4 Lenses for Observing and Increasing Engagement — What Do You See?

Engagement is on the front line in behavioral health settings. Not only is it a centerpiece of the healthcare industry’s patient / client experience, it is critical for workforce retention — engaged staff tend to stick around. But what does engagement really mean, and how does it show up? And what can you do to improve engagement — in your own patient encounters, and in your workplace more broadly?

I recently met with a large healthcare system that identified 73 touch points for engagement in their new state-of-the-art cancer center. This engagement opportunity list was comprehensive, including (as just a few examples):

  • public outreach communications,

  • walking through the front door,

  • the appointment scheduling process,

  • meeting with doctors and staff,

  • group education classes,

  • and so on.

They are using this list to examine all the ways engagement can be improved. For example, time spent waiting (in a waiting room, in an exam room) is a significant source of patient dissatisfaction and leads to increased patient anxiety. Of course organizations should do whatever they can to cut down on wait times, but is there also an opportunity to turn this time into a more engaging experience? Posters or digital displays can be used in waiting areas to educate and engage. I’m sure you can imagine touch points that offer opportunities to enhance the patient / client experience in your own organization.

Today’s post is focused on patient / client engagement in a particular setting — educational group settings. What do we mean by engagement in this context?

Engagement refers to the degree of participation, attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that people show when they are being taught and are learning. Learners who are inquisitive, interested, and inspired tend to learn more; learning tends to suffer when learners are bored, dispassionate, disaffected, or otherwise “disengaged.”

There are three important players in engagement in a group setting:

  1. You, as the group facilitator,

  2. Each individual member of the group, and

  3. The group as a whole or as a “group” — that is, the group dynamic

The strategies and tactics you deploy in leading the group will solicit particular behavioral and physical responses from individual group members. Overall group dynamics will have an impact on engagement as well. Below we provide a perspective — a set of four “lenses” — to look through to observe and increase engagement in educational groups.

The first step in increasing engagement is observation. Learning to observe the individual members of the group as well as their interactions with you and other group members is critical for recognizing and improving engagement. What does successful engagement look like? We’ve offered some examples below, as well as some examples that indicate lack of engagement. It is important to observe both behaviors and physical attributes of group members in assessing engagement.

Learning design strategy is also critical to engagement. This is your approach to how your curriculum will be taught. It includes room setup, group ground rules, and tools and activities you will use to engage learners. (The R1 Discovery Cards are designed to maximize group engagement.)

Finally, the strategies and tactics you use as a facilitator matter. Some tips for improving facilitation skills are provided below.

  1. Observe Behavior – Do group members:

  • Ask questions

  • Answer questions

  • Participate in the activities or assignments

  • Take notes

  • Read the materials

  • Stay on topic

  • Share what’s really going on with them (allow themselves to be vulnerable)

  • Voice their understanding (or confusion) related to the curriculum

  • Talk multiple times during the session

  • Connect with others in the group

  • Share their thoughts and ideas

  • Encourage participation from other group members

  • Keep a positive and optimistic outlook

  • Listen to others

  • Listen to you as the instructor

 

2. Observe Physical Attributes – Are you observing your audience’s:

  • Eye contact

  • Eye movement

  • Facial expressions — attentive, smiling, frowning, confused, thoughtful, bored, tired

  • Body movement — nodding, gesturing, pointing, hand or finger raising, stretching, leg bouncing, foot tapping

  • Body posture — sitting up straight in an attentive position, leaning forward, leaning backward, slouched, hunched

  • Physical presence — do participants remain in the room or leave for unnecessary reasons?

  • Voice inflection and volume

  • Deep breathing, sighing, yawning

 

The physical attributes above can indicate engagement, lack of engagement, and sometimes both. What is important is that you are observing what is going on in the room and evaluating it for signs of engagement. For example, a frowning person might be highly engaged in the learning, but the lesson might be bringing up some negative emotions.

3. Employ Learning Design Strategies – How often do you:

The R1 Discovery Cards have been developed to engage multiple learning styles.

The R1 Discovery Cards have been developed to engage multiple learning styles.

  • Create the right physical classroom environment for the curriculum

  • Provide a roadmap — give participants an agenda with learning objectives for each session

  • Start with meeting ground rules to create a safe group environment

  • Engage students with projects, writing assignments, activities, assessments, games, and problem-solving scenarios (again, the R1 Discovery Cards provide a framework for engaging self-assessment and group work)

  • Design learning modules to reach multiple learning styles — verbal, auditory, visual, kinesthetic / tactile, and logical

  • Use visual aids — digital displays for videos and slide decks, flip charts, posters

  • Set up pair or trio discussion activities

  • Measure learning with quizzes and tests

 

4. Leverage Facilitation Techniques – How often do you:

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  • Ask open-ended questions

  • Request that individuals clarify their answers or give examples

  • Check in with the group as a whole or specific individuals to ensure they are tracking and understanding the curriculum

  • Monitor group energy and body language of individual participants

  • Solicit report outs from group members for key insights and learnings

  • Ask participants to read short segments of learning materials out loud in table groups or the larger group

  • Provide feedback guidelines for participants to use when addressing others’ comments

  • Break participants into smaller groups (pairs or trios) to answer a question, work through a problem, or share their experiences

  • Give roles to group members — room setup, timekeeper, flip chart or white board scribe, notetaker, room breakdown, etc.

 

Questions to Explore:

Think about the last group you led and identify one or two individuals you think were highly engaged. Answer the following questions:

  1. Which behaviors did the individuals engage in? How long did they engage in these behaviors? How did they engage with other group members? What was the impact on the individuals? On the group?

  2. Which physical attributes did you observe? How did they affect you? Others?

  3. What sparked these individuals to engage in these behaviors? Was it the result of the learning design strategies you employed or something else?

  4. Which facilitation skills were you using at the time? Did your facilitation tactics increase their engagement or decrease it?

Now think about one or two individuals in the group who were not very engaged or who were disengaged. Answer the questions below:

  1. Did they engage in any of the behaviors listed above? What do you think held them back?

  2. Which physical attributes did you notice in these individuals? Were you able to find a way to shift their energy and attention onto the topic at hand? What tactics did you try?

  3. Did the learning design strategies you used allow these individuals to be engaged based on their learning style? What do you think their learning style is? Why do you think this?

  4. Did you use any of the facilitation skills listed to engage these individuals? If yes, what was their reaction? If not, why?

Finally, think about your next group and answer the questions below:

  1. Which one or two learning design strategies do you plan to use?

  2. Which one or two facilitation skills do you plan to use?

  3. How can you increase your awareness of both the engagement-related behaviors and physical attributes of group members during the session?

  4. Who can you ask to observe your next group so that you can get objective feedback on your facilitation skills and the impact on group members?

Copyright 2020 Tom Karl / All Rights Reserved. Use of this article for any purpose is prohibited without permission.

Here are a few ideas to learn more about R1 and engage others on this topic:

  1. Share this blog post with others. (Thank you!)   

  2. Start a conversation with your team. Bring this information to your next team meeting or share it with your supervisor. Change starts in conversations. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.   

  3. Visit www.R1LEARNING.com to learn more about R1, the Discovery Cards, and how we’re creating engaging learning experiences through self-discovery.  

Tom Karl