Following a few guidelines can increase the effectiveness of breakout groups at retreats and workshops.
Many law firm retreats and workshops include breakout groups for the purpose of acting as brain trusts for the firm and conceiving options and alternatives that are actionable. The Achilles' heel for many such breakout groups is that they may be led by a lawyer who has no idea as to the subtleties of facilitation.
The fundamental objective of the breakout group is to provide ideas back to the congregation that are capable of execution. It should be clearly understood that the senior leadership of the firm will be the final arbiter as to what actions are actually taken.
In meetings that I convene, I like to have twenty minutes to train the breakout leaders. But for those of you with whom I do not have the privilege of interacting, here's a checklist of useful points:
- The facilitator should not impart his or her own views and ideas, but rather should manage the process and track the outcomes.
- The facilitator, therefore, need not be the most senior or prominent member of the group; one of the upcoming members may be better positioned to do a great job.
- The facilitator can capture ideas by making his or her own notes, preferably on a flipchart. When the notes are his or her own, the facilitator is typically in a stronger position to report with confidence than if he or she is reading the notes of someone else.
- The breakout groups should be of a manageable size – let’s say no more than twelve – and the facilitator should ensure maximum participation by as many of the individuals as possible. One approach I frequently use is to ask each member of the breakout group to answer a simple question in a phrase or sentence on a piece of paper. Depending on the sensitivity of the topic, I may simply ask people to read their responses, or gather up the papers, shuffle to redistribute them, and have each read by someone else. This only takes a few moments and ensures diversity of opinion rather than the domination of a few.
- Another way to get more people involved is simply to say something like "John, you haven't said much. What do you think about...?" This is especially helpful for those who may be introverted or who simply typically yield the floor to more senior or dominant members of the breakout group.
- The most critical part of the facilitator's role is to ensure that people describe options and alternatives that are specific enough that they could be delegated as actions should the firm endorse them. For example, discussions about abstract thoughts like "We should get closer to our clients," are meaningless compared to ones like "We should create a hierarchy of our most important clients and prioritize our efforts with them. We should start that process by taking our top ten percent and dividing them into three categories, A, B and C, based on the following criteria..."
- Reports back to the congregation from the facilitator should be strictly time-limited. Allowed to meander, reporters sometimes ramble and the report can go on endlessly. I strongly favor an enforced time-limited process, perhaps four minutes per reporter, with a timer in the audience who taps the table 30 seconds before time is up and then continuously taps when the time is up. The role of timekeeper is typically regarded as fun and the participants usually enjoy it. In rare cases, the facilitator may give someone permission to go on for a few extra moments if desired, but I have rarely found extensions of time to be useful.
I hope these ideas will help your next event involving breakout groups to be more productive.
Gerry Riskin, B.Com., LL.B., P. Admin, is a founding partner of Edge International, a former managing partner, a best-selling author, a Fellow of the College of Law in London, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, serving law firms on six continents. Contact Gerry at riskin@edge-international.com or by phone at +1 202 957-6717.