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Social Change Training Manual
MEETING SKILLS
Presenter: Jayne Weepers
1. WHY FOCUS ON MEETING SKILLS?
I think meeting skills are crucial for the environment movement given the decision-making processes we generally use, the enormity of the issues we are grappling with, the inevitable short timelines, and the great range and diversity of people involved in many of our meeting forums.
Most organisations or groups use some form of participatory decision-making. We need to recognise that this form of decision-making is highly specialised and requires a lot of managing. Every person involved needs to be trained to use the decision-making process.
In the environment movement very few decisions are ever made by one person alone. As soon as you have more than one person making a decision then you have a meeting. Therefore, many of us spend a majority of our activist time in meetings. It makes sense then to learn how to use meeting processes to our best advantage.
Improving your meeting skills leads to:
- better decisions
- less time wasted
- less frustration and misunderstanding
- a better maintained and healthy group
- more time to do your job
It can be difficult to be both involved in the substance of a meeting and the process of a meeting. Obviously both are integral to a successful meeting, and neither should dominate the other. Without good process and good process-oriented people, meetings often flounder in detail and proceed with little sense of direction or outcome. This usually leads to intense frustration and boredom, or anger.
On the other side of the coin, the process needs to be adjusted to the needs of the meeting. There is also nothing as frustrating as an over-processed meeting where nothing actually gets achieved because the process became the end rather than the means.
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2. WHAT MAKES A GOOD MEETING?
This applies to meetings which are participatory and require decisions of some kind. Public meetings or other meetings primarily for information sharing require different preparation.
The essential ingredients of a good meeting are:
- A clear decision making process
- A carefully crafted but flexible agenda, including shared goals and process tools
- A skilled facilitator who wrote or understands the agenda
- Other process-oriented people in the group
Without these four ingredients any meeting will have a more difficult time than is necessary.
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3. DECISION MAKING PROCESS
Most groups you will encounter are using formal or informal versions of consensus decision making. Without going into detail, here are the basics of consensus. Regardless of the decision making process, you will find that good meeting skills will help in any situation.
What is consensus decision making?
Consensus decision making is building united judgement; the decision everyone accepts that reflects the best thinking of the group. It is firmly based on group trust.
Why use this form of decision making?
- decisions are made without voting. There is no 'losing' and 'winning' side. It achieves a stronger decision than voting; people will share and own the outcome.
- it allows the airing of many viewpoints and synthesising these, rather than choosing one idea over another.
- it aims at persuasion not coercion
- it provides an opportunity for everyone to participate, the meeting process is inclusive not exclusive
- a better decision is made by working thoroughly through the issues it affirms the group's ability to think as a group rather than considering proposals from individuals and then compromising
consensus encourages openness and honesty
Consensus does not require that every member agree with the proposal unanimously. Keeping the best interests of the group in mind, some people may agree to disagree. In this way the group is able to move forward. The integrity of the group is more important than any one issue the group may face.
Consensus Rights and Responsibilities
Rights
As a participant in the consensus decision making process, you should :
- have a clear understanding of the decision making process and agenda
- be able to contribute and air your views
- feel listened to and respected
- be able to access necessary information (in or out of the meeting time)
- be able to block consensus
- Someone may feel very strongly or morally obliged to block consensus. In this instance the group will be unable to move forward. The group must hear this person, they may be right.
- Blocking of consensus must be taken very seriously by the individual and the group.
Responsibilities
As a participant in the consensus decision making process, you have a responsibility to :
- listen to and respect others
- work constructively towards solutions
- come prepared and briefed
- understand that you may need to compromise
- understand that an inclusive meeting does not mean that every person needs to participate in all decisions. Delegated decision making is often used in consensus, and requires group trust and respect.
- understand the process, identify process problems and work to change them.
- abide by meeting rules and understandings
- watch and learn process skills
The consensus process
Put most simply the consensus process works like this :
- an issue is brought to the group and worked into a proposal
- clarification is sought on the proposal
- the proposal is discussed and concerns raised
- differences and disagreements as well as similarities are drawn out and encouraged
- the proposal may be modified or adapted
- the group discusses a new proposal based on ideas raised in discussion
- the group reaches a decision that is acceptable to all in spite of reservations or differences.
The Safe Meeting Environment
People need to feel they are in a safe meeting environment in order to make good decision. This is most important if the meeting is discussing difficult issues. Attributes of a safe meeting environment include :
- Confidentiality
- Affirmation
- Trust
- Respect
- Friendliness and openness
- No personal criticism
- Active listening
- Active participation
- Everyone able to see everyone's face
- No interruption
By forming meeting agreements about behaviour at the beginning of the meeting it gives participants and the facilitator guidelines about what is acceptable to the group. The facilitator should enforce the guidelines gently at first, and more strictly as the meeting proceeds.
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4. FACILITATION SKILLS
What is this mysterious thing called facilitation?
It really isn't that hard. A facilitator helps members of a meeting decide what it is that they wish to accomplish and then helps them carry this out.
A good facilitator should :
- have a meeting process ready to propose to the group, or have been thoroughly briefed by an agenda group if the agenda process was being prepared by others
- ensure everyone agrees and understand the meeting goals and agenda
- allow the agenda and processes to evolve
- make the group aware that they are in charge, that it is their business being conducted and that each person has a contribution to make.
- not be shy about guiding the meeting, people will expect it not resent it.
- not let people off the hook. As the facilitator there is only so much you can do. It is also up to the participants to make the meeting a success
- know exactly who the participants are and have done some research about their likely positions and views.
- have determined issues of great concern, undercurrents or personal interactions that will affect the meeting, and have some skills and strategies for handling difficult situations
- identify as quickly as possible the process-oriented people in the meeting, and use their skills and support
- test for consensus and push forward towards decisions
- be constantly clarifying what the session is trying to achieve. If you are having an opened ended discussion on a topic and are not hoping to reach any decision - then define it as that.
- therwise participants will feel frustrated and also feel that the session has failed, when in fact it may have achieved exactly what was intended.
- be careful not to impose her/his own meeting rules and standards.
- always take a speakers list. Read out the list so that people know they are on it and how long they have to wait. This saves a lot of frustration and anxiety that they have been ignored.
- gently enforce the meeting guidelines as defined by the meeting
- encourage people to present their viewpoints
- make observations about group dynamics and help keep the meeting balanced
An effective facilitator will have :
- little emotional investment in the meeting
- an understanding of the goal of the meeting
- an ability to encourage others to participate
- an ability to encourage the group to take responsibility
- a commitment to demystifying the role of the facilitator
- energy and attention to the job at hand
- a commitment to keeping the group to time limits
The qualities of a good facilitator include :
- NEUTRALITY. Though they may contribute to discussions and make suggestions, they should not manipulate the meeting to bring about a particular outcome.
- GOOD LISTENING SKILLS. Including reflective listening and strategic questioning
- RESPECT for the participants and confidence that consensus can be reached and good solutions found.
- INTEREST in what people have to offer
- ASSERTIVENESS that is not overbearing - to know when to intervene decisively and give some direction to the meeting.
- CLEAR THINKING AND OBSERVATION of the whole group. This requires a split attention to the content of the discussion and the process. ( Constant evaluation is required of the progress of the meeting compared to aims of the session.)
- FORWARD THINKING. Always be thinking through the next step in the process. If the process becomes unclear it may be easier to have a break and sort it out than to stumble slowly without a clear process.
- UNDERSTANDING of what needs to be achieved.
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TESTING FOR AGREEMENT
With large groups or groups where there is a fair amount of conflict, it is particularly crucial that the process of testing for agreement is done clearly and formally. If you let this slip it will definitely come back to haunt you.
- test as soon as a decision seems to be emerging. Periodic testing will clarify disagreement.
- Always restate the proposal. Don't just ask, "do we all agree with that?"
- Ensure everyone understands the proposal
- Insist on a response from the group. Do not take silence as consent. Individuals need to be conscious of what they are doing.
- It may help to put the question in the negative, " does anyone disagree with ... ?"
- Ask the minute taker to read out the decision.
Dealing with Disagreement - PROCESS
- Don't get flustered
- Have a sense of the numbers of participants that disagree. Some proposals do not reflect the areas of agreement that were coming out of discussion. Abandon those proposals immediately and go back to general discussion before trying to put another proposal.
- If a small number of people disagree with the proposal, then ask them to restate their specific concerns, sometimes people are misunderstood.
- Allow discussion and see if it is possible to retest the proposal, or amend it to everyone's satisfaction.
If the disagreement is becoming more intense rather than moving towards a constructive solution, here are some options :
- Agree to disagree. You only have this option if the issue is not urgent or genuinely doesn't require whole group agreement.
- Send a small group away from the larger forum to deal with the disagreement and present a proposal back to plenary later
- Give the group a break to refresh. Check the process as a fresh approach may resolve the problem.
- If only one or two people are blocking ask them to stand aside to allow the group to move forward. (Perhaps do so quietly aside from the large group) Suggest that their views be clearly expressed in the minutes.
Dealing with Disagreement - STYLE
Meetings progress beautifully and you may be cruising along as a facilitator until you reach a point of disagreement.
My hints for facilitator's style are :
- remain very calm
- use small strategies like asking the group to be absolutely silent for two minutes to think through the issue
- give the group and yourself a break if it is getting too demanding
- be absolutely strict. This is the time to enforce meeting rules, such as no personal criticism, no interrupting, be constructive etc.
- if the main opponents are getting genuinely angry and no end is in sight, do not let them impose this on the whole group. Use the process options suggested above.
- feel justified in being strict by remembering that a participatory and good meeting does not feature three people battling it out and boring everyone else to tears!
- be reassuring. Disagreements are a normal part of meetings.
- be positive, remind participants of what has been achieved during the meeting, or that you think they are dealing with the disagreement well.
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5. APPROACHING AN AGENDA
A good agenda is the key to a successful meeting. Formulating an agenda before the meeting starts is crucial, even if it changes significantly throughout the meeting.
In formulating the agenda you are defining overall goals plus session objectives, thinking through processes to get there and checking time constraints.
Here is a short list of some process tools which can be used in your agenda to assist the group to function better. Learning which tool to use and when is something you will learn with time and experience. Watch other facilitators and copy their techniques.
Process tools :
- Open discussions (to air all views and develop proposals)
- Divide into small groups (vastly increases participation, people get to know each other better, can more easily work through contentious issues)
- Brainstorming (creative ideas, no need to justify, stimulates discussion)
- Role plays (exploration of taking on other people's roles. Watch out role plays need to be used sparingly they can drive people mad)
- Fishbowl process. (Very handy for contentious issues that everyone wants to participate in.
- Have a chosen and trusted small group (the 'fish') making the decision, with a larger circle of people watching, (the 'bowl'). The 'bowl' people are given regular opportunities to input to the 'fish', but are not a part of the decision-making process.)
- Delegated decision-making. Sometimes very contentious issues can become impossible to solve in the large group. The large group can choose a small group of trusted representatives and send them off to make the decision. It needs to be clear that this decision is then binding on the large group.
For every meeting session ask these questions :
- WHAT do we have to achieve
- WHEN do we have to have it done?
- HOW are we going to do it?
A good agenda is not :
- a list of topics that need discussion
- something that you impose on the group and stick to rigorously
SAMPLE AGENDA
Day 1 of a two day planning meeting
- 9.00 - group introductions, maybe a warm-up game or exercise
- 9.20 - check the roles of facilitator, minute-taker, and timekeeper are allocated
- 9.30 - facilitator to check people understand the decision-making process being used, and ask meeting to create guidelines for a 'safe' meeting environment
- 9.45 - agenda review - Review aims of the meeting if it is the first day, plus aims of the day.
10.15 SESSION 1
Group discussion in plenary (no decisions required)
- one comment from everyone around the circle about how they feel about the issue
- brainstorm strengths and weaknesses
- time for general discussion and observations
11.15 TEA BREAK/EXERCISE
11.45 SESSION 2
Divide into small groups. Groups to work towards proposals re solutions for the weaknesses and building on the strengths. Small groups to allocate a reporter and come back to plenary with clear proposals.
12.50 Quick plenary to regroup. Check that groups have progressed and are ready to report back after lunch.
1.00 LUNCH Agenda setting group meets
2.00 SESSION 3
Small group report back and question time.
Devise a process for dealing with small group proposals. The most obvious being to get plenary to identify common themes and work on those first. Presumably this is a key decision-making phase.
3.30 TEA/EXERCISE
4.00 SESSION 4
Dealing with the issues of difference. This section needs to be kept positive and solutions-oriented. Have a process ready. Maybe back to small groups after some plenary discussion or a fishbowl process. Groups to work towards proposals.
5.00 SESSION 5
Plenary for :
- evaluation of the day
- housekeeping/cleaning up
- clarify arrangements for the next day
Jayne Weepers
C/- Environment Centre of the Northern Territory
P.O. Box 2120
Darwin, NT 0801
Phone: 08 89811984
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