{"id":1997,"date":"2014-09-04T00:39:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T04:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terrencemetz.com\/?p=1997"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:49:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:49:38","slug":"seven-deadly-sins-of-facilitating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/seven-deadly-sins-of-facilitating\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do About the Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitating (in alphabetical order):"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>You&#8217;ve heard plenty about what to do, but the\u00a0Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitating also suggest what NOT to do.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The following are real, powerful, and sequenced alphabetically.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Assuming<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Simply because the facilitator hears what was said does not imply everyone heard what was said. The key to active listening <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">is thorough reflection. Whether it\u2019s audio (i.e., spoken) or visual (i.e., written down), the facilitator\u2019s role is to ensure common understanding, not assume that common understanding exists simply because something was spoken.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Modifiers<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_4844\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4844\" class=\"wp-image-4844 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Seven-Deadly-Sins-of-Facilitating-204x300.png\" alt=\"What to Do About the Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitating (in alphabetical order):\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Seven-Deadly-Sins-of-Facilitating-204x300.png 204w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Seven-Deadly-Sins-of-Facilitating.png 238w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-4844\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Deadly Sins of Facilitating<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Nouns and verbs are a facilitator\u2019s friend. Modifiers such as adjectives and adverbs cause dissent. For example, we may all be eating the same bowl of chili, but it may be both hot (i.e., spicy) and not so hot to different people, both correct in their assessment. Most arguments are caused by how spicy the chili is, not by whether or not it is chili.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Neutrality <\/strong>(or lack thereof):<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">A session leader who offers content and judgment appears to the participants to have the \u201canswer\u201d. They will go quiet as they listen to what the leader believes to be true, comparing and contrasting the espoused point of view with their own truth. In the role of facilitator, do not offer up or evaluate content during the session.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Plurality<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Ask one question at a time. Do not try to facilitate more than one issue at once. Close it out before moving on to the next issue. Most groups will succeed if they are facilitated to a position where the issue is clear and properly managed, one issue at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Precision<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Prefer substance to style. Avoid impersonal pronouns such as it, this, and those. Speak clearly and substitute words like \u201cbunch\u201d or \u201clots\u201d for <em>consultese<\/em> like \u201cplethora.\u201d Strive to speak in a manner that would be understood by your grandmothers.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Processing<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Session leaders who analyze the content fill their minds with analysis that places a large stress on their ability to hear what others are saying. Analyzing participant input makes it very difficult to provide a comprehensive reflection of what was said.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Unprepared<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">There is no secret or \u201csilver bullet\u201d to effective facilitation if the session leader shows up ill-prepared. Aside from active listening, with a strong emphasis on reflection, there aren\u2019t any skills to help a facilitator during a session who shows up unprepared.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>______<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Don\u2019t ruin your career by hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/bad-meetings\/\">bad meetings<\/a>. Sign up for a <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/public-facilitation-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">workshop<\/a> or send this to someone who should. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260106090117\/https:\/\/mgrush.com\/\">MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/a><\/em> workshops focus on meeting design and practice. Each person practices tools, methods, and activities every day during the week. Therefore, while some call this immersion, we call it the road to building high-value facilitation skills.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;ve heard plenty about what to do, but the\u00a0Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitating also suggest what NOT to do. The following are real, powerful, and sequenced alphabetically. Assuming: Simply because the facilitator hears what was said does not imply everyone heard what was said. The key to active listening is thorough reflection. Whether it\u2019s audio [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[453185951,55884429],"tags":[453192234,453190705,453190913],"class_list":["post-1997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-skills","category-meeting-support","tag-modifiers","tag-neutrality","tag-seven-deadly-sins-of-facilitating"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What to Do About the Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitating<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You&#039;ve heard plenty about what to do, but the\u00a0Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitating also suggest what NOT to do. 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