ACES training on how to be a good facilitator in research contexts

1. Facilitating Stakeholder Workshops
What makes stakeholder participation
ustainable Uplands
in environmental management work?
nvolved
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

2. 1. Important Terms

3. What are stakeholders?
• Anyone who can affect or be affected by a
decision or action
(after Freeman, 1984)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

4. What is stakeholder participation?
• A process where stakeholders (e.g. individuals,
groups and organisations) choose to take an
active role in making decisions that affect them
(After Wandersman 1981; Wilcox 2003; Rowe et al. 2004)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

5. 2. Basics of Participation
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

6. Different levels/types of participation in
community planning
The ladder of participation (Arnstein, 1969)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

7. Different levels/types of participation
The wheel of participation (Wilcox, 2003)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

8. Different levels/types of participation
Communication flows (Rowe & Frewer, 2000)
Facilitators Stakeholders
Communication
Facilitators Stakeholders
Consultation
Facilitators Stakeholders
Participation
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

9. Why engage stakeholders?
• Participation is increasingly embedded in policy
for the normative & pragmatic reasons discussed
• A democratic right e.g. Aarhus Convention
• Higher quality and more durable decisions
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

10. Challenges and disillusionment
• Empowering marginalised may interact with existing
power structures to cause unintended consequences
• Group dynamics may create “dysfunctional consensus”
• Consultation fatigue as poorly run processes fail to
deliver change
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

11. Evidence for claims of participation?
• Few claims have been tested, but there is firm
evidence that effective participation can enhance:
• Quality of decisions: due to more comprehensive
information inputs
• Durability of decisions: due to stakeholder buy-in
• But, decision quality and durability are highly
dependant on the quality of the process leading
to them
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

12. Tools vs overall process
• Participation is
more than a
collection of tools
and methods for
engaging
stakeholders
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

13. ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

14. 1. Start talking to people as
soon as you can
• From concept to
completion
• Early involvement leads to
higher quality and more
durable decisions
• Avoid raising false
expectations: make sure
there’s something to
negotiate
What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
nvolved

15. 2. Make sure you’re
talking to the
right people
• The nature and
legitimacy of
outcomes is
significantly
affected by
participant mix
• Lots of methods
available now for
“stakeholder
analysis”
What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
nvolved

16. 3. Make sure you know • Design the
what people want to process to the
talk about goals
• Identify goals
with stakeholders
• Be prepared to
negotiate and
compromise
• Partnerships,
ownership and
active
engagement in
the process is
What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
more likely
nvolved

17. • Communicate
e.g. information
dissemination via leaflets or
the mass media, hotlines and
public meetings
4. Be flexible: • Consult
e.g. consultation documents,
base level of opinion polls and
referendums, focus groups
participation and surveys
& methods on • Participate
your context e.g. citizen’s juries, consensus
& objectives conferences, task-forces and
public meetings with voting
• Tailor your
methods to
context What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
• Manage power
nvolved

18. • The outcome of a participatory process is
more sensitive to the manner in which it
is conducted than the tools that are used
• Don’t underestimate the power of
investing in a good facilitator to bring
people together and deliver high quality
outcomes
What makes stakeholder participation
5. Get a facilitator
in environmental management work?
nvolved

19. 6. Put local and scientific knowledge on an equal footing
• Science can help people make more informed decisions
• Local knowledge can question assumptions, and perhaps
lead to more rigorous science
What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
nvolved

20. • Decisions based on a combination of local and scientific
knowledge may by more robust due to more
comprehensive information inputs
What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
nvolved

21. 3. Overcoming barriers to participation

22. Barriers to participation
Practical: lack of time, money, skills
Stakeholder fatigue, apathy based on
Increasingly tractable
negative former experiences
Fear of losing control, unwanted/biased outcomes
World view (or epistemology):
• Reductionists, in search of universal truth, find it hard to value local
knowledge and multiple perspectives
• If you know what’s right, why consult?
• Often related to disciplinary background, but more about the way people
construct & perceive knowledge

23. Barriers to participation
Practical: lack of time, money, skills
Stakeholder fatigue, apathy based on
Increasingly tractable
negative former experiences
Fear of losing control, unwanted/biased outcomes
World view (or epistemology):
• Reductionists, in search of universal truth, find it hard to value local
knowledge and multiple perspectives
• If you know what’s right, why consult?
• Often related to disciplinary background, but more about the way people
construct & perceive knowledge

24. Overcoming barriers
 Deeper issues may take generations to change
 But most of these are tractable issues
 Practical – we can make time/money and good
practice skills available
 Stakeholder scepticism: replacing bad with good
practice, negative with positive experiences
 Decision-maker scepticism: good practice can set
boundaries (avoid raising false expectations via
participation if no alternatives) and minimise bias
 The key: identifying, spreading and facilitating
good practice

25. 4. Planning & Facilitating Events
What makes stakeholder participation
in environmental management work?
nvolved

26. 4a. Process Design
Includes some material based on a Dialogue Matters course (Diana Pound), with help from Ros Bryce
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

27. What is important in planning an event?
The ‘GROW’ Model*
Goal What is the issue to be addressed?
Reality Where are you now?
Options Possible options?
actionactionaction
?
Will
What will you do?
* Sir John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance: GROWing People, Performance and Purpose (Nicholas Brealey, 2002)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

28. Goals
• What do you want to achieve?
• What do you want to change?
• How will you know if you’ve been successful?
• When do you want to have achieved your goal?
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

29. Reality
• What is happening at the moment? How have
you verified this is true?
• What are you achieving at present?
• What action have you taken on this so far?
What were the effects of this action?
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

30. Options
• What actions could you take to move forward?
• What strategies have worked before in similar
circumstances?
• If no barriers or limitations existed, what would
you do?
• Which step will give the best result?
• Advantages/disadvantages of this step?
• Which option will you work on first?
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

31. Will
• What are you going to do?
• When are you going to do it?
• What help do you need?
• Who will you involve?
• What might prevent you from taking this step?
• How can you overcome this?
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

32. What is important in planning an event?
Understanding the situation
• Purpose
• Outputs
• Stakeholders
• Timeframes
Process plan
Practicalities •Timetable
•The team •No. of workshops
•The venue •Key tasks
•The tools •Action plan
Task plan Event plan
•Purpose •Timing
•Questions •Purpose
•Groupings •Outputs
•Techiques
ustainable Uplands •Sessions
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

33. Event planning
• What is the purpose of the process/event?
• What are the outcomes you want?
• What are the outcomes stakeholders want?
• Who are the stakeholders?
• How does the event link to the wider project,
process or your organisation’s goals?
• How will you keep people engaged?
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

34. Structuring an event
• Make a facilitation plan
– Timings (include buffer – things you can skip)
– Who will do what when?
– Equipment list
– Session/activity titles (for participants’ agenda)
– Detailed methods under each title
– Try out unfamiliar methods first
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

35. Choosing techniques
• Be clear about outcomes and outputs required
• Alter group size depending on no. participants,
tasks to be completed, amount of in-depth
discussion needed and the level of conflict
• Self-facilitating small groups or many
facilitators?
• Start with opening out techniques
• Explore/discuss, and if necessary close down
(rank, prioritise etc)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

36. Information gathering: opening out
• Brainstorming
• Metaplan
• Venn diagrams
• Listing
• Carousel
• Mapping and participatory GIS
• Conceptual modelling or mind-mapping
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

37. Exploring: analysis
• Categorisation e.g. card sorting and Q
methodology
• Problem tree analysis or cause-effect mapping
• SWOT analysis
• Timelines
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

38. Decision making: closing down
• Voting
• Ranking
• Prioritisation (e.g. sticky dots)
• Multi-Criteria Evaluation
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

39. 4b. Facilitation Tools & Techniques
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

40. Why facilitate?
• Efficient: more discussed in less time
• Impartiality
• Clarity
• A helpful atmosphere
• Appropriate techniques
• More people have a say
• No organisation or individual in control or veto
• The outcome is open
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

41. What do you fear most?
Group challenges:
• Dominating people, big egos
• Quiet or unconfident people
• Diverse groups: different ways of approaching
an issue, different backgrounds and values
From within:
• Lack of confidence
• Lack of experience
• Too few tools & techniques: no plan B
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

42. Overcoming our fears
• Increasing our skill level:
– Tools & techniques
– Getting experience
• Increasing our personal confidence and power:
developing “presence”
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

43. Interpersonal facilitation skills:
• Empathetic
• Capable of building rapport with group and
maintaining positive group dynamics
• Handling dominating or offensive individuals
• Encourage participants to question assumptions
and re-evaluate entrenched positions
• Get the most out of reticent individuals
• Humble, open to feedback
• Perceived as impartial, open to multiple
perspectives and approachable
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

44. Practical facilitation skills:
• Active listening and understanding
• Enable people to clarify their thoughts
• Let people know their opinions are valued
• Help people go beyond facts to meanings
• Help people to ‘own’ their problems, take
responsibility for them and think of solutions
• Giving momentum and energy
• Ensuring everyone has an opportunity to input
• Making an impartial record of the discussion
• Writing clearly, managing paper (assistant?)
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

45. Practical skills continued:
• Non-verbal feedback:
– Eye contact
– Nodding, smiling
– Focussed attention
– Value silence
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

46. • Verbal feedback:
– Sounds, short phrases
– Clarifying details
– Encouraging/probing: asking for more information
– Open (not closed) questions
– Summarising: to confirm correct interpretation
– Reframing:
• Technique to move people from a negative stance
to discuss a positive way forward
• Acknowledge what has been said
• Ask an open question that seeks to get at the heart
of the problem
• Involve others in group in solving the problem
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

47. Useful Tricks
• Ground rules: agree at outset, refer back if need
• Parking space: park now and deal with later
• Open space: adapt to participant needs/interests
• Get an opinion leader to introduce the event: the
group may be more likely to trust you by proxy
• Group mirroring – bring them with you:
– Empathise with group feeling, start there
– Keep smiling, positive & energised tone of voice,
pace, increasingly open body language
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

48. 5. Deep dynamics of facilitation
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

49. Plan
 Identity & roles
 Dealing with conflict
 Power & influence
 Appreciative inquiry
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385131/Russia-Victory-Day-Female-police-cadets-20-000-parade.html

50. Identity & Roles

51. Identity & Roles
Exercise in pairs:
• Draw a large circle on a piece of paper
• Make a pie chart with each segment representing
different aspects of your identity – who you are e.g.
teacher, researcher, dad...
• Make the size of each segment proportional to the
importance of that part of your identity
• Swap with a neighbour and discuss
• Now draw the same pie chart again, this time
making the size of the pieces proportional to the
amount of time you spend being that part of you are
(you can add/remove segments if need be)

52. 1. We are typically more conscious of the parts
of our identify that are different to those
around us
• e.g. if you are from a different country,
older/married etc.

53. 2. We use different parts of who we are in
different situations e.g. when we are in
different groups of people
• We often do this without thinking about it
• We are not changing our identity – we’re just
drawing on different parts of ourselves to adopt
different roles

54. 3. This has implications for group dynamics
• Groups take on their own identity – as a
facilitator be aware of different identities within
the group.
• For example:
– an individual you interview may act differently and say
very different things in a group
– and they may do and say different things again if you
put them in a another group

55. 4. In conflicts, people slip into rehearsed
opposing roles that prevent them listening or
learning

56. Avoiding conflict
Early warning signs of conflict:
• First, be aware of your own feelings
• Early signs of conflict you can detect in yourself?

57. Early warning signs of conflict
• Early signs of conflict you can detect in yourself?
• Anxiety, dread, frustration, anger
• Irrational thoughts e.g. “they don’t like me”, “it is
going to fail”
• Behaving out of character e.g. nervous checking
of things, working faster
• Exhibiting high or low power characteristics that
are out of role e.g. becoming bossy or submissive

58. Early warning signs of conflict
• Early signs of conflict you can detect in others?

59. Early warning signs of conflict
• Early signs of conflict you can detect in others?
• Cold, distant, withdrawn
• Withholding confidences or ideas
• Closing body language
• Threats and offhand comments (even as jokes)
• Argumentative, not agreeing, blaming
• Moralising, intellectualising
• Silence, passivity

60. Avoiding conflict
• Can building rapport / mutual understanding help
avoid conflict?
• Brainstorm: how can you build rapport (do’s and
don’ts)

61. Power & influence

62. Group discussion
• How can you identify those in a group with more
or less power?
• What signs can you look for in yourself or others
to identify high or low rank?

63. How much power do you possess?
• There are four types of power you can possess:
1. situational
2. social
3. personal
4. transpersonal

64. Situational Power
• Role in formal hierarchy
• Seniority
• Expertise or experience
• Access to decision makers

65. Social Power • Social network
• Race or ethnicity • Marital status/ children
• Gender/ orientation • Appearance or
attractiveness
• Age
• Religious affiliation
• Class
• Title (e.g. Dr)
• Profession
• Wealth
• Education level
• Health/physical ability

66. Personal Power
• Ability to communicate
• Self awareness and influence others
• Self confident and • Integrity and honesty
assertive
• Creativity
• Charisma
• Positive and honest
• Strength of character estimation of your
worth and abilities
• Emotional maturity
• Easy to get on with, so
• Ability to empathise
can build networks
• Ability to survive
• Build others up
adversity
• Life experience

67. Transpersonal Power
• Connection to something larger than yourself
• Spirituality or faith (not religion)
• Ability to move beyond or forgive past hurts
• Freedom from fear
• Service to an unselfish vision

68. You may not be able to change your situational
power if you’re at the bottom of the
organisation’s hierarchy
But you may be able to increase your power in
other ways, especially your personal and
transpersonal power.
What power do you already possess, and how
can you increase your power?

69. Fill in questionnaire
• Individually
• Then pair up with someone (preferably who you
know) and swap notes
• Questions for you to both answer at the end of
the sheet

70. Appreciative Enquiry
• Turns problem-solving on its head
• Focus on rediscovering and reorganising the
good rather than problem solving
• Process of sharing success stories from the past
and present, asking positive questions in pairs
• Conceive and plan the future on the basis of the
successes and strengths that are identified
• Can include everyone in change/future planning

71. Appreciative Enquiry
• Pair up with someone
• Ask them to tell you a story about one of their
greatest successes
• Get them to tell you right from the start, with a
beginning, middle and end, like a story
• Prompt them to tell you why they were so
pleased, how they felt and draw out the positives

72. Appreciative Enquiry
• How do you feel?!

73. Reading
• Reed MS (2008) Stakeholder participation for
environmental management: a literature review.
Biological Conservation 141: 2417–2431
• Reed MS, Graves A, Dandy N, Posthumus H, Hubacek
K, Morris J, Prell C, Quinn CH, Stringer LC (2009) Who’s
in and why? Stakeholder analysis as a prerequisite for
sustainable natural resource management. Journal of
Environmental Management 90: 1933–1949
ustainable Uplands
Learning to manage future change
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands