Groundrules are the guidelines that act as a "safety net" for taking risks, for obtaining high-quality results even (and especially) when there's chaos or conflict, and groundrules also help group facilitators and mediators from going stark raving mad.

An example of a groundrule:  no hitting, biting, or name-calling.

Okay, a more serious groundrule would be:

"Take responsibility for your learning:  if you find yourself frustrated or distracted by the group's process, speak up!" ... or ...

"Maintain anonymity and confidentiality"

How Groundrules Provide Safety, Allow for Spontaneity

Several years ago, I was to facilitate a public debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial 3-country pact between the USA, Canada, and Mexico.  In order to keep this group of more than 100 people from killing each other (and then going for me), we established the following groundrules:

1.  Each person can say whatever they like, but personal attacks on the "other side" will not be tolerated -- attack and criticize their ideas, not the people

2.  Speak for up to 2 minutes.  If you wish to yield the floor in less than 2 minutes, that time can be used by someone else.  There will be a "wrap-it-up" signal when 30 seconds remains.

3.  Listen carefully to each argument before adding your own opinion.   Aim for discussion, not percussion.  For extra points, verify that you understood the other sides point of view before presenting your own.

4.  Let the speaker finish their thoughts; do not interrupt unless you have permission to do so.  "Interrupting" includes non-verbal communication and sounds of all types.  Only applause is sanctioned.

5.  Ask questions if you unclear about any of these groundrules.   Anything missing?

Then I asked all 100+ people to accept and abide by these groundrules.   With that agreement, we were assured of staying on track.   As it turned out, the 2-hour debate was fierce yet constructive, and most of us learned quite a bit and enjoyed the process.  Similar meetings (e.g., angry parents at a private school's board meeting, executives in conflict on a retreat) have had equal success.

Where might your work benefit from having explicit groundrules or guidelines?

In general, we set up groundrules in three categories:  structure, content & communication:

STRUCTURE:

BE SPECIFIC with stated goals and objectives

Continue to start and end on time

Allow time to think, reflect, plan, design

Seek closure with agreements for action

CONTENT:

Deal with current, "real world" issues and challenges

Seek out fresh ideas, new tools, be willing to experiment

Humor and enjoyment ("Oh, if we have to")

Be accountable and follow through on agreements made

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION:

By really listening -- put yourself in their shoes

Through focus of attention, concentration

By remaining open-minded & flexible when working with style differences

Through demonstrating candor, courage and consideration

Sample Set of Groundrules

In our workshops and dialogue sessions, we often use the following set:

• No rank in the room [positional power is put aside]
• Learning partnership: speak up if something’s not working for you
• Nobody gets to be wrong: there’s no failure, only feedback
• Participate fully [gives the facilitators permission to draw people in to discussions]
• Learn from each other’s diverse experience, style, and beliefs
• Time: we will start and end on time (typically plus or minus 5 minutes)
• Give advance notice if you cannot attend any portion of this program
• Maintain anonymity and confidentiality as appropriate

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