Facilitating with Ease!, 4th Edition

Facilitating with Ease!, 4th Edition

by Ingrid Bens
Released October 2017
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119434252

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Book description

The definitive guide to running productive meetings

Facilitating With Ease! has become the go-to handbook for those who lead meetings, training, and other business gatherings. Packed with information, effective practices, and invaluable advice, this book is the comprehensive handbook for anyone who believes meetings should be productive, relevant, and as short as possible. Dozens of exercises, surveys, and checklists will help transform anyone into a skilled facilitator, and clear, actionable guidance makes implementation a breeze. This new fourth edition includes a new chapter on questioning, plus new material surrounding diversity, globalization, technology, feedback, distance teams, difficult executives, diverse locations, personal growth, meeting management, and much more. With in-depth, expert guidance from planning to closing, this book provides facilitators with an invaluable resource for learning or training.

Before you run another meeting, discover the practices, processes, and techniques that turn you from a referee to an effective facilitator. This book provides a wealth of tools and insights that you can put into action today.

  • Run productive meetings that get real results
  • Keep discussions on track and facilitate the exchange of ideas
  • Resolve conflict and deal with difficult individuals
  • Train leaders and others to facilitate effectively

Poorly-run meetings are an interruption in the day, and accomplish little other than putting everyone behind in their “real” work. On the other hand, a meeting run by an effective facilitator makes everyone’s job easier; decisions get made, strategies are improved, answers are given, and new ideas bubble to the surface. A productive meeting makes everyone happy, and results in real benefits that spread throughout the organization. Facilitating With Ease! is the skill-building guide to running great meetings with confidence and results.  

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. More Praise for Facilitating with Ease!
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Introduction
  6. Chapter One: Understanding Facilitation
    1. What Is Facilitation?
    2. What Does a Facilitator Do?
    3. What Do Facilitators Believe?
    4. What Are Typical Facilitator Assignments?
    5. Differentiating Between Process and Content
    6. Facilitation Tools
    7. Core Practices Overview
    8. What Does Neutral Mean?
    9. Learn to Say “Okay”
    10. When to Say “We”
    11. How Assertive Can a Facilitator Be?
    12. The Language of Facilitation
    13. Conversation Structures
    14. Starting a Facilitation
    15. During a Facilitation
    16. Ending a Facilitation
    17. Effective Note Taking
    18. The Rules of Wording
    19. Managing the Flip Chart
    20. Facilitator Behaviors and Strategies
    21. Core Practices Observation Sheet
    22. Process Flow Observation Sheet
    23. Facilitation Skill Levels
    24. Facilitation Skills Self-Assessment
  7. Chapter Two: Effective Questioning
    1. The Principles of Effective Questioning
    2. Question Types
    3. Questioning Formats
    4. The Importance of Follow-On Questions
    5. Asking Sensitive Questions
    6. The Question Bank
  8. Chapter Three: Facilitation Stages
    1. 1. Assessment and Design
    2. 2. Feedback and Refinement
    3. 3. Final Preparation
    4. 4. Starting a Facilitation
    5. 5. During a Facilitation
    6. 6. Ending a Facilitation
    7. 7. Following Up on a Facilitation
    8. Seeking Feedback on Your Facilitation
  9. Chapter Four: Who Can Facilitate
    1. When to Use an Internal Facilitator
    2. When to Use an External Facilitator
    3. When Leaders Facilitate
    4. Facilitation Strategies for Leaders
    5. Best and Worst Facilitation Practices for Leaders
    6. Facilitation As a Leadership Style
    7. Additional Role Challenges
  10. Chapter Five: Knowing Your Participants
    1. Conducting an Assessment
    2. Group Assessment Survey
    3. Comparing Groups to Teams
    4. Understanding Team Stages
    5. Forming—The Honeymoon Stage
    6. Storming—The Potential Death of the Team
    7. Norming—The Turning Point
    8. Performing—The Ultimate Team Growth Stage
    9. Adjourning—The Final Stage
    10. Facilitation Strategies Chart
    11. Team Effectiveness Survey
  11. Chapter Six: Creating Participation
    1. Creating the Conditions for Full Participation
    2. Removing the Blocks to Participation
    3. High-Participation Techniques
    4. Group Participation Survey
    5. Encouraging Effective Meeting Behaviors
    6. Group Behaviors Handout
    7. Observing Group Behaviors in Action
    8. Peer Review Instructions
    9. Peer Review Worksheet
  12. Chapter Seven: Effective Decision Making
    1. Know the Four Types of Conversations
    2. The Four Levels of Empowerment
    3. Clarifying the Four Empowerment Levels
    4. Shifting Decision-Making Paradigms
    5. The Decision-Making Options
    6. Decision Options Chart
    7. The Divergence/Convergence Model
    8. The Importance of Building Consensus
    9. Effective Decision-Making Behaviors
    10. Symptoms, Causes, and Cures of Poor Decisions
    11. Decision Effectiveness Survey
  13. Chapter Eight: Facilitating Conflict
    1. Comparing Arguments and Debates
    2. Steps in Managing Conflict
    3. The Five Conflict Options: Pros and Cons
    4. Conflict Management Norms
    5. Giving and Receiving Feedback
    6. Making Interventions
    7. Wording an Intervention
    8. Dealing with Resistance
    9. The Right Approach
    10. Common Conflict Dilemmas
    11. The Facilitative Conflict Management Process
    12. Interpersonal Conflict Worksheet
    13. Group Conflict Checklist
    14. Conflict Observation Sheet
    15. Conflict Effectiveness Survey
  14. Chapter Nine: Meeting Management
    1. Meetings That Work
    2. Our Meetings Are Terrible!
    3. The Fundamentals of Meeting Management
    4. Sample Agenda with Process Notes
    5. Sample Process Check Survey
    6. Sample Exit Survey
    7. Meeting Effectiveness Survey
    8. Facilitating Virtual Meetings
  15. Chapter Ten: Process Tools for Facilitators
    1. Visioning
    2. Sequential Questioning
    3. S.W.O.T.
    4. S.O.A.R.
    5. Facilitative Listening
    6. Appreciative Review
    7. Brainstorming
    8. Written Brainstorming
    9. Affinity Diagrams
    10. Gap Analysis
    11. Needs and Offers Dialogue
    12. Force-Field Analysis
    13. Root-Cause Analysis
    14. The Five Whys
    15. Gallery Walk
    16. Multi-Voting
    17. Decision Grids
    18. Exit Surveys
    19. Survey Feedback
    20. Systematic Problem Solving
    21. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 1
    22. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 2
    23. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 3
    24. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 4
    25. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 5
    26. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 6
    27. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 7
    28. Systematic Problem Solving Worksheet 8
    29. Troubleshooting
    30. Troubleshooting Worksheet
  16. Chapter Eleven: Structured Conversations
    1. Structured Conversation 1—Discovery
    2. Structured Conversation 2—Environmental Scanning
    3. Structured Conversation 3—Team Launch
    4. Structured Conversation 4—Vision and Mission
    5. Structured Conversation 5—Work Planning, Roles, and Responsibilities
    6. Structured Conversation 6—Risk Assessment
    7. Structured Conversation 7—Stakeholder Analysis
    8. Structured Conversation 8—Communication Planning
    9. Structured Conversation 9—Status Update Meeting
    10. Structured Conversation 10—Creative Thinking
    11. Structured Conversation 11—Midpoint Check
    12. Structured Conversation 12—Systematic Problem Solving
    13. Structured Conversation 13—Constructive Controversy
    14. Structured Conversation 14—Survey Feedback
    15. Structured Conversation 15—Interpersonal Issue Resolution
    16. Structured Conversation 16—Overcoming Resistance
    17. Structured Conversation 17—Project Retrospective
    18. Structured Conversation 18—Project Adjournment
  17. About the Author
  18. Acknowledgments
  19. Facilitation Certification
  20. Bibliography
  21. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Facilitating with Ease!, 4th Edition
  • Author(s): Ingrid Bens
  • Release date: October 2017
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119434252