[Community Roundtable Name] Facilitator Guide

Goal: Integrate cancer and chronic disease efforts to improve [topic] in Northeast Kentucky by implementing [strategy]

Facilitators:

·  Help organize workgroup ideas that will go into their activity plan worksheets – help the workgroup identify and summarize common ideas, as well as prioritize actions.

·  Ensure the workgroup finalizes an action plan that includes specific tasks, timelines and responsibilities focused on improving [strategy] to address [topic] in [location].

·  Ensure workgroup comes to a consensus on future workgroup meeting organizer(s), frequency and method of meetings.

Workgroup Goal: Complete the workgroup worksheets to develop action plan
There will be flip charts to take notes during brainstorming. The second page of the worksheet can be used to record final decisions. Note: any off-topic questions or comments raised during discussions can be noted in the “Parking Lot” on page 3 to be addressed in the next meeting.
Introduction (15 mins)
1.  Review purpose (goal, desired outcomes)
2.  Review process (use of worksheet, flip chart and assign note taker)
3.  Have members introduce themselves
Workgroup Activity Plan Worksheet
1.  Have workgroup members write their names and organizations on the first page after they introduce themselves
2.  Ask someone to volunteer and record decision points on page two. This person will also be in charge of reporting out at the end of the day
3.  Discuss what success looks like and record on the right side of the second page (20 mins)
4.  Discuss and record SMART workgroup goal at the top of the page based on what was determined success looks like (10 mins)
5.  Discuss and record specific action steps, responsible person(s), due date in the matrix in the arrow (20 mins)
6.  Discuss and record critical success factors (e.g. what needs to be in place for the actions to happen and be successful), which could be PSE change, behavioral or partnership factors, in the circles below the arrow (10 mins)
7.  Discuss and record who should be involved, including those not present at the roundtable on the left side of the page (10 mins)
8.  Decide and record when the next workgroup meeting is, how often the workgroup will meet, who the organizer is, and how on the third page (5 mins)

Facilitator Tips during the Workshop

·  Maintain your role as facilitator. You may need to reiterate your role as the facilitator in the discussions, especially if your team is looking to you to make decisions for the team. The team members need to make decisions themselves, as they will be the ones implementing the action plan back home.

·  Get past a controversy or stalemate. If the team seems to be stuck on an issue, or someone will not give up on an idea that is not supported by the majority of the team:

o  Record the issue or idea on flipchart paper as a “parking lot” idea or idea to come back to. During priority setting, the issue will either surface as a priority, or not.

o  Ask for a quick hand vote by the team – this will give you (and the team) a sense of where the group stands on the issue. Often these kinds of issues are perpetuated by one or two people, and not the whole team. Go with majority intent of the team.

·  Give everyone a chance to provide input and be a part of the discussion. If someone or a few people in the team are dominating the discussion:

o  Go around the table and ask everyone to state their idea/suggestion

o  Specifically ask for a person’s opinion/idea. Say “Let’s hear from those we haven’t heard from yet”, ask another person on the team “What do you think about this?”

o  Ask the person(s) dominating the discussion to allow a chance for others to provide input. Say “Great ideas, now let’s hear what the other people on the team think.”

·  Manage the team’s time and avoid spending too much time on a task. If the team is particularly vocal on a given topic or task:

o  It is fine to spend some extra time on a task, provided the team is productive and dealing with issues related to the topic or task. Once you notice that new information is not being discussed, or the team is rehashing the same points, encourage the team to move forward.

o  If the team’s discussion is productive, but the time being spent on the issue is causing the team to get too behind in the overall task, record the main discussion points, and identify the issue as one that needs to be discussed in further depth at a future meeting. Move forward with the remaining tasks.

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