A February 2021 poll by management consulting company Robert Half showed that 89% of businesses expect the hybrid work model – where employees split their time between home and the office — to be here for good. Moreover, an October 2021 joint study from Google Workspace and The Economist uncovered that 75% of employees believe their companies will fully adopt hybrid work within three years. 

This, of course, will require investment in new technology if the business of work (a.k.a. meetings) is going to continue. While many have tried to make do in 2020 and 2021 via an ad hoc solution of video chat solutions and online collaboration platforms, Zoom fatigue is real. Everyone from National Geographic to researchers at Stanford have explored the concept.

Connecting from wherever & meeting anywhere

One global operation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has recognized it must help its employees escape the feeling they’re trapped in a tiny box on screen. While it piloted a program in 2017 where it shipped VR headsets to staff, the events of the past couple of years have accelerated this effort. Now PwC is holding meetings in exotic virtual locales like luxury ski chalets, swanky penthouses, and, surprisingly, atop notable skyscrapers. There’s also an initiative underway to outfit physical environments with higher-grade microphones, video meeting screens, and their own supply of VR headsets (so everyone can join meetings at the Empire State Building’s observation deck).

We’ve done something similar here at Voltage Control. This past holiday, we shipped a headset to every team member so we could hold our annual party virtually within a space we created using AltspaceVR. While it wasn’t perfect — I built the room myself with very little training — it allowed us to explore the technology ahead of our upcoming Control The Room Summit, which will be incorporating VR as part of its hybrid component (more on that later).

Zooming in the Metaverse

Even Zoom realizes it will have to do something to make video conferencing more engaging. During its September Zoomtopia event, it announced a partnership with the Meta-owned Oculus. This took place only a few weeks after the company formerly known as Facebook rolled out its Horizon Workrooms.

This team-up will allow Oculus Quest headset users to join Zoom Meetings and use the Zoom Whiteboard directly within VR. Workers at home and the office can then brainstorm together, collaborate on a document, have more visually interesting conversations, or just socialize. You can learn more in the video below. 

The Zoom-Oculus-Horizon partnership isn’t the only option out there, though. Around the same time, Cisco revealed its Webex platform was getting a VR/AR upgrade called Webex Hologram. Alluding to the specter of “Zoom fatigue,” Cisco said it wants to support employers in reducing the friction between virtual and in-person collaboration. Not to be outdone, Microsoft soon offered its Teams users a product called Mesh, which is its take on a VR/AR meeting mash-up. In what has to be a nod to that old Xzibit Facebook meme, Slack is even allowing its users to read messages in virtual reality.

More ways to mix it up

Mixed reality is another technology that can bring excitement, engagement, and interactivity to hybrid meetings. Not to be confused with virtual reality, mixed reality incorporates digital elements into a real environment. Headsets like the Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap 1 utilize sensing and imaging technologies to merge physical and virtual worlds.

Mixed reality can empower facilitators to enhance meetings in really innovative ways, such as allowing you to explore 3D visual aids that you couldn’t bring into an actual meeting room due to size or weight. Not just confined to headsets, you can present mixed reality elements on screens in a meeting space when a speaker is captured on a video camera (you’ll just need someone in an edit suite to add the layers).

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How we’re experimenting with VR at Voltage Control

After running our third annual Control The Room facilitator summit as a remote event in 2021, we’re back at Austin’s Capital Factory on February 2nd  for a hybrid event. For those that can’t join us there, or simply prefer virtual, we’ll be utilizing Zoom, MURAL, and AltspaceVR to bring everyone together despite the physical distance.

Ultimately we decided to virtually present the conference in a space built within AltspaceVR. We won’t, however, be forcing people into the VR environment, those joining remotely can participate via Zoom if they don’t have a VR headset, or download the desktop version of AltspaceVR! We will be raffling off several pairs ahead of the event because we want to encourage everyone to experience how VR can be deployed in the facilitation space. 

Regardless of how people are joining us digitally, we’ll have hosts monitoring the VR and remote platforms to ensure a feedback loop between the in-person and distanced attendees. VR and Zoom attendees will be able to interact and ask the keynote speakers questions, live, via the platform hosts. As you can see, we’re attempting to create as much connective tissue amongst the disparate environments as possible. 

Steve Schofield of MURAL Labs is additionally hosting a week-long VR build event with world builders and facilitators to explore facilitation in VR. Participants from MURAL, Meta, the Horizon Worlds Community, Voltage Control, and Control The Room will gather in Horizon Worlds to think, explore, and build prior to the Summit. The overarching theme of exploration will be on facilitating retrospectives. The outputs will be shared during the Control the Room conference!

If you’re worried about single-handedly integrating VR into your hybrid meetings, know that our effort isn’t the work of one person — it’s the work of many. We’ll have lots of facilitators available across Zoom, MURAL, and AltspaceVR, as well as  an experienced contractor to run our A/V for us. Porting the event in Zoom alone requires him to set up three cameras and switch between them and an HDMI of the slides.

Control The Room will be our first time holding a hybrid meeting with this much technical complexity, and I look forward to sharing our post-event experiences with you. 

Want to witness our VR integration firsthand? Join us in-person or virtually at the Control The Room 2022 Summit. Single-day in-person tickets, virtual tickets, and tickets for separate workshops are all available! You can find more details here.

-Douglas Ferguson, President

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2021 is officially at its end, and before we take the first step into the new year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on a year that will be remembered as one of great leaps, coupled with devastating tragedy. Let’s take a look at some of our best moments, but first, I want to honor a team member, a mother, a friend.

Jenni Robertson

Remembering this truly wonderful person will forever prevail over my thoughts when reflecting on 2021. Jenni Robertson, our Head of Operations, was lost suddenly and tragically, to family violence last October. Jenni was at the core of the growth and identity of Voltage Control, deeply affected the way we work, created value for our clients, and supported our people.

In her memory, we have decided to focus efforts and resources to help others in similar situations. 

We have dedicated this year’s facilitation summit, Control the Room 2022, to Jenni and are launching an annual Jenni Robertson Memorial Scholarship. IIn these efforts we are partnering with SAFE, an organization that seeks a future with a just and safe community, free from violence and abuse. We pledge to not only honor Jenni, but through continuing work with SAFE, we plan to facilitate necessary shifts in how companies, communities, and families care for each other and find the support that they need. 

As facilitators, we talk about creating safe spaces, people deserve to feel safe everywhere. 

If you are interested in helping us in our work with SAFE, please reach out, I continue to be shocked and saddened at the prevalence of this problem. Let’s all work together to make a difference.

The highlight of my professional year has been the amazing team here a Voltage Control. When you work with a team of people who are passionate about what they do, care about other human beings, and truly want to make a difference you cannot possibly lose. This team has been through a year of amazing things, but also some very tragic things and I think it is a testament to the incredible abilities of each and every one of us that we were able to come together when required while also taking space as needed. We were able to persevere and are continuing to find ways to take something horrible and turn it into something that breeds hope and love. We didn’t let any of it defeat us, but instead, we stood up to honor it. When I think of Voltage Control I think of the people.

-Jamie LaFrenier, Executive Assistant

A Virtual Facilitation Experience

In February of 2021, we delivered a completely virtual and very successful facilitation summit. Hunrdeds of eager learners, expert facilitators, and meeting practitioners gathered online for a 3-day interactive CONNECTION-themed workshop. Sponsored by MURAL, we honored our mission to share the global perspective of facilitators from different methodologies, backgrounds, races, genders, cultures, and more. Human connection is vital to the work we do, and in 2021 we were faced with the challenge of maintaining that connection in a virtual space.  

When we connect things become possible. When we are disconnected there is dysfunction. When ideas connect they become solutions. When movements connect they become revolutions. 

Through lightning talks and in-depth workshops, our community of facilitators, experts, and guests soaked up novel concepts from master facilitators, connected with peers, and gained new perspectives and approaches. This year at Control the Room 2022, we will be putting on a hybrid conference, and we are so excited to, once again, tap into the virtual room while also bridging the gap to those actually in the physical room. We even have some very exciting Virtual Reality options coming this year!

Magical Meetings

In March of 2021, I published my 4th book, Magical Meetings. As a companion project, we also launched the Magical Meetings Stories series! Within this series, I chat with professional facilitators, meeting practitioners, leaders, and CEOs from all walks of industry, to hear about their amazing meetings, how they came about, how they work, and what they plan to do with it in the future. These stories are one example of the many ways that we are continuing to invest in our ever-growing facilitation community, providing resources for all facilitators to learn and grow. It’s been almost a year since starting the series, and we’ve heard from so many incredible people and we’ll be hearing from many more as we move in 2022. The very first Magical Meeting Story we heard was from Cam Houser, founder of Actionworks. 

I think Zoom fatigue is a lie. Zoom fatigue only happens when facilitators don’t know what they’re doing.

– Cam Houser

Cam is the creator of the Instant Community-Building Workshop to help break down walls and build a deep connection with the community you work with. In the interview, we explore a pivotal question that has risen with digital and remote work on the rise: ‘What does it mean to get close to someone?’ A truly inspirational story, make sure to revisit the story that kicked of our Magical Meetings series: Instant Community-Building Workshop.

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Facilitation Certification Program

Over the years we have worked with some truly inspirational facilitators, facilitators who desired to build their skills with guidance from our unique perspective. Due to such high demand for facilitation certification, we launched a practice and cohort-based program this summer. Within a month of launching the first cohort of our Facilitator Certification Program, we knew we had created something special. Not only did we find ourselves and our students having a ton of fun, but we also have seen tangible outcomes emerging for all learners. Overall, the program is focused on development facilitators abilities  to:

• Identify a spectrum of game-changing facilitation methods and approaches
• Select the best facilitation methods for your facilitation context
• Implement the right facilitation methods to meet optimal facilitation outcomes
• Reflect on areas of personal facilitator strength and growth
• Cultivate a valuable professional facilitator identity 

These objectives allow our students to develop the key skills needed to be successful and effective facilitators. It also provides a very strong foundation to utilize these tools to transcend varieties of clients and the different contexts of their work. We are looking forward to our first cohort of 2022, beginning February 11th, if you are interested in signing up, applications are due January 14th, 2020. We hope to see you there! 

The highlight of my year is providing people the tools they need to get teams more involved, to make participatory decision making, and to include and unleash everyone.

-Annie Hodges Workshop Facilitator

Facilitation Lab

2021 saw substantial growth within our facilitation lab. At the helm, Kierra Johnson, our Community Manager, and Social Media Coordinator, thoughtfully nurtured our community of facilitators. 

We’ve had quite the year in the Facilitation Lab learning in so many vast areas of facilitation ranging from facilitating social gatherings,  psychological safety in organizations, t facilitating virtual experiences, and exploring creativity through storyboard prototyping. Our community has formed new relationships, explored new elements in facilitation, and grown closer together through our time each week together. I’m looking forward to innovating together in 2022!  -Kierra Johnson

The Facilitation Lab community truly felt the impact as well! Here is what some of the community had to say: 

“I am appreciative of the gentle reminder of how important it is to stay connected to the varying needs of the people on the teams I am on.”

“I loved the concepts introduced as I learned great new tools on how to approach facilitation to build new relationships.”

“I love how we got to practice storytelling. This is so key in driving and introducing solutions to problems.”

“This session was a great reminder to embrace the inner child to solve problems.”

“This session gave me courage to continue using games to connect people.”

Join the community every week, and come together openly to ideate, troubleshoot, and experiment with tried and true, and cutting edge facilitation activities and methods!

Reflecting back on 2021, I’m immensely grateful to have joined Voltage Control. From the very start, it’s been obvious the dedication, empathy, and talent that each member of the team has. Looking back, it’s amazing what we as a group have accomplished, and I can’t wait to continue to carry that forward into 2022.

-Hassan Ghiassi, VP of Relationships

A Future In Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality and the Metaverse are not only truly fascinating but the next big tech movement for businesses as well as entertainment. We are leaning into the new year with VR in mind. Our 2021 annual party was actually hosted in Virtual Reality, and for a handful of our employees, it was a brand new experience! Not only did we have a wonderful time, but it felt like a taste of what 2022 has in store for us. Control the Room 2022 will have VR capabilities, and we will be giving away VR headsets to select ticket holders, so make sure you get your tickets to take part! 

If there is one thing I know to be true about myself, it’s that I’m at my best when I’m learning. 2021 presented so many new opportunities for Voltage Control along with unimaginable challenges. 2021 will certainly be a year I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a major inflection point for the business in spite of devastating tragedy. I hold the deepest respect for our amazing and courageous team.

-Douglas Ferguson, President

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When it comes to facilitation, you may be leading a single meeting or conducting a workshop series, but one fact remains true of all: our purpose is to manage discussions, help create a safe space for ideas to emerge and grow from ALL participants, and ultimately to resolve the issue at hand. The best facilitators regularly ask, ”Why did we hold this meeting?” and “What do we need to gain from it?”

Beginning the journey of professional facilitation is much less daunting than it may sound. The path is sprinkled with knowledge, growth, inclusion of everyone, and ultimately, an environment where thoughts are unleashed by allowing everyone’s voices to be heard. Chances are you are already on this path! We want you to go from being a good facilitator to the best facilitator. You can do that by leveling un through the facilitator pyramid.

What is a Facilitator?

A good facilitator plans and leads a group to meet set goals. The group process is important to effectively reach those goals, work together, make decisions, and solve the issue at hand. 

A better facilitator takes what a good facilitator does and begins to steer the group toward a more open flow of ideas and solutions, allowing voices to be heard and a more flowing process, more freedom, and playfulness, to arise. 

The best facilitator takes all that a step further. Beginning with a psychologically safe space as the foundation for the group, creating active and engaging content, and utilizing stimulating tools to unleash the potential of every idea in the room.

Without the proper space for people to bring their most authentic selves, think of how many problem-solving ideas go unheard? How many meetings would have been more productive and more stimulating had we just moved one more step up the pyramid?

Pro-Tip! Check out our FREE download: Workshop Methods & Activities A collection of links to inspire methods & activities for your next workshop. Check out all of our FREE downloads here!

Our ‘Why’ for Facilitation and facilitation certification

We lead with the value of facilitation, and we offer unique guidance to a spectrum of clients. The pursuit of knowledge, growth, and leadership are just a few of our whys for facilitation. And to share our practice and knowledge with the wider community, we recently launched our Facilitator Certification Program. Through this program, we offer guidance and coaching toward the best in facilitation. Utilizing class immersion, playbooks, readings, and more, we provide a unique opportunity for the necessary practice and feedback facilitators need to grow. The feedback comes from not only instructors but colleagues as well. All of this leads into an opportunity for students to create a portfolio that will best reflect them as a facilitator, highlighting key strengths and your knowledge.

We believe that the future is facilitation, technology and the nature of work is changing, and we believe that if businesses learn the art of facilitation those changes do not need to be as intimidating. Facilitators encourage the ideas that shape how we navigate new workspaces, technological challenges, and social encounters.

A Job Skill You Need

We are seeing a trend in workplaces becoming less hierarchical, there is a growing need for interpersonal problem-solving skills. As we move towards this shift in power and traditional workspaces, we need champions of thought and ideas. We need facilitators to light the way for the colleagues who may be hesitant to share, or unsure about change.

“If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward.”

-John Wooden

Truly productive meetings embrace change, and that means understanding how to navigate, through facilitation, conversations that may be tough. With the confidence of a facilitation certification, those conversations take on an ease, and even introduce an excitement, about the possibilities of change. Inclusivity is the key to being an effective facilitator. It’s time we shed the traditional, in-effective meeting structure.

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Are You Ready to Climb?

Ready to climb the pyramid? Receiving your Facilitator Certification will grant you the key skills you need through the support of a cohort of facilitator colleagues. By the end of the facilitator certification program you will be able to:  

• Identify a spectrum of game-changing facilitation methods and approaches
• Select the best facilitation methods for your facilitation context
• Implement the right facilitation methods to meet optimal facilitation outcomes
• Reflect on areas of personal facilitator strength and growth
• Cultivate a valuable professional facilitator identity

Passing the coursework means receiving certifications for EACH individual course, and after satisfying all certification requirements you will receive a full certification for your professional portfolios and to display on LinkedIn. 

Not only will you have the credentials, but you will have the key skills to amplify the ideas around you, problem-solve effectively, and create an environment of growth and movement!

The post How ‘Good’ Facilitators become the ‘Best’ Facilitators appeared first on Voltage Control.

It’s a common refrain in training circles that “practice makes practice.” In order to get better at your craft, to build the necessary skills and competencies to excel in your field, you must practice. You succeed and fail. You reflect on those successes and failures. And you get better. It was this frame that inspired our VP of Learning Experience, Erik Skogsberg, when he designed our recently-launched Facilitator Certification Program. We wholeheartedly believe that facilitation is the future as companies continue to transform amidst the pandemic and rapid technological change. And we want to help facilitators across industries thrive in their craft.

As a facilitation agency that leads with the value of facilitation for helping a whole spectrum of clients, we’ve gotten many requests over the years for providing a robust facilitation certification program. Growing facilitators wanted to build their skills with our unique guidance and wanted to be recognized for it. So, this summer, we started the process of designing a practice- and cohort-based Facilitator Certification Program. And now, over a month into our first cohort, we’re having fun and learning a great deal. In this post, we’ll share a bit more about the design behind the program, how its different components fit together to provide a robust learning experience, and share a few tips to help you in your growth as a facilitator.

Focus on the Right Facilitator Outcomes

As seasoned facilitators, we have a common set of skills we regularly draw on in our work. We used those skills to anchor the outcomes for the program. Overall, we want facilitators coming out of our program to know and be able to:

• Identify a spectrum of game-changing facilitation methods and approaches
• Select the best facilitation methods for your facilitation context
• Implement the right facilitation methods to meet optimal facilitation outcomes
• Reflect on areas of personal facilitator strength and growth
• Cultivate a valuable professional facilitator identity

These course outcomes bring into focus the key steps that an effective facilitator takes time and again to support clients across contexts in their work. Facilitators know and draw from a variety of facilitation approaches and traditions. Then, based on client needs, they select the right facilitation methods to best support clients in their articulated needs . Next, they implement these methods and maximize their impact in the moment with clients. After that, they reflect on areas of facilitator strength and growth to get better. And finally, with the first four outcome areas as a foundation, they are able to cultivate the optimal professional facilitator identity to thrive in the ways that facilitators hope to out in the world. To meet these outcomes, we crafted various learning experiences for our learners.

Dive into A Spectrum of Facilitator Learning Experiences

We introduce and model a spectrum of methods through readings, playbooks, case studies, and class immersion to reach these outcomes. We provide opportunities for facilitators to practice these methods in class and in their work contexts, receive feedback and coaching from both course instructors and course colleagues, and finally produce a professional portfolio that not only shows how facilitators have met course outcomes, but also is crafted in a form and manner that would resonate most with their facilitator audiences (could be LinkedIn, professional website, and/or internal HR employee portfolio spaces). It’s essential for us to support our cohort members as they create a portfolio that will be meaningful for them.

It was important to us from the beginning that the certification would be portfolio-based, asking students to show us and the world their growth through the course. We’ve found that a real difference-maker for facilitators in our industry to not only be able to practice their craft but also to talk about it in a manner that is compelling to the audiences they care about. Building a compelling narrative and facilitator story around practice is essential.

Facilitate and Tell a Purposeful Facilitator Story

Our certification is comprised of both synchronous and asynchronous course components, readings from facilitation texts such as The Art of Gathering, Gamestorming, Liberating Structures, and Rituals for Virtual Meetings, homework assignments to practice methods in facilitator contexts, and colleague and instructor coaching, all in service of creating a professional portfolio. And we base our overall instruction in what is known as a gradual release model of teaching. Our VP of Learning Experience uses this approach extensively, as he has trained hundreds of teachers and facilitators over the years.

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What this oftentimes looks like in practice is the introduction of a method by our instructors, immersion in that method that provides students with an opportunity to not only try it out from the participant’s role but also from the vantage point of the facilitator, and then gradually turning over the work of the facilitator to learners both inside and outside of the course. We then build in both reflection and feedback along the way all geared toward facilitators using that reflection and feedback to grow and get better at talking about their work as facilitators in their portfolio and to outside audiences. We find that this storytelling component is an essential part of the work of a facilitator that pays dividends both inside and outside of the facilitated session. And this storytelling is strongest when it is anchored in a strong purpose.

Anchor Your Practice in Purpose

In fact, so much of our work as facilitators is anchored in purpose. What are the purposes that our clients have for their work? What are the purposes for our work as facilitators with our clients? What are the purposes of each activity and method  we’ve chosen to best help our clients meet their purposes and goals? Being clear on and articulating  these purposes in a consistent narrative is essential to the work of an impactful facilitator. And so much of our work with learners in the certification program is focused here. We not only help our students to build competency in the work of a facilitator, but also to be able to gain deeper perspective and self-awareness about what they are doing and communicate that to a wide variety of audiences. It’s that vantage point on practice we’ve found to be the differentiator between run-of-the-mill facilitators and facilitator-leaders who are able to thrive across a variety of contexts.

Jumpstart Your Facilitator Growth

There are some initial ways you can jumpstart your facilitator growth using techniques from our program. As we mentioned above, so much of what we do is anchored in cultivating purpose(s): you in your work, those of your client, and for your growth. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to begin this process: 

• What purpose(s) do you have as a facilitator? Why do you do what you do?
• What purpose(s) do your clients have in asking for your facilitator support?
• Based on your purpose(s) where do you excel, and where do you want to grow?

Beginning to answer these questions can help you put a finer point on just where you might best lean into facilitator growth. These questions nudge you in defining what may have just been tacit or assumed. This also begins your process of building a compelling narrative for your facilitated sessions and, your own professional identity. Your answers and recursive asking of these questions can help you build focused practice and reflection and jumpstart your journey for deeper facilitator growth.

Commit to Your Facilitator Growth

The answers to the above questions can be a great launching point for your individual growth journey. They are also an excellent precursor to making a deeper commitment to your growth through our certification program. If you’re ready to dedicate the necessary time to take your facilitation to the next level and would like to do so with seasoned instructors and a supportive cohort, then submit your application today. Applications are due for our next cohort on January 14th, 2022, and then begins on February 11th, 2022. We’d love to see you in our next cohort.

FAQ Section

What key attributes are essential for effective facilitation?
Effective facilitation hinges on several key attributes, including emotional intelligence, strong communication, and consensus-building skills. Facilitators must be adept at guiding productive meetings and fostering collaboration, ensuring that participants are fully engaged and working towards shared goals. Additionally, a deep understanding of various facilitation techniques, including visual thinking strategies and methods of innovation, is crucial to successfully navigate complex group dynamics and drive collaboration in both traditional and virtual settings.

How does the Voltage Control Facilitation Certification Program help build facilitation skills?
The Voltage Control comprehensive facilitation certification program focuses on developing critical facilitation skills through hands-on practice and interactive learning experiences. Participants engage in practical exercises and practice sessions that help reinforce the fundamentals of facilitation, as well as advanced techniques. The program includes expert critique from seasoned facilitators, providing actionable strategies and personalized feedback to improve facilitation practice. In addition, the program offers a capstone experience, enabling learners to apply their skills in real-world scenarios and complete the program with a fully-fledged facilitator skillset.

What practical tools and resources are available to participants during the certification program?
The certification program provides participants with a wealth of practical tools and resources to support their learning journey. These include access to LUMA Workplace, design tools, and an extensive library of training tools designed to enhance facilitation practice. Participants also receive exercise files, additional learning resources, and access to workshop resources that they can use to implement facilitation techniques in their daily work. The use of these tools helps participants develop effective group collaboration skills and tackle various business challenges with innovative solutions.

How does Voltage Control ensure mastery of facilitation skills?
Voltage Control ensures the mastery of facilitation skills through a hybrid approach that combines online training with virtual sessions, practice opportunities, and expert coaching. The program offers 1.5-hour video courses, weekly challenges, and practical tasks designed to build core strengths in facilitation. Participants are encouraged to reflect on their learning through individual study and reflection tasks, which help reinforce key facilitation techniques. By offering personalized facilitation training and a flexible learning cycle, the program allows participants to progress at their own pace while mastering essential skills required for effective facilitation.

What is the structure of the facilitator certification program?
The Voltage Control Facilitation Certification Program is structured to provide a comprehensive learning experience through a blend of core and elective modules. Participants start with an introduction to facilitation skills and move through core modules that cover both foundational skills and more advanced, hands-on workshop facilitation training. The program also includes elective modules that allow participants to tailor their learning to specific areas of interest, such as mastering Human-Centered Design Facilitator methods or refining facilitation practice in different contexts. Upon successful completion, participants receive a legitimate facilitation certificate and gain access to a private facilitator community, where they can continue developing their skills alongside a cohort of peers.

Can I earn a certificate of completion through the online facilitation training course?
Yes, participants who successfully complete the 6-week online facilitation course will earn a certificate of completion. The online program offers a flexible learning experience, with both synchronous and asynchronous sessions designed to accommodate varying schedules. Participants will engage in weekly challenges, practice facilitation techniques in virtual sessions, and receive expert critiques from instructors. The course concludes with a final evaluation, after which participants receive their facilitation certificate, marking their achievements and validating their newfound expertise in facilitation.

What is the role of practical experience and hands-on practice in the certification process?
Practical experience is a cornerstone of the Voltage Control certification program. Participants engage in hands-on practice through practical exercises, coaching sessions, and immersive learning experiences. These exercises give learners the opportunity to apply facilitation skills in real-world scenarios, including the use of human-centered design methods, visual thinking strategies, and collaborative leadership skills. The inclusion of expert facilitator critique and feedback further enhances the learning process, ensuring that participants refine their skills with each exercise. By the end of the program, learners will have gained practical skills that can be immediately applied in their professional roles.

How does the Voltage Control program support the development of collaborative leadership skills?
The Voltage Control program is designed to help participants build collaborative leadership skills through a combination of coaching sessions, interactive exercises, and practical tasks. Participants learn how to effectively lead group sessions, facilitate consensus-building exercises, and drive collaboration within teams. The curriculum emphasizes actionable strategies that participants can implement in real-world situations, whether they are chiefs of staff, design leaders, or team leaders within their organizations. Graduates of the program are well-equipped to lead teams through complex challenges, using facilitation techniques that foster collaboration and drive positive outcomes.

The post Designing Our Facilitator Certification Program appeared first on Voltage Control.

Are you running a company and struggling with a particular business challenge or question about your users? Do you want to make sure you’re on the right path forward to success? You might want to consider hiring a strategic planning service. It is their job to analyze the position your company is in and work with you to figure out what’s working and what’s not. Be warned: they are blunt. But, they are also fair. You may not like everything they say, but they are effective.

Strategic planning is an organizational strategy used in companies of all sizes and verticals. It provides a plan and roadmap for a company and is a tool that should be used in fulfilling a mission or goal. Strategic planning services are experts in the key aspects of the strategic planning process and can help organizations outline and implement strategic planning initiatives. Successful strategic plans should clearly document specific goals and the action steps and resources necessary to accomplish them. Organizations without a strategic planning foundation and forward-thinking process are much more likely to face roadblocks, especially in today’s competitive environment. 

Still not sure if this service could help your company? Here is a basic rundown of all the ways you might benefit from hiring a strategic planning service.

1. A Strategic Planning Service Helps You Plan

A strategic planning service’s purpose isn’t to read over your plan and then check it off so you can go execute. Their job is to partner with you during this planning phase and actually work with you on it. They will analyze your company so they can lead you down the path of smart business decisions. Elements and components of a strategic plan include:

• Mission and vision statements for context
• Goal setting
• Strategy implementation timelines
• Progress monitoring timelines
• Benchmarks and/or objectives that inform progress towards goals and how they support the mission and values
• Defining how and when progress will be tracked
• Outline of roles and responsibilities for each employee or team

2. They Facilitate the Process

When a strategic planning service first comes in, they review everything that has to do with your company. They familiarize themselves with the ins and outs, from your employees to your goals. When you’re holding your strategic planning meetings, the strategic planning service can bring in an expert to help facilitate these meetings and conversations. This expert, or facilitator, is someone who plans, designs, and leads a key group meeting or event and can help when dealing with larger topics. They offer a non-biased opinion and take care of logistics while making sure everyone stays on track. 

Pro Tip: Check out Facilitation Lab, our weekly virtual meetup focused on helping facilitators hone their craft to help improve the quality of meetings. Control the Room, Voltage Control’s Annual Facilitator Summit is another resource for facilitators. The summit provides facilitators with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge on how to facilitate meetings that matter and connect with other facilitation and meeting practitioners.

3. They Ask the Big Questions

Strategic planning services ask all the big questions that you may be afraid to ask. Your answers to these deep, probing questions are the key to unlocking a more successful future. Because they are neutral and unbiased (and offer a fresh perspective), strategic planning services aren’t afraid to dig into potentially touchy subjects. This may feel uncomfortable at first but will help you learn more about your business and where you want to take it (and how to get there) in the long run. Strategic planning services can also help accelerate innovation through design sprints and innovation exercises. 

Pro Tip: Learn about when you should run a design sprint here and how Voltage Control can help here. 

4. Strategic Planning Services Challenge Your Status Quo

Similarly to the above point, a strategic planning service is not afraid to challenge the status quo and will do this often. That means everything you’re currently doing with your business is potentially on the chopping block. Strategic planning services take an honest assessment of your company’s situation and can help you identify areas in which your organization can improve. They will share their insights and recommendations with you. Big problems will be discussed in enough detail where you’ll be able to easily make changes. You’ll have the benefit of an outsider’s perspective to see what shifts you might want to make in your company. Embrace these new ideas.

5. They Keep What Works

That being said, strategic planning companies will also identify, highlight and keep what’s working well for your organization. Every company has its individual strengths. The role of the service is also to point out these strengths so you can keep them up and iterate upon them. 

6. They Offer Advice During Changing Times

We’ve all learned how much the pandemic changed the way we work. Strategic planning services can provide clarity and organization during uncertain times. In light of recent events, an effective strategic plan looks a lot different today than a few years ago, in large part due to the increasingly hybrid workplace. Your team members are probably not in the same location, or even if they are, may not all be coming into a physical office. Many organizations had to develop strategic plans when determining how to successfully work in this hybrid and virtual environment. 

7. They Analyze and Get Involved

The strategic planning service’s job doesn’t end with analyzing your company. They get involved in helping you develop, execute and evaluate a new strategic plan. They sit down and help build your strategic plan framework, which after the initial analysis and assessment, will typically include:

• High level strategy formulation and development
• Strategic plan documentation 
• Translation of high level plan into operational planning and action items
• Performance evaluation 
• Strategic plan review and refinement as needed

A strategic planning service can also help with team alignment, collaboration training, and team culture, even if your team is remote. 

Strategic planning is a necessary, positive process when an organization wants to tackle business problems and be set up for future success. Organizations considering strategic planning should also consider utilizing strategic planning services. They bring expertise and guidance, promote team alignment and provide a more streamlined process.

Create your strategic plan today

Does your organization need help to develop a strategic plan? Voltage Control offers training and facilitation services. Reach out to hello@voltagecontrol.com to learn more or schedule a consultation.  

The post Why You Need to Hire A Strategic Planning Service appeared first on Voltage Control.

Last year we began the Control the Room Podcast–a series devoted to the exploration of meeting culture and uncovering cures for the common meeting as an extension of our company mission: to rid the world of terrible meetings and build better meeting culture everywhere. 

Some meetings have tight control, and others are loose. To ‘control the room’ means achieving outcomes while striking a balance between imposing and removing structure, asserting and distributing power, leaning in and leaning out, all in the service of having a truly magical meeting.

In an effort to foster more conversations around better meetings, facilitation, design, leadership, and how we can operate at our best in the business landscape together, our founder Douglas Ferguson speaks with professionals across industries about meeting culture and how to have more magical meetings. 

What’s a magical meeting you may ask? It is a meeting that abides by our 10 Meeting Mantra–our holy grail for successful meetings–and it’s how we think meeting everywhere should be run: 

• The meeting has a clear objective/purpose
• All participants are engaged and contributing
• You do the work in the meeting, not after
• It is a psychologically safe space to share thoughts and ideas
• Facilitators capture room intelligence 
• The group embraces the child’s mind 
• A strategic agenda is created and followed, respecting everyone’s time 
• The group debriefs for durability 

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Through conversation with meeting practitioners, design experts, CEOs, facilitators, leadership coaches, and business leaders across industries, the Control the Room Podcast offers insight into how we can improve the way we work together. 

We’ve rounded up 10 of our top podcast episodes, in no particular order, that span topics from design thinking and remote work to how to be a great facilitator and have courageous conversations in the workplace. 

Top 10 Podcasts 

Design Thinking in a Virtual World, with Daniel Stillman

Daniel shares how he got started as a conversation designer and why he believes that everything is an active conversation. He speaks about what he would change about meetings and why having a narrative with an opening, exploration, and closing is essential in a productive conversation.

Listen as Douglas and Daniel discuss impromptu networking, the best questions to ask, and the definition of appreciative inquiry. They also talk about meeting mantras and why they are so important. Daniel shares his take on why using sticky notes is so effective in the ideation process and how to translate the practice to the virtual landscape.

Daniel also explains how to host a virtual rock, paper, scissors tournament; it’s both crazy and fun. Order a copy of Daniel’s book Good Talk, How to Design Conversations that Matter’, available now.

Designing a Remote Employee Experience That Will Go the Distance, with Kaleem Clarkson

Kaleem is the COO and Co-founder of Blend Me, Inc., a consulting firm that cultivates remote employee experiences from onboarding through off-boarding. He has a particular interest in culture-driven organizations. Kaleem is also the COO of RemotelyOne, a members-only community on a mission to end remote work isolation by connecting and building relationships between location-independent professionals.

Kaleem and Douglas speak about the different types of remote work, why some companies are struggling to transition to remote work, and why it’s so important for a job posting to accurately represent your organization’s culture. Listen in to find out how Kaleem’s experience as a member of a college metal band led to his career as an employee experience expert.

Embrace the Messy, with Teresa Torres

Teresa and Douglas examine her diverse career journey centered in human-centered design, where she helps organizations embrace and optimize the complex dynamics of team decision-making. Teresa shares the benefits that organizations can gain when they embrace the “messiness” of collaborating in complex systems and the opportunity they then have to “empower the edges.” 

They discuss Teresa’s approach to the “decision-making trio” that occurs during group decision-making and the value of listening to individual team member’s unique perspectives Teresa also highlights how an organization can interview its customers using an empathetic approach, and the corresponding revelations that can arise when teams “do the work in their own research.” Listen in to hear Teresa’s take on how to work together as a team when complex problems arise in your organization and gain the skills necessary to make effective decisions for your team and your customers.  

What Distinguishes a Great Facilitator, with Michael Wilkinson

Michael is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, the largest provider of professional facilitation in the country. He grew up in the projects–described by his sister as a “Sesame Street Gangster”–and eventually found himself at a New England prep school through his job as a paperboy. After turning down an acceptance to Harvard Business School, Michael abandoned his 10-year plan to become undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development to begin a “faith-walk” that ultimately ended in his founding Leadership Strategies.

In this episode, Michael and Douglas talk about his path to the International Association of Facilitators Hall of Fame, what makes a facilitator great, and the six P’s of preparing for a meeting. Listen in to find out how Michael identifies and trains facilitators with great potential and how to ask the right questions in meetings.

Clean Language, Clear Metaphors, with Judy Rees

Judy Rees is a consultant at Rees McCann where she leads a community of trainers, facilitators, producers, and others who want to make online work better than in the room. She is also the author of the Web Events That Connect How-to Guide and co-author of Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds.

In this episode, Judy and Douglas talk about clean language, gardening, and contextual intent. Listen in to learn what subtleties can be uncovered in the words we use every day, through active listening and asking the right questions.

Courageous Conversations and Cultural Competency, with Kazique Prince

Kazique is the Founder & CEO of Jelani Consulting LLC, where he works with businesses and nonprofits as a DEI consultant. He also serves as the senior policy advisor and education coordinator for the City of Austin’s mayor, Steve Adler, and has launched a nonprofit called Courage Equity that’s aimed at funding educators who focus on cultural fluency.

In this episode, Douglas and Kazique talk about empathy-driven inclusion, psychological awareness in the workplace, and how reconciliation affects all aspects of an individual’s life. Listen in to catch a glimpse of what reality could look like if we shifted our collective focus from punitive scrutiny to empowering practices.

Why Your Meeting Really Isn’t Your Meeting, with Lynda Baker

Lynda is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator Master, meeting leader coach, and founder and president of Meeting Solutions Online. As a certified professional facilitator, she creates collaborative client relationships, plans appropriate group processes, creates and sustains a participatory environment, and guides groups to appropriate and useful outcomes. She also trains meeting leaders and managers who want to remove blocks that prevent them from running productive meetings.

In today’s episode, Lynda and Douglas talk about her early days of being seduced by technology, why she clicked with the IAF, and how the IAF holds people accountable. Listen in to find out how Lynda teaches the concepts of facilitation, why “your” meeting isn’t “your” meeting, and why you don’t have to manage or control every part of the conversation.

Complex Problems and the Clarity to Solve Them, with Ed Morrison

Ed is the Director of the Agile Strategy Lab at North Alabama University and the author of Strategic Doing. His years of experience with international and domestic problem-solving at the intersection of rapidly shifting technological landscapes, endow him with a sharp mind and a dynamic worldview.

Ed and Douglas speak about team-based communication models, Strategic Doing, and transformative thinking for hopeless, uncertain futures. Listen in to hear Ed guide us through the questions, processes, and frameworks that will help in making the most of complex environments.

Think Visually, with David Sibbet

David and Douglas break down his unique career path in consulting and facilitating visual meetings and how individuals can use visual elements to amplify their learning in the workplace. From the installation of his consulting company in the mid-70s to the present day, David’s focus on design thinking continues to drive him to help companies achieve a “sophisticated level of systems thinking” in meetings.

David reflects on the components of his creation, the Group Graphics tool, and its effectiveness to help teams find focus during workshops. Douglas and David examine the impact of using “clean language” in the workplace and the ability to have a metaphorical thinking mindset, which he believes can indirectly lead to inclusivity within your organization. David also shares lessons he learned through enduring the peaks and valleys of decision-making when working with past clients. They conclude by taking a closer look at his passion project and non-profit organization, the Global Learning & Exchange Network (GLEN), and the responsibility we must uphold to build a better world for humanity on both local and global levels.

Pioneering Tech & Social Development in Meetings, with Nicole Baer

Nicole is the Global Head of Marketing for Logitech’s Video Collaboration Business. She’s well versed in non-verbal communication and perception with regard to connection in meetings. Perceptive and empathetic, Nicole brings humility and awareness to every conversation and invites other facilitators to do the same.

In this episode, Nicole and Douglas speak about AI personal assistants, fighting the daily burden of cognitive load, and interjecting levity into the mundane. Listen in to see how she showcases the necessity of including aspects of normal social dynamics into our virtual environments.

Are you interested in being a guest on the Control the Room Podcast?

We’re always looking to chat with business professionals to better understand the state of work today, what we can expect in the future, and how we do better work together. Reach out at hello@voltagecontrol.com

The post Control the Room in the Work Place appeared first on Voltage Control.

How do you successfully facilitate a meeting? When you think about meetings, what’s the first thought or feeling that comes to mind? If it’s reluctance, annoyance, avoidance, frustration, unproductiveness, ambiguity, or a waste of precious work time, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Make the switch from simply “running a meeting” to truly “facilitating a meeting” to make better use of your time and see more productive results. Even if you simply incorporate a few key facilitation skills into your meetings, you’ll likely see huge benefits in efficiency and effectiveness. With the help of a meeting facilitator, companies can solve complex issues and arrive at solutions to challenges they have not been able to overcome on their own. 

A successful facilitator possesses several key facilitation skills that make them such an essential asset in guiding effective, successful meetings. Even if you have limited experience in facilitation, the following information and resources can help you properly understand how to facilitate a meeting using professional facilitation techniques.t The resulting meeting process will be highly functional and productive.

What Is a Facilitator? hat Qualities and Skills Should a Meeting Facilitator Have?

Before we dive in, let’s first review what a meeting facilitator is and what they do. A facilitator is someone who plans, designs, and leads a designated group meeting or event. For more information on what a facilitator does and when you need one, see our post here. 

The best facilitators help groups efficiently and cordially reach their goals or solutions to their problems by creating an inclusive, safe spacer for all attendees to share their ideas and views. A skilled facilitator does not come armed with a personal agenda or opinions about the topic at hand. Instead, they are unbiased experts at guiding groups through the decision-making processes.

Overall, meeting facilitators are most concerned with how meeting participants interact with one another to agree on an informed decision, and they make sure that conclusions are successfully reached.

Facilitators serve as an unbiased leader, a reflection, and then an organizer of what is said.

As a best practice, a great facilitator should possess the following qualities:

• Confidence: Able to control the meeting space and keep participants interested and engaged. Fosters a feeling of psychological safety for all attendees and can manage strong personalities with grace.
• Humility: Knows the meeting is not about them and focuses on helping the group achieve its goals. Leverages active listening skills to ensure every single person is heard and understood.
• Flexibility: Comfortable course-correcting during the gathering if things change, participants want something different, or the agenda needs to change. This is especially important in today’s increasing virtual and hybrid workplace.
• Curiosity: Interested in their client’s problems, product, or challenge and is excited to learn more about it.
• Experience: Has successfully led meetings and gatherings for clients and companies before. Can manage any existing power imbalances in the group and navigate conflicting parties.

Additionally, these facilitation skills are also necessary for facilitating effective meetings:

• Advanced preparation
• Clear communication
• Active listening
• Asking open-ended questions
• Time management
• Establishing a feeling of psychological safety in the meeting space
• Creating focus amongst the group
• Unbiased objectivity
• Managing the group decision-making process

Best Practices for Facilitating a Meeting

When considering how to facilitate a meeting, look at the role facilitators play before, during, and after meetings. We break down key action items for meeting facilitators below.

Before the Meeting

Facilitators help with planning and logistics. They strategically plan a thorough meeting agenda to follow, which lists action items and key decisions that need to be made.. 

Plan to establish the purpose of the meeting very early in the agenda, as it’s important that all attendees are in agreement on that purpose. Without a clear purpose, there is no reason to hold a meeting, yet fruitless meetings still get held. A good meeting purpose will highlight the core issues that should be addressed and the key decisions that must be made. A facilitator then utilizes the agenda during the meeting to stay on track toward the desired goals. 

A meeting agenda serves as the roadmap for the meeting. It is a carefully designed plan that outlines the exact activities that will take place during your session, including the allotted time each agenda item will last as well as the start, end, and break times. Sticking to a sound agenda throughout the meeting helps to keep attendees focused and engaged, save time, and create desired results.

When gathering in person, it’s critical for meeting facilitators to create an inviting and open environment and set the meeting space up for success. Based on the meeting design, facilitators consider the best kind of seating arrangement, lighting, and props (items like a whiteboard, post-it notes, sketch paper, and pencils, etc.) that are needed to support it. 

For example, if the team meeting is best set up for open discussion, they may arrange chairs in a semi-circle or formation that will best foster communication among the group. Skilled facilitators also establish the kind of energy they want in the room before attendees even arrive, so most successful facilitators will approach the session with enthusiasm and positivity. 

Remote Facilitation Considerations

Virtual facilitation is now arguably just as important as in-person facilitation due to today’s consistently remote and hybrid work environments (such as Zoom fatigue, increased external distractions, technical difficulties, and time zone differences). 

Below are some pro-level virtual facilitation strategies we recommend planning ahead of time in order to have the most effective remote meetings:

1. Turn on your camera: Encourage all meeting attendees to use their cameras, which is important for human connection and engagement.
2. Learn by doing: Make your meetings interactive. This will not only keep people engaged, but it will also help with retention, engagement and a sense of ownership. Use a collaborative tool such as MURAL (a virtual whiteboard tool) to allow team members to engage and work together in real time.
   Pro Tip: New to MURAL? Download our MURAL cheat sheet for a quick reference for how to use MURAL first.
3. Piecemeal information: To promote meeting effectiveness and productivity during virtual facilitation, try to avoid cognitive overload on attendees. Due to the relative newness of regular remote meetings, facilitators need a new process of facilitation that best serves team members in a virtual space. One example of doing this is in our remote design sprints—we request our Design Sprint participants commit to a series of mini-workshops rather than asking them to commit to the five full days (which is the typical length of time for an in-person Design Sprint). 
4. Provide necessary support: A key component of virtual facilitation is helping attendees understand technicalities specific to the online tools you are using. Make sure everyone understands how to use the features of the video conference platform you are meeting on and any other virtual workshop tools they will need prior to the meeting.

During The Meeting

To facilitate meetings like a pro, start the meeting by informing the group what the gathering is about and how it will work. Discuss the meeting agenda, including the meeting duration, agenda items, activities, breaks, voting, etc. so everyone knows what to expect. Establish any ground rules that are necessary to create a psychologically safe space where everyone will feel included and comfortable.

The facilitator’s purpose is to guide the room. The facilitator watches the clock, makes sure the agenda is being followed accordingly, and tells the group when it’s time to move on to the next activity or discussion. Has a discussion run long or a topic gone too far off track? Redirect the group back to the matter at hand and tackle one task at a time.

Skilled facilitators also make sure all attendees are participating in equal measures so that no single person is dominating the conversation. To do this, they conduct room intelligence. 

Another skill that effective facilitators bring to the table is their ability to cut through the noise, conversation, and debate. The facilitator can find the common ground between everyone’s input and then “bubble up” what the group is really saying. They distill conversations and key discussion points, navigating any conflict and leading consensus decision-making. 

Remote Facilitation Considerations

Ensuring equal participation is typically more difficult on Zoom. To help mitigate this, encourage use of the “raise hand” and chat box features (and make sure you’re checking them). It can be tough to know when to contribute and how to do so respectfully in a virtual space. Establish early in the meeting that silence is okay while team members mull over different topics, and, though this is a voluntary process, the outcome will be better if everyone contributes.

Ask people to use the button or chat box when they want to be called on. It is a clear indicator of desired speaking space, thus preventing multiple people from talking at once. You don’t want anyone to feel overlooked or that their opinion doesn’t matter. These features are simple yet powerful ways to ensure voices do not go unheard.

Pro Tip: Download our Facilitator’s Guide to Questions – this guide was developed for facilitators to always know what questions to ask to keep your meetings effective.

During the meeting, a facilitator’s main goal is to help the group reach a consensus in the allotted time. Remember to allow more time in a virtual setting, or schedule several mini-meetings or workshops to tackle larger tasks or projects. 

Not everyone will necessarily agree on one solution or conclusion. The most important thing is that the facilitator gave people time to share their views, and all attendees are on the same page when it comes to the final conclusions. 

Pro Tip: Try out our Control Room app, a simple tool filled with meeting activities that keep your team engaged and captures feedback.

Finally, an effective facilitator will have a quality record of the decision-making process and any discoveries that were made. This log can be a helpful way to keep progress on track and to avoid repeating previously visited irrelevant topics. Record meetings whenever possible, which allows everyone to revisit the information when it’s time to plan the next action items.

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After The Meeting

After the session is over, a facilitator still has more work to do. To ensure that the collaboration done in the meeting does not go to waste, the facilitator reports the key information so it can be synthesized and implemented. 

A good facilitator will ask themselves a list of questions after the meeting, such as:

• What decisions were made? 
• What are your next steps? 
• How can you apply what was learned in an impactful way? 
• What tasks are still outstanding? 

A meeting facilitator curates and organizes all of the important findings to share with the team, setting them up for future success.

When to Use a Professional Facilitator

If you have a gathering that is especially important, sensitive, or complex, you might get a lot out of working with a professional facilitator. An external facilitator can also shake up a languishing atmosphere in team meetings, bringing about greater engagement and increased positivity that goes beyond the meeting. 

A skilled facilitator can help whether a company is looking to innovate, solve a complex issue, or gain a new perspective to help business. When you need a fresh and impartial perspective, think about looking for an expert facilitator. 

Additionally, Facilitation Lab is a good resource—it’s a free weekly virtual meetup focused on helping facilitators learn how to facilitate meetings successfully and hone their craft. By attending a Facilitation Lab meeting, you can get a better feeling for how prepared you are to facilitate a meeting.

Meetings don’t actually need to be frustrating or feel like a waste of time. By applying basic facilitation skills and best practices, your next meeting can be effective and successful, even in a remote or hybrid setting. 

Discover Facilitation Training and Certification from Voltage Control

If you’re committed to becoming a professional facilitator, level up your expertise by pursuing Facilitation Certification from Voltage Control. This widely-recognized certification shows your familiarity with the different facilitation methodologies and approaches.

If you’re earlier in your journey to becoming a facilitator, check out the Voltage Control blog for the latest trends and insights on the industry, plus the Control the Room podcast. Additionally, we host self-paced facilitation training courses and live, expert-led workshops.

FAQ Section

What is the role of a meeting facilitator?
The facilitation role involves managing the meeting dynamics, such as power dynamics and balanced participation, and ensuring that the group stays focused on its goals. Meeting facilitators also employ simple prioritization tools to streamline discussions and decision-making.

How can facilitators ensure balanced participation in meetings?
Facilitators use a variety of techniques to encourage balanced participation, ensuring that assertive people don’t dominate while quiet people are still heard. This creates an inclusive meeting environment where all voices are valued, leading to better collaboration and decision-making.

Why is body language important in meeting facilitation?
Body language plays a crucial role in any type of meeting, especially in fostering a collaborative meeting atmosphere. A well-facilitated meeting relies on non-verbal cues to gauge participation levels and manage the flow of discussion. Facilitators must stay aware of attendees’ body language to adjust the pace and tone of the meeting.

How can facilitators handle power dynamics in a meeting?
Skilled facilitators manage power dynamics by setting ground rules, encouraging participation from everyone, and using techniques like time limits for speaking. This ensures that no one person, regardless of their role, dominates the discussion, allowing for an in-depth discussion of key ideas and achieving meeting goals.

What strategies help quiet people contribute more in meetings?
Facilitators can create space for quiet people to share their thoughts by actively inviting them into the conversation and using techniques like round-robin discussions. Encouraging participation from everyone helps generate lots of ideas, making the meeting more productive and inclusive.

What should facilitators focus on during informal meetings?
Even in an informal meeting, facilitators should ensure the group stays focused on meeting objectives. Clear communication, managing meeting notes, and using simple prioritization tools can help ensure the group makes progress on key decisions without being sidetracked by less important topics.

Why is meeting facilitation important for project managers?
Project managers benefit from strong meeting facilitation skills because they are often the person responsible for guiding the team toward project milestones. Effective facilitation ensures that project-related discussions stay on track, meeting goals are clear, and the team moves forward with actionable decisions.

The post How to Successfully Facilitate a Meeting appeared first on Voltage Control.

This is part of the 2019 Control The Room speaker video series.

Control the Room 2019 was Austin’s 1st Annual Facilitator Summit with the goal of bringing together facilitators of all kinds to build rapport, learn, and grow together.

The conference opened with a talk by Priya Parker, author of “The Art of Gathering.” After that, we moved onto 15 quick-and-powerful presentations by facilitators of all kinds.

Within that group of amazing speakers, we were lucky enough to have Greg Galle. Greg Galle is an author, entrepreneur, and instigator. His book Think Wrong: How to Do Work That Matters has become a handbook for people who want to invent what’s next for their organizations, communities, and countries.

Greg talked about the predictable path and how most people default to thinking and designing with only this in mind. Using a Solutions vs. Challenges 2×2 matrix, he illustrated that if you are exploring solutions and challenges that are both certain or well-known, you are considering the predictable path. He encouraged us to explore the uncertain and welcome the unexpected.

Watch Greg Galle’s talk “Think Wrong to Solve Next”:

Read the Transcript

Greg Galle: Thank you. Anything I … Yeah. There we go. Forward and backward. Hi. Everybody doing all right?

Speaker 1: Yep.

Greg Galle: Still with us? All right. That was the title of the slide. So here we go. We’re going to talk about three different frameworks that you can use. This morning we started having a little bit of an introduction about dialogue and encouraging dialogue. And I want to introduce these frameworks as a way of engaging people in a meaningful conversation and dialogue about the nature of the work that you’re trying to accomplish with them, that you’re trying to help them achieve.

Greg Galle: So the first idea to have in your head is this notion of a predictable path. That is that we are walking on a predictable path. We had this expression of, “We’ve seen that movie and we know how it ends.” You’ve all kind of used some version of that. The predictable path is, if nothing changes, we can be pretty certain what the future’s going to be like. It’s going to look a lot like it did today. And today looks a lot like it did yesterday. So the predictable path. Now, many of you in the room actually try to lead organizations, and communities, and individuals on some departure from that predictable path.

Greg Galle: So how do we forge a bold path? How do we escape the sort of gravitational pull of the status quo, and lead and create change? Anybody in the room tried to create change? Yeah? Some of you? Help groups create change? Drive positive change in the world? Easy, right? Never run into any problems, right? Okay. So what’s going on there is that whenever we try to depart from the norm, whenever we try to depart from the predictable path, we start to experience some kind of resistance, some kind of friction. It gets expressed in many different ways, and in many different forms. I want to just do a little bit of an exercise with you. This is actually my draft slide deck. So we’re missing the exercise.

Speaker 2: It’s my fault.

Greg Galle: But I don’t need prompts for it. So here it goes. I’m was going to do a pop quiz before I showed this slide that reveals everything to you, right? And makes sense of everything. Here’s the pop quiz. I’m going to ask you for an answer to a question. As soon as you have the answer, I want you to stand up. Okay? As soon as it’s in your head, I want you to stand up. It’s a very complex question, so follow with me. What is one half of 13? What is one half of 13? When do you have the answer in your head, stand up. Okay. One half of 13. Some people are still working on it. I can see you’re sitting down. All right. If the answer that you have in your head is 6.5 or six and one half, sit down. All right.

Speaker 3: One.

Greg Galle: One.

Speaker 4: T-H-I-R.

Greg Galle: THIR. T-H-I-R.

Speaker 2: Three.

Greg Galle: Three.

Speaker 5: 13 halves.

Greg Galle: 13 halves. Okay. Very good. So and here we go.

Speaker 6: Seven.

Greg Galle: Seven. Okay. Interesting. Rounding up.

Speaker 6: No.

Greg Galle: No? Tell us how.

Speaker 6: If you write 13 in Roman numerals and then you cut it half, you actually get seven on the top half.

Greg Galle: You actually get seven on top half. And that in fact, if you count all three of the ones, you get eight. But I love it because you took the pattern in you and you bifurcated it. You split it.

Speaker 6: [inaudible 00:04:01].

Greg Galle: Your math skills in Roman are sort of suspect, right? That’s okay. So what happened is we stood … I asked you the question, I put some time pressure on you. And you stood up and you answered the question. The predictable answer to that question is 6.5, is six and one half. Why? Any thoughts on why we thought six and a half?

Speaker 7: It’s arithmetic [inaudible 00:04:26].

Greg Galle: Arithmetic. We assumed it was a math question. So we made an assumption that it was a math question. We have made a set of synaptic connections in our head because we’ve been taught math. That says, “Ping, ping, ping. I know how to solve math problems.” So I asked the question, but I didn’t give you any context. What if it was a philosophical question? 6.5 would be the least interesting answer to the philosophical question of what is one half of 13.

Greg Galle: You might’ve said, “Well, why 13?” Or, “What are numbers,” right? Would have been a more interesting thing. So I had somebody give me an answer, which it’s sort of, “What’s left after your hungry friend gets the donuts/” right? Baker’s dozen, 13. One half, six and a half doughnuts. So it’s sort of, what’s the context? What’s the thing that we’re trying to solve? What’s going on here on the predictable path is that as we learn things, we create synaptic connections, and a set of neuro pathways get established in our brain. Has anybody in the room ever had that experience of going from work to home, driving from work to home, pulling up in your driveway and thinking, “Huh, I don’t really remember driving home,” right? Yeah. “I became an autonomous vehicle because I was distracted.” What was going on when you did that? What was going on in your head?

Speaker 7: Listening to music.

Greg Galle: Listening to music, getting carried away. You didn’t really have to think about, “How do I get home?” Because again, the synaptic connections are made. So many synaptic connections that you have a neuro pathway in your head that can take you home without thinking about it. So that’s great. How many people in the room … We’ll just do this. We’ll do a stand, just because everybody needs a little more stretching. If you brushed your teeth this morning, stand up. All right. I didn’t get half of you to stand up. That’s good. I’m glad to know that only a 100% percent of your brushed your teeth. If you Googled, “How to brush my teeth,” this morning, just so you know how to do it, sit down. So nobody Googled how to do that.

Greg Galle: You didn’t have to. You may sit down. You didn’t have to do that. You learned how to brush your teeth. You do it without thinking. Every now and then you have one of those weird brain things happen where maybe you put shaving cream on your toothbrush. But generally, you can do it without thinking. Right? So that’s great that our brain works that way. We don’t have to relearn things. Is that a good thing when we’re trying to solve a problem in a new way? No. It gets in the way. So part of our job as facilitators, or as we say, instigators is to get people to break some of those synaptic connections and consider to start solving from a new place. How do I start solving from somewhere different, rather than where I usually begin? So that’s biology. When you’re meeting resistance as you’re trying to depart from the predictable path and get on the bold path, when you’re meeting friction and resistance, it’s easy for it to be … For us to think about that as an antagonistic relationship.

Greg Galle: “I’m the protagonist trying to lead change. There’s an antagonist trying to stop me from making that happen.” We have to step back and let go and say, “You know what? Part of it’s just biology.” It’s part of how our brains work. And people aren’t doing that to us on purpose. It’s how our brains function. We’re actually competing against a whole bunch of neuro-pathways that has started to track the way problems are solved. The next thing that gets in our way is this. I’m going to ask, what do you see when you see this picture? Shout it out.

Speaker 7: [inaudible 00:08:26].

Greg Galle: Kids.

Speaker 6: Peace sign.

Greg Galle: Peace sign.

Speaker 3: Friends.

Greg Galle: Friends.

Speaker 4: Innocence.

Greg Galle: Innocence. Give me some other adjectives.

Speaker 5: Cuteness.

Greg Galle: Cuteness. Happy.

Speaker 1: Chilly.

Greg Galle: Chilly?

Speaker 1: Cold.

Greg Galle: Cold. Oh, yeah. Because they’re wearing … Nice. Okay. So some people when they see this picture think terrorists. These are Syrian refugees, Syrian immigrants. So there’s a cultural response to these kids. An unknowing cultural response to … These are kids, Syrian refugees. So this morning when the immigrants were asked to stand up, I wanted to get up and clap as a celebration of what an immigrant means, and what an immigrant brings to us. But you understand that … Whoa. An issue like immigration can be polarizing in America. In the American context right now, we have camps, pro-immigration, anti-immigration. So that’s a cultural response. So again, when we’re trying to depart from the predictable path and forge a bold path, we’re not only dealing with an issue of how our brain functions. But we’re also dealing with the issue of how a whole bunch of brains that function that way together start to act.

Greg Galle: And the thing about culture is, most of what makes cultures operate is our assumptions and orthodoxies, and biases. They’re stories that we pass on. They’re lore that we pass on. They’re not fact bases, right? It’s a belief system that we pass on. So I said it’s great that our brain works the way it does. It does. We don’t have to relearn things. It’s also great that culture works the way that it does. So cultures that are healthy and productive, and working in our favor, they actually work to keep themselves safe. They protect themselves, they defend themselves from threat. The problem is, because culture works that way they can lock in things that are toxic. They can lock in things that are not in our best interest. They can perpetuate bad societal behavior and make it seem normal.

Greg Galle: I like to ask people when they’re looking at that predictable path and bold path line, you can think of different people. I used to use Elon Musk as an example, but he’s confusing the story with his Twitter account. So I’m going to use Malala instead. And I’m going to introduce this. And I want … I am going to ask you please to believe me that I’m trying not to introduce this idea with any prejudice, right? I’m just wanting to use it for illustrative purposes. Do you guys know who Malala is? Mostly. Okay. So Malala is a young woman in the Middle-East who stood up and said that young women, and women of all kinds have the right to be educated. All right? She did that within the context of her culture. And within the very specific context of her culture, that got her labeled a heretic. All right? So thinking about it. Predictable path, that’s the cultural norm. Malala, bold path, women should be educated. A natural cultural reaction to her was, “What she’s proclaiming is not okay. It’s outside of the norm for our culture.” Right? “It’s heretical.”

Greg Galle: So we know what happened to Malala. She’s shot in the head. Within the context of her culture, that was an acceptable act. Now there was another cultural response to her, which was not the culture she was born into. And that cultural response was, “She’s heroic. She’s brave. She’s courageous.” And she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because of her position. Two extreme examples of a cultural response to the same person. So when you think about culture and how it affects our ability to help, lead, facilitate, create change. It’s important to understand that we are dealing both with biological forces and cultural forces. People are not trying to sabotage you. We do it without thinking.

Greg Galle: It’s human behavior. It’s neurological, it’s social. It’s how we as creatures act. So it’s really important that you be able to have that conversation, that you’d be able to use that framework. So when somebody is engaging you, it’s okay to say, “Are we working on something that’s about improving the predictable path? Or are we working on something where we’re trying to actually create bold change? And are the conditions in the ways that we’re reacting coming from what’s required to sustain the predictable path? Or are they in fact conditions that are going to be conducive to creating that change?” Next framework, this space, a fairly simple space. Where we’re going from, “What’s the problem or the challenge that we’re working on? What’s the solution?” And we’re dealing with uncertainty. We start from a place of uncertainty, and we’re trying to move towards greater certainty.

Greg Galle: This is another important framework for having a dialogue with somebody, which is, “Where are we starting from Where’s the problem live that we’re dealing with?” Up here in this corner where we understand what the problem is and we understand what the solution is, there’s a set of what we call think right practices. There are language that you’re going to be very familiar with, which is people are going to talk about things like, “How do we drive costs out of this? How do we improve productivity? How do we increase our margins?” People start to worry about things like ROI.

Greg Galle: So all of that language is familiar to you, whether you’re in a corporation or a non-profit, or a foundation, or coming out of the defense space. This is the dominant language that’s used to frame how we’re going to think about and measure success. And that’s fine if you know what the problem is and you know what the solution is. I want predict … So the labels of predictable path and bold path sound a little pejorative. They’re not. The people who flew here, again raise your hands. Those who flew here. You wanted predictability. You wanted to get on a plane, have the plane fly. Take off, fly, land safely. Number one, predictable criteria for air travel is safety. What you didn’t want was the pilot coming on and saying, “I’ve got a great idea.”

Greg Galle: You’re with me? All right? “And you are with me. You’re in the plane. I’m going to try something today I’ve never tried.” You don’t want that. When it comes to the known problem and the known solution, I want you to optimize the heck out of that one. And for air travel, I want you to optimize the heck out of safety. The problem is that that set of language and that way of framing things doesn’t work when we’re in that arena of uncertainty. We’re uncertain about that. And we think we know what the problem is, but we’re open to the idea that we’re wrong. That we might do something that reveals in fact that, “Hey, our assumption about the problem was actually an observation of a symptom. And there’s something else deeper going on here.” And we’re going to learn that. “Our assumption about the solution was incorrect.” We did some work last October with NATO, a whole conference on AI. They knew what the solution was. It’s AI. I don’t care what the problem is. If you’re in the military right now, the answer is AI. I don’t know.

Greg Galle: Probably not. I mean, I’ve tried to use Siri and it gets me lost. It doesn’t recognize what I’m saying. It calls people I don’t mean to call. So I’m not really sure I’m willing to pin my hope of freedom in the future on AI just yet. It has a role. But what’s the problem we’re solving? Are we applying it appropriately? So again, this diagram is a way of entry into a conversation. What kind of problem are we working at? Where does that live? How certain are we about the problem, the nature of the challenge? How certain are we about the solution? And are we able to do something quickly that’s going to make us more confident? Not get to the answer, but get to a greater level of certainty. So part of our role, part of what we’re doing is saying we’ve got to try different practices.

Greg Galle: So here you see increase exploration, generate hypotheses, create option value, embrace experiments, pursue discovery, welcome the unexpected. And the measurement here instead of return on investment, which you’ve all been asked, “What’s the return on investment of having you come in and do blah, blah, blah?” If you’re dealing with the uncertain, if you’re in the nine squares of this … I mean, the eight squares of this diagram that aren’t up in that upper right-hand corner. The honest answer to, “What’s ROI,” is, “I have no idea. It’s too early. There’s too many assumptions. We can’t tell you.” LFI is our response to that. LFI is Learning From Investment. So rather than what’s the return on investment, what’s the learning from investment? “What do we now know because we did this thing that we didn’t know before? And what’s the value? How much certainty does that create?”

Greg Galle: So I’ve just introduced two frameworks, which means I’m not going to get to the third. But I’m going to go through it real fast here in the last 40 seconds. So in think wrong, we’ve looked at six practices of thinking wrong. The six practices actually correspond to a moment in the problem-solving journey where a certain thing, a certain action is going to produce the most value. Are our aspirations clear? Is our inspiration sound? Do we have new, fresh ideas? Have we actually started to model and prototype, and bring the idea to life? Are we making small bets to increase certainty rather than blowing our whole budget and putting all of our capital at risk? And finally, are we leaning into the people that we convened and brought in the room and their wisdom, and using that to accelerate our progress? So I can share that in more than 40 seconds if you want. That’s what I had. So, all right. Thanks, you guys.

Please join us for the Control the Room 2020, which will be held Feb. 5–7, 2020. You can find out more and buy tickets here.

The post Think Wrong to Solve Next appeared first on Voltage Control.

Sunni will be speaking at our upcoming event — Control the Room: The 2nd Annual Austin Facilitator Summit! Taking place at Austin’s Capital Factory on February 6th, learn more and get your tickets here.

The amount of impressive stats on the author, public speaker, and expert meeting facilitator Sunni Brown is a bit staggering. So, I’ll start by sharing two to whet your appetite. Her TED Talk on doodling and how it improves our creative thinking has drawn more than 1.4 million views. Second, she was once named one of the “10 Most Creative People on Twitter” by Fast Company.

Like myself, Sunni is Austin-based, so I was particularly excited to connect with her for this conversation. I’m also happy to announce that she’s one of the keynote speakers for the upcoming 2020 Austin facilitator summit — Control the Room — which is happening in February. (Check out the link if you want to attend and hear her speak!) A couple of weeks ago, Sunni and I had an energizing conversation. Read on to learn more about this fascinating, multi-talented powerhouse.

Sunni is the founder of SB Ink, a creative consultancy that’s unique for its use of a variety of effective, yet sometimes unconventional cognitive and facilitative techniques (think: Infodoodling, Applied Improvisation, and mindfulness). Sunni is also the best-selling author of Gamestorming and The Doodle Revolution, and her forthcoming book, subtitled Deep Self Design, “uses visual thinking to teach a do-it-yourself, evidence-based method of dissolving powerful personal obstacles.”

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, WIRED, CNN, Oprah.com, and Entrepreneur, as well as being featured twice on CBS Sunday Morning and the TODAY Show.

Zen and the Art of Facilitation

One of the things I love about Sunni’s approach to facilitation is how she pulls in a multitude of practices. Her toolkit of skills extends what we expect from facilitators and design thinkers and moves into entirely new realms. For example, she’s a student of Zen Buddhism. And while being a Zen practitioner might not seem like a necessary skill for a creative consultant, she’s found it incredibly useful in her work and that it makes her an even better facilitator.

“Zen practice is about creating open and safe conversations for all human beings,” Sunni shared. “I didn’t go into Zen thinking, ‘This will make me a better facilitator.’ But it inherently does because of the qualities that emerge when you practice for a long time.” The complexities of working with groups of professionals or executives in creative sessions can undoubtedly benefit from the skills that Zen teaches — things like patience and non-reactivity.

“Zen practice is about creating open and safe conversations for all human beings.”

Sunni doesn’t think these skills are a prerequisite for someone in facilitation. But, as one goes deeper into their career, it definitely helps: “Ultimately, when you get into group work, if you don’t move into human behavior and psychological development, you’re going to miss a lot. You’re not going to know how to work with a lot of things. That’s probably true for most facilitators who do work with groups for a long time. You have to start asking the human question.”

These skills have helped Sunni take her facilitation methods to the next level: “With facilitation, you can have a lot of chops, and you can be skillful at creating experiences that drive toward goals. The technical aspects of facilitation — you can master those pretty quickly. Those are not mysterious. What becomes mysterious is getting people to trust you, getting them to trust each other, allowing them to express their authentic voices. Getting them to take risks. That’s the whole other level of practice.”

“What becomes mysterious is getting people to trust you, getting them to trust each other, allowing them to express their authentic voices. Getting them to take risks. That’s the whole other level of practice.”

Empathy with Boundaries

This idea of Zen naturally led to a discussion about how Sunni deals with difficult participants or stakeholders when she’s facilitating. Sunni was quick to point out that while Zen and her other mindfulness practices help her to be calm, non-reactive, and empathetic with participants, it doesn’t mean she’s ok with any behavior. “I’m actually not accepting of a whole host of certain behavior. Anything that shuts down other people — I’m not accepting of it. It doesn’t mean that I don’t support the person. It doesn’t mean I’m not compassionate for what they’re doing. It means that if they’re bringing behavior that is compromising other people’s experience, I don’t tolerate that.”

She explained a bit more about why these boundaries are essential: “When you’re holding space and creating a container for a group to do something, how you do that is critical. I have to simultaneously convey that they can trust me, that I know what I’m doing, and that I’m not going to be a pushover or tolerate bad behavior while at the same time not shaming them.”

She compares it to the concept of servant leadership: “You are of service, but you’re not a doormat. I’m clear when I’m up there as a facilitator that I am here to hold space, but not for bullshit. I establish group norms: ‘This is what I’m looking for.’ It’s not a condemnation; it’s an invitation.”

One way that Sunni invites people into acting with different norms is by calling attention to potentially counterproductive habits at the beginning of a session: “Here’s an example from some scientists I’ve worked with: I’ll say to them, ‘I know that some of your behavioral norms involve being really intellectual. And I love that about you, and it’s very useful as a tool. But, here’s the downside of it, and here’s the upside of it.’ You call it and name it and talk to them about it. I assume the best of them, assume they’re not doing anything wrong. They’re just defaulting to something.”

In Defense of Ice Breakers

We shifted to another “hot” topic (pun intended) in meeting design — “ice breakers.” Sunni has a thoughtful approach on icebreakers and feels that they can be fruitful if they’re deeply linked to your meeting’s purpose and not just something fun or silly: “The term icebreaker is problematic because it’s so old. I call them primers or fire starters, and they have a purpose. There’s nothing worse than, ‘Hello, my name is…’ That’s superficial and meaningless. If it’s boring to you, it’s definitely boring to them.”

Sunni’s antidote to the dull, predictable meeting icebreakers is something more meaningful: “If I design something that’s ‘an icebreaker,’ it’s going to be directly related to [the meeting participants’] experience. It’s not going to be something they’ve done before. It’ll involve some kind of storytelling.” Another pro-tip to glean from how Sunni uses icebreakers is that she often asks the group’s leaders to do the exercise or activity first. She’s not afraid to have a high-powered banker play Hangman to get a meeting going, or she’ll do it herself to get everyone primed up. When execs or leaders show a willingness to be vulnerable, it encourages the rest of the group to loosen up as well.

Power of Outcomes & Vulnerability

We also talked about any major learnings that Sunni has gleaned from her less-than-ideal adventures in facilitation. She shared the importance of receiving clearly-defined goals from your client or stakeholder when you’re planning and leading an event. Because when the facilitator doesn’t know the ultimate goals, it’s close-to-impossible to design a successful event. Sunni learned this the hard way when she had to facilitate a major event and didn’t get solid insight into the goals from her client. Because of this, she went into the big day feeling less-than-confident in her agenda and activities.

Beyond the importance of defined goals, Sunni learned something else essential that she took away from this experience: the power of vulnerability. Leading up to the event, she felt she needed to name the situation she was in: “I thought: I can’t lie. I can’t stand in front of this crowd and pretend like I’m proud of this agenda. I called one of my mentors, and she said, ‘I think you need to claim that at the beginning.’ And so I did. And I didn’t blame anybody. I said: ‘This is an inaugural event, and the nature of these are messy.’ I just put all that out there, and seriously, the anxiety left the building. I was off the hook for it being a flawlessly-executed experience, which was not possible.”

It was a big learning moment: “It was okay as a facilitator to name that the process I designed might not deliver on any of their expectations.”

Visual and Kinesthetic Thinking

Since Sunni is an expert on visual thinking, we talked about the power of graphic facilitation, which she does as well: “It has so many benefits, but one of them is that you start to externalize what people are saying. You have that on display in front of people, and you can begin parsing the definitions— visually articulating what they’re saying and asking, ‘Is this what you mean? Does it look like this in your mind? What’s your mental model?’ That helps to accelerate and clarify. It looks cool, and it is cool, but it’s deeply functional as well.”

Beyond the visual or drawing-based, Sunni finds movement can also help with creativity and decision-making. “A lot of times, when people are about to make a decision, I will have them go outside and go on long walkabouts, so they can synthesize before they come back and decide.”

“I’m not interested in meeting humans on a cerebral only level. You don’t get your best work at that level.”

Additionally, she shared how physical exercises have been helpful when working with the above-mentioned scientists who are used to working with their intellectual selves: “We had them do something called bodystorming. Suddenly, they’ll discover, ‘Oh, you were a martial artist. You never said that before.’ They’ll realize that one of their colleagues has some physical prowess, and they had no idea because they never even get to know that aspect of them. So, it humanizes everyone, and you start to see people as three-dimensional. I’m not interested in meeting humans on a cerebral only level. You don’t get your best work at that level.”

Sunni’s multidisciplinary approach to facilitation is truly inspiring. I can’t wait to read her new book when it’s published and am thrilled that she’ll be speaking at “Control the Room.” I hope you can join us if you live in Austin!

Want to hear more from Sunni? Please join us for the Control the Room 2020, which will be held Feb. 5–7, 2020. You can find out more and buy tickets here.

FAQ Section

What are the key elements of facilitation that Voltage Control focuses on?
Voltage Control’s facilitation programs emphasize the core elements of facilitation, including building trust, fostering collaboration, and guiding productive meetings. Our programs equip participants with facilitation skills that help create a safe environment for open discussions and decision-making processes.

How do your programs support professional facilitators in improving their skills?
Our training programs are designed for both new and experienced facilitators, offering a wide range of approaches that enhance the skill of facilitation. These programs include online facilitation techniques, experiential workshops, and advanced training sessions to improve facilitation practice and prepare facilitators for more challenging environments.

What types of facilitation topics are covered in the academy?
We offer a comprehensive resource for facilitators that covers various facilitation topics, including community meetings, closing activities, and writing workshops. Our programs also focus on developing critical leadership skills, managing resistant clients, and fostering a culture of collaboration in both everyday meetings and larger organizational contexts.

Who would benefit from Voltage Control’s facilitation certification programs?
Our certification programs are ideal for product innovators, executives, consultants, educators, and Agile Coaches seeking to refine their facilitation skills. Experienced facilitators and those newer to the field will find valuable insights into the facilitation process through our wide range of training materials and workshops.

What makes Voltage Control an acclaimed facilitator training academy?
Voltage Control’s programs are led by visionary facilitators who bring years of experience. Our acclaimed facilitator Sunni Brown, known for her work in experiential workshop design, provides participants with an unforgettable learning experience. We offer a range of training that supports the development of facilitation educators and a community of facilitators committed to excellent facilitation practices.

How does Voltage Control help facilitators work with resistant clients?
Our facilitation training teaches a range of approaches to deal with resistant clients effectively. We provide a road map for handling challenging situations while maintaining a productive and safe environment for all participants. The techniques learned through our programs help facilitators navigate tough conversations with confidence.

What can I expect from the online facilitation training programs?
Voltage Control’s online facilitation programs are designed to be flexible and interactive, offering participants a variety of tools to enhance their facilitation skills remotely. Our programs include advanced training sessions, training materials, and real-time online workshops, making it an excellent fit for facilitators looking to improve their practice without attending in-person sessions.

The post The Zen and the Art of Facilitation appeared first on Voltage Control.

Tristan Kromer coaches startups and intrapreneurs on how to put startup principles into practice. Along with his team at Kromatic, Tristan has worked with early-stage startups, as well as billion-dollar companies. Just one of the many cool things about Tristan is that he volunteers his time by hosting free office hours for early-stage startups.

Long before he was teaching companies how to use lean principles to solve big problems, Tristan was part of the music industry for ten years. “It’s informed how I’ve approached team building and innovation. The tech industry is very similar to the music industry. When you’re an independent performer, you need to be doing a little bit of everything. I‘ve produced, I’ve acted as a paid sideman, I’ve acted as a lead singer and bandleader.”

Practice What You Preach

After talking about our mutual love of music, Tristan and I spoke about innovation programs and what can go wrong with them. “What bothers me are innovation programs that [promote] design thinking as gospel, but they don’t apply those same thoughts and tactics to the design of the innovation program themselves.”

He explained the importance of using the principles you preach: “You can have accelerator programs that teach start-ups to fill out a business model canvas when they have never filled out a business model canvas. You have innovation change programs or Agile transformation programs that are preaching the MVP, to move small and fast, and that you can’t predict things out four years in advance. Yet, most of them are structured as four-year change management programs. It’s a lack of self-reflection and buying into Lean or Agile as a dogma as opposed to as a philosophy which you must practice.”

Measuring Innovation

When I asked Tristan his perspective on measuring innovation, he made an interesting distinction between measuring an innovation project versus an innovation program.

When you have an innovation team or project, he explained that the methods of measurement might be more traditional. “An innovation team is one team with a specific idea for a product that will operate under some business model. That’s a project; you can measure the success of that project by more standard metrics like acquisition rate, activation rate, retention rate, or, at the end of the day, how much are you making?”

On the other hand, measuring an entire innovation program is not as clear-cut. That’s because an innovation program is generating many ideas or projects: “The metrics around one project is not going tell you how your innovation program is doing because the odds of success are relatively small. Even with the best estimates, you’ve only got a 50/50 chance of any one individual project having success in the market — not even “unicorn” level success. Just some level of success.”

“You can’t judge [your innovation program] on just one project; you have to launch 20 projects or 100 projects…”

He went on: “If you judge the entire [innovation] program on the success of one project, you condemned the entire program to a coin toss. You can’t judge [your innovation program] on just one project; you have to launch 20 projects or 100 projects and see: are you hitting that 50% mark? Are you getting 60%? Or are you getting 10% because there are fundamental obstacles to success in your ecosystem?”

Tristan also stressed the importance of looking at leading indicators of success rather than lagging indicators. You can’t wait for the cash to reach the bank, so to speak, to know if an initiative is working. He encourages companies to watch for early signs that something is going well: “Look at early signs like your acquisition rate and your activation rate. You need to have those early indicators of interest and engagement; otherwise, you’re risking you might only learn you’re failing when it’s too late.”

A commitment to long-term thinking is fundamental for companies who want to innovate. But, because I’ve seen that that mindset doesn’t always come naturally, I asked Tristan how he encourages the long-term view with his clients. With start-ups, he usually finds that conversation easier: “For a start-up, investors are generally aware of the length of time it takes to get a return. Most investors, hopefully, are investing in areas where they understand the rate of return, so it’s not an issue to have some level of patience.”

On the other hand: “In the corporate world, there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on getting this quarter’s results in and this year’s results in.”

Navigating Failure

With the knowledge that some projects won’t land when you’re running an innovation program, I asked Tristan how teams might navigate failure and the emotional letdown that comes when something doesn’t go as planned: “It’s not failure. It’s learning as quickly as possible. If you put up a landing page and [no one visits it], there’s one way to look at that: ‘We failed.’ That’s very demotivating. But if you look at it like: ‘Thank god we figured that out very quickly and now we can quickly modify and iterate that page and try again.’”

“It’s not failure. It’s learning as quickly as possible.”

He talked about how the mindset we approach projects with is critical. “It’s important to recognize that you are not attempting to build a landing page or a product, you’re trying to build a business model. That business model is composed of, not lines of code or widgets spit out from a factory; it’s composed of little bricks of knowledge.”

“You need to understand who the customer is, what they want, where they’re going to buy things, what channels you’re going to use, how you’re going to support them, and what partners you need. All those things are bits of knowledge, and you need to gather that knowledge as quickly as possible. Your unit of progress is learning and knowledge. Running an experiment that doesn’t work — that’s just adding to your understanding.”

“Running an experiment that doesn’t work — that’s just adding to your understanding.”

Learn, But Not for Too Long

While working from a belief that learning is incredibly essential, Tristan has seen some teams go down a rabbit hole of endless knowledge. “It can be very liberating to free yourself from the mindset that everything must succeed and to get into the iterative learning mindset. However, you need to be careful you don’t swing too far in the other direction and learn, learn, learn, but never execute.”

“Some people enjoy the thrill of the discovery, but don’t enjoy the thrill of executing”

“I’ve seen teams that get so attached to talking to the customers that they spend too long talking to people, and they’re no longer learning. They’re not making any progress on the business.” I asked how you can know when you’ve learned enough. Tristan encouraged frequent check-ins or moments for reflection. For example, if you’ve had a week of ethnographic research: “At the end of the week, sit down with your teammates and say, ‘What did we learn? Do we have a new distinct concept of who our customer is? Have we changed our target market? Have we changed the value proposition?’ If there is nothing or if the change is so small as to be irrelevant, maybe you should be moving on…”

“As long as you’re learning something useful, then you should keep going. The moment you’re getting diminishing returns on any particular experiment or research method, then you should try something else. Some people enjoy the thrill of the discovery, but don’t enjoy the thrill of executing.”

Common Metrics for Success

We also talked about how to ensure that new innovative ways of working don’t fizzle out inside a company: “I think to have a lasting impact you have to begin with agreeing on the metrics for success. Otherwise, you risk that short-termism. If you’ve been focusing on culture change or mindset change, but everybody else in the company is asking for ROI, you’re sunk. You have to have an agreement right at the start of what metrics you’re going to be measuring. Otherwise, it’s just not gonna work.”

“Having a rigorous approach to innovation allows you to persevere.”

He continued: “Getting that agreement upfront is critical, and then measuring yourself religiously is critical. It’s essential for companies or accelerators that are promoting a business model canvas to have a dashboard for the program. Having a rigorous approach to innovation allows you to persevere. If you don’t have the metrics and the data to back up what you’re doing, then you will wind up on the chopping block when it comes to shoring up the profit margin of the company.”

Too Much Advice

We wrapped up our conversation by talking about well-intentioned things that can backfire in the innovation space. His answer might be surprising: “mentor advice or expert opinions.”

He explained: “These are mentors that are very familiar with an industry or have seen this innovation project more than one time. They’ll earnestly try to pull the team aside and say, ‘Hey, this project is not gonna work because of X, Y, and Z.’ That doesn’t work. Start-ups or very passionate founders are never going to abandon an idea just because somebody else tells you it’s a terrible idea. You have to get the team— as quickly as possible —to discover that information on their own.”

So, instead of telling startups what’s wrong with their approach or preaching at them, Tristan encourages mentors to help teams discover potential issues on their own. “You have to show them how to find that information themselves. Otherwise, they will ignore you. Perhaps they will admit that you were right two years later, but they’re going to ignore you at the moment, so it’s not useful advice.”

It was great chatting with Tristan and if you’d like to read more about how he thinks, definitely check out his blog Grassholder Herder, where he writes about lean startups, innovation ecosystems, and user experience.

If you want to read my other articles about innovation experts and practitioners, please check them all out here.

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