In part one of this series, we discussed the content and themes we explore in just about every leadership workshop we facilitate (e.g. the “what” we cover). In part two here, we will look at what we believe is even more important than content – the process, i.e. “how” we engage leaders in a workshop. With the amount and access to content that is mostly free these days (Google, YouTube, TED talks), trying to win over an audience through your content is that much tougher. Where you can differentiate is around how you engage them.
Process Considerations…
1) Connection precedes candor
One overarching goal for any leadership workshop is to generate real candor in the group so that we can discuss not only what is working well in the organization, but what is getting in the way of people and the organization reaching its potential. This is especially challenging, when there is hierarchy in the room. “Ground rules” do not promote candor, connection does. The workshop leader must do something to level-set the room and help people put aside titles and egos to have healthy dialogue. There is no one right way to do this, but having them talk in pairs first and share something personal helps. We often have the pairs introduce each other and share both their expectations (so we can address any that are “out of scope”) and something personal about them. This slows us down from getting into the content but supports the principle of “go slow to go fast”. The times we have had difficulty getting a group to be candid and really listen to each other is when we did not adequately address connection first.
2) Recognize the wisdom already in the room
We always try to remember that people come into a leadership workshop with plenty of life and leadership experience already and we need to respect that hard earned wisdom. This is usually addressed by:
- Publicly inviting them to share their experiences
- Letting the audience know that we (the instructors) are not here to provide leadership answers as much as facilitate discussion about how leadership is expressed at this organization.
- Putting questions back on them (“What do you think?”) rather than feeling we must always provide answers.
3) Experience first, then discussion
We have found we always get better discussion if we take the group through an experience/activity before talking about a leadership concept. This way it doesn’t just turn into an “academic/intellectual” discussion but a much more visceral one because we just completed an experience (i.e. a cycle of work) together. For more about taking a more experiential approach in your work with leadership teams see this previous post.
4) Challenge by choice
When challenging a group to come together and complete an activity, we always follow the principle of challenge by choice, meaning we offer a challenge for them to tackle but they each individually decide at what level they want to engage (which includes “not at all”). We have found you get better participation when you make it clear it is voluntary vs. mandatory. In the same vain, we remind leaders if you want commitment, you need to avoid mandating things otherwise about the best you can expect is compliance.
5) Location, Location, Location
By location we do not mean whether you have a workshop on-site or off, but rather to find a room that can be adjusted to promote good conversation. We find the ideal to be a conference room with round tables (or “pods”) for 4-6 to signal that most of the time will be spent discussing topics with your peers at your table. For a leadership type workshop where there is rarely one clear “right” answer, you don’t want a room layout that directs all the attention up front (e.g. classroom or “U” shape).
6) “Please, push back”
Since leadership topics very often give leaders a window to express their values, you may often hear, feel and see some passion arise in the course of discussion. It is a great sign is when you get some push-back going on and the key is for you not to close that down, but to lean in. This is hard to do when you are on the receiving end of that push-back. We often do some role plays where we simulate a leadership team meeting where one of us pushes back on something the meeting leader is trying to sell us to demonstrate how challenging it is not to see that push-back as “bad”. What we remind the audience is that the push-back is a sign of caring – that person still cares about the organization. So, look for moments of that passion looking to be expressed and remember not to flinch!
7) “How are we doing?”
One last practice we try to follow for any multi-day workshop is to get some feedback early on to see what’s working and what needs to be tweaked for the remaining day(s). This is consistent with the idea that leaders should seek feedback on how well they are leading. As Facilitators, we should be ready to do the same. One simple approach we take for a typical 3 day workshop is to at the beginning of day two, we will draw the following on a flipchart page
Then ask someone from the class to lead a discussion and capture the group’s feedback on the sheet around “What’s working with the class?” and “What do we want to change/tweak going forward?” We then leave the room and let the class discuss and then come back after :10 to review the feedback with them. By being open to their feedback real time, this just reinforces the desire for candor we talk about in point #1.
If you follow these practices and guidelines above, we’re confident your leadership workshops will have more impact!
