Facilitation is core to my consultancy role and workshops range from problem-solving, to idea generation, strategy development or capability build. Agendas vary widely but they all share an expectation of a great collaborative experience that delivers excellent results. Here’s 10 tips for wonderful workshop results ‘facilitated’ by my experience:
1. Start with a stretching (but achievable) plan
Planning and preparation is the biggest contributor to success. Workshop aims and scope need to be clearly defined. Time needed to brief, run, review and travel between activities carefully considered. Productivity on the day depends on in workshop organization (e.g. dividing tasks/exercises into smaller teams) what happens before (e.g. advance briefings and attendee preparation).
The final plan needs to be stretching but achievable. Progress on three objectives will not be a success if the agenda included five – even with a Herculean team effort. (I also find visualizing indicative outputs helps anchor expectations).
2. Remove the boring bits
Too many workshops seem to lose their entire morning to setting the scene, downloading detail and clarifying objectives. Use preparation and briefings to ensure scene setting on the day is succinct and that morning (caffeine stimulated) energy can be devoted to productive tasks.
3. Sell benefits before the day
Participants may not be looking forward to another workshop or long meeting! It will probably be competing with other urgent deadlines or projects.
Those attending need to see the benefits of investing their time. A message or briefing from the team or a senior sponsor will help establish the importance of their contribution. Communicating the opportunity cost of not collaborating can also ensure commitment.
4. Motivate with a fantastic first impression
An inspiring location / venue will support a great first impression. A day inside a Bond movie exhibition certainly achieved this, but there are low budget ways to motivate before you start.
A great example is the sequence of posters I walked past for an ideation workshop. Each highlighted quotes on the project’s strategic importance. Outside the room on a flip chart was a colourful message, signed by the sponsor thanking me for my “generous donation of expertise and ideas.” Before seeing the first slide I was motivated to make a difference.
5. Get everyone talking
The first contribution is the hardest and for some will be difficult. Plan to create an atmosphere and activity for everyone to express their views early in the day. A minority of people controlling conversation will constrain contributions and ultimately lead to disappointment for those less vocal.
6. Build a wider ownership of outputs
Presenting of draft material enables collaborative shaping and building with focus. By identifying what is missing and wrong participants are taking ownership of the improved answer. This is important as we tend to value more what we have personally created or own.
A recent example of this was identifying opportunities to improve team productivity. Small teams developed draft recommendations on related topics and pitched these to other attendees. Feedback and ideas were then incorporated by new ‘build’ teams who shared refined output for final feedback. Four topics were addressed in parallel with everyone able to influence the outcome.
7. Be flexible and responsive
New issues and learning in a workshop are inevitable and some of these will necessitate a change of focus. In these circumstances flexibility is needed and highly valued.
I often extend a coffee break or use lunch to revise the agenda and then propose this as an alternative. In a recent workshop helping an executive team on their project sponsorship we identified new organizational barriers. Over an early lunch new case-study scenarios were created for teams to solve on their return.
8. End the session on a high
Our ‘peak-end bias’ means perceptions are greatly shaped by how things conclude. Given a positive experience will increase enthusiasm for results and next steps ending on a positive and memorable high must be the aim.
A final fun team activity, summing up of what has been achieved and recognition of contributions before and in the workshop can all help.
A great example, was a conclusion with a montage of recent project successes – acknowledging contributions and showing success was achievable.
9. Secure a stronger commitment for actions
It has been shown that commitments become stronger when the costs of no action are understood and when publicly shared. Seeking verbal commitments for documented next steps and discussing the implications of slow or no action will increase the likelihood of post-workshop delivery.
10. Learn to continuously improve
Inviting feedback will help you identify improvements for future events and understand the barriers to post-workshop results. When things go well it should also be a source of helpful testimonials!
Facilitate Success 