up my mind, so I cannot, you know, I don't have expectations on deliver on this level right now with this project. And that conversation you need to have, that's super important. Then there's also something about what gives you energy and what drains your energy. Some in your project team would have a strong preference for holding the project plan and being super structured and organized and love to do a lot of things like that. They will hate if you are late for the meetings. They will hate if you don't stick to your promises. And you might have another preference that goes for, you love, you know, being super creative, building ideas and whatnot. And these two people can collaborate really good together. Actually, they are kind of dependent on each other, but it's just important to know, you know, what is it that you bring and what is it that will just, you know, increase your engagement in the team. And then there are some of the structural elements that can be good for you to also have a line up front that goes for, you know, how often do we plan to meet? What's the frame, timeframe of these meetings? What's the overall purpose of the meetings? Is this like status meetings, decision meetings, development work or whatever? How do we want to use the time where we actually meet? And which kind of different roles and responsibilities do we like to kind of formulate on this team? That could be you have a facilitator, you have a project manager, and that could be other kind of roles also, maybe an energy minister to ensure that you are not only being productive and efficient, but you're also doing it with lots of good energy and having fun at the same time. We will, of course, share the slides. So you can use this as a guide to, to, yeah, guide your conversation in your first project meeting. Then some teams, they either they have like allocated a facilitator who collects all the agenda items before the meeting. That's one way to do it. But another way to do it is actually that you are building the agenda together when you meet. So this template I have brought to you today, that is an attempt to help you get improving your meetings kind of easy. So if you follow this structure, you are, you are pretty well equipped to having better meetings. These meetings, they will always start with a check -in and they will end with a check-out. So the check-in, that is where you allow everybody to land in the meeting and to share, you know, what do you want to know, what do you want to know what do you want to get out of the meeting and also what do I need to park outside of this meeting in order to be present here. Because that little story, it might be that I'm normally, you know, contributing and on a high level. I'm super active participating in all our discussions, but today I'm not able to do that. That's super important. There have been something in my personal life that makes me a little more quiet today, which is important to say up front so that people do not get annoyed about that. So having that check-in is super important. Then there's something about, so for today's meeting, who will take on which roles, who will facilitate and be kind of the guardian of the purpose of the meeting, who will take us through the different processes, who will be responsible for documenting all our agreements and actions to be taken after the meeting. And it might be that you have other roles that you find important to add in. Then you do it in this second agenda point. Then you build the agenda together and that goes like a brainstorming process. You know, you have already heard what's important for the different people on the team to touch upon in this meeting. You brainstorm on the topics and then after you have found out which topics you want to include in your agenda, then you come to a definition of how are we supposed to to handle these different agenda topics. And for that we also have a process. You can go with either this agenda point that is to inform or is to be discussed or that is something where we need to make a decision or take action upon what I bring about in this meeting. And the reason why it's important to know whether this is only for information or this is for discussion or this is where we need to make a decision is because that it does something to to those participants of the meeting. So I know that when you are sharing, when we are at this agenda point, I know that I'm listening just to ask clarifying questions. I'm not listening to challenge as I would have done if it was a discussion process. So I think I will maybe just jump kind of fast over these three. But so you have the informed where the desired result is that everybody is informed and understands the agenda. item and then we have the agenda item. And then we have this discuss where the understanding is has been enriched and that the owner of this agenda item has received the input that he or she needs in order to move forward with working on that specific topic. And then take action. That is where the desired result would be that a decision that also with the next step has been taken. So we can move forward from there. Then I also brought this slide, which is a ground rules for a good process. And that is actually because I got to think about how was it that our, you know, the collaborations that I have been part of as being a student some years back. And and sometimes I felt that we were kind of, you know, it was like, you know, a, you know, a, you know, a, you know, a, you know, a, you know, a, standing in two different positions and we were all arguing for, for our own ideas and, and, and, and perspectives, but, and we were not really listening to what the other people were saying. So I think this is a really good guidance of how you can have even better decisions or make even better decisions. decisions and also be open to perspectives that you might not have thought about yet. So, and that goes in six steps. Take turns sharing your perspective and try really to listen to what people are saying and not only wait or listen to, to be able to answer right after. Wait for your turn to share and ask questions. Do not make campaigns for own ideas. And then it says the decisions are made through a specific process that I will just, show or share with you after this slide, not by voting, accept decision within the zone of tolerance. That's what we will come to listen actually and not only to answer. And then when we are looking at this decision making process, there are typically some criteria that we would look for. So if I could, if I am supposed to accept a decision being made on the, in the meeting, then I would, then I would have to base that on three things. And the first thing is, is it good enough for now? Are we, you know, do we feel safe enough to try? And do we also see that if we make this decision now, that is also something that can be changed at a later point if we then become wiser about the topic. And that is kind of, that is a really good process to not end up in, in just making veto all over. No, I don't agree with this because what we have a tendency to is that we, we base our own, you know, decisions on our own personal preferences. So it might be that I don't like the idea, but if I were, but maybe I could say yes to these three questions. Yeah, it, maybe it is good enough to try. At least it is safe enough to try. So if we tried this idea of Andreas, my good colleague, if, if we tried that, it would be safe enough. No, no critical things would happen. So maybe I could, maybe I still don't like it, but, but it could be okay. And I also know that if we try it out, it can be changed at a later point. And that is actually what we, we mean by zone of tolerance. So if I can say yes to this, and I move out of my own personal preference zone, that will only open up my perspective to, to learning something new and to also try and experiment a little bit more. And then we have the objections shown. So that is outside the zone of tolerance. So it's only if I don't feel it's good enough for now, and it's safe enough for now that I would be able to object here. But I would also have to argue why I feel that's the case. I think I brought this just to give you a perspective on, or maybe just give you a reflection really about when is it, what, how do you actually make decisions and, and how do you contribute into a good and strong decision making process? Are you able to also, you know, calm down your own personal preferences and to think about the team and the project instead of not only what you are occupied about, at least that was sometimes difficult for me. So I would have loved to just been challenged a little bit on, on that way of being when I was, when I was working on my projects in university. This has been a really, really fast program. I will say a lot of things, doing a very short time and a broad, broad topic. And now we actually, we are coming close to the end of this year. session. But before we end the session, I would like to, to just highlight my favorite tool when it comes to facilitation. The reason why I only bring it now is because this design star, as we call it, that is something that we would most likely use when we are designing for workshops or bigger events. So that will be the first step in a design process. And it has five elements. And the reason why it's a star is because it will always start with the purpose, understanding what's the specific purpose of this workshop or event. And in order to achieve the purpose, who do then need to participate in this workshop, then it goes up to the participants. And then it might be that I find out, okay, but I cannot get these participants, then I need to go down to my purpose and adjust my purpose. And so that means that it's a star because we go in and out, but always related to the purpose. And then we have the environment that is something around. So in order to achieve the purpose, to accommodate for the people that we know who will join this workshop, where should we be and what kind of environment do we want to create? There's something about the form, what different processes do we intend to bring forward in this workshop and who has which roles. And there are a lot of details to all these five elements in the design star. So we can, if we had spent the entire session on the design star, there would still have been a lot of things to talk about. So I bring it about because it's really important. And you can learn more about the design star in the article about facilitation that we will also share with you in the follow up materials. And secondly, before we end the session completely, I would like to do an energy weather report. And that is because energy is super important when it comes to facilitation. So if you find a piece of paper, as it says on the screen, and then you draw the pyramid, and then what I would like you to do now is just to follow my instructions. But I will just give you like 10 seconds to find a paper and something to write with. Yeah. So as you see, for each of the energy levels, you have a, to the left, you have a score from one to four. That means that we can give each of the energy levels a score from one to four. If we start with the physical energy level, then the physical energy that is related to, did you sleep well tonight? Did you have a good breakfast? Are you exercising, you know, frequently? So that is everything that is related to sleep, nutrition, exercising, and so on. So if you feel like you are in a kind of a good shape today, you maybe want to give it a number four or three. If you didn't sleep well, if you didn't have breakfast, yes, maybe it's closer to one or two. So then put a number for the physical energy level. Then we have the emotional energy level that is related to how are you feeling. And we normally divide our feelings into positive or negative emotions. So if I feel super happy and excited about that I just completed an exam with good results yesterday or on the other side, it didn't go as well as I expected, then I might feel a little bit, you know, low on the emotional energy. I'm disappointed or I'm sad about something. So that is all that happens in our emotional life that can impact our emotional energy level. So if you just put a number to the emotional level. The next one is the mental energy level, and that is our capacity to stay focused on what we are doing. So if I have too many things on my plate, it is really hard for me to stay focused. So if you have a good focus right now, then it's four. If it's lower, then it's one or two. And then lastly, the spiritual energy level that is related to the purpose. So if you feel connected to a greater purpose, for instance, of being in the session, it was valuable and meaningful for you to be in the session, or it's valuable and meaningful for you to contribute to the project work that you are doing with the good friends and student colleagues that you are having. Then you are typically higher on the spiritual level. And when you have put a number to all these four levels, then you sum it up and then you have a complete score that is between four or 16. And I would like to invite you just to put in your energy number in the chat just to see how are we doing. And then I would also like to tease for that if you find this part about energy management interesting, then we have an upcoming session also similar. So this one where one of my colleagues, he will go more deep into what is energy management and how does it take for us to balance both being a student, having a work and also having some preferences in terms of I also have a boyfriend or girlfriend or some good friends that I would like to also prioritize my time on. So and that can be super hard. So if that's interesting for you, stay tuned and be invited for that upcoming session. I cannot see the chat. So I don't know if anything has come into the chat. All right, 10, 13, 11, 10, 11. Okay, so you're actually it seems like you are you are good to go for for the rest of the day. That's that's nice to say. And then maybe I should just say that this energy check that we just did now that is also a really nice way to check in with your project team when you start up a new meeting. Before we end the session, I promise that there would be a little surprise at the end. And that is the opportunity to win the copy of our book facilitation. And how you win it is that you you send an email to me and share your personal motivation for for increasing your facilitation skills. And then we will draw lots among those who have sent me an email before the 9th of November. So my email will be in the follow up material. And then there's no more left to say that. Thank you for joining and taking the time and good luck with your facilitation practice. Thank you.