This document discusses tools and formats that can be used to facilitate meetings and discussions more effectively. It provides a list of active listening and facilitation skills that can be rated on a scale of 1 to 3. It also outlines various brainstorming, problem solving, prioritization, discussion, and analysis techniques that facilitators can employ, such as parking lots, meeting norms, silent brainstorming, reverse brainstorming, rotating flipcharts, the 5 Whys method, multi-voting, Roman voting, the Fist of Fives technique, the Six Thinking Hats approach, fishbowls, Lean Coffee, and forcefield analysis. The overall purpose is to help facilitators improve their skills and have better structured and more inclusive

1. Lean Agile ScotlandConference 2018 –Howto Be a Better Facilitator (Suzanne Morrison, Chris Downey)
Rate your skills
1 = I’m happywithmyskillsinthisarea
2 = I coulddo withsome more knowledge / practise inthisarea
3 = I’ve nevertrieditbefore
Listeningactively
AskingQuestions
Paraphrasing(playingbacksomethinginyourwords
withoutchangingthe meaning)
Summarisingdiscussions
Managing the climate
RecordingIdeas
StayingNeutral
StayingonTrack
TestingAssumptions (findingoutwhatisbehinda
statemente.g.“whycan’tthat be done?”)
BeingInclusive

2. Some Useful Facilitation Formats /Tools
Setup
 Parking Lot - The parkinglotisa place foritemsthat come up
duringa session,butare not withinthe scope of the session.These
itemscan be addedto the parkinglotand dealtwithlater.
 MeetingNorms– a set of groundrulesfor everyone tofollow
duringthe meetings.Setsexpectationsandimprovesgroup
dynamics.
Brainstorming
 SilentBrainstorming - helpstoensure thatpeople are not
influencedbyotherpeopleandavoidsearlyconverging.Askpeople
to write downtheirideasonpostitswithoutspeaking.
 Reverse Brainstorming – brainstormthe negative andthenflipit.
E.g. insteadof “whatmakesa great team?”ask “whatmakesa
terrible team?”
 Rotating Flipcharts - helpspeopletobuildoneachother’s'ideas.
Create 3 flipchartseachwithdifferent topicsandsplitpeopleinto
three groups.Each group brainstorms,“rotates”tothe next
flipchartthenreadsandbuildsonthe previousgroup’sideas.
ProblemSolving
 5 Why’s– ask “why” 5 timesor more to understandthe rootcause
of a problem.
Prioritisation/ DecisionMaking
 Multi Voting / Dot Voting– give everyonesome dotsandask them
to put theirdotson the thingsthattheythinkare mostimportant
(e.g.actions,topicsfordiscussion)thenprioritise.
 Roman Voting– thumbsup= I agree,thumbsdown= I don’tagree
and thumbsideways=unsure.Ask groupto vote simultaneously.
 Fist ofFives– 5 fingers=I am fullyonboard withthis,0 fingers=I
cannot supportthis,oruse 1-4 fingersforanythinginbetween.
Discussion
 6 ThinkingHats – Lateral thinkingtechnique fromEdwardDe Bono.
VisitDebonogroup.com
 Fishbowl – large group format.Put5 chairs ina circle for 5 people
to have a discussion(fishbowl).Everyone else standsaroundthem
and listens.Atanypointsomeone canenterorleave the fishbowl.
 Lean Coffee – make a listof topicsand use multi-votingto
prioritise them.5minute timebox foreachtopic,witharoman
vote to decide whethertocontinue ormove tonexttopic.
Analysis
 ForcefieldAnalysis– write downagoal,thenbrainstormall the
thingsthat are helpingyoutoreach the goal (enablers),thenthe
thingsthat are detractingyoufrom the goal (detractors).Prioritise
each listandidentifyactionstostrengthenthe enablersand
weakenthe detractors.
@SuzanneMorrison(Skyscanner) @chrisjdowney(KaizenCoaching)