Facilitation Skills for Agile Retrospectives

1. Course Overview: Hi, everyone. My name is Will Jeffrey and welcome to my course how to facilitate agile retrospectives. I am an agile coach, helping teams to get better and doing what they love. As retrospective leaders. We may follow the content of the retrospective, but our primary responsibility is the process. When we talk about process, we are not talking about a heavyweight methodology. In another word, we don't want to add more red tape. The process should attend to the needs and dynamics of the group and help the group reach a goal. Some of the major topics we will cover include how to manage activities, group dynamics, time and yourself, no facilitation techniques to lead the group so that they reached the goal in the next sections. We're going to cover the following items. Why explained the purpose of an activity before to begin? What is the four step debrief method? How to make sure people who have something to say have a chance. How to make sure people who have a lot to say don't dominate. How to stay within the time box. How not to be overwhelmed by interpersonal dynamics 2. Managing Activities: Introduce: in this section, we're going to see why managing activities involve. Introduce each activity, monitor the room during the activity and debrief the activity. When it is done, let's start off with the first item introducing each activity. Facilitators need to understand why it is important to introduce each activity. No, the level of detail to include in the introduction learn how to introduce an activity through an example. A good reason to introduce each activity is most people want to know something about the purpose of an activity before they begin. If you don't fill this need, they might be not fully involved or focused. Give a broad sense of the territory the team will explore. We want to emphasize the goal of the activity, not details of the process with the outcome. To that end, do not reveal all the details of what will happen. Most people, even really smart people, cannot absorb detailed instructions for a multipart activity. Give the details for each part just in time. Do not specify what the team will learn. Let the team discover by itself. Here is an introduction for an activity to recreate the timeline of a sprint defining the territory, you can say to understand our sprint, we need to tell the whole story from everyone's perspective will create a timeline that shows events that happened during the sprint after we have a timeline. As complete as it can be for now, we'll look for interesting patterns and explore puzzles. This tells you about the territory of understand our sprint and lists the steps at a high level, create the timeline, look for interesting patterns and explore puzzles. It doesn't tell your team exactly what the outcome will be. That's for the team to create, giving just in time details for the timeline. The details of the first step are as follows. Let's get into groups of two or three in your group. Brainstorm all the events that took place during the last two weeks. An event doesn't have to be a milestone. It could be anything that happened during the Sprint asking for questions after giving the instructions. Ask for questions about the task. Pause. Count to 10. Someone will have a question. Wait for it. Pro tip. The first time you use an activity, write a script to remember what to say and don't leave something out practice saying it aloud. Refine the script and practice again may not follow the script in the end, but preparing and practicing will help describe the activity clearly and concisely. 3. Managing Activities: Monitor: monitor the room during the activity. We have to task during an activity. Be available to answer questions about the activity. Clarifying. Monitor the room by being attentive to noise level to enable everyone to participate in the activity. All need to know what you expect from them with this activity. It requires from the facilitator to be available during the whole activity. To remove any impediment, slash obstacles questions issue with material. Be able to answer any questions about the activity. Be well prepared about the activity and familiar with instructions. While the group is working on an activity, Listen to the noise level. Would do lots of conversation indicate for a discussion? Activity might be an indication off good energy. I need for more time asked the team for a quiet activity involving writing or individual work. Conversational buzz indicates that people are done have started talking to their neighbor 4. Managing Activities: Debrief: debrief the activity when it is done. Help to extract insights. Use the four step method. Wendy Briefing A debrief helps your team examine their experience and extract insights. Evaluate their data and make meaningful information from it. Make conscious connections and form new ideas. Interpret the data, analyze it, generate ideas and uncover the implications for change. Four. Step method. Ask for observable events and sensory input. For example, What do you see in here? Asked how people responded to those events and inputs, for example, What surprised you? Where were you challenged? Ask for insights and analysis with questions, helping people formulate their ideas and connect the activity to the project. For example, what inside do you have about this? Followed by What does this tell you about our project? Ask group members how they will apply their insights. Complete the learning cycle. After you've established the link between the activity and the project, for example, what's one thing you might do differently? Note. It follows. The same flow is the retrospective structure. Gather data. Both fax and feelings generate insights and decide what to dio pro tip. For a 20 minute activity, spend 50 to 100% as much. Time on debriefing is on the activity. For example, for a 50% debriefing for 20 minutes, spend seven minutes debriefing 13 minutes on the activity itself for a 100% debriefing for 20 minutes. Spend 10 minutes debriefing 10 minutes on the activity itself. Lesson learned. Pay attention to the time box otherwise may not have time to formulate meaningful actions. 5. Managing Group Dynamics: Eliciting Participation: Let's discuss another topic. How to managing group dynamics. This requires from facilitators to soliciting, participation, moderating interactions, listening skillfully in the following section. We're going to see how to manage the group so that everyone is enabled to participate. Manage the group to let those who have something to say to do so equitable apply strategies for helping the team move forward. Progressive. We want to ensure that people who have something to say have the chance. Watch out for people who are talking more or much less than others. Make an opening for the quieter team members by asking to hear other opinions. Notice when someone looks as though he or she was about to speak but was cut off. Asked whether he or she has something to say, create an opportunity without putting people on the spot or demanding an answer. For example, we haven't heard Tom and Julia. What would you add? Make sure people who have a lot to say don't dominate. When one team member is first to speak on every question, hold up a hand and say, We've heard from you on every question. Let's hear from some other people. Keep your tone neutral. An emphatic delivery conveys blame and won't help the retrospective. For example, we've heard from you on every question. Some are particularly prone to dominating the conversation, particularly to fill the dead air, asked them to let others talk first, acknowledged the contributions others make, and be careful how they disagree. If someone never keeps quiet, talk to the person before the retrospective in private. Describe your observations. The impact on the team. Other people have stopped participating. Ask him or her to hold back. If the private conversation doesn't work, be directing the retrospective strategies for helping your team move forward. Restore their creative juices. Make a good use of questions. What have we tried before? What happened? What would we like to happen differently? What would we gain if we have that? Have we ever tried this a different way? What happened? Use the following strategies. Ask for more opinions, especially from people who have been thinking more than talking. Suggest additional research before committing to a solution should not be used as an excuse for indecisiveness, but only when warranted. Take off The retrospective leader had an offer. Content knowledge from personal experience should only be used when the team has stumped, tell the team what to do, but only if you want to cheat. Their learning should only be used when they suggest some sort of action that is an anti pattern. 6. Managing Group Dynamics: Moderating Interactions: managing Group Dynamics involved moderating the group when strong emotions happen and keeping the session productive. You are not responsible for other people's emotions, but his retrospective leader. You are responsible for keeping the session productive. You need to anticipate how you will respond negative behaviors and keep in mind strategies to deal with individuals, emotions, most interactions and emotions. Help the group move forward. Some don't before you jump in to fix things. Notice your own response in a retrospective. Your primary responsibility is to the interactions of the team as a whole, not to individuals. That doesn't mean ignoring what's going on with individual emotions. It means dealing with emotions in a way that is helpful and respectful to the team in the individual. Having a mental picture of how you'll respond gives you more options in the moment. Think of the strong emotion outburst for negative behavior that scares you the most rehearsed mentally. Using one of these following strategies in the following sections, we're going to see strategies to deal with individuals, emotions and negative behaviors 7. Managing Group Dynamics: Moderating Reproach : blame starts a downward spiral of defensiveness. Encounter blame that will torpedo or retrospective how to handle them. Listen for your language. You broke the bill and labelling statements. Your amateur both signal blame. Blame hurts the retrospective by distracting attention from real problems. Describing the behavior causes people to pause and consider what they're doing. Describe what you've seen and heard. I'm hearing labels in your language. Encourage I language ah, language centers on the speakers, observation and experience rather than labeling the other person. When you hear blame or personal criticism, intervene and redirect the discussion to the content. Example. During a retrospective, one team member blames another for breaking the build. We have met our target if it weren't for you, the retrospective leader says. Hold on. Can you say that using our language, the team member things for a while and then says I am angry that we missed our target because we had so much trouble fixing the build. Then the team is able to look at bigger issues with the build without blaming one individual. How to handle shouting, intervene immediately, hold up one hand as a stop sign and say calmly but forcefully hold it, then say I want to hear what you have to say and I can't when you're shouting. Can you tell us why? Without shouting, don't be surprised if the person responds. I'm not shouting when someone is upset or excited. He or she may not be aware of the rising vocal volume. There's no need to say yes, you are calling attention to the yelling is usually enough to stop it. If your team member continues to blame or yell, call a break and talk to the person privately. Let him or her know how the behavior is affecting the group. Ask for agreement to express emotion in a non threatening way. If the person is unwilling, ask, don't tell him or her to leave and return when he or she has more self control. 8. Managing Group Dynamics: Moderating Disrespect : how to handle inappropriate laughter or clowning. Step in when you notice an inappropriate situation. The laughter has an edge or your team repeatedly avoids a topic. Make an observation and ask a question. I've noticed that every time we get near this topic, someone tells a joke. What's happening? Listen to the team. Tell you. Engage the topic. How to handle currents beneath the surface Side conversations might indicate something needs to be clarified or some in the team are uncomfortable with something. When side conversations are intense, ask the group what is going on? They will tell you. 9. Managing Group Dynamics: Moderating Pain : how to handle tears. Offer a box of tissues. When the person is able to speak, ask what's happening for you. Can you share it with a group pause Given time, the person often shares something heartfelt and usually relevant about the topic under discussion. How to handle Stomping out When a team member stomps out, let him or her go ask the team What just happened? They will have an idea. Asked whether it is possible to continue without the person who left most of the time, they'll say they can continue. They may need to talk about the departure. If this happens more than once, another issue is at play. Talk to the individual outside the retrospective. The fact that a team goes quiet may not mean anything they may be thinking tired or simply a quiet group When the silence is sudden were out of character. It's a clue worth following. In that case, step in with an observation. For example, it seems to me that the group is being awfully quiet. There was a lot of energy and conversation earlier. Ask a question, for example, what's going on now? Potential reasons your team may just be tired and need a break, They may be unsure how to approach a topic. Once you ask the question, someone will figure out how to broach the topic, and the group dynamic will start again. 10. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully: in this part, we're going to see how to improve facilitation practices connected to listening problem. An idea that is expressed in an acceptable communication style will be taken more seriously by more people. Conversely, ideas that are presented poorly or offensively or harder for people to hear. For example, many people become restless when a speaker is repetitious. Group members can be impatient with shy or nervous members who speak haltingly. Others may not want to listen to exaggerations, distortions or unfounded pronouncements. Some people become overwhelmed when a speaker goes on a tangent and raises a point that seems unrelated to the subject. And some people are profoundly uncomfortable with anyone who shows too much emotion. In an ideal world, useful insights and ideas would be valued regardless of how they were expressed. But realistically we have in perfect tendencies ie. When a speaker has an unpleasant communication style, people just stopped listening to the substance of the ideas being expressed. No matter how valuable those ideas might be, Goal helped the group to tolerate and accommodate diverse communication styles rather than needing ideas to be expressed in an acceptable fashion. In this way, the group will get a wider bandwidth of ideas and suggestions and thus, in the end, a better result. By using good listening skills, a facilitator can be an excellent support to such groups. Good listening is a facilitators most important skill. For some, it may come naturally. For others, it is a work in progress. Thankfully, practicing the following techniques can help us improve. 11. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully – Confirm Your Understanding: in this part, we're going to see how to improve facilitation. Practices connected to listening goal demonstrate to a speaker that his or her thoughts were heard and understood. Paraphrasing is the most straightforward way to do this. Paraphrasing provides the speaker with a chance to hear how his or her ideas are being heard by others. The power of paraphrasing is that it is non judgmental. This is validating, enabling people to feel that their ideas are respected and legitimate. Paraphrasing is the tool of choice for supporting people to think out loud problem When a speaker statements air convoluted or confusing, Paraphrasing is especially useful at such times. It serves as a check for clarification. Is this what you mean? Followed by the paraphrase solution in your own words? Say what you think, the speaker said. If the speakers statement contains one or two sentences, use roughly the same number of words when you paraphrase. If the speakers statement contains many sentences, summarize it. Strengthen the group's trust in your objectivity by occasionally preface in your paraphrase with a comment like one of these. It sounds like you're saying, let me see if I'm understanding you. Is this what you mean afterward. Look for the speakers reaction by checking that what you heard was what the speaker meant. Have I understood that, right? Was it that what you wanted to say? Did I get it verbally or nonverbally? The speaker will indicate whether s slash he feels understood. If not, keep asking for clarification until you have correctly paraphrased his view or idea problem Some people experience Paraphrasing is veiled criticism. For them. Nearing is evidence of the facilitators neutrality. Newly formed groups and groups unfamiliar with using a facilitator especially benefit from mirroring. You'll establish your own neutrality, is the facilitator and build trust in the group. Mirroring is a highly structured formal version of paraphrasing in which the facilitator repeats the speaker's words verbatim. This lets the speaker hear exactly what he or she just said. In general, the more facilitator feels the need to establish neutrality the more frequently he or she should mirror rather than paraphrase. Mirroring speeds up the tempo of a slow moving discussion. Thus it is the tool of choice when facilitating a brainstorming process solution. If the speaker has said a single sentence repeated back verbatim in the speaker's own words . If the speaker has said more than one sentence, repeat back he words or phrases. In either case, use the speaker's words, not your words. The one exception is when the speaker says I then change the pronoun to you. Nearing the speaker's words and mirroring the speakers tone of voice are two different things. You want your tone of voice to remain warm and accepting, regardless of what the speaker's voice sounds like. Be yourself with your gestures and tone of voice. Don't be wouldn't or phony. Remember, a key purpose of mirroring is building trust. Let's discuss what gathering ideas is and how to implement it. What gathering helps participants build a list of ideas at a fast moving pace. Gathering combines mirroring and paraphrasing the reflective listening skills with physical gestures. Taking a few steps to info or making hand or arm motions are physical gestures that servas energy boosters. Such gestures help people stay engaged when gathering. Be sure to mirror more frequently than you Paraphrase. This establishes a lively yet comfortable tempo that is easy for most participants to follow. Many people quickly move into a rhythm of expressing their ideas in short phrases typically 3 to 5 words per idea. These phrases are much easier to record on flip charts than long sentences. How effective gathering starts with a concise description of the task. For example, for the next 10 minutes, please unpack this proposal by calling out all the areas that might warrant further discussion. I'd like to gather up all the ideas first so we can see the full range of issues before we get specific. If it's the group's first time listing ideas, spend a little time teaching them suspended judgement. Example. For this next activity. I'd like everyone to feel free to express their ideas, even the offbeat or unpopular ones. So please let this be a time for generating ideas, not judging them. The discussion can come as soon as you finish making a list. Now have a group begin as members call out their items, mirror or paraphrase whatever is said, honorable points of view. If someone says something that sounds off the wall, just mirror it and keep moving 12. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully – Drawing People Out: in this part, we're going to discuss another listening technique. How to draw people out. Problem. A person is having difficulty clearly expressing his idea or a statement is so confusing as being comprehensible. Goal. Help participants clarify, developed and refined their ideas without coaching or intrusion. It's common to ask directive questions such as What is your goal, or how long will it take or how can you fix that problem? Directive? Questions like these are often useful, but they work by pointing the speaker in the direction that the question of things would be helpful. This interrupts the speaker zone train of thought, which could be problematic when the speaker is still formulating his slash her own point of view. By contrast, open ended non directive questions help the speaker rather than the Askar do the thinking. Drawing people out sends this message. I'm with you. I understand you so far. Now tell me more. This message supports people to think in more death and to same or of what they're thinking . Solution first, paraphrase the speakers statement, Then ask open ended non directive questions. Tell me more. Can you say more about that? What else can you tell me how so? What do you mean by how is that working for you? What's coming up for you now? What's your thinking about that? What matters to you about that? Can you give me an example? A less common method that also works well. First, paraphrase the speakers statement, Then use a connectors such as so or end or because, for example, you're saying to wait six more weeks before we signed the contract because 13. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully – Validating: in this part, we're going to discuss another listening technique. How to validate that? There's a groups divergence Validating also covers the question of handling emotions and builds on acknowledging feelings problem. To support the expression of a controversial opinion without appearing to take sides. Can we acknowledge someone's feelings without implying we agree with the speakers? Rationale for feeling that way. Goal, legitimize and accept a speaker's opinion or feeling without agreeing that the opinion is correct. Validating means recognizing a groups divergent opinions, not taking sides with anyone of them. Just a. You don't have to agree with an opinion. To paraphrase it, you do not have to agree that a feeling is justified in order to accept invalidate it. The basic message of validating is yes. Clearly, that's one way to look at it. Others may see it differently. Even so, your point of view is entirely legitimate. Solution. Validating has three steps. First, paraphrase second, assess whether the speaker needs added support. Third, offer the support Step one paraphrase and draw out the person's opinion or feeling. Step two. Ask yourself. Is this person need extra support? Has he or she just said something that takes a risk. Step three offer that support by acknowledging the legitimacy of what the person just said . For example, I see what you're saying. I get why this matters to you. I know just how that feels. Don't use this. Rather use the next one. I can see how you got there. Now I see where you're coming from. Some people, when they feel validated, are prone to open up and say even more when this happens to be respectful, You're not agreeing you're supporting someone to speak is truthful perspective. 14. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully – Linking: in this part, we're going to discuss another listening technique. How link Ideas together Problem in conversations about complex subjects. It is hard for everyone to stay focused on the same thing at the same time, similar to problem addressed by tracking where people tend to focus on their own angle. But here the issue is not bias, but just that all are different. People often raise issues that seem tangential, in other words, irrelevant to everyone else. When this occurs, it's not uncommon to hear a group members say something like, Let's get back on track. Or can we take this offline remarks like those air hard to take? Unless the facilitator intervenes, the speaker is likely to simply stop talking. Why is this a bad thing? The thought that comes from left field that is out of nowhere is often the one that triggers the break through goal. Invite a speaker to explain the relevance of a statement he or she just made ideas that seem unrelated to the main topic can actually be connected with it, often in unexpected ways. Solution. Linking is a four step process. First paraphrase the statement, second, asked the speaker to link the idea with the main topic. Third paraphrase. Invalidate the speakers explanation. Fourth, follow with another appropriate technique. Step one paraphrase. Why? Embarrassed by the group's complaints, some speakers will need the support. Step two. Ask for the linkage. How does your idea link up with our topic? Can you help us make the connection? Step three. Validate the explanation. Are you saying paraphrase? Then? Say I see what you mean. Step for follow with one of these. Draw out the speakers idea, asking open ended questions for clarification. Use balancing or encouraging to pull for other reactions. Return to stacking. Okay, we have Jim's idea. Whose turn is it to go next if the idea is genuinely off topic recorded on a parking lot flip chart. 15. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully – Acknowledging Feelings: in this part, we're going to discuss another listening technique. How to acknowledge and accept feelings from the group. This builds on two skills previously covered that is paraphrasing and drawing people out. Problem. People are frequently unaware of what they're feeling, yet their conduct language, tone of voice and facial expressions communicate these feelings. This communication is often driven or shaped by information that we aren't even aware of. Sending these communications have a direct impact on anyone who receives them. That impact is much easier to manage when feelings are communicated directly rather than indirectly and intentionally, rather than unconsciously goal, raise everyone's awareness by identifying a feeling and naming it, especially in conversations and discussions that deal with difficult topics. By then paraphrasing in drawing people out, the facilitator assists the group to recognize and accept the feelings of its members. Solution. Acknowledging feelings is a three step process. First, when a group is engaging in a difficult conversation, pay attention to the emotional tone. Look for accused that might indicate the presence of feelings. Second, pose your observations as a question that names the feelings. You see, you sound a bit worried. Slash concerned is that accurate. Looks like you're having a reaction to that. I'm guessing you're frustrated. And my clothes from your tone of voice. You seem angry. Frustrated, sad, happy content. Is it true this discussion seems to be bringing up some feelings for you? Are you upset? Is this what you're feeling? Third, use facilitate of listening to support people to respond to the feelings you named. This is where you may need to use paraphrasing and drawing people out further. 16. Managing Group Dynamics: Listening Skillfully – Summary: Let's do a recap of this section on listening skillfully. So let's go back to our initial problem and see how these listening skills should improve things. Problem. The substance of good ideas that are presented poorly or offensively is harder for people to hear into value. For example, many people become restless when a speaker is repetitious. Group members can be impatient with shy are nervous members who speak haltingly. Others may not want to listen to exaggerations, distortions or unfounded pronouncements. Some people become overwhelmed when a speaker goes on a tangent and raises a point that seems unrelated to the subject. And some people are profoundly uncomfortable with anyone who shows too much emotion. Solution. Treating every participant with respect by listening carefully end if necessary by helping them to express themselves. For example, when someone constantly repeats himself, a facilitator can use paraphrasing to help that person summarises thinking when someone is speaking in awkward broken sentences, a facilitator can help the speaker relax by drawing him or her out with open ended non directive questions. When someone is exaggerating or distorting a facilitator, convey validate the central point without quarrelling over its accuracy. When someone seems to be starting a whole new discussion. A facilitator can ask the person to help everyone see how his or her point connects with the broader context. When someone expresses himself with intense feeling, a facilitator can first acknowledge the emotion, then paraphrase the content of the speakers point to ensure that it does not get lost amid the group's got reactions. If you would like to discover more listening skills, take my class. Are you listening? Learn 19 powerful listening skills to improve your annual meetings. 17. Managing Time : in this section will discuss how to manage time during retrospectives. Facilitators have the responsibility to meet the goal of the retrospective. This is to produce actions for improvement within the time box. This means we have to identify and plan experiments for improvement. To do that, we first need to foster divergent thinking for fresh ideas. Following that, we need to foster convergent thinking to decide on the best course of action. At the same time, we must do this within the 1.5 hour time box for a two week sprint. This takes all the facilitation skills you can muster, and it also creates a dilemma. Here is our dilemma. When leading a retrospective simultaneously, we must respond to the needs of the group to facilitate the discussion. Got in the way preventing digressions. Pay attention to time, respecting as much as possible the time allotted for each agenda item. Stay within the time box setting and maintaining an appropriate pace. We need to do all of this to reach our goal as previously mentioned. Decide on experiments for improvement. Let's see how to resolve this dilemma 18. Managing Time: Respond to the Group’s Needs : facilitators respond to the group's input by guiding them towards an action plan that addresses the group's needs. How to guide the way to a worthwhile outcomes so that you're able to evaluate deviations, handle important digressions. Don't let the clock run the meeting. The facilitator is responsible for guiding the way and preventing tangents that would delay the journey or die aggress from the path. But that guidance should not prevent a virgin thinking and useful contributions that may not at first seem directly relevant to the topic under consideration. Skillful facilitating allows for flexibility and permits tangents that are beneficial so not old deviations are illegitimate. You'll have to decide. Yes, that's a judgment call. The facilitator should know that it's okay to depart from the agenda if more important issues arise. He should then politely ask the permission of the group to allow the digression. Doing so shows them that it's their meeting that the process and the outcomes depend on them. Don't let the clock run your meetings. The retrospective process should determine the flow of each meeting, not the clock. The group should never allow the clock toe, limit discussions or drive decisions, he the old adage. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well. Time is not a valid excuse for avoiding hard work. The agenda schedule is not carved in stone, so they won't allow it to be used to justify skimping on discussion or rushing a decision. Do it right either now or later at another meeting. 19. Managing Time: Pay Attention to Time: it's easy to lose track of time when taking care of the group's needs. In this section, we'll get some advice to keep the meeting running according to schedule. We all know the saying that time is money dash, and that meetings cost a lot of both has a very real reminder of his basic fact. You may want to put a kitchen timer or a stopwatch where all participants can see it if you struggle to keep an eye on the time while facilitating the meeting, some have founded useful to appoint a team member as a timekeeper. The time keeper should help the group keep on track with timing through the meeting. Of course, it will have to weigh up. Whether this added responsibility will negatively affect the timekeepers meeting participation for each agenda item. The facilitator can set the timer for the time allowed on the agenda. To show that the meter is running the use of a meter also makes the job of the timekeeper easier. In fact, the meter makes it possible for all participants to share responsibility for keeping the meeting running according to schedule. If they do, you may find that the group doesn't even need the timekeeper role. If you're working with a group much larger than eight people, you'll need a way to indicate to people that it's time to move to the next step. You can cue people that it's time to move to another step with a bell chime or some other not too unpleasant sound care about the dignity. Yelling over the group isn't effective and sends the wrong message. Avoid undignified sounds. Cow sounds whistling. 20. Managing Time: Stay Within the Time Box: we're going to discuss in this section how to establish and maintain an appropriate pace for the group in the retrospective How to Handle Incomplete Discussions When the time has run out, the facilitator should establish an appropriate pace to achieve the key characteristics of successful meetings being productive or at least making progress, keeping participants involved and focused to common complaints about bad meetings, or that participants become bored and get confused. The facilitator should be looking around the room Beeler to any signs that he should slow things down or speed them up. Also, be sensitive to any signs of overload, having to hold onto too much information and or too many ideas and opinions at one time. He should also glance at the meter regularly to be ready to move toward a decision or to close the discussion or, if using a timekeeper to be ready for a signal to that effect, avoid the rush hour syndrome, squeezing too much agenda into too little time. At the end of a meeting with a timed agenda and diligent time management, the facilitator can lead the group to decide what items to conclude and what items to continue in another meeting. How do you make this decision? Let's answer that. What can you do when the discussion still has energy at the time you planned has run out If the meeting is going well, the participants are working together effectively, and they seem to have the desire and energy to continue. It would make sense to consider going beyond the stop time of either the activity or the retrospective. In the latter case, this depends on availability of the people in Rome. This is especially true of some of the participants have appointments immediately after the stop time. If the room is scheduled for another activity at that time, or when the meeting is the last thing on a Friday afternoon, put the decision in the hands of the group. Ask the group what they want to dio during a retrospective activity. You might say I'm concerned that if we continue this discussion, we won't meet are in goal. What do you want to dio? Either the group will re focus on the goal and move ahead, or they will tell you this conversation is more important than the original goal. At the stop time of the retrospective, you can similarly pull the participants to continue. All of them should agree, If not pretty clear. Look for a compromise with one of these options. Time Box. A conclusion to the discussion. Agree to revisit the topic later during another retrospective or a dedicated meeting in order to end at the scheduled stop time. This will depend on the nature of the item, for example, items of secondary importance produced during generate insights or possibly even gathering data. Also, whether you already have agreed on Maurin important experiments to try be prepared to swap to a shorter activity of time is running short. You still have the responsibility to meet the goal of the retrospective, identify and plan experiments for improvement. 21. Managing Time: Be Decisive: being decisive involves keeping in mind the difference between efficiency and effectiveness , setting aside enough time to form effective actions. The facilitator should always keep in mind. The goals are more important than minutes that it's more important for the group to be effective than efficient. After all, what makes more sense for the group to be efficient? That would involve to hurry a discussion to 50 a lot of time and make a decision prematurely? Or is it to be effective? Take the time necessary to reach an informed and consider decision. We don't want to forget it when it comes to leading a retrospective. At some point in the retrospective, the group will agree on what actions to take before the next retrospective. Although the group has agreed the actions may not yet be fully formed, enough time must be set aside to fully form effective actions. What do we want to take into account to fully form the actions? Seek smart qualities specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time boxed? Use these to steer participants into suggesting actions that qualify. For example, if someone says we need to do more automated testing, you might ask what sort of automated testing, performance testing unit testing, acceptance, testing all of these, or can you quantify? We do mean by more a sign action owners. Every action is matched with one owner. Before leaving the retrospective, we will see more details when we cover the decide what to do phase in a future meeting. 22. Managing Yourself: Anxiety: We'll discuss how to manage yourself during retrospectives. Why do you need to manage yourself? When emotions are high, your team needs you. The retrospective leader to stay outside the turmoil. If you aren't managing your own state, no technique or strategy will help. Understanding and managing your own emotional state and responses is the key to managing group dynamics. Let's see what the first item what to do when your anxiety is rising. We're going to answer three questions. How to stop this viral. How to re center, how to strategize. What can you do when your anxiety is rising To get perspective? Remember, your anxiety is a clue that you need to sort out what to do next to serve the group. You didn't cause the emotions in the room. Hopefully, you don't have responsibility to make everything and everyone happy and nice. In rare and extreme cases, call a break. Take a moment to shake out your hands and feet to release tension and get your blood flowing again. Take three deep breaths. Anxiety reduces blood flow to the brain, which reduces the ability to think clearly, which contributes to further anxiety. So break the downward spiral and remember to breathe to re center. Try to understand what's happening. Ask yourself what just happened? How much was inside me and how much was outside me. How did the group get here? Where does the group need to go next? What are three options I have for next steps? What will I offer the group? Define a strategy? Pick one of the managing group dynamics strategies. Encourage a change to non blaming language? Turn tears into sharing a comforting way calmly intervened by calling attention to shouting instantly postmortem, stomping out. Ask for help to understand inappropriate laughter, uncharacteristic silence and currents beneath the surface. As long as you have a strategy, you won't have to stand there frozen, not knowing what to dio. Over time, your comfort in dealing with charged emotional situations will grow pro tip. Find a mentor to gain confidence and learn more options for handling emotional situations. 23. Managing Yourself: Neutrality: retrospective leaders remain neutral in discussions, even when they have strong opinions. Let's examine this challenge. We're going to discuss three items. Importance of neutrality. Challenge of neutrality. How to maintain neutrality in this part. We're going to look at how to maintain your neutrality. Consider the risk of giving personal input when the retrospective leader jumps into. Often it quashes group discussion, combining the facilitator role with a leadership position. For example, team lead amplifies this problem. It sends mixed signals about what is acceptable. The increased perception of authority often reduces autonomy for participants and means that they're less willing to explore issues in death. Instead, we want to moderate effectively. That means to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to speak to make sure a common consensus is reached. This is only possible when we are neutral, either when we have no personal point of view or when we're able to suppress it. Why is neutrality hard when the content involves your own team? It's easy to get caught up in the discussion. Don't kid yourself. If you are a part of the team, Staying neutral is very difficult. The desire to play two roles during a retrospective can become a problem. As a team member, you want to actively contribute to the retrospective and the improvement of the team. As a facilitator, you must moderate the retrospective and support the team. Holding both roles is extremely difficult, principally because of having to switch between them. The key here is to concentrate on the process, enabling the team to move themselves forward. Don't introduce bias with your preconceived opinion. Resist the temptation to jump into an engaging conversation, especially when you care about the topic. Way to be to determine whether your thoughts are necessary. Most often, your team will do nicely without your input. Pay full attention to your role is facilitator. Insurer will have the opportunity to express their opinions. Ensure that all relevant topics are discussed and each one is a portion sufficient time. You'll only be accepted as the facilitator when the other team members see that you are interested in making sure of these things 24. Managing Yourself: Offering Expertise: The reality is that you do have expertise to offer when to offer content, expertise, conflict of interest. You need perspective. Regular expertise. If you find yourself acting as a team member as well as a facilitator, declare your conflict of interest. Explain during the set the stage phase that, although you're facilitating you, will sometimes have opinions that may interfere with your facilitation. Encourage people to speak up if they feel that you are influencing rather than facilitating , like canaries that detect poisonous gases down a mine, they could be influenced detectors for the good of the process. Another alternative is to focus on facilitation. Only agree with the other participants that you will not contribute opinions to the retrospective at the risk of the whole picture. What can you do when you have important content to offer that no one else in the group has leave the retro leader role temporarily to contribute to the discussion? Mark your current role visually to make it clear which role you're currently holding, use a visual cue to distinguish your different roles. Brightly colored vest Large Badge had different physical locations to step in or out of role. Call out for example, hand your marker to another team member to symbolize that you're not in the facilitator role while you participate. Make sure you get the marker and a rollback. What can you do when you regularly have content to offer? Rotate the role of a facilitator within the team from retrospective to retrospective. This spares you a lot of schizophrenia. You can get more variety in the retrospectives. This could be helpful when another team member wants to take on the role of facilitator. This increased redundancy is a good thing. Pro tip teams swamp retrospective facilitators with each other. All can focus on being a team participant. No one has to worry about who is going to facilitate. Ah, facilitator from outside of the team has no preconceived opinion and can therefore moderate in a neutral way. This prevents discussion outcomes being unintentionally biased. If the outside facilitator does have any input, it is more likely to provide insights that are new to the team. 25. Wrapping Up: summary. If you want to become a good facilitator, you must know where your strengths and weaknesses lying continually work to improve. Of course, the best way to improve is by leading as many retrospectives as possible. Doing retrospectives is not about the activities, it's about the change. So if the activities help us to arrive at at some change, great that they shouldn't be just about team building and fun. To achieve this, nothing will be more important than your ability to provide a process, manage the flow of ideas and guide the group to discover their wisdom. A checklist can be helpful to assess your facilitation skills in another words, your ability to facilitate the process of retrospectives or, in fact, any element of the annual framework. A good facilitator related to managing activities is well prepared, is confident, observant and flexible, asks the right questions. For example, debriefing related to managing group dynamics creates an atmosphere in which everyone feels safe. Make sure that everyone has an opportunity to speak. Visualize is the input of the events participants has a feel for when a discussion is still goal oriented or when it should be interrupted. Tackles conflict constructively is respectful and a good listener. Make sure that everyone hears others. Opinions on a topic related to managing time. Keeps the energy level up during the event, helps the group to come to a decision and related to managing yourself. Stays neutral, but can also question the team's assumptions. Has a sense of humor in another words keeps his perspective. Do not forget it. It is the facilitators responsibility to help the team keep the discussion focused on productive. The facilitator is key role in holding a successful retrospective.