When Being A Facilitator DOESN'T HelpLearn Management Articles on management-info.biz. When Being A Facilitator DOESN'T Help article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
I talked with a group of internal consultants last week - they felt they had to wear too many hats in their work. They had to be consultants, facilitators, coaches and trainers - sometimes in the same one-hour session. They weren't always sure what role to be in and they felt that all this role-switching was draining them and was decreasing their credibility and effectiveness. After learning a bit more, I suggested two things to them: 1) At times they were trying to serve as facilitators when another role would have been more helpful to their clients; and 2) It wasn't switching roles that was causing them trouble - it was how they were doing it. I'm suggesting the same may apply to you. First, let's look at when you and your client group are better off if you don't serve as a facilitator. My colleagues and I have identified five different facilitative roles you might fill as you work with a group - facilitator, facilitative consultant, facilitative coach, facilitative trainer, and facilitative leader. All of the roles enable you to use the same core values and ground rules to help a group improve the way it works together, but only the facilitator role requires that you withhold your content information or expertise from the group (what we call being "substantively neutral"). If the group is discussing how to improve sales and you have expertise on the topic or unique information because of your position in the organization, you don't share any of it. If you don't need to share any content information with the group and if you're not a group member, you can be a facilitator. But you lose credibility and reduce your effectiveness if you call yourself a facilitator and then start sharing content information, begin offering expertise on the content, or have a stake in the outcome of the conversation. Some group members will feel you are trying to meddle in their work and some will feel you are favoring others' points of view. In short, you are no longer neutral and you've overstepped your bounds. But there are times when you need to be involved in the content of the group conversation at the same time you are helping improve its process. There are also times when you have relevant expertise. That's when you use the other roles. All of these other roles allow you to be involved in the content and still use your facilitative skills. -If you're a member of the group, you are a facilitative leader. In my definition, you're a facilitative leader as long as you are using the Skilled Facilitator core values and skills while working in your group - even if you're simply a team member. -If you're not a member of the group and you're helping them solve a problem or address and opportunity, you are a facilitative consultant. This role is ideal if you're an OD consultant. It's also great if you're an HR manager and need to share your HR perspective on the group's topic. -If you need to formally teach the group some knowledge or skills, you are a facilitative trainer - you use your facilitative skills to help improve the learning process. -If you are working one-on-one, you are a facilitative coach. In my experience, it's fine - often best - to switch roles to help a group get results; how you do this greatly affects the results you can get for your clients. Here are some guidelines for establishing and switching roles: 1. Select the appropriate role(s) given what the situation calls for. 2. Reach agreement with your client about the role(s) you will fill to help them, and how you'll switch between them. Give them some examples so they know exactly what this will look like. 3. Before you switch roles, tell the group so they understand what you are doing and explain why you're making the shift. 4. If you need to switch to a facilitative role that you haven't obtained agreement on, re-contract on the spot before you fill that role. If you select the appropriate facilitative roles and explicitly switch among them with permission, you'll bring all of your expertise - content and process - to your clients' challenges. What do you think? If you'd like to share your thoughts, please email me. © 2005 Roger Schwarz The Rich Jerk. - Stop Being a Pathetic Loser and Start Making Millions. Top Affiliate earns $30k+month. Play Golf Free And Get Paid To Play! - Discover the secret to play free golf and get paid up to $897 a week for playing! Without being a scratch player.
I am really excited about this year’s content. We have sessions on how to develop applications in Silverlight for both the PC as well as Windows Phone 7. We have an entire track with great sessions where you will learn the tips and tricks of deploying Windows 7, Office 2010, Office Web Apps, and more in your organization, as well as how to troubleshoot when things go awry. The Collaboration: The Next Generation track has sessions on migrating to SharePoint 2010 as well as Exchange 2010, and how to protect the content in these critical business applications, and more. You will also learn how to take advantage of Microsoft-based development tools and good development practices and procedures to optimize the development and testing of applications whether developing as a group or individually. Finally, you will learn how to effectively use virtualization in a variety of scenarios, protect your infrastructure, and tricks on how to make Active Directory work for you. The best part is that you don’t have to pick sessions from only a single track. You can make your own customized agenda of TechDays 2010 sessions allowing you to grow the skills you need in your job. If you have not yet registered for TechDays 2010, register now at www.techdays.ca and then click on the “My Schedule” link in the top right to build your agenda; if you have already registered, go to www.techdays.ca and sign in with your Windows LiveID to start building your schedule. One more thing…there are six tracks at TechDays 2010 but you will notice that www.techdays.ca/sessions only lists sessions in 5 of them. The Local Flavours track and its content is up to you and your peers! We are looking for passionate individuals (developers, IT professionals, designers, IT architects, etc.) who have an idea for a great session to let us know and submit their session for possible inclusion at TechDays 2010 in your city. The submission form and information on the process can be found at http://www.techdays.ca/sessions?Track=Local+Flavours. Please download both documents, fill out the submission form with your great session idea and email to us at td_can@microsoft.com. TechDays 2010 is shaping up to be the best yet. Please visit www.techdays.ca for more information or to register and take advantage of the Early Bird rate of $349.99 plus tax - (about 50% off the full conference fee of $699.99). If you have a question about TechDays, send me an email at td_can@microsoft.com and I’ll get you an answer. I REALLY do love getting your emails.
Damir Bersinic TechDays 2010 Program & Skills Manager Microsoft Canada Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 |
More Articles:1. Future Business Success - What Does Good Look Like? By Martin Haworth When you know you need to shift up a gear, in any area of your business (or your life for that matter), it's really important to have a vivid representation of what you are seeking.Some call these "Goals", others "Visions" and yet more describe it as a "Mission". But there is one focused way to ensure that your path is perfectly directed to where you want to get to.By asking the question:-"What does good look like?"...and applying that to where you are right now, you will easily see a path un… 2. How to Set Up a Conference Call By Stephanie Hetu The methods in which you set up a conference call vary between the different services you use, and what type of conference calling you are using. There are three main types of conference calls, all with different methods of set up.The most common conference call is reservationless conference calls. There is not much to set up with this type of call. You simply get a number and access code, as well as a separate access code for the other people that you want to participate in the conference … 3. Four Questions About Leadership By Kevin Eikenberry I hear four questions asked about leadership often. This article gives a short answer to each of these important questions.Why Does Leadership Matter?Parents universally hope that their children develop leadership qualities. They know that leaders are people who are effective in what they do, are respected by others, and typically rewarded for those skills in a variety of ways. It is in these formative years that, through our parents, we first see leadership as desirable and important.As yo… 4. Innovation Management: Radical Innovation By Kal Bishop Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development … |
||||
