Posts Tagged ‘facilitation skills’

Facilitation Top 5

Posted: January 30th, 2012 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Top FiveAs any instructor will tell you, one of the best things about teaching is learning from your students.  It happens in some way, big or small, every time you get in front of people who are expecting to hear how to do it “right.” 

Of course, there is no “right” a lot of the time.  In my classes, for example, I instruct and inform, but I also facilitate discussions about the options, and the students decide what’s going to work for them.

This brings me to the recent Facilitation Skills Workshop class I taught.  In this class, we learn about different facilitation techniques and then the students do the work; they actually facilitate each of the 12 sessions throughout the class.

Is Your Meeting Worth the Time?

Posted: December 20th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. 2 Comments »

MeetingA couple of days ago I fired up my online calendar and started to schedule a meeting with my manager.  Our meetings are typically less than 30 minutes long, but I had  a lot to talk about, so I was going to make it an hour long.  Yessirree.  I had a lot of stuff on my mind, I needed an audience, and he was the logical person to hear me out!

Training for Project Closure

Posted: November 8th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Business people crossing the finishing lineI ran my first triathlon this past summer.  My biggest concern going into the race was how I was going to hold up toward the end.  Running is the last of the three events, and the one about which I was least confident.  I wondered if I would be able to finish that last mile or if I would simply be so exhausted that I would not make it across the finish line.  As it turns out, I was so invigorated by the experience and so excited about completing the race that the closer I got, the easier it actually became as I moved toward the finish line.

Toss Negativity into the Trash with Ritual Cleansing

Posted: April 12th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Can't_Do_CanDo you remember the last time something bothered you so much that you couldn’t get it out of your head?  A troublesome thought can consume you and preclude you from thinking of anything else.  It becomes paralyzing.

One way to resolve persistent, negative thoughts is to do something to symbolize the elimination of the source of the negative thought and associated negative energy.  For example, you might write down your thought on a piece of paper and then tear it up or burn it to symbolize the destruction of what’s troubling you.  Psychologists call it ritual cleansing.

Top Fundamentals for Successful Virtual Meetings

Posted: January 29th, 2010 by RichLarson. 4 Comments »

If you’re a project manager or business analyst and have ever facilitated or participated in a virtual meeting, you know they can be highly productive. And, highly frustrating if not run well. Here is a list of 5 things I think all virtual meetings should have to be successful:Picture1

1)      Test your technology. If you have never used the software or hardware for your virtual meetings, make sure you practice with a small group first. If you are doing a formal presentation, I suggest you reboot your PC right before you make it. We recently did a product demo where the presenter’s PC froze up right at the start. It took some fancy “tap dancing” to recover and keep the meeting going. Better to reboot first than to recover later.