maintain neutrality

3 Great Ways to Maintain Neutrality in Meetings as the Facilitator

Whether your meeting takes place in person or virtually, someone has to be in charge of the meeting. Someone has to lead and guide and be in charge of the agenda time keeping and more. That someone is the facilitator. But how does a facilitator go about maintaining neutrality especially when the stakes are high?

Facilitation is a skill that when put into practice, can continue to grow, expand and be refined. TeamCatapult has been teaching a variety of Facilitation workshops for years. To check out a sampling of our upcoming facilitation offerings, start here.

What is maintaining neutrality?

Maintaining neutrality refers to remaining impartial and unbiased in any given situation. It involves setting aside:

personal opinions
emotions
preconceived notions

in order to approach a matter objectively.

When someone maintains neutrality, they strive to gather diverse perspectives, evaluate information critically, and make decisions based on facts rather than personal biases. Neutrality requires self-awareness, open-mindedness, and a willingness to consider different viewpoints without favoring one side over another.

Maintaining neutrality does not mean being indifferent or passive, but rather actively engaging in thoughtful analysis while refraining from taking sides.

By maintaining neutrality, individuals can promote fairness, respect different opinions, and contribute to constructive dialogues and peace or conflict resolution processes.

Let’s learn more about how to remain neutral in different situations, including how to stay neutral at work!

What is the concept of neutrality?

The concept of neutrality revolves around the idea of remaining impartial and unbiased in various contexts. Neutrality implies not taking sides or favoring one position over another. It involves a state of objectivity where personal opinions, emotions, and prejudices are set aside to approach a situation or issue from a neutral standpoint.

Neutrality is often sought in areas such as mediation, journalism, diplomacy, and conflict resolution, where it is important to maintain fairness and promote open dialogue. It requires individuals to be aware of their own biases, actively seek diverse perspectives, and make decisions based on reliable information and evidence.

While achieving complete neutrality may be challenging, the concept serves as a guiding principle to encourage the principles of impartiality, respect for differing views, and the pursuit of balanced and unbiased judgments.

How do you develop neutrality?

Developing neutrality requires a conscious effort and ongoing practice. Here are some steps you can take to develop neutrality:

Self-reflection: Take the time to reflect on your own beliefs, biases, and emotions.
Seek diverse perspectives: Actively expose yourself to a range of viewpoints and opinions, especially those that differ from your own.
Question assumptions: Challenge your own assumptions and preconceived notions.
Practice empathy: Try to understand and empathize with the experiences, emotions, and motivations of others, even if you disagree with them.
Verify information: Ensure that the information you rely on is accurate and reliable. Fact-check claims and seek out reputable sources of information. .
Engage in critical thinking: Develop your critical thinking skills to evaluate information and arguments objectively.
Practice emotional detachment: While acknowledging emotions is important, strive to separate your emotions from your analysis of a situation.
Consider long-term consequences: Look beyond immediate outcomes and consider the potential long-term effects of different positions or decisions.
Stay informed: Continuously educate yourself on various topics and stay informed about current events.
Practice patience and humility: Developing neutrality is an ongoing process, and it’s important to be patient with yourself.

Why is it important to maintain neutrality when facilitating?

Maintaining neutrality when facilitating is important because it creates an environment of fairness and inclusivity. Neutrality allows facilitators to be impartial, ensuring that all participants feel respected and have an equal opportunity to contribute. It fosters open dialogue by creating a safe space where individuals can freely express their thoughts and opinions.

Neutrality is particularly vital in conflict resolution, as it helps facilitators navigate disputes without bias, guiding participants toward mutual understanding.

By remaining neutral, facilitators build trust among participants, promote fairness in decision-making, and minimize power dynamics in conflicts. Ultimately, neutrality is essential for effective facilitation, enabling a collaborative and productive process.

What does maintaining neutrality mean to a facilitator?

The facilitator of a collaborative meeting brings the objective and unbiased view to a group process, so that all voices can be heard and the team can access its collective intelligence.

How can this be achieved? It is done by maintaining neutrality on the facilitator’s part.

How can someone remain neutral?

Remaining neutral can be challenging, especially in situations where emotions or personal biases are involved. However, here are some strategies that can help someone strive for neutrality:

Awareness of personal biases: Recognize your own biases and understand how they might influence your perception and judgment. Be aware of any preconceived notions or prejudices you may have and make a conscious effort to set them aside.
Gather diverse perspectives: Seek out different viewpoints and opinions on the matter at hand. Engage in open-minded discussions with people who hold different beliefs or perspectives. This will help you broaden your understanding and challenge any inherent biases.
Critical thinking: Develop strong critical thinking skills to analyze information objectively. Evaluate evidence, assess logical arguments, and question assumptions. Rely on facts and data rather than emotions or personal anecdotes.
Practice empathy: Try to understand and empathize with all parties involved in a conflict or debate. Put yourself in their shoes and consider their motivations, experiences, and emotions. This can help you develop a more balanced and compassionate perspective.
Maintain emotional detachment: While it’s important to acknowledge and understand emotions, try to separate your own emotions from the situation. Emotional attachment can cloud judgment and lead to bias. Take a step back and approach the issue with a rational and calm mindset.
Consider the long-term consequences: Look beyond immediate outcomes and consider the potential long-term effects of different positions or decisions. Take into account the broader impact on individuals, groups, or society as a whole.
Seek reliable information: Ensure that you have access to accurate and trustworthy information. Rely on reputable sources and verify facts before forming an opinion. Avoid relying solely on biased or sensationalized media.
Take time for reflection: Before forming a conclusion or taking a position, take the time to reflect on the information you have gathered. Give yourself space to think critically and weigh different perspectives.
Accept uncertainty: Recognize that some issues may not have clear-cut solutions or that there may be unknown factors at play. Embrace the idea that it’s okay to have doubts or be uncertain about certain matters.
Be open to changing opinions: As new information emerges or as you gain more insights, be willing to reevaluate your stance. Being neutral means being open to reconsidering your position based on the available evidence.

Remember, achieving complete neutrality may not always be possible or necessary, as certain situations may call for taking a stance. However, by consciously striving for neutrality, you can become more objective and open-minded in your approach to various issues.

How can someone maintain neutrality in a meeting?

Maintaining neutrality in a meeting requires setting clear expectations for respectful dialogue, actively listening to participants without judgment, and suspending immediate conclusions.

As a facilitator, it is important to remain impartial, create a safe space for open discussion, and ensure equal participation. Focus on understanding each participant’s perspective, seeking clarification when needed, and basing discussions on facts and evidence.

Manage conflicts constructively, mediating discussions towards mutually acceptable solutions. Reflect on personal biases and triggers that may influence neutrality. Take notes to accurately capture contributions and summarize key points.

Follow up with fairness by implementing decisions transparently and treating all participants equitably. Maintaining neutrality in meetings requires ongoing commitment, self-awareness, and a dedication to fostering an inclusive and impartial environment.

What not to do when trying to remain neutral?

When trying to remain neutral, there are certain behaviors and actions that should be avoided.

First, it is important not to express personal biases or opinions that may sway the discussion in a particular direction. Avoid favoring one side or individual over another, as this undermines the goal of impartiality.

Next, do not dismiss or ignore perspectives that differ from your own. All viewpoints should be given a fair consideration and respect, even if they challenge your own beliefs. It is crucial not to let emotions overpower rational thinking or engage in personal attacks during discussions. Such behaviors hinder the maintenance of a neutral and respectful environment.

Lastly, do not make hasty judgments or decisions without thoroughly examining all available information. Neutrality requires a thoughtful and objective evaluation of facts and evidence. By avoiding these pitfalls, one can better defend and uphold neutrality and contribute to a fair and balanced discourse.

How is maintaining neutrality achieved?

The facilitator needs to own the process of the meeting while letting the participants own the content or topic.

Sounds easy?

Here is what it will look like.

As facilitator, you will need to engage in the following actions:

Setting the group’s direction to an agreed-upon outcome
Making process moves about how the group will work
Asking questions of the group
Building bridges between competing ideas
Sharing what you see happening in the group’s process without judgement.

While this might sound easy, it is not. In fact, some would argue that being completely neutral is not possible, that everything we say and do will be informed by our bias.

I do think it’s possible to maintain neutrality – especially if your focus is on the process not the content.

In this article, we will look at three ways to maintain neutrality.

1 Plan ahead: know before you go!

Before facilitating a meeting, it is important to know why the team is meeting and what they hope to accomplish. In addition, it’s important to know who is attending the meeting and who else needs to be in the room with this group.

This ‘Planning and Design for Facilitation’ needs to happen before the facilitator steps foot in the room.

Are you a facilitator? Plan to spend 2.5 times the length of the upcoming meeting on planning and design. Meaning that if the meeting is a 2-hour meeting, planning and design will take about 5 hours.

2 Grab a partner: share neutral leadership

Being the sole facilitator can be hard. Sharing neutral leadership means sharing the work of facilitation by rotating this role among the team members. It means having everyone take a turn owning the process and stepping out of the content.

This powerful practice of sharing neutral leadership serves two purposes. It helps you the facilitator develop your own skill set around maintaining neutrality and it develops the group’s ability to dig for their solutions with more trust.

3 Ask for feedback and support

Have I shared yet how ‘tricky’ maintaining neutrality is? Setting up a feedback process is essential for learning what is and what isn’t working.

This part is not about asking participants whether they liked the facilitation, it’s about determining if the group reached their desired outcomes through the facilitation process and if they held conversations that needed to be had.

Co-facilitation means having someone else in the room who can see the examples of where you might have slipped out of neutrality and can help you reflect on why it happened.

Co-facilitation is a great way to receive feedback, as long as you partner with someone more experienced.

More on co-facilitation

Co-facilitation refers to a collaborative approach in which two or more facilitators work together to lead a group or guide a process. It involves sharing the responsibilities and tasks associated with facilitation, such as planning, designing activities, managing discussions, and ensuring the overall success of the facilitated session or event.

Co-facilitation offers several advantages.

First, it brings a diversity of skills, expertise, and perspectives to the facilitation process, enriching the experience for participants. Each co-facilitator can contribute their unique strengths and knowledge, leading to a more comprehensive and well-rounded facilitation.

Second, it provides support and backup for each facilitator. If one facilitator encounters challenges or needs assistance, the other facilitators can step in to maintain the flow of the session and provide assistance as needed. This helps ensure a smooth facilitation process, especially in situations where unexpected issues arise or when dealing with larger groups.

Co-facilitation can enhance participant engagement and involvement. With multiple facilitators, there are more opportunities to interact with participants, address individual needs, and create a dynamic and interactive environment. Co-facilitators can take turns leading discussions, moderating activities, and providing individual support, resulting in a more inclusive and participatory experience for participants.

It promotes reflection and learning among facilitators. By working together, facilitators can observe and learn from each other’s styles, techniques, and approaches. They can provide feedback, share insights, and continuously improve their facilitation skills through collaboration and mutual support.

Learning more about maintaining neutrality

If you’re interested in learning more about maintaining neutrality in business, here are a few books that can provide valuable insights:

“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler: While not solely focused on neutrality, this book offers practical strategies for engaging in difficult conversations and handling high-stakes situations with fairness and respect.
“Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making” by Sam Kaner, Lenny Lind, Catherine Toldi, Sarah Fisk, and Duane Berger: This guidebook provides facilitators with tools and techniques to navigate group decision-making processes while maintaining neutrality and promoting inclusivity.
“Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most” by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen: This book explores effective communication techniques for handling challenging conversations in a variety of settings, including the business world. It offers insights on maintaining objectivity, managing emotions, and finding common ground.
“The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches” by Roger Schwarz: This resource focuses on facilitation skills and techniques for creating collaborative and neutral environments. It covers topics such as managing group dynamics, promoting open dialogue, and facilitating effective decision-making.
“Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In” by Roger Fisher and William Ury: While primarily focused on negotiation, this classic book offers valuable guidance on maintaining neutrality, separating people from the problem, and finding win-win solutions in business interactions.
“The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization” by Peter Senge: This influential book emphasizes the importance of systems thinking and creating a learning culture within organizations. It explores concepts such as personal mastery, mental models, and dialogue, which can contribute to maintaining neutrality and fostering effective communication.

Last but not least, read “The Art & Science of Facilitation”

The Art & Science of Facilitation Book

You are invited to learn more about facilitation, our workshops and ‘The Art & Science of Facilitation‘ book and Virtual Book Tour, and download this FREE resource, The Facilitation Planning Toolkit!

Lastly, we extend an invitation to those who are ready to gain team coaching competency and confidence, including facilitation and agile team coaching by learning about our Coaching Agility From Within Cohort.

Ready to learn about the Five Guiding Principles of an Agile Team Facilitation Stance, start now.

Agile Team Facilitation: Maintaining Neutrality

ROI Is in Improved Trust and Collective Intelligence Within the Team

This post is the 2nd in a series that dives into the Cornerstones of the Agile Team Facilitation Stance.

This element, Maintaining Neutrality, being the toughest to embrace and employ, is where we’ll begin. Ready?

The Maintaining Neutrality Concept

In its simplest terms, the role of a facilitator in a collaborative meeting is to bring an objective and unbiased view to a group process – so that all voices can be heard and that the team can access its collective intelligence.

One of the best ways to achieve this is for a facilitator to maintain neutrality by owning the process, of the meeting and let the participants own the content or topic.

That sounds easy, doesn’t it?

In theory, it is easy. It’s dead simple.

In practice? No. Not easy.

Most agile teams have someone who steps into the role of facilitator to help guide the group through practices like team start-up, retrospectives, release planning, iteration planning, etc.

Because this person is often part of the team, in some way, they likely have an opinion about what the team is doing. This can make it difficult, but not impossible, to actively achieve and maintain neutrality during the course of a meeting where the person acting as the facilitator has an opinion on the topic or content being discussed.

The cornerstones in the facilitation stance. See the first post in the series.

**Why You’d Want To Maintain Neutrality**

True neutrality builds trust within the group.

It’s the subtle reflection to a team that they have the wisdom needed to find the right solution or path.

Neutrality is free from judgment about good or bad, right or wrong. And there is an openness in neutrality that makes room for more than one truth and more than one solution.

So, with more trust within a team, comes more effectiveness, better solutions…and more options.

With more trust, comes more confidence for each member in the group as a whole. With more trust comes improved solutions, velocity, and an ease and eagerness to continue the momentum.

Facilitators: a Part of The Team, Yet Apart From The Team

Team leaders or agile coaches are often part of the team, in some way.

On occasion, they may even have a stake in the outcome of the meeting.

This is at the heart of what makes maintaining neutrality difficult.

Neutrality offers the gift of “not knowing” and being able to take a different perspective, to see another way, to dance in the space of not knowing.

As a Facilitator’s Work Is Different

Presence and awareness for the way the group is proceeding through the agenda or problem at hand is the facilitator’s domain.

In many groups, a leader may, instead, get caught up in offering solutions to the content being presented, rather than staying curious and asking questions of the group.

Why Does This Happen?

There’s a myth, based in fear, about being perceived as not contributing value in the facilitator position. Often unspoken, there’s a belief in many individuals that they can only bring value to a group by contributing verbally or sharing their opinions or suggestions on the topic.

Some individuals equate neutrality with passivity.

Neither of These Fear-Based Beliefs Are True

The work of a facilitator or leader is different. It’s active, but the active attention is on asking questions and trusting the group to provide their answers. You’re also watching for hidden dynamics in the group and you’re more focused on inquiring, staying with curiosity and inviting participants to dig deeper for more and better of themselves.

An Example

A facilitator has just taken the group through an exercise. There are large sheets, scribed with details and feedback from the exercise, hanging on the wall. Everyone takes a breath and reviews all of the content on the sheets.

The Facilitator’s Immediate Instinct?

Perhaps it is to summarize what she sees, which comes from a place of knowing, instead of a place of inquiry.

Helpful?

Perhaps – as a content owner, but the facilitator is the process owner.

A neutral tack would be to ask: “What do you see?”

Subtle? Yes.
Powerful? Definitely.

Shifting your focus from the topic or content, or what the group is working on, to the process, or how the group is working.

The value you bring is in owning the process and in holding the space so the group can do its best work.

Minding The Inherent Power in Leading

Teams can be greatly influenced by a slight comment or over-attention to one idea over another. When you’re trying to pay attention to the content in the process, there’s a danger you’re missing what is happening inside of the process.

Fully standing in the space of neutrality says to a group “I’m your ‘sherpa.’ I’ll guide you up this mountain, there is a specific process we will follow. And in the end, you’ll get to do the work.”

What else? You may not be entirely sure you can maintain neutrality in your group. But given the payoff of improved group trust, that shouldn’t stop you from trying it out.

From The Field

Having taught facilitation to many leaders and coaches, this is the one guiding principle, where I notice the most immediate resistance and push back.

It gets right at the heart of how we traditionally feel we add value in a conversation. It can also be greatly influenced by the culture in the organization and how people are rewarded. This is also the principle that most everyone will say to me at the end of a three-day course ‘I never realized how important or valuable it is to be a neutral facilitator – but I totally get it now’.

Offering advice or jumping too quickly to problem-solving for a team increases their dependence on a facilitator. It sends a subtle and unstated message that says “I don’t think you’re capable of this…”. Over time, it undermines the confidence of the team to access and voice their collective intelligence.

Maintaining neutrality is about putting your own ego aside. We can easily fall into a trap of believing that the only way to provide value to a team is to problem solve for them.

My First Time as a Facilitator

The first time I facilitated a group of 25 people I was scared to death. My fears were about wanting to be prepared, wanting the meeting to go well, wanting to provide value, wanting to show my expertise.

I could probably continue that list of fears, but you might notice the theme of my fears were all about me. So I spent quite a bit of my preparation time mapping out a detailed plan, having a back-up plan for every possible event, and doing my homework on the topic so I was knowledgeable about some of the issues that might come up as questions (so I could have an answer).

I have been practicing facilitation for 22 years. I have strong beliefs in the power of collective intelligence and the benefits of not letting my own opinions get in the way of being able to hear the collective voice of the group and yet there are still times when I want someone else to hold the process so I can fully be in the content.

Favorite Exercise

You can easily provide contrast and share the work of facilitation by rotating other team members into the role of owning the process.

By rotating, each person will notice the need to pay attention to so many different things:

Individual dynamics
System dynamics
Interpersonal communications
Watching for who are stepping forward to participate and who are withdrawing, or stepping back
Group awareness
The difference between what’s being said, and what isn’t.
Looking for signs & indicators that we just bumped into the elephant in the room – are we really ignoring that?

These are the subtle yet critical elements, the work, a facilitator maintains in order to hold the space for their group. So the group can focus deeply on the content and dig for their solutions with more trust.

	Internal Assumptions and Beliefs	Practices
Maintain Neutrality	I am active and engaged (not passive) I own the process, they own the content I add value by reflecting back to the group what’s actually happening I am open minded and see value in all voices Polarities in opinions offer opportunities to find common ground I am vested in helping the group achieve their desired outcomes Critique about the group process is not a critique about who I am	Say what you see, in a factual, non-judgmental way Take a systems perspective Bridge competing ideas Listen for the 2% common ground Offer ideas with no attachment to the outcome Inquire by asking powerful questions Seek to understand and deepen the group’s understanding
Not Neutral – Driving your Content	I am valuable because of my superior capability, experience, or insight The group will make the wrong decision if I don’t add my experience I can’t facilitate because I am too biased and have too much at stake My value is determined by my ability to add value to these discussions Neutrality means to be passive, so if I can’t offer my opinion, I won’t say anything	Using your positional authority of leading the meeting to contribute your idea Commenting positively on contributions made by some and not by others Disregarding input from those who don’t align with your thinking Allowing your design to reinforce biases (i.e., only hearing from those who like to talk) Over contributing content

Starting the Practice:

In a collaborative meeting, try on 100% content-neutral facilitation.

No matter what’s being said or presented, you step into your own leadership of the process, not the content. You are clear about the outcomes for the meeting and your focus remains on HOW the group is working.

It’s the participants who own the content, the suggestions, solutions and decisions.

Another strategy is to partner with another facilitator, not on your team, to co-design and co-lead the session. It’s a great way to learn facilitation and have someone who can see places where you might have slipped out of neutrality.

After the meeting, get feedback from your team on the impact the meeting had on them individually and their overall objectives. You can ask them to write the answers to these on a card as they are leaving the room or create a quick web-based survey after the session.

You might ask questions like:

Overall, how did the meeting go?
Did the team accomplish the outcomes it needed?
What was effective about the meeting process? (not content)
What was not being discussed in the meeting, but maybe needed to be?

Developing the Practice:

There’s a natural progression, an unfolding, in developing your own version of neutrality. The key to developing neutrality is building your self-awareness and self-management about how you show up in leading a meeting.

Consider using the same tools you utilize in leading a group and ask questions of yourself. And have patience; developing this practice is like building a muscle. You will grow and improve over time.

In a collaborative meeting, when a desire to jump in arises, ask yourself

Why do I want to offer content?
Am I trying to elevate my position in the group?
Do I have a different perspective? If so, can you inquire from the group if anyone has a different perspective?
What could be a consequence of jumping out of the process and into the content?

Another great practice is journaling and self-reflection after a meeting. Make notes of where you wanted to jump out of the process and over to content. What was behind that desire? When do you get triggered by topics or patterns in how the group works? What biases do you bring to the team you are working with?

Mastering the Practice:

Again, more questions than answers in mastering the practice. Consider documenting the following answers for your organization:

How would you define your stance on neutrality?
What are the circumstances where you might provide content?
How do you provide the content so it’s clear to both you and the team that you are stepping out of neutrality?
When might you hand a process over to someone else in the meeting?

Can You Ever Get “Good Enough” To Hold Both Roles?

It depends on the complexity and the importance of the meeting, overall. There are times & places where you can do both, hold both roles.

One group I work with, over time, they’ve gone to full neutrality and are now moving closer to center – each team member is finding their own version of what neutrality means and when they offer their opinion or perspective. As you grow the practice, you’ll find a natural cadence and volume for how much content you may bring in vs. owning the process & maintaining 100% neutrality.

No matter what balance you find, always be clear about boundaries of the hats you are wearing and be sure to make it transparent for both you and the team.

No matter what, going forward, it’s the organic development of what works best for the group/organization at hand is what will bring each participant to a deeper level of trust in the group.

That deeper level of trust is where traction & buy-in lives with all participants in a team.

And we’re rooting for you to get there.

In the next post we’ll cover the cornerstone of Standing in the Storm. Be sure to stay tuned here or on LinkedIn so you won’t miss it.