May 2001

SWAT SWOT! | Gary Rush Facilitation

Introduction

Last year, I began teaching SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) following a more rigorous method. I'll call it "SWAT SWOT" (Special Workshop Analysis Technique for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).

SWOT

SWOT is a method for describing a current situation. It is typically used in strategic planning, but it also is used in product development, annual planning of projects, or current situation analysis. I have used it in strategic planning, product development, and annual planning.

The SWOT analysis begins by listing each of the four areas:

• Strengths (what a group does well)
  
  
• Weaknesses (what a group does not do well)
  
  
• Opportunities (situations, events, etc., outside of the group that provide unique opportunities for growth, change, etc.)
  
  
• Threats (changes or competitors who may adversely impact the group).

Brainstorm each list separately. Analyze each list to reduce to about 12 or fewer items each. Do this by discussing the items and asking the group to identify the key ones in each area. Number the list when finished.

Build a matrix (see below). Opportunities and Threats on top with Strengths and Weaknesses down the side. Explain the scoring process to the group. Each member gets "9" points (it is an arbitrary number and you may change it if you want more or fewer points). They assign the points based on the impact or leverage that each strength or weakness has relative to each opportunity or threat. The higher the impact, the higher the number. Ensure that they don't just spread them evenly - it should be based on a business understanding. Collect the scoring. Using a spreadsheet, calculate the final scores for each intersection, each column, each row, and each quadrant.

Review the scores with the group and highlight the quadrants and intersections with the highest scores. Summarize from the list and have the group identify which actions they should take.

Example:

A new software company looks at its strengths as: experience, good people, creative ideas, and product integration. Its weaknesses are: newness to market and time to market. Opportunities are: integrated products, new market, and growing use of computers. Threats are: Microsoft, other large companies, and hardware manufactures. The group would build the matrix and one person may score it as follows (scored from 1 to 9 with 9 indicating greatest impact):

Analysis

The scoring indicates the most important strengths are their product ideas and integration. The weakness making them most vulnerable is their time to market. The most favorable opportunities are integrated products and growth of computer use.

Thoughts

Strengths matter if they help take advantage of an opportunity or fend off a threat. Weaknesses matter if they prevent a group from taking an opportunity or making them vulnerable to threats. Opportunities require some strength to take advantage. This matrix helps to highlight which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats require strategies.

This SWOT analysis helps focus future efforts - products, projects, or strategies. It takes 2 to 3 hours to complete, but it is worth the effort.

October 2001

TERMS! | Gary Rush Facilitation

One of the major problems that I encounter while preparing for a workshop is terms. I have spent days, sometimes, defining terms with a client so that we were working towards the same goal. In one case, I spent five days preparing for a Strategic Planning workshop - most of which was spent defining "Objective" and "Strategy". In the technology industry - especially IT - terms are a major problem. With methods, each different method may use the same word but in a different way. Words like "function", "process", and "requirements" have different meanings to different people. There is no one correct definition. The word "requirements", in fact, has so many definitions, that I often refer to requirements as "stuff." It is different depending on to whom you talk.

In addition to synonyms, some words are used at different times. It helps to qualify the words. The words that most often cause the confusion are:

• Purpose
• Scope
• Objective
• Deliverable

The following illustrates the multiple uses along with their qualifying terms.

Purpose

A Purpose defines why something exists and is used for a business, project, or a workshop. Each is different.

Examples:

• Business Purpose: The purpose of home finance is to manage income, expenses, cash, and investments so that we maintain a positive cash flow and can plan for the future.
  
  
• Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to analyze home finance and design an efficient system to automate and assist in managing finances.
  
  
• Workshop Purpose: The purpose of this workshop is to define the processes included in a home finance business activity.

Scope

The Scope defines what is included or excluded in a business, project, or workshop. It describes reach or breadth. Each is different. Purpose and Scope wording sometimes overlaps. That is acceptable.

Examples:

• Business Scope: The scope of home finance includes accounts payable, accounts receivable, investment management, tax management, budgeting, account management, and general accounting.
  
  
• Project Scope: The scope of this project is to analyze and deliver a system to automate the account management portion of home finance.
  
  
• Workshop Scope: The scope of this workshop includes the processes that are part of account management within home finance.

Objectives

Objectives define what is to be accomplished. These are generally defined for businesses, organizational structures, and projects. They describe depth and detail. For workshops, we accomplish "Deliverables" instead.

Examples:

• Business Objective: Assuming that home finance is a business, a business objective might be: "Save $100,000 in cash by January 1, 2005."
  
  
• Organizational Structure Objective: Assuming that home finance were a business with staff, a structure objective might be: "The organizational structure enables one hand-off for signature while supporting accepted audit constraints."
  
  
• Project Objective: Following the home finance automation project, a project objective could be: "Develop a system that allows real-time access to account information and eliminates the need for monthly reconciliation."
  
  
• Workshop Deliverable: For the workshop scope defined above, the deliverable would be: "A process model of the Account Management process within home finance."

Other Words

While facilitating, you will also encounter many other words that give you and the group problems. This becomes a continuous effort on your part. Some examples that I have encountered are:

• Customer - I spent three days with one company helping them define a "customer". Each department had a different definition. We finally dropped the word and used specific terms.
  
  
• Project Names - I conducted a one day workshop recently where one of the major problems was the fact that some people used a software name as the project name and some used the software name to refer only to the software product. This really confused the scope of the project because it was different depending on to whom you spoke, yet had the same name.
  
  
• Case - I was asked by a juvenile court system to help with a communication problem. District attorneys used the word "case". Caseworkers used the word "case". Police officers used the word "case". Unfortunately, it meant something very different to each group. District attorneys meant each time they appeared in front of a judge - an incident. Police officers meant each arrest. Caseworkers meant the juvenile. Until they changed their terms to be specific, they frequently miscommunicated.

Summary

As a facilitator, you are a communication enabler. You need to ensure that the terms are not a problem - that they are specific. Be very careful when discussing a workshop or project - qualify the words. Question terms constantly - assumptions about words are often one of the biggest problems you face while facilitating. Make groups be specific. Listen for the confusion - it is more common than you may think. Your groups don't listen for terminology problems - they think that they know what they are talking about. They do. It is just that the others don't. If you clarify terms and make the client clarify terms, you and your client will be happier and it will be easier for you to facilitate the workshop.

January 1998

Tools and More Tools | Gary Rush, IAF CPF

This article discusses three new tools. I gathered these from the students at our Advanced Class in November and from my session at the IAF Conference in Santa Clara in January. The tools have a lot of potential. These tools are used mostly in planning, visioning, and scope-defining workshops, but can be used whenever you feel the problem warrants. The tools are: "Building on Each Other", "House Building", and "Metaphors". Each is described below.

"Building on Each Other"

Objectives: To help participants recognize the value of cooperation, diversity, and each other's contribution.

Uses: Use this when you have a slightly dysfunctional group and need to reinforce cooperation. Also use this to illustrate the value of diversity - at the beginning of a project or a plan. It brings out more Strengths while doing "Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats, and Opportunities" (SWOT) Analysis.

Materials: For each group, you need paper for drawing at tables or flip charts for drawing standing up. You also need markers and tape.

Instructions: Do this as one large group or numerous smaller groups of about 4 or 5 people. Tell the group to build one picture of their vision or who they are. Each group member draws a part of the picture - each one, one at a time, contributing something to the overall picture. Each contributes something that represents what they have to offer the group or organization. At the end, review the final picture and have the participants add words - what do they see?

Debrief: Discuss what they see. Did they learn anything from the exercise? Was there value in having everyone contribute? What was it? Write the ideas onto a flip chart and hang it on the wall. Use the final picture or pictures as reference in the subsequent steps.

"House Building"

Objectives: To illustrate the need for team cooperation. To help develop a group vision. To build a physical metaphor to facilitate building a plan.

Uses: Use this when you want to reinforce the need for cooperation, develop a group vision, build a strategic plan, or build a project plan. The house that is built, can physically hold and represent the plan.

Materials: You need cardboard and construction paper, scissors, and tape at a minimum. You can add any other materials that may help in constructing a model home.

Instructions: This exercise takes 1 to 2 hours. Break the group into equal teams of no more than 5 people. Provide them with enough materials to build a home. Decide whether you want them to focus on the process or the results and emphasize process or results in the instructions. Tell them to:

• Define the process to design and construct a home.
  
  
• Design the home.
  
  
• Use the materials to construct the home that they designed.
  
  
• Each team presents their house and process

Debrief: Talk through the process and the results. Discuss the lessons - team building, understanding the process before jumping in, knowing and building a foundation before the rest of the structure, etc.. Use the final houses as metaphors for the vision - blueprints are the vision; parts of the house become components of the vision; the process becomes the strategies; etc. - and the components actually documented onto the house.

"Metaphors"

Objectives: To help overcome barriers to developing visions or ideas.

Uses: Use this when developing a vision or a plan and the group is having difficulty grasping the concepts.

Materials: Flip charts and markers.

Instructions: Instead of building a vision and a plan to achieve the vision for a group, have the group describe a different situation that can be used as a metaphor. Examples of metaphor uses are:

One group drew a picture of a mountain and the road to the top. The peak represented the vision; the road was the path (strategies) to get there; obstacles were critical success factors. Another group used baking a pie as the metaphor for a vision - the pie was the vision, the recipe as the strategy, the pots and utensils as the tools needed, the chef as the resources, and the ingredients as the raw materials.

Debrief: Discuss what the group learned and have them apply their metaphor to the task at hand. Ask how the metaphor helps them understand what they are doing in the workshop.

Summary

The tools listed above help facilitators when they are appropriate. Most deal with higher level problems - visioning and team building - but can be used in any situation that may benefit. The key is to ensure that the situation warrants a corrective action. Let me know if you found any that were particularly useful to you.

September 2003

What is FAST? Back to Basics | Gary Rush Facilitation

We have been in business for over 18 years. After a while, we may take for granted that everyone knows what FAST is and why it's important. In this issue, we define FAST and why you don't want to be SLOW (a Session Leader Out of Work).

The original name was coined for an article I wrote for Computerworld in 1985. In that article, I defined the difference between the various brands of facilitation and identified FAST as a hybrid. Since 1985, FAST has evolved to a completely unique facilitation technique. In 1985, we began by focusing on facilitation relative to IT (information technology - the industry changed from DP to MIS to IS to IT over the past 18 years or so). Over the years, we have broadened our focus to include planning, business engineering, product development, team-building, knowledge management, and others. We have married the concepts of the Process-Consulting style with those of the Relationship-Developing style (see my FAST Newsletter - Facilitation Philosophy) to create a balanced technique allowing the practitioner to use effective facilitation in a wide variety of situations. FAST is our brand of facilitation - and the most complete.

How is it used?

Companies need facilitators. Over the past 15 years, companies have flattened their organizational structure and moved into more of a consensus-building culture. For this to work (and it does work well), companies need facilitation skills in their ranks. Virtually every manager uses some facilitation skills everyday. Having well trained facilitators is the most cost-effective way to leverage the knowledge and skills of the people resources in an organization. It is a foundational skill for Knowledge Management. Organizations use facilitated workshops for:

• Business process re-engineering
  
  
• Knowledge management
  
  
• Self-directed work groups
  
  
• Product development
  
  
• Strategic planning
  
  
• Internal audits
  
  
• Information system projects - especially requirements and design

The uses above are only a small sample. Organizations work by getting their people to come together and accomplish something of value. That's what facilitation is about.

How does Gary Rush Train?

People ask me why I conduct a week long class. There are other places to go to get training in 3 days. Why the additional time? I teach my class in 3 segments:

• Facilitation Skills
  
  
• Process Skills
  
  
• Practice

Each segment is important and it requires hours of effort by each student.

Facilitation Skills

This segment is the foundation necessary for the facilitator to lead a group of people. I cover general facilitation skills and provide the students with very specific tools to use. They discuss how groups evolve and how to manage groups and conflict.

Process Skills

This segment focuses on how to create an agenda (the method is the same for all agendas). After students understand the concepts, I then describe a variety of "cookbook" agendas. They finish with discussions of documentation, preparation, project planning, logistics, and risk analysis.

Practice

Facilitation is best learned through practice. Each student practices both facilitation and process skills through numerous exercises - including two times facilitating the other students. Each is ready to facilitate upon completion. Every student receives an 800-page reference manual. It requires 8 to 9 hours to read and it covers everything a facilitator could possibly want to know. All of this takes time to learn. The time and money spent on the class is well worth it - payback comes with the first workshop.

What makes FAST different?

FAST is different because:

• I don’t focus on just IT or HR - I cover all of business.
  
  
• I teach the concepts - so that you can adapt it when you return to work.
  
  
• I make you practice - a lot.
  
  
• FAST gives you the materials - a reference manual that shares what was learned over 20 years.

The major difference that I see is philosophy. I believe that people feel better when they learn - they gain confidence and self worth. FAST challenges students - everyone can do great things if given the challenge and the opportunity.

Who to train?

Organizations struggle with whom to send to facilitation training. It varies between a few people to every manager in a department. I tell organizations that facilitation training is highly effective management training (it's really the same skill set). Because of that, managers, analysts, project leaders, senior technical or clerical people, and anyone in a position to get groups to work together benefits from facilitation training. We’ve been in economic turmoil over the past couple of years. Companies have shrunk or reorganized. Organizations need to do more with less. Providing organizations with facilitation skills is the most cost-effective way to leverage their people resources.

Why should YOU be trained

Facilitation skills are THE skill set needed in the 21st Century. This is because of trends in business. Business trends demand facilitation skills to be successful. This means that you, the trained facilitator, become more of a required and desirable resource for your company. Additionally, facilitation skills greatly enhance manager skills. FAST develops LEADERS. This makes you a more effective leader and enables you to perform your job that much better. Leaders are hard to find - anywhere. Companies need leaders more than any other skill and leaders adapt more easily.

You owe it to yourself to develop a set of skills that prepares you for any change in the corporation. Facilitation skills are indispensable to you both in corporate life - and if you find yourself as a newly created entrepreneur.

Summary

Organizations have been through a lot these past couple of years. We now need to mobilize our people and accomplish more than ever before. Organizations that effectively mobilize their people will succeed. People who make this happen will succeed and grow. Facilitators, through facilitated workshops, make this happen. Motivating and helping people come together to do good work is what facilitation is about.