More info about interventions by the facilitator | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Rob Sandelin (floriferousemail.msn.com) | |
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 08:34:57 -0600 (MDT) |
I received several private messages of which several had the theme of: Intervention sounds like group therapy. I am sending my reply to the whole list and adding some hopefully reassuring details. Intervention is not group therapy. The effective facilitator does not seek to clarify the deep emotional reasons behind behaviors unless that is what the group wants. Intervention is used to support the use of the groups ground rules, to minimize behaviors that are ineffective, and to keep morale high. Intervention has two sides, the supportive side and the corrective side. Supportive intervention is simply positive reinforcement of the groups ground rules or of individual positive contributions. For example, in a meeting discussion over parking, Patty says: I need covered parking. My old car leaks and when it rains it makes my interior all wet and moldy. Since this statement is in line with the groups ground rule of: "state your needs and give details", I as facilitator might choose to publically praise her by saying: "thank you for clearly stating your needs and giving us the details behind them." Doing so I reinforce the groups ground rules, I give Patty a positive stroke, and the rest of the group sees it. Ground rules are very hard to stick with unless they are reinforced. You forget about them quickly unless you are reminded regularily. Intervention keeps them in front of people. Public intervention reminds the group to be accountable. A private supportive intervention might look like this. Marcia has received feedback from the group that when she uses sarcasm it hurts people, they feel wounded, or confused about what she really means. Marcia is working on not making sarcastic remarks and when she speaks at one point, she starts off sarcastically, but then self corrects, pauses and then comes out with a sincere statement. After the meeting I would come up to her privately and mention that I really appreciated her work in the meeting today. This helps her reinforce her self contract. In a well functioning group, others would comment to her about it as well and that good feeling and support will go a long ways in her self work. The more you can say "thank you" to each other, the better people will feel about the group. Conversely, corrective interventions are not necessarily confrontational, in fact seldom so. For example, in the same parking discussion Shirley says: "I think this plan stinks. Nobody is going to be able to get their cars in there." My corrective intervention would go something like: "Shirley, could you give us more information about your needs and give us some more details?." This correction, a public intervention, is seemless and non-threatening and steers Shirley back to the ground rules. Using interventions as a delibrate facilitation tool takes some thinking. Its a very good thing to have on your meeting plan. You can actually list behaviors and ground rules you want to reinforce to help you remember. By the way, in general the ratio of positive to corrective interventions should be at least 10 to 1, meaning lots of positive feedback should be happening for every correction needed. Catch 'em being good is a great way to reinforce the behaivors that make meetings effective and go a long way towards creating a positive and good feeling meeting environment. Once you do this a few times, complementing and praising people becomes a natural part of your faciliation, and corrections will come easily and with good will. Rob Sandelin Effective meetings/effective facilitation workshops available in 2000.
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