by Jane Haskell

Is cleaning the bathroom toilet or the yucky refrigerator shelf more appealing than putting up with ridiculous or stressful meetings? Maybe it is time to think about changing the climate of the meeting and at the same time reducing stress – yours and that of other participants.

As I engaged in a stressful eight-month period that included changes in my personal [family situation, moving (three times), divorce,] and work life [job relocation], I realized that I was the only one who could intimately impact my stress level. At work, I am in lots of meetings, as a trainer, facilitator and group member. I can reduce my stress, as the facilitator or trainer, by reducing the stress factors in meetings. I reduce stress factors by first becoming aware of the meeting’s climate and then changing it.

Meeting climate is sectioned into three general areas: physical, social and emotional, and cognitive. The physical climate involves the room type, size, organization of space, light, color, acoustics, ventilation, etc. The social and emotional climate impacts the group’s dynamics, trust, safety, support, meeting emotional needs. The cognitive climate approaches, respects, values and works with the diverse learning styles, cultures and abilities.

What can I do for me? In looking at all the factors impacting the meeting’s climate, there are many. Here are four easy things that I regularly do. [Note the word ‘do’ as opposed to ‘think about’ or ‘try to’.]

Move. As I plan a meeting, I sometimes can feel a block, a resistance. Move. Do not mutter, “It will work out.” In a meeting, the energy dips. Do not sigh and think, “It will get better or be over soon.” Move. As you are planning that difficult meeting, walk down the hall, out the door, up the stairs. Breathe in and out, concentrating only on that breathing in and out. When the energy dips in a meeting, move people, if appropriate, into small groups. Have them move from place to another. Call a break, if necessary. Have them move. Push against the static inertia.

Splash of color. You can control the space you work in – and meet in. You might not be able to change the color of the walls or the desk or the chairs you have been issued. You can make color changes in your work or meeting space in the color of the file folder, color of paper handouts, add one or more bright colored flowers, a brightly colored table covering, or colorful fruits and vegetables (full of antioxidants). Color can improve your mood and your productivity – as well as that of other group members. A combination of reds, blues, yellows and green is better than dull white, black and brown. One study showed that those muted colors made people duller, too, scoring lower on IQ tests.

Hydrate and nourish. Even time for a cup of tea, especially black, which is full of polyphenols, can reduce stress. So those breaks (that it is so easy to consider skipping) benefit everyone by providing time to move, stretch, hydrate, nourish and replenish chemicals that can reduce stress hormones in our blood and help the body shed tension. If you can, consider having a supply of water, fresh fruits and vegetables, and protein rich snacks for meetings that last more than an hour or two.

Laugh. When planning meetings, include time for non-work activity. That’s those breaks. If possible, include a time for non-traditional activity that stretches our thinking and provides a venue for a laugh. Laughing reduces tension and stress and provides an opportunity for different thinking. In one meeting I recently facilitated, I had people introduce themselves with a 15-word or less snapshot of what they did. Then as a group, I had them line up along a continuum that gave them information about how many were in administrative vs. non-admin roles, how far they commuted to work each day, which county they lived in, number of years served as a volunteer, etc. It provided movement, chances for lightness, and opportunities for laughing!

Managing your stress can make you feel better about yourself and what you do. It can also make those meetings more pleasant when they include movement, brightly colored snacks, humor and other climate altering techniques!

For more information on effective facilitation techniques or training opportunities, go the UMaine Cooperative Extension Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills website.

Credit: Material adapted from Jane Haskell, and Gabe McPhail, Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills, Level 2 Curriculum. (Orono, ME: UMaine Cooperative Extension, 2012) and Reduce Stress at Work for a Healthy Heart.

Building on the 2010 conference theme, R3: Relationships, Relationships, Relationships presents Educators, Parents, Out of School Providers, and Community Leaders exciting opportunities for engaging in Positive Youth Development.

For more information or to register, visit www.maine.gov/cabinet/syv.

Keynote speakers:

• Karen Williams, Implementation of Adolescent Brain Research
• Tony Wagner (author of The Global Achievement Gap), Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need — And What We Can Do About It
• Nathan Eklund (author of How Was Your Day at School?), Improving Dialogue About Teacher Job Satisfaction

To help you improve the chances that your next meeting will be a success, here are some points to think about.

Think back to a meeting you participated in that went well.  Consider that meeting and jot down your responses to the following questions.

• What was it that made that meeting go well? 
• What happened that made it possible for the group to accomplish its goals?
• What did the leader of the group do that contributed to the meeting’s success?
• How did group members positively contribute to the meeting?

Just as we may have been in meetings that have turned out well, many of us have been in meetings that have gone poorly.  Now, think back to a meeting you participated in that was not effective.  Make note of your responses to the following questions.

• What was it that made that meeting go so badly? 
• What made it difficult for the group to accomplish its goals?
• What did the leader of the group do that contributed to the meeting’s failure?
• How did group members make the situation worse?

Poor meetings have a way of draining our energy and squashing our enthusiasm for a particular project.  You, as a group member or group leader, can improve your facilitation skills – making your time in meetings more productive.

It is much more rewarding to be part of meetings that are facilitated well and where something is accomplished.  Consider the following questions. 

• Now that you have considered a poorly run and a well run meeting, what skills do you think an effective meeting facilitator should have?
• How can group members assist in making a meeting successful?
• How can you develop skills to facilitate your next meeting more effectively?

Start a list and make a plan today to improve your facilitation skills. 

Here are a few tips to help strengthen your own facilitation skills:

• Make sure everyone understands his/her roles and responsibilities.
• In between meetings, practice your facilitation skills and support others as they practice theirs too.
• Remember to establish ground rules or guidelines for you meetings, or remind your group members of what they are, before you begin each meeting.
• If you are working with a challenging group, consider asking someone to be an observer at your next meeting.  Ask them to make note of how the group is functioning and how individuals are interacting.
• Ask for feedback, at the end of the meeting, about how the meeting went.
• Incorporate the feedback you receive into your next meeting, if appropriate.

Want to learn more about facilitating groups?  Check out:

• Facilitation: What Is It?: Bulletin # 6101 from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Publication Catalog at:

                    http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/PDFpubs/6101.pdf

                    or at:

                    http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/6101e/

• Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills Curriculum: Item #6115 from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Publication Catalog at:

                    http://extensionpubs.umext.maine.edu/

• The University of Maine Cooperative Extension facilitation training schedule, available from jane.haskell@maine.edu

For more information or to comment on this blog, contact:

• deborah.killam@maine.edu

North Central Regional Center for Rural Development: http://breeze.msu.edu/ncrcrd/

About the Webinar: Land-grant university faculty in both youth and community development have engaged young people in seven states in mapping the impact of their work in diverse communities using the community capitals framework. Presenters will share initial findings about the characteristics of youth program experiences that link social capital development to youth civic engagement and will explore the connections between youth development and community development Extension work.

Registration: There is no fee for attending this webinar.

About the Speakers:

Matt Calvert is a youth development specialist with UW-Extension who has worked extensively with statewide programs to engage youth in community development through direct action, input into decision-making and involvement in policy through representation with elected officials.

Mary Emery, a member of the Sociology Department at Iowa State University, works on a variety of initiatives related to rural development and community change initiatives including co-managing a Coaching for Community Change Initiative and using the Community Capitals Framework in evaluation and program planning. She also co-chairs the Great Plains IDEA multi-university on-line Master’s degree in Community Development.

Richard Enfield is a County Director & 4-H Youth Development Advisor with the University of California. His research and educational efforts have focused on experiential education, the complimentary concepts of resiliency and developmental assets, and social capital. He is currently chairing a multi-state nationwide project on 4-H and social capital.

Barbara Baker is a 4-H Youth Development Educator with UMaine Extension who has a passion for working with communities to sustain youth and adult partnership opportunities for building human and social capital.  This has been honed by over fifteen years of Extension work with 4-H Youth Community Action at UMaine and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Bonita Williams is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth Development with the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with the Virginia Cooperative Extension Program.  She is a faculty affiliate with the Department of Human Development.  Her teaching and research interests include:  Cultural competence as a construct, the factors impacting youth’s career decisions, and program management.

Instructions for Accessing the Webinar:

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