3.6: Facilitation

Many organizations have meetings where there is one person designated to be the facilitator. Their job is to make the process run well. It can be a good idea to rotate that role and facilitation is a good skill for everyone to develop. 

Characteristics and Responsibilities of an Effective Facilitator

• Remain impartial about the subject. Avoid expressing your own opinion or evaluating the comments of the participants (be careful with saying, “Good point!”) However, facilitators are not “neutral” or disengaged, and in fact they should be passionate about the process itself
• Helps the group set and abide by its own rules. When participants set their own rules on how they will act toward one another (for example, “wait until someone is finished before speaking” or “listen with empathy”), they are more likely to abide by them The Facilitator can help by asking people to propose rules and posting them where everyone can see them
• Allows the participants to own the process and topic as much as possible. Facilitators facilitate (that is, help others achieve their goals more productively), they don’t control or dominate Based on their other responsibilities, they must intervene as necessary but should also realize that doing too much may be worse than not doing enough
• Models cooperative attitudes and skills. By exhibiting strong listening skills and asking good questions, you can model the behaviors you are hoping the participants will develop
• Keeps the discussion focused and on track. When comments go astray, bring participants back to the goals of the session Make sure the goals are clear, even if the conversation is wide-ranging. Manage time actively.
• Reminds people to focus on issues rather than personalities. If the conversation begins to focus on personalities rather than issues, gently remind the group of its ground rules or refocus the dialogue on the issue An effective facilitator creates an atmosphere of acceptance of all ideas and persons and helps give an equal hearing to all perspectives
• Ask clarifying questions when necessary. If you are not sure what a participant means, chances are good that others are unclear also You may ask participants to clarify what they are trying to say and ask if you have understood correctly
• Ensures that no one person dominates the discussion. Facilitators should be aware of who has spoken and who has not, ensure that all voices get heard if possible and see that no voices dominate the discussion.
• Helps people prioritize their ideas for action. Helping people move from exploratory dialogue to concrete action planning is an important role for a facilitator
• Brings items to closure. Once an item has been discussed be sure to end with clarity on what the outcome of the discussion is and who is going to do what.

Challenges to Facilitating Conversations

• One person dominates the conversation
• Some people don’t participate in the conversation
• Participants continue to speak directly with the facilitator rather than with other participants
• Experts or participants with more background information inhibit the conversation
• A participant rambles on (and on, and on…)
• There is conflict among the participants
• Participants take the conversation off track

Activity \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Reading Response Activity: If you are not in an organization that is having meetings that are facilitated, use the process you experience in your class team to answer these questions.  

1. Pick one of the pieces of advice in the Characteristics and Responsibilities of an Effective Facilitator and explain why it is important to you. 
2. Give an example of where you have seen one of those principles used effectively.
3. Give an example of where you have seen a group suffer from one of them not being used well. 
4. Give an example of one of the Challenges to Facilitating Conversations being dealt with well
5. Give an example of one of the Challenges to Facilitating Conversations being dealt with poorly.
6. What do you think your strongest skills and biggest places to develop are as a facilitator.

Attributions:

Video-based Training for Facilitators

“Facilitation Challenges and Interventions:

Video-based Training for Facilitators” was

created as part of the League for Innovation

in the Community College’s Faculty Voices

Initiative. See www.league.org/facultyvoices.

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This is CC licensed: https://www.league.org/sites/default/files/Facilitation_Guide_2017%2C%20Final_0.pdf