Establishing Focus Groups & 1:1 Meetings

Watch a recording of this training below, or scroll to keep reading

FACILITATION AT BLUE ZONES PROJECT

A facilitator is a guide to help people move through a process together, not the seat of wisdom and knowledge. That means a facilitator isn't there to give opinions, but to draw out opinions and ideas of the group members. Facilitation focuses on how people participate in the process of learning or planning, not just on what gets achieved.

Facilitation opportunities with Blue Zones Project include:

1. Focus Groups for Discovery
2. Blueprint Planning Workshops and Reeport
3. Committee Meetings
4. Other meetings, summits, and workshops

This training will focus primarily on facilitating focus groups for Discovery, but the strategies and techniques we discuss will also apply in other scenarios you will encounter, including the Blueprint planning workshop, committee/individual meetings, summits, and workshops.

There can be many purposes or objectives for facilitation:

• Exploratory. Seek to understand the current state of well-being, experiences and perspectives, and gather information. This is the objective for conversations during the Discovery phase.
• Decision Making and Consensus Building. This type will leverage different techniques as you seek to gain the agreement of the group and establish a vision, goals, specific direction or plan. This is the focus for the Blueprint workshop.
• Other. Sometimes facilitation will simply help ensure a productive and participative meeting or sharing among group member

TYPES OF FOCUS GROUPS & 1:1 MEETINGS

Policy, School, Worksites, and Engagement are typical focus groups as they represent key areas of the Blue Zones Project intervention. There may be others identified that are unique to your community, such as specific neighborhood groups, faith-based organizations, or subgroups such as hospitality or worksite focus groups.

Some parties are more suited to 1:1 conversations. These individuals are often critical leaders and influencers to the success of the project that warrant a more intimate conversation. Others are groups that we have learned are unlikely to attend a group meeting given their schedule – these include grocery and restaurants.

PRIMARY GOALS OF FOCUS GROUPS

1. Get to know the community
   • Identify assets, strengths, challenges, opportunities, and barriers
2. Gather information for the community Blueprint
3. Build relationships, support, trust, and momentum (Identify potential committee members and early champions)

FACILITATING FOCUS GROUPS

Preparing for focus groups and 1:1 meetings is key. Be sure to do the following in advance of your meeting:

• Prepare the Run of Show
• Review local community background documents
  • Project Brief
  • Community Health Needs Assessment
  • Sample Reports
• Know your attendees & community
  • Review the RSVPs and Bios as applicable
• Review the Facilitator Guide
• Practice facilitation skills

The opening and closing are the most important parts of the facilitated discussion. They are the anchors or book ends to the conversation. Everything in between these book ends provides further detail, exploration of the issues, and insights into the dynamics of the group.

Each facilitator guide is unique but has consistent elements:

1. Welcome & Intro
   • Establish your credibility & show your passion.
   • Warm Up- A safe question that positions everyone as an expert. It is a question that is easy to talk about and that all participants can answer.
2. Goals & Approach
   • Set the stage for purpose of the focus groups, what we hope to accomplish, why we are here. This will include reference to sponsor, BZP background, and approach, as well as relevant outcomes to illustrate the impact of our work in other similar communities.
3. Ground Rules for the session
   • Encourage constructive group behaviors and set the tone for emphasizing the value of diverse perspectives and giving all participants a voice:
4. Questions
   • Lead participants to identify strengths, challenges, and opportunities – these include intro, main, and closing questions
     1. 1. Strengths: what the community is doing really well now with their programs, initiatives, infrastructure, policy, etc.
        2. Challenges: barriers to future success. Could be current policies, attitude, infrastructure, the complexity of systems, etc.
        3. Opportunities: something that could make BZP successful. Their visions/hopes. What could be taken to the next level? Examples include a vacant lot for a community garden, partnership on a new initiative, a new development that could complete a street, groups to work with, etc.
5. Closing 

1. • Who is not at the table?
   • This is an opportunity to level-set and get the group to reflect.

Focus group and 1:1 conversations, along with community data on the state of well-being will inform the content of the Discovery report and ultimately inform the Blueprint.