TIPS for TEAM FACILITATORS

Creating the Environment:

  1. Post team-related quotes on the wall. See Appendix A for ideas of quotes.
  2. Clip cartoons on team themes and post them around the room.
  3. Use color to enliven the room: flip charts, posters, tent cards, etc.
  4. Learn to make simple line drawings and incorporate them into your visual aids (flip charts and slides).
  5. Bring toys into the room related to the topic being discussed. For example, if training on problem solving, bring in different types of puzzles and brain teasers.

Icebreaker Ideas:

  1. Have team members write down 3 truths and 1 lie about themselves. Then have the rest of the team guess which is the lie.
  2. Have team members identify one thing others don’t know about them. Then have the group guess who’s who.
  3. Have each person identify several people on the team who are most different from themselves. Then try to find 5 things in common with those "different" people.
  4. Have each person share three rules they live by. Then develop rules for the team to live by.
  5. Write 3X5 cards with statements about teams (ex: Good teams never disagree). Distribute cards to team members and have them swap until they hold a card they agree with. Swapping must be done silently, without knowing the card they will receive.

Involvement Tips:

  1. Use a Koosh Ball to get participation. The person with the Koosh has the floor. When they are finished speaking, they toss the Koosh to someone else. This allows the team to direct the discussion and prevents interruptions.
  2. Have individuals write one question they want answered about the topic of the meeting on a 3x5 card. Then revisit the question at the end of the meeting and have their team mates answer the questions.
  3. Have individuals write down their feelings about the team on 3x5 cards. Then collect all cards and redistribute them. Have team members read and explain the cards based on what they think the writer meant. This allows issues and concerns to be brought forward without fear of punishment.
  4. When brainstorming, have team members write their ideas on post-it notes. Then have them post the notes on a wall or flip chart and cluster related notes.
  5. Use chips to control talkers. Each person receives 3-5 chips, each worth up to 1 minute of floor time. When you want to speak, you turn in a chip. When chips are gone, you cannot speak.
  6. Have each person draw their vision of success for the team (pictures only - no words). Then have others explain the vision.
  7. Have each person complete this sentence: "One thing I need to understand on this team is..." Then discuss the answers.

Meeting Facilitation Tips:

  1. Use and post an agenda. When discussion strays, use the agenda to bring the group back.
  2. Use a "Parking Lot" flip chart - record side issues or those outside of the agenda on a flip chart. At the end of the meeting, determine when those issues will be addressed.
  3. When you want to lead the discussion, stand front and center in the room. When you want the team to lead the discussion, sit or stand to the side of the room. Changing position sends cues to the team and helps you maintain control.
  4. Capture minutes and decisions on flip charts during the meeting.
  5. Set ground rules as a team and review at every meeting.

Conflict Management Tips:

  1. Have the team identify the criteria they will use to make a decision. Then evaluate ideas against each criteria.
  2. Post each position on a flip chart, with two charts per idea (one pro and one con). Have participants silently post their ideas on the appropriate flip chart. Each idea must be no more than 5 words in length. Each person can spend no more than 1 minute at a flip chart.
  3. When two people disagree, ask each to reflect the opposite position using active listening. Continue reflecting until the other person agrees that they fully understand the position.
  4. Summarize the issues on which there is agreement and confirm to show progress and possibilities.
  5. When there appears to be agreement, confirm with each team member.
  6. Look for non-verbal signs of dissent and address them openly.
  7. Divide team into two groups. Assign each group either positive conflict behaviors or negative conflict behaviors and have them identify five items on their assigned list. Then have groups act out the behaviors on their list while the other group guesses. Debrief by developing a list of ground rules for conflict on the team.
  8. Never take sides. Instead, suggest a way for the team to overcome its roadblock.

Tips for Ending a Session:

  1. Ask for one thing each person learned in the session.
  2. Revisit action items and assignments and confirm due dates.
  3. Develop a game or quiz for the team to see how many questions they can answer correctly about the meeting content. For example, if the meeting was a "get acquainted" meeting for a new team, one question might be: "Which person on your team has been to Graceland three times?"
  4. Ask each person to share one action they will take in the next week as a result of the team session.
  5. Have each person draw a picture of something they learned in the meeting. Then have others guess what it is.

Questions for Getting Feedback on How You’re Doing:

  1. What is one thing I could do differently next time in my role as facilitator?
  2. What would you like me to be doing that I am not?
  3. What could I have done to make this meeting more productive?
  4. What should I be doing to make you (the team) self-sufficient (not need me)?
  5. What has to happen for you to rate our meetings a "10?"

Appendix A
  1. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead
  2. A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of the others. -Norman Shidle
  3. Socrates: Let us examine the question together, my friend, and if you contradict anything that I say, do so, and I shall be persuaded. -Plato
  4. The most successful decision makers follow a set of rules that helps them select the best alternatives under the circumstances. -Phillip Bransletter
  5. None of us is as smart as all of us. -Anonymous
  6. "Someone ought to do it, but why should I?" "Someone ought to do it, but why not I?" Between these two questions lies whole centuries of moral revolution. -Annie Besant
  7. There is a big difference between hard work and teamwork. -Jim Lundy
  8. We will never be better as a team than we are to each other. -Unknown
  9. We didn’t come over in the same ship, but here we are in the same boat. -Unknown
  10. How is it we can find time to do it over, but not the time to do it right initially? -Proverb
  11. Build with your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another, and of strength derived from unity in the pursuit of your objective.
  12. We would rather have one man or woman working with us than three merely working for us. -F.W. Woolworth
  13. We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eye-lids, and the upper and lower jaws. -Marcus Aurelius
  14. Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success. -Henry Ford
  15. You can buy someone’s time, you can buy someone’s physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm; you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things. -Clarence Francis
  16. All are but parts of one stupendous whole. -Alexander Pope
  17. We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. -Ben Franklin
  18. The keynote to progress in the 20th century is teamwork. -Dr. Charles H. Mayo
  19. The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. -Norman Vincent Peale
  20. You have to listen to adversaries and keep looking for that point beyond which it’s against their interests to keep on disagreeing or fighting. -Cyrus Vance
  21. We are dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth. -George Bernard Shaw
  22. A habit cannot be thrown out the window. It has to be coaxed down the stairs one step at a time. -Mark Twain
  23. I asked "Why doesn’t somebody do something?" Then I realized, I was somebody. -Unknown
  24. It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. -John Andrew Holmes
  25. I don’t believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them. -Harold Geneen
  26. It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
  27. Few burdens are heavy when everyone lifts. -Anonymous
  28. It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance. -Thomas Huxley
  29. Nothing ever succeeeds which exuberant spirits have not helped to produce. -Nietzsche
  30. What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other. -George Eliot