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7 Helpful Insights on Facilitation from 2024

  • Writer: JD Solomon
    JD Solomon
  • Dec 5, 2024

Great facilitation is necessary for great collaboration and results. These are seven of our facilitation insights from 2024.
Great facilitation is necessary for great collaboration and results. These are seven of our facilitation insights from 2024.

What's hot in our world of facilitation and collaboration in 2024? The insights on our website provide a good snapshot. Read a few of these insights and let us know your thoughts. We trust that you will find them helpful.


The Sources of the Insights

The articles were based on the most interesting people and topics we encountered in our travels. For the most part, these travels included JD Solomon Solutions' consulting assignments. Sometimes, the article's source is related to the follow-up conversations from a workshop or webinar.

 

As a lean, niche company, we tend to “see it, reflect on it, write about it.” It’s fun to see what has inspired us over the course of a year.

 

What’s In Facilitation?

JD Solomon Solutions brands itself in asset management (including reliability, risk, and operational resilience), program development, and facilitation. Our facilitation services range from higher-level strategic plans and board retreats to technical projects like root cause analysis, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and criticality analysis.

 

Facilitation is about guiding a group to solutions that are created, understood, and accepted by all. It is a structured form of collaboration. Visit the Facilitation webpage for more information.

 

Helpful Insights on Facilitation from 2024

This is our list from December 2023 through November 2024.

 

Are strategic plans overrated? As Mike Tyson is credited with saying, "Everyone has a strategic plan until they get punched in the mouth." We do a lot of strategic planning facilitation and have found that plans are more effective when they are developed for the front-line staff and not as a public relations piece.

 

 

 

Knowing how to stop facilitated team efforts is just as important as knowing when to stop. Included are three things to do well and five things to avoid.

 

 

 

How do you know when team efforts fail? Facilitators must spot the signs early and implement trusted interventions. Included are some pointers and tips.

 

 

 

The success of reliability assessments depends on the quality of the facilitation. Reliability assessments are among the toughest things for most technically trained professionals to facilitate. Learn more about how to apply the mental model CATER.

 

 

 

Knowledge transfer sessions are a great way to build common understanding and improve team dynamics. Included are five key pointers that will improve the team dynamics of your asset management program and help you better guide the process.

 

 

 

Understanding question types and using different techniques is essential for better team collaboration. Ten question types and three applications are discussed.

 

 

 

Effective collaboration requires facilitators to determine which work is best done by teams and which is best done by individuals. Ask yourself first whether group work should be individual work. Our intentions for collaboration may be good, but the context may be wrong.

 

 

Let Us Know What You Think

Please share your thoughts on the facilitation and collaboration topics we covered in 2024. Did what we saw and inspired us this year match your experience? Do you agree with the content of our insights?



JD Solomon Inc. provides solutions for program development, asset management, and facilitation at the nexus of facilities, infrastructure, and the environment. Sign up for monthly updates related to our firm.

Remember the Alt Text for Tables in Word and PowerPoint

  • Writer: JD Solomon
    JD Solomon
  • Dec 2, 2024

Alt text is a simple way to add your key message to a table and avoid misunderstanding .
Alt text is a simple way to add your key message to a table and avoid misunderstanding .

Tables are a great way to organize data and information. However, without alternative text (alt text), tables can be inaccessible to people with visual impairments. Even worse, your key message from the table may be lost to everyone.

 

Why Alt Text Matters for Tables

Alt text describes visual content for those who cannot see it. It is often used by screen readers to convert text to speech. Without it, a screen reader may simply say, "Table," leaving users clueless about the table’s content. Including alt text ensures your tables are accessible to everyone.


Perhaps more importantly, alt text forces you, as a subject matter expert, to synthesize the key message associated with the table. People read tables in six different ways, so without a strong takeaway, different people will have different perspectives on the same material.

 

How to Add Alt Text in Word

  1. Right-click the table and select Table Properties.

  2. Go to the Alt Text tab.

  3. In the Description box, enter a concise description of the table. Focus on the table's purpose and key data.

 

How to Add Alt Text in PowerPoint

  1. Right-click the table and select Edit Alt Text (or use the Accessibility pane).

  2. Type a meaningful description in the Alt Text box.

  3. Avoid phrases like "Table showing" or "Image of"; screen readers already identify it as a table.


Pointers for Effective Alt Text

  • Be specific but brief.

  • Highlight trends or key takeaways rather than listing every detail.

  • Test your document.

 

Don’t Forget Alt Text in Tables

Alt text for tables is a small step that can have a big impact. Make accessibility a habit—everyone deserves equal access and understanding of your work.



JD Solomon served in executive leadership roles at two Fortune 500 companies before starting JD Solomon, Inc., just before the pandemic. He is the author of Communicating Reliability, Risk & Resiliency to Decision Makers: How to Get Your Boss’s Boss to Understand and Facilitating with FINESSE: A Guide to Successful Business Solutions.

What Becky Selling Sex Taught Me about Making Decisions

  • Writer: JD Solomon
    JD Solomon
  • Nov 29, 2024

Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) about fictional Spanish sex symbol Maria Vargas.
Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) about fictional Spanish sex symbol Maria Vargas.

The meeting went well. We left the office and paused to de-brief in the car. 


“Oh shit!" Mickey exclaimed. “There goes Becky.”


About 100 yards across the parking lot, a curvy blonde strolled across the sidewalk and toward the building entrance.


“I don’t care what anybody says — sex sells. She really knows how to play it. There’s no way those guys are going to say no to her. “


“Let’s hope not,” I countered. "It’s an important project, and we really have the technical horsepower to do this right.”


Many Techies Don’t Get It

Many (maybe most) techies don’t get it. Decision makers view their choices as a continuum, not as independent events. That’s where rational thought and logic fail.


Becky is an example of a low-end decision. Attractiveness can play a significant role in routine or low-stakes decisions, where decision makers may rely more on secondary signals or indirect indicators, like appearance or likability, than on thorough analysis.


Of course, this is particularly true for impulse purchases or when the service or product is of secondary importance.


When Attractiveness Becomes a Negative

Secondary signals like attractiveness diminish as the stakes or complexity of the decision increase.


Perceived Manipulation

Rightly or wrongly, attractiveness can raise doubts about competence or sincerity. This is true for informed or skeptical decision makers, especially when complexity and uncertainty are elevated.


Trustworthiness and Authenticity

Overemphasis on appearance might create a perception of style over substance.


Intimidation or Discomfort

Excessive attractiveness can make some decision-makers feel uncomfortable and concerned about being judged as unduly influenced by a secondary factor.


Inconsistency with Context

If the presenter’s attractiveness is inconsistent with the decision’s seriousness, it usually leads to disengagement.


The Portfolio Effect

Being too attractive usually backfires when the decision requires high involvement or expertise. The decision maker perceives attractiveness as a tool for manipulation.


A fourth case is the portfolio effect, or when a collection of different decisions impacts how decision makers view the overall context. In other words, if the current agenda is full of big decisions (and a lot of analysis), then all decisions tend to be viewed under this lens. If times are good and the pressure is off, then all decisions tend to be viewed in a more relaxed manner.


What Becky Selling Sex Teaches Us

Sex sells. Many technical professionals get wrapped up in their analysis and overlook that decision makers often view their choices as routine or low stakes. Logic and calculations will not rule the day.


However, sex doesn’t sell as well when the stakes are perceived to be high. That’s why it’s important for the technical professional to understand the context first. Understanding the context also means having different communication approaches in your bag to address different situations.



The elements of the FINESSE fishbone diagram® are Frame, Illustrate, Noise reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics. Communicating with FINESSE is a not-for-profit community of technical professionals dedicated to being highly effective communicators and facilitators. Learn more about our publications, webinars, and workshops. Join the community for free.



JD Solomon is the founder of JD Solomon, Inc., the creator of the FINESSE fishbone diagram®, and the co-creator of the SOAP criticality method©. He is the author of Communicating Reliability, Risk & Resiliency to Decision Makers: How to Get Your Boss’s Boss to Understand and Facilitating with FINESSE: A Guide to Successful Business Solutions.

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