It's not a very sophisticated approach, perhaps, but it has worked for me.
I spend a fair amount of time up front forming the goals, game plan and
ground rules (re: listening, being respectful of people's opinions and the
process, no discounting, etc.) with the group. When it comes to ground
rules, I find they often have to be repeated throughout the process and
when I am facilitating, I do stop to do that as necessary. If there are
still problems with a few people, I meet with them individually outside
the group and politely but firmly discuss with them the issue. I guess
there are more creative ways of going about it, but this just seems to be
the most direct way for me. It does help when I'm working with people I
know because then I can take a humorous, gently chiding approach and that
usually works well -- but it has to be with people whom I know and they
know me. Harriett.
--Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>