I can honestly say that I have never been so exhausted after a 2 day class/workshop. The last 2 days were filled with so much great information that my head is spinning. Jean and Ronica did an amazing job with this class. I don’t want to list out too much detail around my key take-aways. If I did, this blog post would likely be a novel and I also don’t want to give away all my new found “subtle skills.” That said, here are 3 things that really hit home for me (in no particular order):
- I talk too much 🙂 As I am writing this, I swear I can hear my friends and family laughing. Seriously, when I am in a facilitator role, I talk too much and don’t listen enough. I really learned just how important it is to be quiet and neutral as a facilitator. I think this is an area that most facilitators can improve on as well.
- I don’t prepare enough for the meetings I run. If Jean and Ronica had prepared for this class the way I prepare for my meetings, it would have been a disaster. I am committing to myself to spend the appropriate amount of time preparing for meetings I facilitate (if I am planning a 2 hour meeting, then I need to spend 4 hours preparing for it). If people are going to give up time in their day to come to a meeting I set up, then I owe it to them to make it a productive and worthwhile use of their time.
- Managing conflict isn’t easy but I now feel very well equipped with new tools and techniques to do this. I am no longer afraid of having conflict in meetings but am actually looking forward to the opportunity to use some of my new found skills to help with this.
One of the real benefits of this class that I was not expecting was how much I learned about myself and what type of person I am. I am much more aware (painfully so 🙂 ) of some character traits I have that I am hoping to improve on in the work place.
I would highly recommend this class for any and all CSM’s. I can guarantee that you will come out of it prepared to really facilitate collaborative decision making on your agile teams.
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