Irrespective of the type of business, industry, or geographic location, the backbone of every organisation is the people who make it possible for its existence, growth, and success. Depending on the type, the people who make up a business can vary in head count, specialisation, experience, and skillset. Therefore, it is imperative that this backbone is collaborative to drive, define and execute strategies at all levels to deliver outcomes that help realise the overarching business goals.
To bring about a collaborative approach to achieving shared outcomes, facilitation is used as a common approach to ensure impacted people are involved through a participatory process in ideating, discovering, and decision-making. Identifying the right participants and organising a suitable time for them to participate in a facilitated session with a perfect agenda is only a start. There is a lot involved in the planning, execution, and follow-up when we think about facilitated sessions and achieving the intended outcomes successfully.
In this article, we are going to focus on one specific aspect of facilitated sessions – dysfunctional behaviour and how to manage them.
Dysfunctional behaviour
Simply put, dysfunctional behaviour is experienced when one or more participants consciously or unconsciously express displeasure with the session, either over the content or the way it is organised and run, for a variety of reasons which are often known only to themselves.
If you are the facilitator of the session, it is essential that you take notice of early signs of dysfunction before it can potentially derail the outcome of the session.
Symptoms
Generally, dysfunction is a symptom and not the root cause of a problem. The symptoms should not be ignored as they can be contagious with one participant starting it and others adopting it before it reaches an untenable situation. Irrespective of how well you know the participants in a session, the symptoms are easy to notice, like a few listed below:
- Body language & other physical signs of displeasure
- Aggressive behaviour
- Negative comments
- Complete silence with no contribution
- Distraction – mobile and other work devices
- Extreme situation – people may leave the room in displeasure
So, how do we address dysfunction and get all participants contributing to the common outcome of a session? In the following segment we will unpack a few key techniques that can be used to address such behaviours. It is worth noting that all the techniques described in this article are meant for in-person sessions which run for a longer duration, such as, full, or half-day workshops. Not all the techniques and tips are meant for shorter or rapid sessions, however they can come in handy based on the situation.
The Three Golden Rules
Three golden rules to managing dysfunctional behaviour in a session are Prevent, Detect and Resolve.
Prevent is all about activities that need to be carried out prior to holding the session. As a facilitator you need to be aware of what you are walking into with respect to the participants and outcome intended from the session. Engage with key stakeholders to know more about the participants especially in terms of the outcome you desire – those who may be in favour and those who may lose something because of the agenda items. Try to find out if there is any history of failure to reach similar outcomes, and other interpersonal insights about participants who do not gel well with each other. Unearthing such information prior to the session is very valuable and will help in putting specific approaches in place such as setting up appropriate ground rules that can prevent or minimise any potential dysfunctional behaviour during the session. As a facilitator you can influence seating arrangements in the meeting so that you can enable yourself to walk around the room rather than being seated in the front, thus engaging with all participants equally while ensuring their participation. It is our recommendation that you have a nominated scribe for the session so that you can focus on the facilitation and avoid anything that may distract you from your participants and relating to them.
Detect is about remaining vigilant during the session to observe participation and take note of any early signs of disengagement or disruption so that they can be addressed early. Look out for the symptoms described above and use the meeting space to your advantage to identify dysfunctional behaviours.
Resolve is the continuation of what you observed so that dysfunctional behaviours can be resolved as early and quietly as possible. Depending on the level and type of dysfunction you may choose to resolve in different ways. Our strong recommendation is to avoid any resolution activity in front of others and deal with the participant displaying dysfunctional behaviour privately. As a facilitator, you can choose to call an early break in the session if needed to resolve a situation discreetly with a participant. Where appropriate, it is a particularly good practice to empathise with participants who display symptoms of displeasure. You can put it in a way that acknowledges their work state, such as “It seems like you might be having a lot on your plate”, “I understand that it is taking a lot out from your regular day” etc. And in some instances, you may choose to address the root cause of their behaviour if it is known, with appropriate caution by using exploratory questioning style and empathy. The underlying golden rule is to deal with it discreetly and use planned breaks to your advantage.
In extreme situations, where are you are sure that the intended outcome of the session cannot be met, then, as a facilitator you must not be afraid to halt the session and plan for a reschedule. This is not always easy especially when you have been brought into the fold specifically to make the session work. However, if the expected outcome is not going to be achieved, it is prudent to plan for a restart with the right participants at a later stage.
As a facilitator, you have control over how you organise and run the session you have planned for. Therefore, in addition to the three golden rules above, we list these following handy tips and techniques which can be used to manage dysfunctional behaviours during the session.
Reiterate ground rules
When you encounter participants in the session who arrive late or leave early, it is important to reiterate the ground rules of the session in a way that resonates with them. Have a conversation with such participants during the breaks and highlight the importance of tight timelines the entire group is working to and how crucial their full participation is and emphasise the significance of not having to organise any further sessions as it will require more time from all participants.
Participants who dominate discussions
When you encounter participants who display dominant behaviour in the discussions to the extent that it leads to silence or minimalistic contribution from others in the session, you can seek assistance from the dominators through discreet chat during breaks on how to get others to contribute. Occasionally, it is not a bad idea to acknowledge their desire to speak but ensure that you would like to hear from someone else who may have differing views or other valid commentary about the subject in discussion.
Silent and stubborn participants
A great way to deal with silent and stubborn participants who are reluctant to contribute is to have a flexible approach to deploy a round robin way of discussing the subject, so that no one gets left out in providing their response. Another tip is to use the room space to reach out to them and direct questions to them, so that they can contribute to the discussions.
Naysayers
With participants who are negative during the session, as a facilitator your main approach to deal with the situation is to seek their buy-in. You can invite them to describe how they would approach the topic in discussion, how can we make the session better, what would they suggest to achieve the outcome of the session etc. This way you can transform the negativity to contribute into something that will address collaboration and generate ideas to achieve success from the session. Another useful tip is, although it might disrupt the flow and slow down the session, to hear the issues out and list them and address them before you proceed any further. Often not all issues can be addressed during a session, another tip therefore is to use the ‘Parking Lot’ to list all issues and how they can be addressed either at the end of the session or by follow-up.
Participants who display good behaviour
Participants who display good behaviour that fosters collaboration and ensures contributions from others, can be rewarded for their action. This is because, not only are they working on your behalf to get to the common outcome but also promote better functional behaviour from others in the process. Therefore, acknowledging and rewarding their act is a good technique that can be used.
In conclusion, to achieve a common outcome involving multiple stakeholder groups in a facilitated session, it is important that dysfunctional behaviours are managed appropriately. A key underlying element you will need to ensure is to take care of yourself as a facilitator. It is no fun to facilitate sessions when there is unmanageable level of dysfunctional behaviour from the participants. As a facilitator you must remain objective and not give into your emotions when dysfunctional behaviours are encountered. Hopefully, the golden rules, tips, and techniques presented here resonate with you and allow you to be better equipped as a facilitator in dealing with dysfunctional behaviour in a facilitated session.
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