There are a lot of misconceptions about workshops, and having run many, they are hard work, although participants rarely see that work. ‘Blue sky’ thinking is sometimes necessary, but in the absence of strategic discipline, can become completely disconnected from the real world where implementation occurs.

Here are some things workshop are not:

Workshops are not a democracy.

Someone must lead, show the way, and the bigger the group, the greater the call on the workshop convenor to be a real leader if there is to be any useful outcomes

Workshops are not an unplanned free for all.

Planning is a core part of a successful workshop. Planning the content and the flow of the discussions, having the appropriate breaks and discussions to elicit the creative insights being sought, and in the makeup of the group is essential. As a convenor, you sometimes do not have much control over the participants, and in this case, it is vital to assign ‘roles’ very quickly to participants based on the behaviour in the very early stages, then manage those individuals appropriately.

Workshops are not the same for all participants.

Everyone’s role is different, based on what is assigned to them and what their individual personalities, position in the external hierarchy, domain knowledge, and many other factors. Recognising as a convenor that the participants are all seeing the proceedings through their own eyes is important as a key to gaining collaboration, and developing a set of useable actionable outcomes that are aligned with the objectives sought.

Workshops are not stand-alone activities. Workshops that work are not a day (or three) out of the normal management processes, they should be an integral and rich part of the flow of planning, review and adjustment processes that optimise performance. If not, you just wasted your time, and a lot of money.

Facilitating workshops is not easy, but in the best of them, it just seems so.

Over an extended period of both facilitating and being the ‘facilitated’, it seems there are a small number of characteristics of the best of them.

• The best facilitators are listeners. They do not impose their views on the group, they use what they know to steer from the back
• They have no skin in the game beyond creating an environment for the workshop to generate the best outcomes. When a facilitator has skin in the game, the expectation is that there will be a vested interest that is being pushed.
• There must be a well-rounded knowledge of the context of the questions being examined.
• The ability to put together disconnected ideas and together make them stronger. They see connections that are not obvious to others.
• They are smart enough, and sufficiently well grounded in the key business attributes necessary to the workshop topic to add value to the thinking of those in the group.
• They can clearly articulate different perspectives from the status quo, different ways of seeing the questions and options being examined, and the context in which they will be answered.
• They are willing to serve all interests represented at the tabl. In the case of a business’s workshop, the facilitator needs to be able to assist the individuals, and have the credibility and trust to be able to do so.
• Preparing for a workshop is time consuming when done well, as is the reporting process. A skilled facilitator will spend a lot of time considering the discussion and output that occurred to pull together the fabric of the discussions into a form that can be leveraged.

A successful workshop can be the circuit-breaker so often required when any sort of change is necessary to future success. It is just unfortunate and poor management that most are little more than a pleasant interlude before you get back to the office, and business as usual.

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