Some people love being in a group; they thrive in a space where they get energy from each other. They enjoy bouncing ideas and conversations around, building momentum from being with a lot of people.
Others may struggle to handle the noise and overwhelm from so much going on. That same energy drains them.
And then, there are plenty of people who are somewhere in between. Those people can ‘do’ groups for a while but then need to step back to restock their energy.
We are all different and we all need different things to help us do our jobs. This includes when we come together. So how do we make team Away Days (or meetings, workshops or events) accessible?
The job of a facilitator is to make your team Away Day accessible to everyone.
A lot of what happens during a team Away Day is carefully planned in advance to avoid the many potential pitfalls.
A team Away Day facilitator – whether external or in-house – does not just pitch up with marker pens, a stack of post-its and some ground rules. They will have spent a lot of time planning with a manager/team lead to make sure the Away Day has a focus, goals and a way to achieve them.
There will also be a focus on the people in the room. This may be explicitly stated as an aim in itself, for example: “to bring people together and build relationships” or “get to know each other better”. Or the focus may be to create the space needed to discuss things by coming together in some way.
In order to do this well, to ensure that the you get the best from the people in the room, the facilitator will design a good workshop process. One that is engaging and enables people to share and contribute regardless of their preferences or needs. The process will have a variety of tools, techniques and activities, all shaped by different group formations (whole or small group work). The process will feature different paces and timings, materials, use of space and communication methods to ensure maximum engagement.
If people can’t join in properly, they get frustrated, feel left out of the process and ignored. Worse, the ideas, actions, decisions, plans and all other outputs won’t have been created with the rigour and robustness they need to stand up outside the room. There won’t be the buy-in you need from the people on the inside AND on the outside.
How do we ensure that a team Away Day is accessible for everyone?
As with all aspects of facilitation, the work of creating an accessible team Away Day starts long before the session itself. The planning stage is crucial to understand who is coming to the session and what might work for the group overall, as well as for specific individuals who may have particular needs.
In an ideal world, the initial conversations will take place before a venue is booked so that the venue and the facilitation process fit together. In reality, the venue is often booked before the facilitator, and choice is constrained by things like availability and budget. Part of our job is then about adapting what is needed to what is available.
For example, we may have to work with locations, space, heat and light which are not quite optimal. We use our experience and know to get the best out of any situation!
Here’s how you can make your team Away Day accessible
Mix it up.
Make space for large group as well as small group and paired work. Smaller groups are better for more in depth thinking and are easier for people to share and question each other. Whole group sessions allow for people to get an overview of what everyone is saying. Depending on the group and the space, you can task people with mixing up who is in each group, and moving around into different spaces.
Use different materials.
Create opportunities for those who like to draw, scribble, write or simply listen and talk. A whole day of writing is tiring for people, as is a whole day of talking. Some variety of mix is usually best. People will have different ways of processing information so provide different methods and mediums to support this.
Long and short.
Vary longer and shorter sessions to keep the pace and flow going. Sometimes it is important to take the time to really dig deep and spend time getting to the bottom of something. There may be other occasions where you need something faster paced, eg when small groups feedback you might want three key points rather than all the details. Maintaining the flow and the pace are all important in keeping things moving. This mean people won’t feel worn out, in danger of dozing off, or worse, causing frustration. It’s a delicate balance that planning and thinking on your feet can help achieve. Part of this is making sure you don’t have too many different activities (so you don’t exhaust people) but enough to keep people involved and engaged.
Clarity.
Be clear both in terms of what you are asking as a facilitator but also in helping make sense of the different things different participants are saying. Question buzz words and acronyms to make sure everyone has the same understanding. Check that people understand the different ideas and inputs. Be aware not to assume that everyone understands what is being talked about.
Write it up.
Writing agendas and questions and main points up on flipcharts around the room as the day progresses can be useful. It helps people to know where they are with the day, and to look back and see what has already been done. This is particularly important when there several steps in a process and instructions. For example: “spend 5 minutes writing down your own ideas then share with a partner” – write this down for people to remember what is being asked of them.
Overwhelm is just as bad as underwhelm
We often worry that a session will be interesting enough – nobody wants ‘a little underwhelming’ as their feedback. At the same time, with so much going on in a group sessions it is also important to be mindful of overwhelm and overstimulation.
To avoid this:
- Ensure there are enough breaks in the day.
- Create some quieter sessions where there is reflection rather than talking
- Give people permission to take a step aside. Part of this may be discussed up front in the contracting with the group, agreeing how to work together for the day and may include things like not talking over each other, trying to keep noise levels to a minimum or slowing down when needed or to take a “pass” on adding their input (you can always come back to them or ask them to input in a different way).
Tables
Tables are something we love to hate. They can be in the way for some people; like they are a barrier to feeling like they are a whole group. But they can be a comfort blanket for others who don’t want to feel too exposed. It gives others something to lean on, sit behind and more practically, to write on. If you do use tables, keep them clear of too much “stuff” (post it notes, flipchart paper etc) as you go through the day. This will help people feel they have more space and less overwhelmed.
Pay attention to people’s attention
There are a number of aspects to ‘attention’ that you need to consider when planning a team Away Day.
- Some people find sitting down all day to be quite hard work. Especially if those people don’t sit down for their regular work. Build movement where appropriate into the workshop process but also give express permission for people to participate standing up if they prefer.
- Fidget toys can be helpful for some people. Others might find them distracting so find quiet ones like pipe cleaners or playdough rather than fidget cubes or spinning tops!
- Music can be soothing for some, but distracting for others. Just because you like to work to the latest hits, don’t assume that music will automatically be a change for everyone.
- Finally, what to do about phones? There’s no correct answer but consider what will work best and be practical for your team. We are all connected to our phones all the time these days. Would ‘phones down’ work? What about those with smart watches who will sneakily look at those notifications? Work with the group to understand what would be practical for them.
You can see, while facilitating a team Away Day might appear relatively straight forward, there is a lot to consider to get the very best out of the people that come along.
Professional Facilitation
One of the hidden benefits of using a professional facilitator is that they will cover all the above as standard in their planning. Each group we facilitate is made up of individuals who all work slightly differently. We may not always get every single nuance right – after all, who can? But we will work with you to ensure the many different needs in the room are accounted for, making the session as inclusive and accessible as possible.
So, get in touch to see what difference we could make to your next accessible team Away Day.
