A Coach’s Guide to Facilitation

Techniques to improve your meetings

Samantha Laing and Karen Greaves

This book is for sale at [Link]

This version was published on 2016-02-06

© 2016 Growing Agile

Contents

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

I Facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2. How to use this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3. The Coach Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

4. Meeting Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

5. Planning Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

II Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6. Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

7. Appreciations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

8. Ball Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

9. Blackout Bingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

10. Brainstorming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

11. Brain writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

12. Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

13. Debrief Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

14. Debrief Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

15. Dot Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

16. Failure Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

17. Fast Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

18. Feedback Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

19. Feedback Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

CONTENTS

20. Feedback Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

21. Five Personal Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

22. Gallery Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

23. Group Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

24. Impact Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

25. Intentions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

26. Meet a Stranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

27. Net Promoters Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

28. Pair Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

29. Parking Lot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

30. Pop-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

31. Powerful Question Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

32. Problem Solving Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

33. Recap Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

34. Scenario Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

35. Shout Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

36. Silent Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

37. Speed Dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

38. Standing Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

39. Think and Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

40. Thirty-five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

41. Thumb Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

42. Treasure Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

43. What Would We Be If . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

44. World Cafe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

III Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Recommended Reading List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

About Growing Agile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

CONTENTS

Growing Agile Online Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Growing Agile Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

About the Authors

Sam Laing (left) and Karen Greaves (right)

We are Sam Laing and Karen Greaves. We have worked in software our whole lives. With Type A
personalities and a strong work ethic, we have both done our share of overtime on death march projects.
Eventually we knew we had to find another way. Agile brought us together when we worked at a company
trying to do Scrum for the first time.
In 2012, we took the plunge and started our own business, Growing Agile¹. Since then we have been doing
the work that we are passionate about - introducing and improving agile. Best of all we have a positive
impact on other people’s lives.
One of the most important skills we have learned as coaches and trainers is the skill of facilitation. We
can’t believe we had never learned this in our jobs as managers. When we facilitate meetings for clients
they can’t believe the difference it makes to meetings, and how energetic and engaged everyone is in the
meeting.
Once you’ve read this book, we’d love to get a Feedback Letter from you via email info@[Link]²
or Twitter @GrowingAgile³.
Enjoy!
¹[Link]
²[Link]
³[Link]

i
I Facilitation

1
1. Introduction
Welcome to our book on Facilitation. This book is a collection of facilitation techniques we continually
use in workshops, training courses, meetings and retrospectives. Although we will use the term meeting
as a general word in this book, it applies to all of the above.
It’s taken us several years to master the skill of facilitation, and it continues to amaze us how few people
learn the skill, or even understand what it means. People spend much of their lives in meetings, and yet so
many meetings lack facilitation. We hope this book will inspire you to grow your own facilitation skills
and improve the meetings in your organisation.

Who is this book for

Anyone who attends meeting can benefit from this book. However we are specifically aiming the book at
people who regularly run meetings, workshops or training sessions. You might call yourself a facilitator
or trainer, but more likely you have another title and meetings are just how you interact with others to
get things done.
We have used these techniques in many contexts:

• In person training sessions

• Remote phone based group coaching calls
• One on one coaching sessions
• In person team planning meetings
• Large group feedback sessions
• Conference organising committees
• Large conference workshops of over 100 people
• Executive strategy sessions at a board room table
• Distributed retrospectives for teams to improve
• Online video training courses
• Keynote talks to more than 300 people

Obviously not every technique works remotely as well as it does in person, and some techniques work
better for smaller groups than larger ones, but most techniques can be adapted to your context given a bit
of creativity.

About Facilitation

When training others in facilitation we like to use the following definition from Mindtools¹.
What a facilitator does is plan, guide and manage a group event to ensure that the group’s objectives
are met effectively, with clear thinking, good participation and full buy-in from everyone who is
involved.
From this definition you can see that there would be many benefits to a well facilitated meeting. Here are
some of our favourites:
¹[Link]

2
Introduction 3

• Everyone is clear on the purpose of the meeting

• The time box of the meeting is respected: it starts and ends on time (or early).
• All participants have an opportunity to contribute.
• Clear decisions are made in the meeting.
• Everyone stays engaged throughout the meeting: no one checks email, or plays with their phone.
• Concrete followup actions are agreed and assigned owners so that they actually get done.
• Everyone leaves the room on the same page.
• No one feels the meeting was a waste of time.

The importance of planning

One of the most important things you need to do as a facilitator is prepare for and plan the meeting. This
is an often overlooked activity. According to Jean Tabaka in Collaboration Explained², it can take twice
the length of the meeting to prepare adequately for a meeting. We believe this can be less (about the same
length as the meeting) with lots of experience and a well developed toolkit.
²[Link]
2. How to use this book
The techniques in this book can help you prepare and plan for a meeting. Although there are a number
of different meeting formats you can choose to follow, we find most meetings include 4 key parts.
These are:

• Starting
• Diverging
• Converging
• Closing

Starting

Lots of people use the term ‘ice-breakers’ to refer to an activity at the start of a meeting to get people
talking to each other. We don’t like the phrase, maybe because we’ve seen people use the phrase for
activities that are completely unrelated to the topic of the meeting. We prefer the phrase ‘Check in’.
For us a check-in activity has 3 purposes:

• To get everyone in the room to talk in the first 5 minutes of the meeting. Evidence suggests that if
they do, they are more likely to contribute in the rest of the meeting.
• To connect people to the topic of the meeting, and in particular how they feel about the topic, or
what they know.
• To connect people to each other and establish some trust or relationships in the room. This is greatly
dependant on: who the audience is, if they know each other, and how much trust you need in the
room for the meeting you are going to have. All of these are things you need to consider in your
preparation.

Diverging

Most meetings require participants to brainstorm a wide variety of things. For example topics to discuss,
challenges to address, decisions to be made, etc. For anything like this it is important to include activities
that help people diverge. That is to create lots of ideas before they decide which to focus on. The reason
for this is that most of our best thinking doesn’t happen immediately. It also helps a group collaborate
and create an idea together by building on each other’s ideas. We call this the diverging part of a meeting.
Depending on the type of meeting you might have several diverting parts to your meeting.

Converging

While creating lots of ideas is a really useful technique, meetings that don’t bring those together into an
agreed decision or action step, are often a waste. Therefore most meetings require a converging phase
where participants select which ideas they want to try, or choose the best course of action. A converging
phase follows a diverging phase. Again you could have multiple of these in a meeting.

4
How to use this book 5

Closing

Wrapping up or closing a meeting is also crucial. Many meetings that run over time neglect this part
completely. Closings can help people feel their time was valued. It also gives the facilitator an opportunity
to get feedback on their facilitation. Finally it is a great time to wrap up by reminding people of their
actions, and agreeing the next steps that will happen.
Below is a list of these 4 phases. Under each we have indicated which techniques that you find in this
book could work for those phases. Note some techniques work well in more than one area. You can use
this list to quickly find techniques you need to plan your meeting.

Part Techniques
Starting Agreements Ball Toss
Blackout Bingo Failure Bow
Fast Pass Five Personal Questions
Intentions Meet a Stranger
Pair Share Parking Lot
Pop ups Recap Cards
Scenario Cards Shout Out
Silent Cards Speed Dating
Standing Survey Think and Write
Thirty Five Treasure Hunt
What would we be if

Diverging Brainstorming Brain Writing

Gallery Walk Group Discussion
Impact Map Pop Ups
Powerful Questions Problem Solving Tree
Shout Out World Cafe

Converging Clustering Debrief Matrix

Debrief Poster Dot Voting
Group Discussion Parking Lot
Pop ups Powerful Questions
Standing Survey Thirty Five
Thumb Vote

Closing Appreciations Ball Toss

Feedback Circle Feedback Door
Feedback Letter Intentions
Net Promoters Pair Share
Pop ups Recap Cards
Shout Out Standing Survey
Think and Write
3. The Coach Toolkit
Along with this book you get access to the Coach Toolkit. This contains many templates and PDFs to help
grow your own facilitation toolkit. In the toolkit you will find:

• 4C template
• Agreement Cards
• Appreciation Cards
• Facilitation Checklist
• Meeting Template
• Powerful Question Cards
• Room Setup Guide
• Scenario Cards
• Silent Cards
• Treasure Hunt template

You can download the Coach Toolkit from Leanpub or on our website¹.
Please print these out. If you plan on using them often consider getting them laminated to last longer.
¹[Link]

6
4. Meeting Formats
One of the first things you need to decide when planning a meeting is what kind of meeting format you
will use. Often the format is related to the purpose of the meeting.
Here are 5 popular meeting formats we use, as well as the meeting purposes they best suit. We describe
each meeting format in more detail below.

Meeting Format Purpose

Diverge and Converge Decision making
4Cs Learning
Lean Coffee Maximise topics
Open Space Maximise participation

Diverge and Converge

Many meetings exist for people to generate ideas and make decisions about a course of action. In order to
do this successfully for a group there needs to first be a divergent phase, followed by a convergent phase.
To learn more about this and why it is important we recommend: The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory
Decision Making¹ by Sam Kaner.
If you are familiar with the book Agile Retrospectives² by Esther Derby and Diana Larson, you already
know this pattern. Esther and Diana use 5 stages, but the format essentially follows the diverge, converge
model, with an emphasis on actions since that is the key outcome of a retrospective. In our experience, the
majority of meetings follow (or should follow) this format, which is why we chose it in the introduction
as an index to all the exercises.

4Cs

If you have read any of our other Coach’s Guide books³ you should already be familiar with the 4C format.
This format works well for workshops or training courses where the goal is for people to learn a new skill
or technique.
The 4C technique comes from a training style called Training from the BACK of the room⁴ (TFTBOTR)
developed by Sharon Bowman.
TFTBOTR is based on how adults learn and is focused on maximising learning and retention. TFTBOTR
describes four parts that should be included in any training plan. These parts are known as the 4Cs and
are described below.

• C1 - Connections: To get participants to connect with each other and the trainers, and to connect
participants to what they might already know about the topic.
¹[Link]
²[Link]
³[Link]
⁴[Link]

7
Meeting Formats 8

• C2 - Concepts: Some facts and theoretical concepts about the topic

• C3 - Concrete Practice: An activity or simulation to experience the topic
• C4 - Conclusion: An opportunity for participants to evaluate what they have learned about the topic

In this book look under Starting Activities for C1 ideas, Closing Activities for C4 ideas, and Diverge and
Converge for C2 and C3 activities.
Another important part of TFTBOTR is making sure you use a variety of methods to keep people engaged.
Read more about it in this article on the Six Trumps⁵ by Sharon Bowman.

Note
Occasionally it makes sense to swap the order of the C2 and C3. For some topics it is better for
people to experience what you are talking about with Concrete Practice first, and then for you
to teach the theory. This is especially true if you have a great game or simulation to illustrate
the point. When we do this we just put the C3 in the C2 block of the template, and vice versa.

We drive all our workshops and courses from these 4Cs plans. If you usually train from slides this might
take time to get used to. We print out the 4Cs plans and refer to them during the course or workshop to
see what’s up next and if we are on track.
We have created our own template for the 4Cs plans, you can find it in the accompanying Coach Toolkit.

Here is a short overview to help you understand the template.

• The box in the top left corner is for the name of the topic.
⁵[Link]
Meeting Formats 9

• The big clock icon gives the time for the entire plan; the smaller clock icons in each quadrant gives
the time needed for that section.
• The box in the top right corner has a space for you to enter the time for a section. For example 9:00
to 9:30 am. This helps you stay on track during the training. These are not filled in on the training
plans we provide. We suggest you fill them in when you have planned your training.
• The rest of the page has a quadrant for each of the 4Cs.
• At the bottom of each quadrant you can circle what the participants are doing in each section: Move,
Speak, Draw, Listen, Write. This helps ensure that you have sufficient variety in each topic.

Lean Coffee

Lean Coffee⁶ is a simple meeting format that works well to maximise the number of topics covered. It was
invented by Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith as a format for group discussions about Lean. However
we have found it an effective format for any meeting where you need to cover many items, especially
status meetings for executive groups that have a lot to get through in a short time, or for Question &
Answer sections in a training course.
Here are 8 steps to running a Lean Coffee.

1. Create a basic board with columns for To do, In Progress, Done

2. People brainstorm topics to discuss on post it notes.
3. Attendees then dot vote to prioritise the list, and place them in the to do column in priority order.
4. Set a timer for 8 minutes.
5. Start discussing the first topic (and move it into in progress)
6. When the timer goes off ask people to thumb vote if they would like to continue with that topic or
move on to the next one.
7. If the majority vote to continue set another 5 minute timer and continue. Vote again at the end
when the timer goes off.
8. If people vote to move on, move that sticky note to done, and place the next one in in progress.
Restart the 8 minute timer (Use 8 minutes for the first interval on a topic, and 5 minutes for
subsequent ones).

Open Space

Open Space Technology⁷ is a technique that can be used on a large scale for conferences with thousands
of people over many days, and on a small scale for a single team meeting.
The premise is to set a theme and create some space and time slots, and then let attendees self organise to
create the agenda with their own topics. Facilitating the opening circle is something that takes some skill
and we highly recommend attending an open space event before you attempt to facilitate one yourself.
You can read more about it on [Link]⁸.
⁶[Link]
⁷[Link]
⁸[Link]
5. Planning Tips
This chapter is our list of tips for things to take into account when you are planning to facilitate a meeting.
If you go through this list as a mental (or physical) checklist as part of your preparation each time, you
will quickly master the art of facilitation.

Purpose

The first thing you need to establish for any meeting you facilitate is what the purpose of the meeting
is. The purpose and the desired outcome will influence the type of meeting structure you use as well as
how you allocate time. Often just asking this question reveals common problems as many people who
schedule meetings haven’t even considered this.
Once you understand the purpose take a look at the meeting formats to choose the most appropriate
format for your purpose.

Roles

It is also critical to understand your role in the meeting. Often people confuse the role of meeting owner
or chair with the role of facilitator. Make sure you are clear on what your role is. We define these roles as
follows:
The meeting owner or chair is the person who is calling the meeting and is invested in the outcome of the
meeting.
The meeting facilitator is the person who will plan the structure and activities of the meeting and keep it
on track.
It is most effective when the owner and facilitator are two different people. Facilitators should stay
impartial during the meeting and not contribute to the content of the meeting. This is often difficult
if they are also the owner of the meeting and therefore invested in the outcome. In this case consider
asking someone else to facilitate for you.

Attendees

Next you need to consider who will attend the meeting. There are a number of different things to consider.
First is the number of participants. Every activity you plan will need to take numbers into account. You
need different activities and facilitation techniques when dealing with large groups (more than 12). See
the section below for specific notes on dealing with large groups.
Now consider how well the attendees know each other and what level of trust they have between each
other. Consider the organisational hierarchy or rank of different people. Inviting the CEO to the same
meeting as a group of new hires will significantly impact the meeting dynamics.
If the group are strangers or have low trust, consider using a starting activity to establish some trust, and
create a safe space for the duration of the meeting. The level of trust you have will impact the types of
activities you can use. Very few people will standup in a room of strangers or colleagues they don’t trust

10
Planning Tips 11

and offer their opinion, or admit their own mistakes. Also consider how many introverts and extroverts
are attending (if you can find that out in advance), and especially if there is someone in the room who
likes to talk a lot (like Karen!).

Time

Consider how much time you have, as well as how much time you need for the purpose of the meeting.
You might need multiple meetings if you don’t have a lot of time and need to get consensus in a group. If
time is short, consider if something can be sent to participants in advance to prepare them for the meeting.
However be ready if some people do not do this preparation work.
Next decide how much time you will plan for and how much time you will allow as a buffer. We usually
allow 10 minutes of buffer for every 90 minutes. However as facilitators we are very good at sticking to a
time box. If you find you often overrun, then increase your buffer.
The buffer might also be dependent on the attendees. We have one client where we consistently only plan
for half the time of the meeting and leave a 50% buffer, because they are difficult to timebox, often include
food in meetings (which can steal time), and they like lengthy discussions.
One of the most common reasons that meetings overrun is that they don’t start on time. Many
organisations we work with take 10 or 15 minutes of a meeting to even get started. This is particularly
bad with remote meetings where technology like video and tele conferencing are common. See more on
remote meetings later.
Our advice is to always start on time. Close the door and start the meeting on time. If people arrive late,
let them in, but don’t catch them up. They should feel like they missed out on something by coming late.
Also the fact that they are obviously disturbing people by opening a closed door can make them feel
guilty. Do this a few times and you might notice that people start attending your meetings on time. Even
in companies that are consistently late for meetings, we can usually get people to come to our sessions on
time after about 4 meetings and using this approach. You can also reinforce this behaviour after people
come back from breaks. Tell them when to be back and start on time whether they are back or not.
Of course to start on time you need to be ready and in the room on time, and the previous occupants of
the room need to have left. If this is a common occurrence in your office, book the meeting room for 15
minutes before the start time in order to have sufficient time to setup for the meeting.
You also need to be sure to end on time, or ideally 5 minutes before the end to give people time to get to their
next meeting. This is easy to do if you plan well with a buffer and keep track of the time throughout. If you
realise you are going to overrun, stop the session and discuss what you should do with the participants.
Either everyone agrees to continue for another 30 minutes (if they have no other commitments), or you
decide to reconvene at another time, or you make a decision quickly on the outstanding items. Never leave
this conversation until time has actually run out.

Breaks

People are unable to focus for long periods of time without a break. Also people need breaks for coffee,
water, the bathroom, smoking, to check urgent phone calls etc. If you plan for regular breaks you are much
more likely for people to be engaged during the meeting. We plan for a 20 minute break every 90 minutes,
and allow an hour for a lunch break on meetings running the whole day.
Don’t skimp on breaks because you have a lot to cover like in a backlog grooming session, or training
workshop. If people are tired you are just wasting the time in the meeting, rather than giving them 5 extra
Planning Tips 12

minutes to be refreshed. People do process what you’ve been discussing during breaks, so sometimes a
long break in a heavy thinking session actually helps people have more ideas.

Energy

Although you might plan breaks in advance, also pay attention to the energy in the room. If it is low and
people are checking out either shift a break, or have a shorter adhoc break to get the energy back. You can
even just take a mental break by having people standup and stretch without leaving the room.
You can also plan activities to make sure you have diversity and especially movement regularly. This keeps
people energised and paying attention. Be especially careful with what trainers call the graveyard shift.
This is the 90 minutes directly after a lunch break. People have just eaten and their natural instinct is to
feel sleepy, especially if lunch included lots of sugar (very common at conferences or training venues).
Try to plan activities with lots of hands on action and movement for this timeslot. Avoid anything where
one person talks and others listen. Activities like drawing posters and building Lego are perfect for the
graveyard shift.

Space

Consider the venue or space available for the meeting. The layout of the room can have a big impact on
how people interact in the meeting. Once you start paying attention to this, you will notice patterns. For
example large board room tables are terrible for collaboration. And classroom style seating is usually bad
for learning!
Our preferred layout for nearly every meeting we run is round tables that cater for 4 to 6 people. This is
often called banquet or cabaret style seating. This layout naturally allows people to work in small groups,
which is necessary to ensure engagement. For a small group of 6 people we just need one table, but the
table should be such that everyone feels equal. Not a table with an obvious head, or so large that people
have to cluster around one corner.
Sometimes you might even want a room without a table, especially if you want a more intimate setting.
For example, for a retrospective where a team has high trust. Also consider where you will sit yourself,
and what message that sends to the group. If you stand at the front of the room it creates a very different
dynamic to if you sit at the table with everyone else. Try these out and notice the impact. You might use
your own placement according to the atmosphere you need to create in the room. For a large rowdy crowd
at a conference standing in the front is usually a good option to get attention. For subtle guidance in a
brainstorming meeting where you don’t want to influence the content, sitting behind people, away from
the table might work better.
Experience tells us that it doesn’t matter how clear we are with our room requirements, we usually arrive
and find we need to rearrange the room. If you are not familiar with a venue, always arrive 30 to 60
minutes beforehand in case you need to make a plan with a bad layout. You might even need to change
activities in your meeting plan because of the venue.
We created a Room Layout document to use for clients and conference venues, it is in the Coach Toolkit
for you to use.

Materials

Whenever we plan for a meeting we make a note of the materials we will need and make sure we either
take them with us, or make arrangements that they will be available. You can put together a fairly standard
Planning Tips 13

facilitation kit for yourself that has most things in it, then just add the extras for specific techniques.
Here is an idea of what we’d recommend in your standard kit. There is a checklist in the Coach Toolkit
for you to print out and use.

• flipchart markers
• whiteboard markers
• visible timer for timeboxing activities. We use Timer+¹ on an iPad.
• camera to take pictures
• soft ball that can be thrown around without injuries
• masking tape for sticking up posters
• coloured markers and pens for each table
• sticky notes for each table
• index cards for each table
• Agreement cards

If you are doing a lot of training, we recommend investing in some high-quality markers in different
colours. Our favourite markers are from Neuland². They offer large, refillable, water-based markers in a
great range of colours. Try not to use whiteboard markers on flip charts, they dry out quickly and are too
think to be seen on the other side of a room.
We recommend using a iPad with a timer that you can make visible to all. If you don’t have this, you
can use your phone as a timer. However be aware of the signal you send to participants if you use your
phone during meetings. It sends the message that it is okay for them to use their phone. We prefer to have
specific agreements about people not using phones and laptops in meetings, and model this by not using
them ourselves. The iPad is a great solution because everyone can see that it is only being used as a timer.
We also print out our meeting plan on paper and take it along. We once used a plan on an iPad and again
it sent the signal that we were looking at other things during the session. Even if you are only referring
to the plan, the fact that people can’t see what you are doing is a problem. If you are going to make use
of a laptop in a session for a task board or note taking, make sure the screen is displayed on a projector
so that everyone can see how it is being used.

Recording the meeting

A common mistake that new facilitators make is to assume they are responsible for taking notes during a
meeting and sharing these afterwards. They also try to capture everything that happened in the meeting
(for example as minutes), when that is not actually required.
Before taking any notes for a meeting decide on the following:

• What needs to be recorded and how will it be used.

• Who can record this
• What format is the least effort for the recording
¹[Link]
²[Link]
Planning Tips 14

In general we only use 2 types of recording in meetings. Firstly we take photographs of any items created
in the meeting, like posters or mind maps etc. We do this because it is an accurate recording of what
happened and quick to do in the moment and send out directly after the meeting. However, this is not
always necessary. Check if anyone wants photos before you do this. You can decide in the meeting if you
need a photo of anything and then take one.
The second type of recording we do is to note actions. This is probably the most important output of any
meeting. Our preference is that the person taking ownership of the action, writes it down for themselves
on an index card or sticky note and physically takes that item with them out of the meeting.

Followup

Facilitators also fall into the trap of making themselves responsible for following up on actions from the
meeting. Don’t do this.
Instead, structure the meeting so that the group discuss exactly how followup will happen, by who and
by when. Make it specific. For example: Instead of We will share the survey results try this Jane will send
the results of the survey in an email to all the meeting attendees by 2pm on Friday.
The more concrete actions are the more chance there is that they will actually happen.

How to improve

There is a lot of information in this section, and you won’t master it all immediately. However facilitation
is a skill best learned by practicing it.
The best ways to improve is to get feedback from another facilitator. Asking participants for feedback is
one thing, but someone else who know what you are trying to achieve can give you much more specific
feedback. Find someone else looking to learn this skill, and try observing each other and giving feedback
to each other about what you noticed. Pay attention to how participants reacted, energy, content flow
of the meeting, how much people contributed, how engaged they were, how time was managed, where
things and people were positioned in the room, etc. Sometimes just watching someone else helps you
realise things for yourself.
An alternative is to try pair facilitation. We pair work exclusively so we love this approach. We’ve
encouraged others to try it and most people find it preferable to facilitating alone. Here are the benefits
we find to pair facilitation:

• We plan together which allows us to plan much faster.

• We also debrief together at the end of every session and discuss what we noticed, it’s like we have
an observer at every session.
• It allows us to handle much larger groups, and it keeps people more engaged because there is a
variation in voice tone, and position in the room.

Large Groups

If you are dealing with large groups there are a couple of things to be aware of. Firstly, with a larger group
everything takes longer. It takes longer for people to move because the room is bigger. It take longer for
people to find a partner, because there are more people in the room. It takes longer to give instructions
Planning Tips 15

because there is a higher chance that someone misunderstood. Debriefing and consensus take longer
because there are more opinions in the room.
To deal with this the best approach is to divide people into groups of 4 to 6. This size helps to prevent
passengers (people not engaged in an activity). Any activity you would do for individuals you now do as
a group (e.g. brainstorm in your group).
You can also save time by not debriefing to the whole larger group. Maybe ask one or two groups to share,
and then use techniques like the gallery walk for others to share their ideas.
Give one instruction at a time and write it up on a flipchart if you can. In a large group someone will not
be listening or will misunderstand. It also helps to check in with each table group once you have given an
instruction to make sure they understood and are on track.
With a large number of groups you need multiple facilitators so that you can be within earshot of every
group to guide them as necessary. We recommend 1 facilitator per 2 or 3 tables.
Use hand signals that you introduce at the beginning of the meeting and a loud timer or bell for activities
in large groups because they can become very loud and difficult to control.
Correct misunderstood instructions quickly. If you ask someone to share one word and they share a
sentence, correct it immediately otherwise the next person will also share a whole sentence. For 6 people
this only wastes a few minutes, with large groups this can be disastrous.

Remote

More and more people are working remotely. This means as a facilitator it might be necessary for you to
facilitate remote meetings. We have been getting lots of practice doing this, and our advice is to embrace
it rather than to push for everything to happen face to face. As much as we are fans of face to face
communication, we believe that the technology we have today enables very rich remote communication.
Here are our key tips for remote facilitation.
Test the technology and explore different tools, try to make sure you have a backup if one tool is not
working. There is nothing worse than a remote meeting where no one can hear each other and people
don’t know what is happening. So often we arrive at clients for remote meetings and no one knows how
their video conference facility works. Test it out long before the meeting, and until you have it down to a
1 minute setup, schedule 15 to 30 minutes before the meeting to sort out the technology.
Make sure everyone has the same experience. Try to avoid 5 people in a room with a whiteboard and one
person on the phone with no view of the whiteboard. Rather have everyone in front of a laptop with a
shared electronic whiteboard. Also make sure everyone can edit the whiteboard not just one person.
Good audio is better than poor video. Bad video is distracting. If you have online tools like shared
whiteboards you don’t necessarily need to see the person. If you have bandwidth constraints rather kill
the video to ensure the audio is clear. It can also help for people to mute themselves when they are not
speaking, this reduces feedback and background noise.
Learn to respect silence. With everyone on a phone call there will be awkward pauses where no one says
anything and then moments when two people speak over each other. Prepare people for this at the start
of the meeting, and explain how you plan to deal with it. We suggest telling people that silence is okay,
and that if 2 people speak to both stop and the facilitator will then call on them one at a time to share
their insight.
At the start of a remote meeting we introduce the idea of Bottom Lining. On a call, time can seem to feel
longer, so don’t share your thought and how to came to have that thought. Rather just bottom line and
Planning Tips 16

share your thought. If anyone needs more of an explanation they can rather ask for it. We explain that
during the call we might ask someone to ‘bottom line’ if they are being a bit verbose.
Try making use of a chat window as well as a voice call. We find it works well for things like dot voting
or checkins with 6 participants. Our favourite tool is Google Hangout for a number of reasons:

• Quality seems better for lower bandwidth than Skype

• If you turn off video you can still see the person’s profile picture, so it reminds you what they look
like
• It highlights who is currently talking so you get to link voices with names
• It has an integrated chat window
• You can see who is muted, so if you are expecting someone to speak and you hear nothing you can
tell them they are on mute.
II Techniques

17
6. Agreements

5 any number Communication

minutes people

When to use

This sets a tone and expectations near the start of a meeting. It helps the participants know what the
boundaries of the meeting are, and what behaviours are acceptable.

What you need

It is best to have each agreement on a card and to go through them near the start of the meeting. These
are in the Coach Toolkit.

How to do this

Decide which agreements are appropriate for your participants and meeting. Explain them clearly and
simply near the start of the meeting.
You can also ask participants if there are any agreements they would like to add.

How we’ve used this

We change these depending on the type meeting we’re running. Over time you will learn more techniques
and so this list will keep evolving.
Here are some of the cards we have:

• Take Care: Take care of your own needs. You don’t need to ask permission to go to the bathroom,
or to get coffee.
• Cellphones: Keep your phones on silent please. If you need to take a call, just leave the room. We’d
rather you were paying attention than worrying because your boss/wife/child is calling.
• Right to Pass: You have the right to pass in any activity or exercise we do. Just sit to the side and
observe.
• Workbooks: These are yours to keep. Please take notes. We will let you know when we are doing
specific exercises in the books.
• Timeboxing: We give a specific end time for each break. We will start at that time whether you are
back or not. It’s up to you to choose to be on time or not.

1
Agreements 2

Who shared this with us

Various people over the years, many from Sharon Bowman¹. We came up with the concept of using cards
to remember all of the things we wanted to say.
¹[Link]
7. Appreciations

5 any number Courage

minutes people Collaboration

When to use

To build a culture of appreciation within a team and make the team members feel valued. Helps with
collaboration amongst team members.

What you need

Nothing

How to do this

In any meeting introduce this technique by saying you would like to provide a space for people to recognise
and appreciate anyone who has helped them recently. Ask people to try to give personal appreciations to
individuals rather than to the whole team.
Take the lead and give an example by appreciating someone, e.g. “John, I’d like to appreciate you for the
courage you showed in today’s session by voicing your doubts about the new process.”
Then be quiet. If this is the first time the group does this, it may take some time for the first person to
speak. Just hold the silence, someone will speak. Remember to allow about a minute of silence before
closing this session as some people take longer to speak than others.

How we’ve used this

• We have also asked participants to write down an appreciation, and pass it to that person. These
are in the Coach Toolkit.
• Start with a ball of string and say an appreciation, throw the ball to the person you appreciated, but
keep holding the end. They now give an appreciation and throw the string to that person. At the
end you can see a web of how everyone is interconnected and collaborate together.

Who shared this with us

Esther Derby¹ and Diana Larsen².

¹[Link]
²[Link]

3
8. Ball Toss

5 5 - 25 Movement
minutes people Feedback

When to use

A good way to close a meeting with some movement, and to give people an opportunity to share their
thoughts and give you some feedback.

What you need

A soft ball.

How to do this

Ask people to stand up and form a circle. If you have the space to do this away from tables then do so,
but if not create a circle around the tables.
Explain that the ball is the speaking token. Then explain that you will pose a question for them to answer.
If they would like to answer, they should signal to the person with the ball and they will gently toss it to
them. They can then answer the question you posed.
Remind people that once they have answered they should look for someone else signalling that they want
the ball. Often people get flustered and just throw the ball when they are done answering. Ask people a
question about the meeting. Its a good idea to make this a one or two word answer to avoid any lengthly
answers. For example: What is one thing that surprised you in this meeting?
Wait for someone to ask for the ball, then gently toss it to them. Once the ball stops moving for a while,
you can signal for the ball again, and close the meeting by thanking people for their time.

How we’ve used this

• Use this to close the day on a one-day training course, by asking people to share one word that best
describes the day for them.
• Use this to close retrospectives by asking people what their hope is for the next sprint.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

4
9. Blackout Bingo

3 any number Focus

minutes people Listening

When to use

Helps people stay focused and engaged during a meeting. Adds an element of fun to meetings and
potentially helps people break habits of using catch phrases.

What you need

• Printed Bingo sheets and pens for each person in the meeting.

Make Bingo sheets by printing a sheet of paper with 8 blocks on it. Fill each block with a word or phrase
that might occur during a specific meeting or training session, e.g. “improvement”, “collaboration” or
“impediment” for retrospectives. If someone has a habit of using a particular phrase like “stuff”, put that
on the sheet.

How to do this

Hand out a Bingo sheet to each person at the start of the meeting or training session. When one of the
words is said in the meeting, the person colours in the block. When all words are coloured on their sheet
they shout “Bingo!” You could have a small prize for the first person to get Bingo.

How we’ve used this

• Make each sheet different and have one sheet per participant.
• Get people to create their own sheets with words they think will be said.
• In a training session, have key learning points on the sheet (1 - 2 words). This helps as a refresher
of topics.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

5
10. Brainstorming

5-10 any number Collaboration

minutes people Creativity

When to use

Generate a large number of ideas quickly.

What you need

• Sticky notes for each participant

• Markers or pens for each participant

How to do this

Tell people the goal is to generate as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time. Remind them not
to filter ideas yet, and wacky ideas and stupid ideas are allowed, as they might spark other ideas.
Ask people to write one idea per sticky note so that they can be clustered later. Remind them to write
legibly.
As people write their ideas down you can ask them to share them out loud. This sometimes sparks an idea
for someone else.
Give people a large goal to aim for e.g. 30 ideas per person. It doesn’t matter if they reach this number,
but the large goal will push them to create more than they might have done otherwise.
Remind people of the topic or questions they are brainstorming about, and maybe write it up on a flipchart
or whiteboard. Give them a timebox of 5 or 10 minutes. Near the end of the timebox when writing has
slowed down prompt them with some unusual ideas of your own to get the creative juices flowing, or ask
a powerful question.

How we’ve used this

You can also do this as a silent brainstorm where people write their ideas in silence. This helps if you don’t
want participants to anchor each other, and works particularly well with introverts or participants who
are new to a group or more junior than others who might be hesitant to contribute.

Who shared this with us

Esther Derby¹ and Diana Larsen².

¹[Link]
²[Link]

6
11. Brain writing

15- 30 any number Creativity

minutes people Collaboration

When to use

To help people come up with ideas and let them think out the box.

What you need

• A sheet of paper and a pen for each person.

How to do this

Ask a question or state something. Now ask everyone for 5 minutes of silence to write down everything
that comes into their minds, e.g. ideas, questions, etc. Explain to them that they will be passing on the
paper and so to write neatly and not take up all the space on the page. After 5 minutes pass ask them to
pass on the sheet to the person next to them.
Allow another 5 minutes to read and write thoughts on this new sheet of paper. They can add to ideas,
make new ones, etc. Keep passing the sheets around for about 20 minutes or until everyone has written
on all the sheets of paper.

How we’ve used this

• For larger groups, split people into groups of about 6

• Note the energy in the room, if the energy is low then make each writing session only 2 minutes.

Who shared this with us

We experienced this many years ago, but can’t recall who shared it.

7
12. Clustering

5 5 - 12 Prioritisation
minutes people

When to use

Group ideas from a brainstorming exercise into related topic or themes to reduce the number of items you
have, and get rid of duplicates. Often used before dot voting.

What you need

• Sticky notes with ideas, usually the output of brainstorming

• A table or wall space that the entire group can reach

How to do this

Ask people to gather either around a table or wall space. If the sticky notes have not yet been placed, ask
people to place them on the table or wall.
Now ask people as a group to cluster sticky notes together that have similar ideas.
Tell them the goal is to identify key themes or topics. For example desk space and coffee machine might
be grouped under Facilities.
Encourage everyone to get involved and actually move the sticky notes around, rather that letting one
person dominate, and resist the urge to cluster yourself as the facilitator.
Ask people to give the clusters a title which represents everything in the group.

How we’ve used this

We use this in nearly every workshop we run. It’s a great way to make sense of the output of brainstorming.

• You can also draw a circle with a large marker around the clustered sticky notes.

Who shared this with us

We have been using this technique for many years and often see others use it. We are unsure where it
originated.

8
13. Debrief Matrix

10-20 2-10 Communication

minutes people Focus

When to use

This helps visualise lots of information to help people make sense of it. Helps groups discuss 2 aspects of
any ideas or problems so that they can pick a couple to focus on.

What you need

• Pick 2 variable for your matrix, e.g. effort and value for actions, or frequency and impact for
impediments.
• Masking tape to draw a cross for the matrix on a wall or on a flipchart
• Sticky notes for actions or impediments
• Markers

How to do this

Use this after an activity where lots of ideas, actions or impediments have been generated and written on
sticky notes.
Draw a cross on the wall or on a flipchart (intersecting X and Y axes). Label each axis with the 2 aspects
you have selected, e.g. make x value, and y effort. Now the left end of x is low value, and the right end is
high value. The bottom end of y axes is low effort, and the top end is high effort. Now ask the group to
put up the sticky notes where they think they fit based on effort and value (or your selected variables).
Allow people to move them around until there is a general consensus and things stop moving. Now label
the 4 quadrants in the matrix, i.e. high effort and high value, and discuss which quadrant it makes sense
to address first.

How we’ve used this

• After placing items in the matrix, and deciding on a quadrant, ask participants to dot vote to select
items to focus on.

Who shared this with us

We have been using this technique for many years and often see others use it. We are unsure where it
originated.

9
14. Debrief Poster

20 any number Communication

minutes people

When to use

Use this if you need several groups to summarise a discussion or learning points. A good activity to use
if you want to introduce drawing into a session for variety.

What you need

• One flipchart page per group

• Lots of markers in different colours

How to do this

Split the participants into groups of 4-6 people. Ask each group to summarise what they have discussed
or learned in a poster. Tell them they will have to present the poster to the other groups when they are
done. Give the participants an explicit timebox (10-15 minutes) and let them know when only 2 minutes
remain. Now go around each group and ask them to hold up their poster and give a brief, under 1 minute,
explanation of their poster.

How we’ve used this

• Ask each group to prepare a poster on a different topic in training to help reinforce multiple topics.
• Hand out items that they could stick on their posters to cement some learning points.

Who shared this with us

We created this to inject some creativity into the debrief activity.

10
15. Dot Voting

5 any number Prioritisation

minutes people

When to use

Get a group of people to prioritise what to talk about or work on.

What you need

• Sticky dots
• Sticky notes
• Flipchart or wall

How to do this

List the items you need to decide between on separate sticky notes and stick them up on a flipchart or
wall. If there is duplication in some of the items or they are at different levels of granularity, first group
the similar items together in clusters by moving the sticky notes.
Get the participants to write new sticky notes with an appropriate title for the group of items, or simply
circle the group of sticky notes using a marker.
Give each person in the group a number of dots, e.g. 3. Note that each person gets the same number of
dots.
Now ask each person to place their dots next to the items they care about most or in the circle if its a
cluster. They can put one dot on each of the 3 items they care about or, if they wish, all three dots on the
item that they are most passionate about.
When everyone has voted, add up how many dots are next to each item. The ones with the most dots are
the highest priority.

How we’ve used this

• If you don’t have dots, just ask people to draw dots with markers.
• Get the team to do this silently, including the clustering.

Who shared this with us

Esther Derby¹ and Diana Larsen².

¹[Link]
²[Link]

11
16. Failure Bow

5 - 10 any number Courage

minutes people

When to use

This technique encourages risk taking and takes the stress out of failure. It is good to use in a meeting
where you would like creativity.

What you need

• Practice your failure bow. Stand arms up in the air, bow down low, with arms still out, and remember
to have a huge smile!
• 2 balls for every 4 people.

How to do this

Get everyone to stand up. Explain and demonstrate the failure bow and tell everyone to applaud you.
Then do it together as a group and get everyone to applaud.
Split into groups of 4 and give each group 2 balls. The idea is to throw the balls as quickly as possible
to one another. When you drop a ball practice your failure bow and your team must applaud. Remind
everyone that the aim is not to never drop the ball but rather to take risks throwing faster and practice
the bow.

How we’ve used this

• Any other game that will allow the failure bow to be practiced quickly.
• With a new group, we usually model a mistake early on, and offer a failure bow.

Who shared this with us

Tobias Mayer¹
¹[Link]

12
17. Fast Pass

10 - 15 6 - 20 Movement
minutes people Trust

When to use

An activity to connect participants to each other through content related to the meeting. This is a great
technique to use at the start of a meeting, so people who arrive early have something to do.

What you need

• Flipchart pages stuck up on a wall, with questions. Have a minimum of three (for six participants)
and a maximum of five (for 20 participants).

Some questions might be:

• What are your pets’ names?

• What do you know about <Topic of session>?
• Why are you here today?
• What is your biggest strength?
• What is your greatest challenge with <Topic of session>?
• Instruction flipchart with the following on it: After reading this, introduce yourself to a stranger
and fill in the flipchart questions around the room with them.
• Marker for each participant.

How to do this

At the start of a meeting stick up the prepared flipcharts around the room and place the instruction
flipchart near the front of the room.

13
Fast Pass 14

En-
courage people to read the instructions if they don’t notice them, and let them know they can start
whenever they like.

How we’ve used this

We often use this at the start of training courses, or large group meetings, especially if people don’t know
each other. It is a great way to get strangers talking at the start of the day.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]
18. Feedback Circle

3-5 15+ Openness

minutes people Respect

When to use

Use this for quick feedback at end of session or after an agile game to go through learning points. This
technique allows everyone to feel equal and share freely as the circle creates a safe place and feels
protective.

What you need

Nothing

How to do this

Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder, including you. Now ask questions about peoples
experience in the previous exercise.
Ask powerful questions like:

• What happened?
• How did it feel?
• How can this be related back to our day jobs?

Be patient and wait for people in the circle to answer. The physical closeness helps people share more
deeply.

How we’ve used this

• Jumping Circle Close: to get quick feedback at the end of a session with a large group. Depending
on how much fun and learning you had, jump up and down fast or alternatively just stand still if
you had no fun or no learning happened.

Who shared this with us

We created this in order to quickly debrief after an activity.

15
19. Feedback Door

5 any number Inspect & Adapt

minutes people Feedback

When to use

To enable you to incorporate feedback into your meeting at the earliest possible moment.

What you need

• One sheet of prepared flipchart paper

• Stickers or pens near the door
• Tape to stick up the flipchart paper

How to do this

Think about what you would like feedback on and how many people are in your meeting. The more
people, the simpler and quicker this needs to be otherwise the door will be blocked. We normally use,
“How did you find this meeting?”.
Provide sample answers like: Not worth the time, O.K, Awesome.
From the start of the meeting mention the Feedback door and ask people to make a mark when they walk
out the door. If you have dedicated breaks, then remind them at each break as well. Remind everyone at
the end of the meeting.

How we’ve used this

• Ask other questions.

• Get sticky notes to allow people to elaborate and write comments.
• Happiness Index: Create swim lanes on the door labeled 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive) and
let people place blank sticky notes or sticky notes with comments in the correct swim lane.

Who shared this with us

Many people use different versions of this, we were inspired by Jurgen Appelo¹.
¹[Link]

16
20. Feedback Letter

2-5 any number Respect

minutes people Openness

When to use

Personal feedback on how the session went.

What you need

Pen and paper for each person.

How to do this

Explain to the group that you would like some feedback on how they found the meeting.
Hand out the paper and pens and ask people to write you a letter starting with “Dear <your name>” giving
their thoughts on the session. Ask everyone to do this in silence.
Once they are finished they hand you the letter, only read the letter when you are alone.

How we’ve used this

• At the end of a retrospective, or coaching session. Explain that people can leave once they have
finished their letter.
• Ask permission to use the letters as testimonials.
• For groups with low trust allow people to do this anonymously and drop the unsigned letter in a
box.

Who shared this with us

We created this to get some true reflection, opinions and feedback.

17
21. Five Personal Questions

10 - 15 2 to 20 Introduction
minutes people Trust Building

When to use

Use this to get to know other people on a personal level. It’s a great tool for building trust and strong
relationships in team.

What you need

Decide on 5 questions. Change these if you use this technique often.

For example:

• What did you want to be when you were 10?

• Where did you grow up?
• Do you have any brothers or sisters?
• What was your favourite sport/hobby as a 10 year old?
• What is your favourite dessert now?

How to do this

Split group into pairs, if you have an odd number create one group of 3.
Let everyone know they have 5 minutes to discuss some questions, and then at the end they will have to
mention just 1 interesting thing they learned about their partner. Reveal the questions to the group.
At the end have the group share the most interesting snippet with everyone.

How we’ve used this

• Change the questions

• If you have a team that is 5 or 6 people you can do this as one big group rather than sharing in
pairs, this is a great team building activity for a team.
• if you have a really large group it might be too much to have everyone share an interesting snippet.
In this case rather ask a few people to share and not everyone.

Who shared this with us

We got this from a book Five Dysfunctions of a Team¹ by Patrick Lencioni.

¹[Link]

18
22. Gallery Walk

5 - 15 6 - 50 Movement
minutes people Sharing

When to use

An activity to allow participants to learn from each other by sharing information created on posters. It is
also a good way to introduce movement into a meeting.

What you need

• masking tape to stick up posters

• posters created by participants in a previous exercise.

How to do this

Ask people to stick up their posters around the room. Make sure each poster is easy to get to, especially if
there you have a large group.
Tell people they can now walk around the room and look at the posters created by the other participants.
If people have questions about posters they can ask those who created them. Let participants know how
much time they have, and end the activity once people stop looking at the posters and just start chatting.

How we’ve used this

Use this technique right after a section where people created posters with their personal input as explained
in Debrief Poster.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

19
23. Group Discussion

5 - 30 5+ Communication
minutes people Collaboration

When to use

This is a technique to allow everyone an opportunity to talk about a topic. It scales well for large groups.

What you need

The room should be setup so that it is easy for groups of 4 to 6 people to gather together, either around a
table or a group of chairs or wall space with a flipchart.

How to do this

Ask people to form groups of 4 to 6. They may already be in groups from a previous activity, or because
the room was setup that way at the start.
Ask people to discuss the topic, or a particular question in their group. It is helpful to write up the topic or
question on a flipchart as some groups might go off track. It is helpful for them to see this to guide them.
Tell them how long they have. At the end you can ask a few volunteers to summarise their discussion.
However it is not always necessary to do this, especially in large groups.

How we’ve used this

We regularly use this in training and workshop to allow participants time to discuss how a concept applies
to their own context.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

20
24. Impact Mapping

30 - 90 2 - 10 Strategy
minutes people Goals

When to use

Impact mapping is a strategic planning technique to generate ideas that will help you achieve your
strategic goals.

What you need

• Pens
• Large sheet of paper or whiteboard

How to do this

Preparation
Before you create an impact map, you need a strategic goal or goals. Find out what these are first, or
allocate time to decide on these.

21
Impact Mapping 22

Why
The first question you need to answer is “Why are we doing it?”. This should be your strategic goal. For
example, we want to sell lots of copies of our latest book. It’s a good idea to start with only one goal. If
you have many, you can always expand the impact map or create another one later.
Next you need to make your strategic goal measurable. So instead of “lots of books”, we say 100 000 copies
of the book by 31 December. Making the goals measurable is important later on, so that we can check
back and see if we have succeeded in our goal or not.
Write the goal in a block on the piece of paper.
Who
The next question to consider is “Who will help us?”. It is very easy to get distracted into what you will
do to meet the goal. If that happens, bring the question back to “who”. Write down all the players would
could help. For example: customers, vendors, partners.
For each person or role that can help draw another block off the why block. Add each person/role to their
own block. You might even want to add people who will actively NOT help, like competitors.
Try thinking broadly at this step. Listing different roles that you don’t usually consider is a great way to
generate new ideas that you haven’t thought about yet.
Using our example above, one ”Who” would be other coaches in the world.
How
The next level is “How will they help (or hinder) us?”. For each person/role on your diagram, think about
what they could do that would help you. For example, customers might recommend you.
Add another level to the diagram for “How”. You can have multiple “How” branches for each person, if
they can help in multiple ways. Again try to go as broad as possible here. Be careful not to talk about
what you will do yet. Here you are focusing on the other people’s behaviour and actions.
Using our example, other coaches can help by recommending our book.
What
The final level is “What are we doing?”. For each “How” branch, think about what you can do as a company,
or product to help the person do these things. For example, you could offer an incentive scheme for
referrals. Again, you can have multiple what branches for each how branch.
In our example, we can send the book for free to other coaches, and ask them to recommend it if they find
it valuable.
Now what?
At the end of the meeting, you might be overwhelmed with the large number of ideas you have generated.
The goal is not to do all of them. Take a look at the ideas and decide which are most likely to help you
achieve your goal - the WHY.
Pick one or two items to implement. Ignore the rest for now. After those ideas have been implemented,
check how you are doing on your goal. If you have achieved your goal, you are done, no need to do
anything more. If you haven’t achieved your goal, look at what you did and the assumptions you made
about how that would impact your goal. Using this new information, update your impact map. Maybe you
have realised that incentives don’t work for your customers. If so there is no need to try other incentive
scheme. Instead try a completely different who, how or what branch to see if it impacts your goal.
Impact Mapping 23

How we’ve used this

We use impact maps to plan our marketing campaigns for our online products (books and courses). We
have generated ideas we never would have thought of using this technique.

Who shared this with us

Impact Mapping was created by Gojko Adzic¹. His book Impact Mapping² is a great guide to this technique.
¹[Link]
²[Link]
25. Intentions

5 4-6 Commitment
minutes people Openness

When to use

This technique allows people to consciously set intentions about things they will do differently. It also
helps people understand the benefits of changing their behaviour.

What you need

• Index cards and markers for each person

How to do this

Ask each person to think about an intention for the next week about something they want to do.
Get them to phrase it as follows: I will .. so that ...
Have each person write it down on an index card as a reminder.

How we’ve used this

• Often at the end of a retrospective, coaching circle or meeting that has resulted in people taking
some actions.
• You can ask people to find a buddy to follow-up with during the week to hold them accountable.
They need to discuss how and when they will follow up with each other.
• You can also ask people to share their intentions in pairs or with the group.
• Have lego and an index card per person available. Ask each person to build their intention with
lego and write it on the card. Give them 15 minutes for this. Invite each person to explain their
intention.

Who shared this with us

Lyssa Adkins¹
¹[Link]

24
26. Meet a Stranger

10 - 15 6 - 60+ Respect
minutes people Trust

When to use

Creating a personal connection with someone you don’t know early in a meeting creates a bond and starts
to build trust between participants.

What you need

Flipchart with the following words:

• name
• workplace
• job title
• favourite dessert
• super power.

For each table: index cards, markers, glue, scissors, stickers etc.

How to do this

Near the start of a meeting ask participants to introduce themselves to someone they don’t know. Ask
everyone to pair up. Explain that they need to create a name card for each other with that person’s name,
workplace, job title, favourite dessert and super power.

25
Meet a Stranger 26

Remind them to be as creative as they want. Let participants know that they will be introducing their
partner to the room afterwards.
Allow around 5 minutes for card creation. If you have less than 10 people let people introduce their partner
to the whole room, otherwise let introductions happen at table groups (with a maximum of six people at
a table).

How we’ve used this

• You can have any criteria on the introduction card. Try to have some fun ones.
• When we explain this we usually introduce ourselves as an example - this allows the participants
to get to know us a bit better as well.
• If you have an odd number of people, as the facilitator you can pair up with the last person.

Who shared this with us

We created this version, many trainers use similar ideas.

27. Net Promoters Score

5 5+ Morale
minutes people Motivation

When to use

This gives a relative measure of satisfaction. It is usually used to measure customer satisfaction, but this
version can be used internally to measure employee satisfaction. Good to use on a quarterly basis.

What you need

• Pen (one for each person)

• Box to collect anonymous ballots
• Preprinted ballot sheets (one for each person)

To create the ballot sheets:

Write the following on a sheet of paper: How likely are you to recommend working here to a friend?.
Provide blocks for checkmarks between 1 and 10, 1 being “not at all” and 10 being “most definitely”. You
might want to print many on 1 sheet of paper and then cut them out for each person.

How to do this

Hand out one ballot sheet to each person and ask them to make a check mark in the block that best
represents how they feel. Collect the ballots anonymously in the ballot box.
Calculating the score
Count any checks of 6 or below as detractors. Count any checks of 7 or 8 as neutral. Count any checks of
9 or 10 as promoters. Your net Promoters score is: ( Promoters - Detractors ) / Total votes.
The first time you do this you may be surprised at the result. The score is not as important as the trend.
You want to track if this measure is going up or down over time.

How we’ve used this

• We have changed the question to measure satisfaction on various other things i.e. the product, team,
working hours etc.
• We tracked this once a quarter at the start of the release retrospective using anonymous ballots.
• Karen also used this as in a dev manager role to measure how she was doing at creating an great
environment to work in. She didn’t share the data with the teams, she used it as a metric with her
boss to see how she was doing as a manager.

27
Net Promoters Score 28

Who shared this with us

We know of many people who use this technique, we got it off Wikipedia¹.
¹[Link]
28. Pair Share

2 any number Movement

minutes people Speaking

When to use

A great way to get people to talk about their thoughts, or to recap what they have just learned. You can
use this early on before trust is established as it is easy for people to share with only one other person. It
is also an easy way to introduce movement into any meeting.

What you need

Nothing.

How to do this

Explain that Pair Share means that you need to find a partner and share with them. After a short time
swap and have the partner share with you.
Ask people whatever question you want them to discuss, then ask them to find a partner and Pair Share.
If you want to include movement ask people to pair with someone from another table.

How we’ve used this

• Ask people to share an action they will take after a session. It is easy to share this with one person,
rather than a whole group.
• Use this early on in public training to help connect people who don’t know each other.
• Use this to recap a section of training by asking people to share what they have learned in a
particular section.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

29
29. Parking Lot

30 any number TimeBoxing

minutes people Focus

When to use

Often important topics come up during a meeting that you can’t deal with at that point in time, without
diverting from the focus of the current [Link] technique allows for the parking of these topics.

What you need

• Flipchart page stuck up on a wall, with Parking Lot as a heading.

• Sticky notes and markers on tables

How to do this

At the start of a meeting or training session introduce the parking lot, and let people know that in order
to stick to the time box, some items might have to be parked for discussion later. When this happens, ask
the person to write up a reminder on a sticky note and stick it on the Parking Lot poster.
Let people know when parking lot discussions will take place so that they are comfortable that their issues
will be handled. It is good to leave a short time (20-30 minutes) at the end of the meeting to discuss the
parking lot issues.

How we’ve used this

• Draw the flipchart page as a parking lot where each space will fit one post it note.
• Get people to prioritise whatever is on the parking lot using dot voting and only address the top
items, if the list is too long.
• Discuss issues that are only important to a few during tea or lunch breaks.
• Run a lean coffee as explained in Meeting Formats for 30 minutes near the end of the day to go
through topics.

Who shared this with us

We have been using this technique for many years and often see others use it. We are unsure where it
originated.

30
30. Pop-Ups

1 any number Movement

minute people

When to use

An easy way to introduce movement into any meeting.

What you need

Nothing.

How to do this

In any meeting where you want to introduce movement, and you need to get individuals to speak, you
can use Pop-Ups.
Explain that a Pop-Up means that you need to stand up before you speak, otherwise you can’t here what
they are saying.
Ask people whatever question requires input from them. Remind them to stand before they speak.
Often this results in someone shouting out without standing. To counter this we act dumb and ask “Sorry,
what was that?”, “I can’t seem to hear you?” until the person realises and stands up. Also good for a few
laughs in the class.

How we’ve used this

• You can ask questions where people have to stand if they think the answer is yes.
• Use Pop-Ups to brainstorm ideas. Ask a question like, “What are some aspects of a great team?”

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

31
31. Powerful Question Cards

10 -15 3-10 Collaboration

minutes people Self-Organisation

When to use

Some questions can create new possibilities, they can also transform how you are thinking about a
problem. They generate curiosity, surface underlying assumptions, invite creativity, stimulate reflection
and dialogue.

What you need

• Index Cards (to write questions on)

• Sticky Notes
• Whiteboard/Flipchart for scribing

Create a card deck using the index cards. Write each powerful question below on an index card, with the
other side being blank.

• How can we make this more fun?

• What do you care about here?
• What should we try it for a week?
• How does this make you feel?
• How’s this working for you?
• What do you need to know?
• How can we do this better?
• What does this cost us?
• What skills can we use?
• Why do you care?
• What is another way?
• What is it we’re not seeing?
• What might be another perspective?
• How might someone else see this?
• How can you contribute more?
• What’s holding you back?
• Who cares about this?
• What is possible here?

32
Powerful Question Cards 33

How to do this

This technique is for mining data. Use it once you have timeline up or some data after brainstorming etc.
Stack cards face down and shuffled. Go around in a circle. Each person takes a card and needs to answer
it in one minute. Encourage the person to say the things that pop into his/her mind rather than thinking
to much. Have someone scribe what the person is saying (on whiteboard or flipchart). After the minute,
move on to next person and card.
Once everyone has had a turn, use a debriefing technique to discuss what came up.

How we’ve used this

• For more people: Have each person pick a card and write down their thoughts on stickies in silence.
Then go around group and ask everyone to share.
• You can keep this exercise more conversational by flipping over a card and having everyone just
discuss their thoughts.

Who shared this with us

We got the questions from a workshop by Carlton Nettleton¹ and then adapted the questions to cards.
¹[Link]
32. Problem Solving Tree

15 - 30 6 - 12 Creativity
minutes people Actions

When to use

That people understand how to solve a problem in small concrete steps.

What you need

Come up with the problem statement or large action. You can do this as a preceding activity in the same
meeting.

• Sticky notes.
• Markers.
• Flipchart paper or large wall to build a tree.

How to do this

Start with an problem you need to solve. Write this on a sticky note, and stick it at the top of the tree.
Now ask what participants what you can do to solve the problem. For each different idea put a sticky note
below the first, at the same level.
For each of these nodes do the same and build up a tree structure similar to an organisation chart. Stop
when you get to a level low enough where you have something everyone understands and believes can
be done.

How we’ve used this

• Do this for improvements you’ve identified in a retrospective to get to concrete actions

• Also a nice techniques when everyone has different ideas to solving a problem.

Who shared this with us

Bob Sarni¹
¹[Link]

34
33. Recap Cards

10 any number Collaboration

minutes people Learning

When to use

Great for training sessions as a review of previous content, to reinforce learning.

You could use them in meetings as a review of what was agreed previously.

What you need

• At least one recap card per person

How to do this

Prepare the recap cards by deciding what you would like to recap. Create one card per item to recap.
The card should just have a word or two on it. For example to recap around agreements it might say:
cellphones.
If you have more attendees than points to recap make multiple sets so that each person gets a card.
Ask people to form groups. The group size should be equal to the number of recap points.
Give each group one set of cards. Tell everyone to pick one card (when the cards are face down), so that
no one knows what card they are getting.
Now tell each person to in turn explain the concept on the card to their group. The group can correct them
if they remember it differently.

How we’ve used this

We use this as a starting exercise on the second day of a two day training course. Each card is a topic we
covered the previous day. It is a good activity for public courses because people can start it as soon as they
arrive, so it helps to give early arrivers something to do.
We do a variation of this with Fast Pass posters, where each poster is a recap poster and we ask people to
write down what they remember about a particular topic.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

35
34. Scenario Cards

5 - 10 up to 10 Collaboration
minutes people Trust

When to use

Allows people to learn a little more about each other in a safe and fun manor.

What you need

Create some cards, with various questions on them. These are in the Coach Toolkit.
eg:

• What would you do if you won 1 million USD right now?

• What would you do if a zombie apocalypse started and why?
• If you were the next Steve Jobs - what would your next big awesome Apple product be?
• What is your favourite song and why?
• Which movie is almost the story of your life - why?

You should have at least double the amount of cards as people.

How to do this

Have the group sit in a circle facing each other. Pass the cards round in a bag and ask the first person to
select one, read it out loud and answer. Then pass the bag on.

How we’ve used this

The cards could have actions on them instead. The person should act out the card, with everyone else
guessing the action. Eg: Act out your favourite sport, Pretend to be a celebrity chef, You are a horse racing
commentator.

Who shared this with us

Thorsten Kalnin¹
¹[Link]

36
35. Shout Out

3-5 any number Communication

minutes people Creativity

When to use

Great to introduce some energy into a session. A good way to connect a group to a topic, or a different
way to brainstorm a list.

What you need

Flipchart and marker to write down what people shout out.

How to do this

Decide what you’d like input on. For example: What are out current challenges? What needs to be
discussed?
Phrase the question to attendees and ask them to shout out their answers.
If you need to capture the output for a follow on activity write things down as they shout them out. It can
be helpful to have multiple scribes for this to keep the pace fast.

How we’ve used this

We regular use this as a starting activity when training.

Be aware that this technique favours extroverts so be cautious using it with a lot of introverts or one
dominant person.

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹ gave it a name, but it’s a very common technique.

¹[Link]

37
36. Silent Cards

5 4-7 Collaboration
minutes people Trust

When to use

To allow a team with a very low trust levels to communicate in a safe manner.

What you need

Create 3 types of cards. These are in the Coach Toolkit.

• One red card with a sad face

• One green card with a smiley face
• One yellow card with a “meh” face

Create a pack containing the 3 cards for each person in the room.
Prepare statements that you would like answers to, that the team could answer using the cards. Eg:

• Which card represents how you feel right now?

• What do you think about working overtime?
• Do we do sufficient backlog grooming?

How to do this

Hand the cards out at the start.

Explain that for any questions they can hold up a card. If they feel comfortable, they can explain why
they chose that card, but they don’t have to.

How we’ve used this

• Add a coffee card - especially if it is a large group and a long meeting.

• Add a “Don’t want to answer card”.

Who shared this with us

We created this many years ago when working with a team that weren’t comfortable speaking in their
retrospective.

38
37. Speed Dating

6 - 10 8+ Collaboration
minutes people Listening

When to use

Helps team members quickly get other perspectives or see what they have in common with their
teammates.

What you need

• Stopwatch timer (smart phone is okay)

Decide on the questions you will use, i.e. “What frustrates you most at work?” or “What was your first
exposure to agile.”

How to do this

Ask each person to think about the questions you have posed. Tell them to find a partner, preferably
someone they don’t know. Now one person must share their answers to your questions with the partner.
Do this for one minute then let them swap.
After 2 minutes they have to find a different partner and repeat.
Repeat this for 3 to 5 rounds depending on the size of the group.

How we’ve used this

Arrange people in 2 concentric circles with the same number of people in each circle. When it is time to
swap partners let the one circle rotate one person to the left.

Who shared this with us

Thorsten Kalnin¹
¹[Link]

39
38. Standing Survey

5 - 10 any number Visualisation

minutes people Movement

When to use

This is a great technique to introduce movement into a meeting as well as visualising information.

What you need

Decide what questions you will ask, and how you will ask people to arrange themselves in the room.
Having some open space in a room without tables and chairs is useful.

How to do this

Ask everyone to stand. Explain that you want them to organise themselves in the room according to some
criteria (e.g. amount of Scrum experience).
Explain how to organise themselves (e.g. a single line, with no experience near the door, and most
experience near the other side of the room).
Allow time for people to move around the room.
Remind people to speak to others to see where they should stand relative to each other. Ask people to
notice where other people are relative to them.

How we’ve used this

Some ideas for criteria to organise by:

• how easy you think something will be to implement (easy: one side of the room, impossible: the
other)
• how well you know people in the room (close to those you know, far from those you don’t)
• people’s roles within an organisation (a quadrant with a different role in each corner of the room)
• where people are from (in the centre: close by, edges of the room: far away).

Who shared this with us

Lyssa Adkins¹
¹[Link]

40
39. Think and Write

5 any number Commitment

minutes people Feedback

When to use

Useful to give people time to think about something and write it down. It can be used to get feedback, to
express hopes or expectations, or to capture actions.

What you need

• Index card per person

• Pens

How to do this

Make sure everyone has an index card and a pen.

Decide what you want them to capture then phrase it as follows: Think about ___ and write down one
thing that ____.
Examples:

• Think about what you experienced in this workshop. Write down one thing you will do differently
as a result.
• Think about the meeting we are about to have. Write down one expectation you have for this
meeting.

You can end the exercise here or you can ask people to share what they have written, either by reading
it out or sticking it up on a flipchart. If trust is low, you can ask people to swap cards anonymously and
read the card they get, sometimes it is easier to read someone else’s idea than to share your own.

How we’ve used this

We regularly use this for people to write down things they want to change as a result of a meeting.
We use this to get feedback on a training session by giving people 2 cards and asking them to write down
1 thing that surprised them and 1 thing they found useful. This often gives us insight into what people
found valuable.

41
Think and Write 42

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹ shared the generic think and write technique. We learned the surprise and useful
variation from Dan North².
¹[Link]
²[Link]
40. Thirty-five

15 8 - 20 Prioritisation
minutes people Collaboration

When to use

A technique to get a large crowd to write down ideas, and prioritise them.

What you need

• An index card per person

• Pen or marker per person

You also need to prepare an open-ended question, e.g. “What is the one most important thing that will
make this team exceptional?”

How to do this

Present the open-ended question to elicit useful responses from participants.

Participants must now write a short, specific, clear, and legible response. Give them 2 minutes to complete
this. Explain that they need to be able to sell their ideas to the others.
Now get everyone to pair up. Each partner must sell his/her card to the other. Score the cards by sharing
7 points between the two cards (e.g.: 4 & 3 or 5 & 2, etc.). Write this number on the cards. Swop cards and
find another partner.
Repeat this until everyone has 4 scores. Ask everyone to remain fair even if they get their own card back.
Each person should now total up their 4 scores.
Start a count down from 28 (the highest score). If someone has that score they must stand up and read
their answer. Lead a round of applause. Repeat this until you have the top 3 or so responses.

How we’ve used this

• This can scale up easily by just increasing rounds and number of responses read at the end.
• You prepare the responses. Hand them out and then only run the swap/vote part.

Who shared this with us

We were introduced to this technique by Simon Bennet¹ at SGZA11 and at SGLON11.

¹[Link]

43
41. Thumb Vote

1 any number Collaboration

minute people Movement

When to use

A quick way to get consensus during training or a meeting from all participants. For any question where
you need a yes, no or maybe this technique works well.

What you need

Nothing.

How to do this

Explain to the participants that you are doing a Thumb Vote. If you agree with the statement hold your
thumb up, if you don’t mind either way hold your thumb sideways, and if you disagree with the statement
hold your thumb down.

Then give the statement you want people to vote on, and count to three. On three, people should show
their thumbs.
If everyone votes up or sideways you have consensus. If someone votes down, you don’t have consensus
and probably need to spend more time discussing the topic.

How we’ve used this

• We have used this for two-day training where some people have asked to move the start time.

44
Thumb Vote 45

Someone proposes a new start time, we ask for a thumb vote, and if no one disagrees we move to
the different start time. This way everyone feels involved in the choice.
• We also use this technique if someone has asked a question. After a brief explanation, we ask the
class if we can move on. If someone is still unclear, they vote with their thumb down, and then we
ask what we still need to clarify.

Who shared this with us

We have been using this technique for many years and often see others use it. We are unsure where it
originated. It is sometimes called a Roman Vote.
42. Treasure Hunt

10 6+ Communication
minutes people Trust

When to use

A great way to get people who don’t know each other talking at the start of a meeting. Also a good trust
building activity since people get to know personal details about each other.

What you need

• Treasure Hunt handout for each person. These are in the Coach Toolkit.

How to do this

Give each person in the room a handout.

Tell them to speak to 5 other people in the room, introduce themselves and find out one thing they have
in common and one thing they differ on and fill it in on the sheet.

How we’ve used this

We regularly use this on public workshops or conferences where attendees don’t know each other. We
give it to people as they arrive so they have something to do while we wait for the start time.
We created a more complex version of this where we asked specific questions like: How many people in
the room have children? And who in the room works as a project manager. The result worked really well
as the group started working together to solve the questions before the session even started. It was the
loudest we had ever heard 20 strangers get within 10 minutes!

Who shared this with us

Sharon Bowman¹
¹[Link]

46
43. What Would We Be If

5 any number Collaboration

minutes people Trust

When to use

Allow everyone a quick, safe way to express their view of something. It is a great technique at the start
of a meeting get everyone in the room to talk.

What you need

• A flipchart and some stationary to write up the statement and answers for all to see. Come up with
a statement and multiple answers. Make it fun and unusual, e.g.: If we were a commando, and our
mission was the last retrospective/meetings actions, we would be ___.
• awarded medals
• promoted
• ready for another mission
• court-marshalled
• dead

How to do this

Read the statement out loud and hand out markers for each person. Ask them to mark on the flipchart
which answer they would pick.

How we’ve used this

• You can also just go round the room and have each person say their answer.

Some sample questions:

• If we were an Oscar-nominated actress, and (project name/retrospective scope) was our film, we
would be ___. (Possible answers: ready with champagne on ice, quietly confident, nervous, drunk,
not even at the ceremony.)
• If we were a dog show judge, what breed would (project name/retrospective scope) be?” or “what
category would it win?
• If we were an interviewer on the Today programme, what question would we ask (project
name/retrospective scope)?
• If the project were a tv show it would be ___

47
What Would We Be If 48

Who shared this with us

We got this idea from The Complexity Retrospective¹.

¹[Link]
44. World Cafe

30 - 60 12 - 60 Collaboration
minutes people

When to use

World Cafe is a great technique to use with large groups to get them to discuss topics in detail, in smaller
sub groups. With the benefit of built in note taking so it is easier for groups to summarise at the end.

What you need

• Flipchart paper
• Marker pens
• Round tables for 4 to 6 participants each

How to do this

Decide on the topics or items you want to discuss.

Ask for a table host for each topic. This should be someone that is passionate about the topic and willing
to own the topic for the duration of the meeting. The host will stay at their specific table as others move
around to provide continuity. Once you have enough hosts, assign each host (and their topic) to a table.
Make sure each table has flipchart paper on the table (like a table cloth) and markers to write with. Tell
the other participants to move towards whichever topic is of interest to them. Try to make sure there is an
even distribution of people per table. If necessary, for a popular topic, have 2 tables discussing this topic.
Now give people a 15 minute time box to discuss the topic or question with their group. While talking
they should make notes on the flipchart paper. After 15 minutes, ask everyone to move to a new table
(except the host). The host briefly summarises what the previous people discussed to this new group of
people, and then the new group add their own thinking.
Continue for 2 to 4 rounds.
You can now ask the hosts to summarise back to the group what was discussed.

How we’ve used this

• We often use this after generating a list of topics to delve a bit deeper into some of the topics.
• Instead of the strict time box rotations, we sometimes just allow people to move between tables at
will for a longer time box.

49
World Cafe 50

Who shared this with us

We don’t remember who first introduced us to the technique, but it is widely used. You can find out more
about it here.¹
¹[Link]
III Appendix

51
Recommended Reading List
Books

Agile Retrospectives² by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen

Collaboration Explained³ by Jean Tabaka
Designing the Conversation: Techniques for Successful Facilitation⁴ by Russ Unger, Brad Nunnally and
Dan Willis
The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making⁵ by Sam Kaner
Gamestorming⁶ by Dave Gray
The Graphic Facilitator’s Guide⁷ by Brandy Agerbeck
Impact Mapping⁸ by Gojko Adzic
Management 3.0 Workout⁹ by Jurgen Appelo
The Skilled Facilitator¹⁰ by Roger Schwarz
System’s Thinking Playbook¹¹ by Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows
Training From The Back of the Room¹² by Sharon Bowman
Visual Meetings¹³ by David Sibbet
Visual Mojo¹⁴ by Lynne Cazaly

Websites

Retr-o-mat¹⁵
TastyCupcakes¹⁶
Facilitation Tools¹⁷
²[Link]
³[Link]
⁴[Link]
⁵[Link]
⁶[Link]
⁷[Link]
⁸[Link]
⁹[Link]
¹⁰[Link]
¹¹[Link]
¹²[Link]
¹³[Link]
¹⁴[Link]
¹⁵[Link]
¹⁶[Link]
¹⁷[Link]

52
About Growing Agile

At Growing Agile we help companies create great teams that build exceptional software. We are agile
coaches passionate about helping you get the results you are looking for.
We are based in Cape Town South Africa, but work with clients from all over the world. We provide
phone based individual or group coaching sessions, as well as online courses for Scrum Masters, Product
Owners and Teams.
Find out more about us at [Link]¹⁸.
Our personal goal is to help influence a million people on their path to becoming agile coaches. Our
books and videos are ways we can spread that influence further than what we can in person.
We are also exploring new ways to do this. One of our latest projects is [Link]¹⁹. A community
resource of links, courses, books, and ideas to help you find your own learning path as an agile coach.
If you’d like to stay in touch and hear about our new ventures, please sign up to our monthly newsletter²⁰.
¹⁸[Link]
¹⁹[Link]
²⁰[Link]

53
Growing Agile Online Courses
We offer several online courses aimed at Scrum Masters, Product Owners and Agile Teams.
If you are ready to get a taste of what our online courses are about sign up for our FREE five week Scrum
Master²¹ or Product Owner²² email course.
Our online courses are a little different to regular online video courses. We’ve applied the principles of
Training From The Back of The Room to our online materials. That means each course comes with a
workbook and exercises for you to do, as well as video’s to watch and techniques that you can use with
your teams. Each activity is intended to deepen your knowledge of an area, so we suggest doing the course
over a few weeks and taking the time to do all the exercises.
Check out our offerings here [Link]
²¹[Link]
²²[Link]
²³[Link]

54
Growing Agile Books

Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Training Scrum

We have been training teams in Scrum for about three years. During this time we have spent many hours
preparing training plans and creating workbooks, flipcharts and slides. This book will help you plan and
deliver interactive, fun Scrum training for anything from a short workshop on a particular topic to a full
two-day course.
Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Training Scrum is available on Leanpub²⁴.

A Coach’s Guide to Agile Requirements

Our requirement workshops are aimed at different stakeholders ranging from business, to Product Owners
and teams. This book is a collection of some of those workshop and can be used to help improve the way
²⁴[Link]

55
Growing Agile Books 56

you think about and communicate agile requirements.

Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Agile Requirements is available on Leanpub²⁵.

Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Mastering Backlogs

Often Product Owners can’t see the forest for the trees and there are so many items in their backlog
and not enough hours in the day to groom it. We run short workshops where we work with the Product
Owner’s actual backlog. The workshop is a working session, and an hour later the Product Owners emerge
with an improved backlog.
Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Mastering Backlogs is available on Leanpub²⁶.

Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Release Planning

We often hear people say “We’re agile, we don’t need a plan”! or even worse “We can’t plan”. This is just
not true. We run Release Planning workshops with many organisations. This book is a collection of our
workshops that will help you run similar workshops to create agile release plans. We include teaching
points on a range of techniques like Story Mapping and release burnups to help you explain to other’s
how to use these methods effectively.
Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Release Planning is available on Leanpub²⁷.

A Coach’s Guide to Agile Testing

If a team believes they are agile, but nothing has changed about the way they test, then there is still much
to learn. We teach 5 key principles that explain why agile testing is fundamentally different to traditional
[Link] books includes a collection of workshops to help teams grasp these principles and adopt an
agile testing mindset. It’s not just for testers. A key part of agile testing is that the whole team is involved,
so we always run these workshops with everyone in the team.
Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Agile Testing is available on Leanpub²⁸.

Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Facilitation

It’s taken us several years to master the skill of facilitation, and it continues to amaze us how few people
learn the skill, or even understand what it means. People spend much of their lives in meetings, and yet
so many meetings lack facilitation. We hope the collection of tips and techniques in this book will inspire
you to grow your own facilitation skills and improve the meetings in your organisation.
Growing Agile: A Coach’s Guide to Facilitation is available on Leanpub²⁹.

The Growing Agile Coach’s Guide Series

This series provides a collection of training and workshop plans for a variety of agile topics. The series
is aimed at agile coaches, trainers and ScrumMasters who often find themselves needing to help teams
²⁵[Link]
²⁶[Link]
²⁷[Link]
²⁸[Link]
²⁹[Link]
Growing Agile Books 57

understand agile concepts. Each book in the series provides the plans, slides, workbooks and activity
instructions to run a number of workshops on each topic. The interactive workshops are all created using
techniques from Training from the Back of the Room, to ensure participants are engaged and remember
their learnings after the workshop.
The series is available in a bundle on Leanpub³⁰, or you can purchase the books individually.

Other books by Growing Agile

Flow

Do you have a never-ending to do list and not enough hours in the day? Imagine getting everything on
your to do list done without stress or worrying. Imagine being twice as productive in half the time.
We have over 30 proven tips and techniques to help you achieve a state of flow, where time stands still
and productivity soars. With these tips you will deliver value to your customers sooner in practical and
simple ways. You will also be happier and less stressed.
Flow is available on Leanpub³¹.

Collaboration Games

Add an element of fun to your meetings or workshops using these 12 short games that teach principles of
collaboration.
Collaboration Games is available on Leanpub³².

Who is Agile in South Africa

This book is based on the original Who Is Agile book, only this is a regional version for South Africa. It’s
a collection of interviews with passionate South African agilists.
Who is Agile in South Africa is available on Leanpub³³.
³⁰[Link]
³¹[Link]
³²[Link]
³³[Link]