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Each month we bring you a nonviolence training material
or a workshop. These have recently been mainly on group work
and they are being added to the Workshops section of the INNATE
website.
[Click
here to view print version]
‘Going through the motions’ is never
enough and is unlikely to feel creative for either facilitator(s)
or participants. But what can you do as a facilitator or organiser
to make sure a workshop/discussion session/training is as
positive an experience as possible for all concerned? This
piece is in the nature of a checklist but even if you are
an experienced facilitator and ‘do these things naturally’,
an event can always be better run and better focused. Some
of the issues here are a matter of style and if your style
works then go for it – participants usually like a fluid
style even if it is idiosyncratic (individual and different);
these matters are not written in stone and comments below
are intended to help rather than hinder creative processes.
An awareness of group needs (task and maintenance) is essential
for any facilitator This does not mean that you have to
be actively concerned with seeing all such needs are met as
you can ask individual members of the group to look after
something (“Could you/someone please look after heat
and ventilation today, turning on or off radiators and opening
the windows or door if necessary so we retain a pleasant working
environment?”). In any case, most of these are essentially
‘participant’ tasks and skills; if you are a participant,
adopt a role that isn’t being done. If you are unsure
about playing a particular role or how you’re doing
it then check it out (explaining the role you’re playing
or considering playing) to the chair/facilitator when and
if you have the opportunity individually and out of session,
so they know what you’re trying to do. There can also
be a tendency to think that people are familiar with this
area when many are probably not; taking it as a topic may
be valuable for ongoing group dynamics, either in an ongoing
or a transient group (in the case of a transient group, the
main benefit is when they take it back to their regular meeting
groups). You can always check out whether people are aware
in this area.
Awareness of inclusion (bringing everyone into
participation as fully as possible) and consensus (making
decisions with the fullest possible agreement) are both necessary
approaches. For the latter, see INNATE workshop material ‘Consensus
for small groups’.
Advance planning is essential and includes detailed timing
of where you need to be when in the meeting or workshop. When
you are familiar with a particular format and theme you can
sense much more easily how it is likely to go and therefore
be much looser in your planning. But a plan has to be flexible
(see spontaneity below) and every group experience is different.
If it’s a complex workshop, or one you have not facilitated
before, you may particularly want to consider working with
a co-facilitator (which can be a good idea anyway) –
but it depends if that’s possible.
An exercise which acknowledges where people are coming from
(e.g. what they’re giving up to participate) can be
useful in recognising people as individuals and their commitment
to coming. It can also be useful in helping people make the
transition to being with you rather than where they would
otherwise be. This can be done quickly in a circle along with
personal introductions (“please share your name, where
you’re from, and what you’d be doing today if
you weren’t here”). Obviously other introductory
exercises, name games and so on can be used as appropriate.
Even if it’s an informal group and everyone is relaxed,
a group contract or ground rules can be wise, i.e. a set of
rules for the workshop or group which everyone assents to
(and which you can therefore refer to if someone goes against
them or there are problems). There may be things you want
(e.g. starting on time in morning and after breaks), and there
may be things which participants want (e.g. getting away early
on a particular day) which can form part of it. Many people
are now familiar with ‘standard’ ground rules
and you can if you wish present a ‘standard’ list
(it’s faster) and ask people to add or subtract (the
list can include such points as one person speaking at a time,
speaking for yourself only, confidentiality, no question is
barred or too stupid, no put downs). But always get active
assent from people to the contract or rules and check for
questions.
One thorny issue which might require explored
in some contexts is what ‘confidentiality’ actually
means in practice – e.g. does it mean not sharing anything
from the workshop (which may be unfair or impossible) or “Chat
‘em house rules” – (a colloquial and jokey
rendering of London’s ‘Chatham House Rules’),
where broad themes can be shared and what was done but no
quotes are given or attributed directly to anyone. The longer
the workshop, the less experienced people are in group work,
or the more sensitive the topic, the more time you may need
to spend on ground rules.
Viewing any event, even a meeting or a training workshop,
as theatre is a useful approach (cf Broad Based Organising
and Alinsky approach, see INNATE workshop material). This
does not mean ‘grandstanding’ (showing off) but
being aware of yourself and the performance you are giving
and actively creating the event as opposed to allowing it
to ‘happen’. And if ‘theatre’ is boring
then there is something wrong; you may need to think in terms
of build up, climax, and if necessary, aftermath, but above
all how to engage the ‘audience’.
Variety is the spice of life and without it then anything
can become a bit insipid or boring. Try to vary the pace,
the format, and more serious/intellectual and less serious
bits. Move from plenary to small groups or pairs and back
again, if appropriate.
Most, but not all, participants are also probably
going to like relevant spontaneity. This means doing more
on an important issue which has emerged, or giving more time
to an issue which has been planned but cannot be adequately
dealt with in the allocated time. The downside is that this
is likely to mean something else doesn’t get dealt with
at all or so fully. But different groups are different and
it is impossible always to know correctly how much time to
allocate to something; a contingency is to deliberately build
in ‘spare time’ to do just this kind of thing
but that depends on the workshop being long enough to begin
with. However in all cases explain what you’re thinking
of doing, get reactions, and if necessary negotiate (this
includes with any co-facilitators whose input may get squeezed).
What you can weave into the sessions is up to you, your knowledge
and understanding of these forms of expression.
Humour is great if you can blend it in either
from humour you have prepared or extempore jokes; however,
be warned that it is possible for facilitators to use ‘put
down’ humour or for some jokes to be considered as a
put down where they are not intended as such. And some subjects
don’t lend themselves to the use of humour without a
high risk of offence.
Music can provide either a break or an illustration
of a point. Build up your reference list from your own music
library of what is suitable for what (e.g. introductions,
breaks, illustrating aspects of green issues/war/violence/men
and women and violence/social change/political issues etc.);
you can then find something fast even when under pressure.
You may be surprised at what in your music collection can
be used. Of course if you can sing and play an instrument
then so much the better.
Poetry can also communicate very effectively
in a workshop setting but don’t use your own poetry
unless you’ve tried it out with others first or you’re
very sure of yourself . ‘Poetry’ can include humorous
doggerel which no one is going to see as ‘serious’
but can make a point.
Drama presentations can be an excellent way to set up a discussion
or analysis. It can be done very simply, e.g. getting a couple
of participants (or indeed, people you bring in) to enact
a scene. This can be done reading a script but obviously the
more preparation the people involved have had time to do,
the better; if it is more than a one-day workshop you could
get a couple of volunteers to read through a script before
enacting it the next day.
Participatory drama is excellent if you can
use it but beware resistance (see ‘Making a drama of
a crisis’ – INNATE workshop section - on dealing
with resistance and unwillingness to use drama).
Viewing a video/DVD is something which can provide
a useful dose of reality as well as a change of pace. But
choose carefully what you will show so it continues as a workshop/interactive
session rather than a video viewing.
‘Games’ are differentiated from ‘drama’
here because games may or may not be particularly learning-oriented
as opposed to being a tool (a ‘light and lively’
in US jargon) to invigorate people. Some people shun games
because they are too unserious but a) they may be just the
thing to prevent participants from falling asleep and be a
means to reinvigorate them, and/or b) they can mark the transition
from one part of the programme to another, and c) there is
much learning to be had from certain games including ones
of ‘hard choices’ and inclusion/exclusion.
That said, it is easier to use games with younger aged groups
and people who do not take themselves too seriously (!); it
may be more challenging to try to use games with older, ‘more
serious’ groups but it can be done, if chosen carefully.
If you are a visiting facilitator it can also be useful to
have agreed the forms of activity with the organisers beforehand
(“I would like to use drama and games as part of the
day…” and explain the kind of games you’re
thinking of using) and asked them to communicate and consult
with participants - in the nature of things, an organiser
may agree to all sorts of things for a workshop but if participants
don’t know about it then prior discussion and agreement
can be worthless.
There are a variety of selections of games readily
available.
The PowerPoint presentation is the current favourite but is
often overdone or unnecessary. If you are going to use it,
make sure you give the slides ‘shrunk’ to a number
on a page as handout notes. PowerPoint used as simply words
which you read out is deadly boring – preferably use
it for visuals and some headings or particularly apt points
or quotes. And, if you are not familiar with how it works,
become familiar before inflicting your presentation on others
(there is nothing as painful as watching someone struggling
with technology which others could use with their eyes closed).
You can’t beat the photocopied or printed
handout because participants can take it home. But, as with
PowerPoint, reading straight through a handout is a recipe
for curing insomnia. One approach is to give people handouts
in advance so they can read them but realistically not everyone
will do so, or it may only be a glance. In the session, you
can allow people a few minutes to read through a handout before
picking up points from it, or go through it slowly enough
to allow people to read enough of it as you go.
Using an overhead projector is fine though not
as professional looking as using PowerPoint; if used simply
for headings and areas being covered in the session it can
be every bit as effective though people need to make their
own notes if you are not providing them.
Try and keep to previously agreed break times unless you renegotiate,
as in “We need another 25 minutes to finish this off,
is it all right if we keep going and push the lunch break
back by 25 minutes? You will still have three-quarters of
an hour.” But get assent. Likewise start times after
breaks should be adhered to where possible – hanging
around for half an hour because someone has nipped out in
their lunch break is not very fair on those who are back in
time.
Ending times also need to be considered carefully
and whether a) you want to end before anyone has to depart,
or b) it doesn’t matter if people have to drift off
before you have completed the work, you can still do the necessary
with those left. While a) may make for the feeling that you’re
ending on a high note, and b) may feel like a few battling
through to the bitter end, the decision may be determined
by simple pragmatics (Can people stay until the proposed end
time? How much time do you need?) and whether you need everyone
there to deal with the topic.
There are many different kinds of evaluation so it’s
a bit boring to always do it the same way (use your imagination).
Pointless questions in evaluation forms are common and are
just that, pointless; what do you really need to know? Then
make sure that your chosen method will give you an answer.
You can do it as a spectrum exercise; participants’
comments are invited and people indicate whether they agree
or disagree by where they place themselves (if you are concentrating
on facilitating this you may want to have someone on hand
to make notes on people’s responses). One possibility
is a combination of written comments and evaluations in a
circle, the latter allows a ‘group feeling’ to
emerge and can be a natural culmination of the work. A group
of twenty can do an evaluation in a circle in ten minutes
if everyone speaks for under thirty seconds; so you can ask
for literally one or two sentences, e.g. something I enjoyed
today and something I felt could have been better. And if
you go to the trouble of doing an evaluation, then do use
it for any future work with the group or your own future planning
or you’ve wasted everyone’s time and energy in
doing it.
Acknowledging everyone’s work and contribution
to the workshop/meeting, even where issues or difficulties
still remain, shows respect for the effort that participants
have put into it. This can be done verbally or in the form
of a very short game (e.g. pat on back in circle all turned
one direction, or ‘Filipino one clap’ where on
the count of 3 everyone does a single clap together).
Facilitating a group when it is prepared thoroughly and done
well can be a great feeling, of being competent and trusted,
of both learning in the process and facilitating learning.
But if a facilitator is not learning more about both their
craft and their subject then there is a danger of it becoming
too routine which may not be good for either the facilitator
or participants and it may be time to change. There are always
new ways to do things and more to learn for all of us. Aiming
to be ‘Getting the most from the meeting and workshop
experience’ is primarily for the benefit of participants
but it is also for the facilitator or facilitators.
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