Role of the Facilitator Dairy Profit Teams Slide Source: Richard Stup Penn State Dairy Alliance (814) 865-4683 RichStup@psu.edu

Facilitator’s Role for Teams Why is a facilitator a key role for teams? Who should facilitate? What are the facilitators duties? What are some tips and tools for facilitators? Note: Facilitator Job Description is a separate file.

Why is facilitator a key role for teams?

Teams are a major investment for any organization Teams are a major investment for any organization. Facilitation is needed to ensure the best use of that investment. =

A Facilitator is… One who contributes structure and process to interactions so groups are able to function effectively and make high-quality decisions. A helper and enabler whose goal is to support others as they achieve exceptional performance. From: Bens, I. (1999). Facilitation at a Glance.

Who Should Facilitate?

Who Should Facilitate? Someone who is a . . . Good communicator Supporter of teams Good listener Good organizer The coordinator can be key to a successful team just as a football coach to a football team. A team can have world class talent but fail without leadership. Selection of a good coordinator is critical to team success. Since few people are experienced coordinators talented people must be found that can become good coordinators. A prospective coordinator most want to be a coordinator and benefit from working with a successful team. He should be an active learner and a good communicator. There is much to learn and communications is the primary tool for working closely with people. Team dynamic are different than group dynamics and the coordinator must master the difference. Some leaders are talkers but a good coordinator must understand what others are saying- listen skillfully. After understand others then seek to be understood. This is a skill that must be developed in leaders who can’t know all the science of dairy and must rely on other leaders in the group for content.

Who Should Facilitate? Someone who . . . Can help to establish ground rules Includes everyone in process Understands problem solving process Disorganized people can be highly creative contributors to teams. Team leaders must be organized so as to not frustrate team mates and waste valuable time. Everyone on the team must have a role to stay engaged in the process. Without a role a member becomes unimportant and will pull away from the process. Good coordinators involve all team members and make them active contributors. Enthusiasm is key in a coordinator. If the coordinator lacks enthusiasm it is difficult for the team to exhibit enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is infectious and spreads through the team increasing the energy level and creativity. Problem solving is the heart of the teams purpose. At least one person on the team should be competent in the more formalized process of problem solving. This is best placed in the role of the coordinator. Deciding on ground rules is easy for a team once the purpose and need for them is understood. Remembering to use them and enforce them when appropriate takes a skilled coordinator. It is easy to say “be quiet and let others have a turn speaking” but done inappropriately it can kill the creative force of the team and stifle cooperation.

What are the duties of the facilitator?

Facilitator Duties: During the Meeting Focus the team on increased: Productivity, profitability, and satisfaction Oversee Profit Team process Data analyses, SWOT analyses, goal setting, action planning, and monitoring Ask probing questions Raise issues Foster trusting atmosphere Involve everyone in the discussion Everyone enjoys success. Small successes lead to big successes. Focus the team on problem solving that includes all team members and leads to improved productivity, profitability and worker satisfaction. The coordinator should understand the process of data analysis, SWOT analysis, problem solving, and monitoring and lead the team through these activities wisely. The coordinator at times needs to disengage from the process and take up the role of facilitator. He analyzes the discussion and asks probing questions. Often the first ideas uncovered are canned and superficial. By digging deeper into a problem and asking repeatedly Why? Why? Why? The team reaches a more meaningful level. At times there will be issues that are not being addressed because they are overlooked or are to painful to address. A skillful coordinator will bring these to the surface.

Facilitator Duties: During the Meeting Summarize discussion Help others to listen Implement ground rules Monitor agenda and progress Assign responsibility for action items Celebrate successes In a new situation we all take a wait and see attitude. When we have confidence and trust those about us we think and speak more openly. This is a team dynamic that the skillful coordinator and manage. Humor or an easily solved problem can be an ice breaker and start the team off right. Some people are more vocal and like to speak. These conversation can be shallow. Someone that is more introverted and analytical may have part or all of the solution to the current discussion but shy about offering his thoughts. A simple question such as “Jack you look like you have given this a lot of thought would you mind sharing your ideas?” will bring for something that the team builds on. Often as people add to a discussion the train of though becomes vague. A quick summary of how the ideas fit with the original goal will bring the discussion back on course or bring things to closure. Some people enjoy talking and contribute much but may not hear what has been said. Other times the team doe not fully respect a team member’s ideas when he speaks. This is the time for the coordinator to help people listen. A comment such as “Tom, let me restate what you said and tell me if I understood you correctly” The next time this is needed you could ask the talker to write on the flipchart the essence of what Tom said previously. Listening is a skill we all can improve. A group needs boundaries and limits. By writing ground rules we can agree on this limits and use these when the team strays from the course. “Remember we agreed to let everyone speak and it is now Mary’s turn.” It is hard to facilitate the team meeting, manage the agenda and keep tract of time. Having another person on the team share the time keeping role helps. “Look friends we are 40 minutes into this meeting and have no action plan.” Too often I hear I could have done that with out a team. “I can’t really see what we accomplished.” We I review what was accomplished it is significant. When we survey owners they easily identify several successes. By celebrating the little successes everyone feels like they accomplished more, feel better about what the team did together and they remember the progress. Remember the height marks on the doorway from each birthday as people grew up? After several years you could visualize the change every time you past the door. Birthday parties were the celebration of growth but that growth was made apparent every day you passed the door way with the height marks. Celebrations help us see and remember the successes but most of all they make us feel good about the change.

Facilitator Duties: Outside the Meeting Formalize ground rules Set agenda with the owner Design a system of tracking critical data Design a system of communication Minutes, notes, phone calls, action plans, progress reports with the team and others To make the most of peoples time and keep the process focused consider these functions to improve the process. Set an agenda for a 60 minute meeting. The agenda is developed in a discussion involving at least the owner and coordinator. What doesn’t get accomplished in 60 minute DAT meeting is added to the next meeting agenda or can be assigned to a subgroup to resolve independent of the team. Set start times and finish time and insist that team members honor them. Verbally set the environment for a productive meeting. Outline the agenda and what needs to happen by the end of the meeting. Assign responsibilities so the work load is shared and understood and everyone is involved. Make a list of ground rules and write them where everyone can see them. Make new ones as needed, i.e. one person speaks at a time, what is discussed is confidential and is not discussed with other outside the team, etc. Critical data related to monitoring progress toward goals should be tract along with other key indicators so that the team know how well the action plan is meeting farm needs and correcting the major problems. In addition it is important to know that other critical systems on the farm don’t need attention while the current problem is being addressed. Number of cows milking, daily production per cow, dry matter intake, days to first breeding, feed on hand, etc help to assure that other systems are working properly. DAT communications are needed between meetings for most effective team meetings. Arriving at meetings and finding surprises on the agenda don’t use the teams ability maximally. Having time to gather your thoughts, find related information, contacts someone that is experienced in the new problem, opportunity to run specialized tests and have the results for the team members are all examples of the need for communications between meetings. There will be times the team meeting needs to be moved up and others need to be skipped. Reminders of what happened at the previous meetings and what is expected at the next meeting are also helpful. Some farm advisors are not part of the active DAT but could provide insight or need to know the teams decisions to perform their best. Communications at the right time with the right people is a trait of successful teams.

Facilitator Duties: Outside the Meeting (cont’d) Write action plans which: determine tasks, spread workload, set deadlines Learn more about advisory team process Suggest methods to improve team outcomes Having the right goals and spoken plans are not enough. Action plans can be simple but should be written down and shared. Team members need to be given tasks to do, the workload needs to be shared, and deadlines set so timely progress is made. As sports teams improve with practice and as the season lengthens DAT also need to continually improve. Everyone is too busy. Improvement will not happen unless someone makes it an issue and provides the process. There are many sources of material about team function in the trade press, books, business conferences and workshops. Find nuggets of wisdom from these sources and share them with team members. If we stop and analyze the team performance we everyone can spot things that work and others that need improvement. Team processes are not difficult to improve and can team players can contribute ideas for improvement. Take the time to do it.

What are some core practices and tools for facilitators? Note: Tools are available in a separate file.

Facilitator Core Practices Stay neutral Listen actively Ask questions Paraphrase Synthesize ideas Stay on track… manage digression Offer clear summaries Give and receive feedback

Standard Ground Rules Process Rules Behavioral Rules There must be open discussion of ideas Explain your reasoning and intent Use specific examples and agree on the meaning of important words Team and farm interests drive decisions, not individual interests or positions The team provides advice, but the producer makes the final decisions Behavioral Rules All data and discussions are confidential No one person dominates the meeting Respect each others’ opinions Meetings start and end on time

Process Tools Goal (Priority) setting Visioning Brainstorming Root cause analysis Decision grids Systematic problem solving Visioning Brainstorming Nominal group technique Force field analysis Gap analysis Multi-voting “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” --Abraham Maslow

Process Tools Force field analysis Decision grid Meeting process evaluation Facilitator evaluation Team member analysis Goal-setting worksheet Problem-solving model

Being a Facilitator Is about leading a problem solving process that uses people’s time more efficiently.. And arrives at better solutions Time is money Organize team members time and producers management time

Summary Facilitators play key role in Profit Teams. Facilitator assists producer in guiding the team. Does not need to have an interest in the dairy Additional time and effort is required. Facilitator tools are available on the website.

Summary, con’t Facilitation is critical to effective group process Facilitators need to learn the core practices and expand their toolboxes Good facilitators help team succeed, BUT the final outcome of the team is everyone’s responsibility.

Questions? 22