Facilitator and Deep Understanding
Abstract
Carl and Fred discuss an Inside FMEA reader question: “does a facilitator have to have a deep understanding of the subject matter they are facilitating?”
Key Points
Join Carl and Fred as they discuss the level of knowledge a facilitator must have about there subject being facilitated, in order to be successful.
Topics include:
- What type of knowledge is helpful to the facilitator?
- It is essential that the facilitator have excellent facilitation skills.
- Having no knowledge at all of the subject being facilitated does not work.
- It is not necessary for a facilitator to have deep or expert knowledge of the subject matter.
- The laser is in between these extremes.
- The best answer to the question being posed is that the facilitator should have sufficient overview of the subject, so he or she does not impede the meetings (team members feel like they have to”educate” the facilitator) and can guide the team to good thinking and results.
- Avoid “expert” facilitators who know nothing about the subject being facilitated. Minimum is to know the scope, language, and a high-level overview of the topic. This might take a few hours of immersion.
- Avoid having the subject matter expert (who is unskilled in facilitation) being the team facilitator, because the team needs good facilitation to get to its best thinking.
- The skills of facilitation are covered in the series called “FMEA Facilitation Series,” which are part of Inside FMEA. A link is in the show notes.
- Example facilitation errors are discussed, along with comments on how to address.
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
SOR 1022 Facilitator and Deep UnderstandingCarl S. Carlson
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Show Notes
To read the “FMEA Facilitation Series” use this link: https://accendoreliability.com/inside-fmea-index-articles/
and cursor down the the facilitation series of articles.
Great chat guys. When looking to assign a facilitator to any workshop (RCA, FMECA, etc) I agree you should be looking for someone with the facilitation skills to lead it foremost, and some working knowledge of the system in question as a desired but not required item. If the facilitator is a SME, there tends to be no disagreement as you covered (as they are perceived to be the bees knees in that topic), but their expertise can sometimes introduce bias, steering the workshop toward preconceived solutions rather than exploring deeper insights (the “favourite solution” mindset). The SME is best to participate in the workshop, where their skills are more suited addressing the issue being workshopped.
That said, a facilitator with working knowledge of the system can effectively guide the workshop to meet its objectives. They’ll be equipped to distinguish between valuable discussions worth pursuing and those that are either irrelevant or beyond the scope of the session, which can be parked for later. This balance also allows them to ask the “basic” questions that stimulate critical thinking and productive discussion on key topics.
And to Fred’s point on making sure you come back to it later, what I use to overcome this is to have a visible “parking lot” on a flip chart where topics or items that need to either be solved out of the room, or at a later time are listed for all to see and hold the facilitator accountable. This should be reviewed at a minimum at the end of each session, or for a FMECA, at the end of each system being reviewed to ensure nothing has been missed.
Hello Nik.
Glad you enjoyed the podcast! It was a fun subject, and clearly you understand why it’s useful for facilitators to have a working knowledge of the topics they are leading. And, I agree with your input on Parking Lot. Great way to manage off-topic comments and stay focused.
Please feel free to suggest any other topics for our podcasts. We love discussing listener questions and topics.
Thanks.
Carl