A GREAT FACILITATION SESSION I ATTENDED ( MARCH
2006 . AS A PARTICIPANT )
I won’t say ‘
the best ‘ because , it would invite unnecessary comparisons , within myself . I
happed way back in March 2026 , in my first job as a Branch Training Manager (
BTM ) in Bajaj Capital , a BFSI company ! At that time, most of us haven’t
heard of the word ‘ facilitation ‘ !
Conducted by
our RTM, our reporting manager , who asked me to keep his name, confidential !
THE FACILITATOR :
We didn’t know
much about him at that time, except that he did his MBA-HR in England and
worked in Prudential Insurance for a few years. It was the sponsors of the
first 60 over cricket world cup that India won in 1983 !
THE CONTEXT : It was a new
, upstart , national level BFSI company . With nearly 50 branches in the state
of combined Andra Pradesh . They started recruiting Branch Training Managers a
couple of years ago for each branch.
Now, we are a
team of 30 BTM s reporting to our Regional Training Manger functionally and to
the Area Sales Managers, administratively . In a Matrix form of dual reporting
system.
THE PROBLEM : Training
department and all of us were a legal compliance focused and due to sales
pressures, sales managers were all results focused, and this creating a daily
functional frictions . Also, equally
important, how to reduce attrition rate in the sales department and what’s our contribution
towards the same.
To reduce that
and to improve mutual understanding between the Sales Department and the
Training Department, our RTM called for a meeting in Hyderabad. That was the
meeting objective . In March 2006 . Exactly 20 years ago .
THE TEAM : Back in
2006, almost none of us 30 BTMS had any formal training qualification ! One third of us are like me, coming from sales
back ground to sales training . Others are from academia , like Economics &
Commerce lecturers, some from BFSI ( Banking , Financial Services, Insurance )
industry experience in other functions .
For us ,
training meant slide delivery , new product launch training , sales training
etc. None of us ever heard the word “ Facilitation “ . Yet, when I look back
after 20 years, this is one of the great facilitated sessions by our Manager,
the RTM.
DURATION : It was a 2 days session .
PRE SESSION PREPARATION : He sent an
official mail to all of us. He set the context, stated the problem . The
friction between Sales Managers and Training Manger in the branch and asked us
to come with 3 specific Branch Related issues, apart from general issues. He also asked us to come with possible
solutions to the problems , within our company rules and norms . Since we are
30 in numbers, each Trainer gets no more than 5 minutes to 10 minutes to
present our cases.
THE SESSION : All this back ground details I had to provide to give
my readers , who are facilitators, with the CONTEXT at that time.
Our RTM set
the context on day 1 , set the agenda and requested all of us not to interrupt
any speaker, whether we agree or not. There was a time keeper, who will ring
first bell at 5 minutes and second at 7 minutes and CLAP after 10 th minute !
He was
accompanied by our Regional Training Coordinator, who came with his laptop and
fiercely typing away points.
At the end of
each presentation , we handed over the written paper, with a few points , to
our Training Coordinator.
Our RTM was
watching. As our friend Vinisha Jayaswal
used to say , ‘ he was present but it was an invisible presence ‘ . If any one entered the meeting room, no one
would notice him running the show ! He was sitting , not on the stage but among
participants, in a remote, invisible corner.
Only
occasionally and gently correcting the presenters when we went off the track or
asking us to maintain silence – if the side talk decibel levels increased a
threshold level !
On day 1, he spoke only for 10 minutes , summing up the
session, taking questions and providing some spot solutions and ending on time
( NOW when I look at it , adhering to our SOT 4 formula ! ) with a tea and
chat.
SESSION DAY 2
:
We didn’t know
these words but this was the day of convergence . Our Coordinator has collated
all the ideas from 30 of us, all coming to 85 to 90 . Some being the same.
Our RTM gave
us one copy to each one of us , which has these 90 ideas . We need to READ all
of them . That was the first round. Now
when I look back 20 years ago, it looks like a Textra game.
Then, he
divided us into 7 groups of 4 each. Gave us 10 ideas each . We need build a
consensus and select top 3 ideas from the same.
Each team has
to present, (a) why they are the best as per our company policies and rules (b)
if implemented , the possible effect on the individual , team and the
company. 5 minutes each.
Top 20 ideas
were selected. Now we understand, this is the convergence process ! At that
time , we didn’t know . Back in 2006.
Post lunch second
day , since none of us were formally trained to be trainers, he gave us a Training
session !
On basic Adult
Learning Principles or andragogy , principles from Malcolm Knowles, Blooms
Taxonomy . Also demonstrated, how they look like when weaved into every day
training .
And took practice
sessions from 2 or 3 of us.
Session End
reflection . He certainly corrected some of us during and after presentation ,
on body language, eye contact , choice of words etc. When required.
When I look
back with the knowledge I have gained on facilitation thanks to IAF , this
ranks as one of the memorable, unforgettable facilitated session I have ever
attended. That’s why , it’s finding a mention after 20 long years !
It has the
following , as I see it now :
(1) Divergence. Idea generation . Brain
storming . Problem statement .
(2) Valuing every voice and idea . Deep
Democracy principles. No one was more equal than others or less.
(3) Convergence and the basis for it.
(4) Action planning. We didn’t know but
there was a bit of ORID in all that.
(5) Psychological Safety . We were all new
to the company and to the training profession . For ALL of us, it was our first
training job . But we enjoyed it ! Many of us still remember it. I am in touch with
a few colleagues even now !
(6) It had group wisdom harvesting
(7) The session was refreshingly free of jargon . Had our boss used any Technical Lingo
or jargon , we would have felt the apprehension that, this Training function and
profession , was too difficult for us to handle.
This, as a participant . This was my first in training
profession . There is another I can say , a great one, is the latest I attended
in Bangalore. But more of it later !
No Photos are available . We all had ‘ feature ‘ phones
in 2006.
I thank IAF for allowing me to share this !
C V RAMANA . IAF Hyderabad Hub , India
Chapter .
Membership Number ; 38625
Labels: Facilitation
