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Examples of Ground Rules. Tips for Facilitators
Jaap de Jonge, Editor, Netherlands
What are Ground Rules?
When you're going to participate in some form of group activity, it's a good idea to agree beforehand upon some rules all participants must follow. Such agreements are called: Ground Rules (GR).
GR are the standards of conduct for meetings, brainstorming sessions, trainings, workshops, mediation, arbitration and other forms of consensus building.
They may cover the behavior of the participants, the role and behavior of the facilitator, the methods and process to be used, and the substance of the discussions.
Ground Rules Synonyms
GR are also being called: discussion guidelines, community norms, participation agreements, a protocol, or rules of engagement.
 Why are Ground Rules Important?
GR help improve the efficiency of the entire proc...
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On Ground Rule #12 for Consensus
Gary Wong, Consultant, Canada, Premium Member For years I have used a ground rule to help a group avoid bogging down (Editor: ~getting stuck) trying to achieve consensus. It's written and posted o...
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On Facilitation Ground Rule #7: Get Involved
nuria bages, Management Consultant, Spain, Member A variant of the ground rule you have mentioned is: "get involved". I explain participants the importance of feeling that the training activities, rol...
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Another Ground Rule: Observe Time Limits
Andrew Blaine, Business Consultant, South Africa, Member There is another ground rule that we should apply: Set and maintain time limits. This suggestion is based on the limited ability of the human b...
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How Ground Rules Can Hurt
Garth Nowland-Foreman Paul Gorsky, otherwise a strong supporter of GR argues: "If a goal of conversations about equity and social justice is to challenge current structures...
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The Ground Rules Crest
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member GR equip any group activity to move ahead without jitters or ill-will, operating in a domain providing space and empathy to the participants. In gener...
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Ways of Maintaining the Ground Rules
Kees van der Zanden, Consultant, Member Dear Jaap and commentors, in my experience, the most exiting thing comes after having set the GR: maintaining or upholding them.
How should you r...
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Additional Ground Rules: End of Course and: Breaks
antonio esquivias villalobos, Teacher, Spain, Member I add to the rules : END OF THE COURSE, to have completed the work that was undertaken and not to leave it half finished, because then it is easy to m...
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Additional Ground Rule: Have Fun
M Banville, HR Consultant, Canada, Member I always suggest the group to add a last one to the list: Have Fun!
I tell them "We are going to spend x hours together, let's make these hours p...
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Thumbs: Up, Down or Sideways
Tom Wilson, HR Consultant, United States, Premium Member @ Gary Wong: Adding to your remarks on achieving consensus, a technique I have used is the informal thumbs up, down ...
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On Ground Rule #8: No Monopolizing
Gwande, Project Manager, Zimbabwe, Member I totally agree. Participants should sacrifice personal interests for group interests. Some form of democracy!...
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Additional Ground Rule: Appoint a Timekeeper
Mrs. Josephine Idele, Partner, Nigeria, Member In meetings there is often a tendency by certain participants when giving a presentation or presenting their point of view to spent so much time doing...
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Allowing Ground Rules to Rule
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member As Controller of Examinations, at a leading private sector university in Pakistan, I was just wondering what my department does right that we are wel...
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Keep Minimum Number of Ground Rules
Jagdish B Acharya, Consultant, India, Premium Member What we expect from group members can be described by two lists.
1. Ground Rules (GR): Essential for all to follow or else to accept punis...
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On Rule #9: Consider Using the 'But Out' Rule
Steven Keleman, Ed.D., Management Consultant, United States, Member The word "but" is often used to disagree with the phrase that came before. The ground rule might be: "Avoid saying: '...but...'."
Instead,...
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A Variant of Ground Rule #10: One House
Yemi Smith, Management Consultant, Nigeria, Member The article and comments are quiet enlightening. My addition to the GR's is: One House - No side comments.
People often get excited or agitated o...
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Jeremy Lu
