My last job for IMO – in Fiji
My favourite maritime activity
Maritime Publications
STCW 95: Bridging the Competency Gap
In Seaways, March 2003, pp 21-23. The International
Journal of The Nautical Institute: London.
STCW 95: Are minimum standards good enough?
In Seaways, Dec 2001, pp 22-25. The International
Journal of The Nautical Institute: London.
Facilitation Skills – Linking to Online Component
• Activating Prior Knowledge:
o What specific questions/ points for further clarification do you have from the online tutorial?
o What concerns do you have about using facilitation in the SP context?
 Key Practices in SP context:
o
o
o
o
Quick Thinking – you have it or you don’t have it - right?
Sensory Acuity – what is this, and what do you need to do specifically?
Good questioning - what is good questioning and how does it work?
Managing Information – generating information, organizing information and making meaning of
information – how do you do this effectively?
o Giving and receiving feedback – what is important about this, and how to do it well?
 Managing the overall Facilitation Session
o What’s the key stages?
o What are the key things to do well?
The Power of Questions
“Questions are the primary way we learn virtually everything”
“Thinking itself is nothing but the process of asking and
answering questions”
“Questions immediately change what we focus on and,
therefore, how we feel”
(Anthony Robbins, 2001, pp.179-8)
“All answers come out of the question. If we pay attention to
our questions, we increase the power of meaningful learning”
Ellen Langer
What are Good Questions in a facilitation Context?
Using Questions (ACTIVITY) to promote Good Thinking
The effective use of questions is a powerful means of
promoting specific types of thinking, for example:
• What are the similarities and differences between the previous and the revised docking
regulations on port entry for bulk carriers entering Singapore?
• In what ways are these differences significant?
• How might we explain the high rate of accidents on vessels with multinational crews?
• What inferences and interpretations can be drawn from the existing data on the collision between
X and Y?
• What other data might we need to access to get a fuller picture of the likely causes of the event?
• How might we evaluate the effectiveness of the New STCW standards for improving X
• What other ways might we make ship personnel more diligent on reporting corrosion on A and B
A Model of Thinking
Comparison
& Contrast
Inference &
Interpretation
Details in Chapter 2
Analysis
Metacognition
Evaluation
Generating Possibilities
8
Activity:
Making Inferences & interpretations, based on Analysis
• Speech Samples
• Volunteers were asked to rate the attributes
of people using these different speech styles
(with exactly the same content).
• High pitched speech
• Slow talking speech
• Fast talking speech
• Expressive speech
Read the short summary of the research – how might
we explain the results?
• Read the article on the
experiment conducted in France
• What do you think the outcomes
were?
• How might the results differ in
Singapore, and how would you
explain this?
Connecting with the Unconscious – A Must
• “The pitch, timbre, volume, and cadence of your voice, the speed in which you speak, and even
the way you modulate pitch and volume, are all hugely influential factors in how convincing you
are, and how people judge your state of mind and your character.” (Mlodinow, 2012, p.132)
• “The gestures we make, the position in which we hold our bodies, the expressions we wear on
our faces, and the nonverbal qualities of our speech – all contribute to how others view us.”
(p.110)
• “Touch seems to be such an important tool for enhancing social cooperation and affiliation that
we have evolved a special physical route along which those subliminal feelings of social
connection travel from skin to brain. That is, scientists have discovered a particular kind of nerve
fibre in people’s skin – especially in the face and arms – that appears to have developed
specifically to transmit the pleasantness of social touch.” (p.137)
The Serial Position Curve
80
Primacy Effect
70
60
Recency Effect
50
von Restorff Effect
40
30
20
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Position on List
12
13
14
15 16
Model of Human Memory
E
N
V
Sensory Memory
I
Sight
R
Hearing
O
Touch
N
Smell
M
Taste
E
N
T
Working
Memory
Executive
Organizing
Function
Limited Capacity
5-9 bits of
information
Forgetting
Integrating –
Conscious,
Subconscious
&
Unconscious
Long –Term
Memory
Infinite Capacity
Use of Process Tools
One of the main tasks in facilitation is the effective generation and management of information.
Process Tools help to manage information in a structured manner. It is important that the right
tools are used for the purpose in hand:
• Generating new ideas (e.g., Brainstorming, Mind-Mapping, Forced Association)
• Gathering/organising information (e.g., Process Flowchart, Mind-Mapping, Force-Field Analysis
• Group decision making (e.g., Plus-Minus-Interesting, Evaluation Matrix)
• Dealing with conflict (e.g., Thinking Hats, Building Common Ground)
“Facilitation tools are simply a combination of words and lists that are
organised around lines, circles, boxes, graphs and pictures. They are
used to enable groups, to bring together ideas and make decisions.”
(Howell, J. L., 1997)
BRAINSTORMING
• DEFER JUDGEMENT
• STRIVE FOR QUANTITY
• FREEWHEEL
• HITCH HIKE
Force-Field Analysis Tool
This is a tool for generating and organizing information.
Through the use of brainstorming, identify:
• the desired situation (where the change wants to go)
• Identify the current situation (where things are now)
• Identify factors that are supporting change towards the desired situation
(give them a rating on how important they are)
• Identify factors that are resisting change towards the desired situation
(give them a rating on how important they are)
• Identify ways to enhance the factors supporting change
• Identify ways to reduce the impact of factors resisting change
• Identifying if some of the resistors of change can be used against each other
Plus-Minus-Interesting
PLUS
MINUS
INTERESTING
Forced Associations (Random Triggers)
Forced Associations is a technique for linking another thinking pattern into
the one we are presently using. We do this by selecting a random concrete noun
from a different field and combining it with the problem under consideration.
For example, we might be looking at ways to make lifts quicker.
Force Associate
with ‘Mirror’
By choosing a random word ‘Mirror’ could lead to installing mirrors by lifts.
As we know this is a popular solution for ‘slow lifts’. The lift doesn’t go faster,
but people waiting don’t notice this as they look in the mirror.
The Importance of Good Rapport
“Rapport is the ultimate tool for getting
results with other people”
(Robbins, 2001, ‘Unlimited Power’, p.231)
Activity
1. Think of people in your life with whom you have great rapport –
family members, friends, whoever
2. Think of people with whom you have very little rapport; people
whose attempts to communicate with you leave you confused,
annoyed, frustrated or simply indifferent.
3. Now compare and contrast the two – what are the differences and
what is significance about these differences?
Stages in Conducting a Facilitation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Design & Preparation
Starting the Facilitation
Managing the Facilitation
Ending the Facilitation
Follow up on the Facilitation
Activity
Identify a topic that you teach, which will involve some of the specific types of thinking:
o Critical Thinking: Analyse, Compare & Contrast, Infer & Interpret, Evaluate
o Creative Thinking: Generating many, different types of, and novel possibilities
Design an activity (or question set) that will facilitate the specific types of thinking as students
engage with the content area (e.g., concepts, principles, procedures) to build Understanding