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Facilitation has never been more important. In an age of ever-more meetings, workshops, and training courses, having someone in the room whose job it is to create engagement and make things easier for the group is vital to creating great outcomes. But how to know when you need a facilitator or what faciltiation skills you need to make your meetings and workshops more effective? While meetings and workshops are great opportunities to innovate, solve problems and make decisions, poorly facilitated meetings are also a frequent source of frustration. In this post, we’ll explore what facilitation is, the skills you need to become an expert facilitator, and how to improve your facilitation practice. Simply put, improving your facilitation skills and knowing when to bring in a facilitator is one of the best things you can to supercharge your facilitation career or be a better manager. Let’s dive in!
What is facilitation?If you look up the dictionary definition of facilitation, you will get the following result (from the Cambridge Dictionary): “the act of helping other people to deal with a process or reach an agreement or solution without getting directly involved in the process, discussion, etc. yourself”. If you research it a bit more, you will see that keywords are centered around leading processes and creating participation while staying neutral. Thus, we can distill our definition further into:
From this point, it would be an easy shortcut to say that the facilitator is the person doing facilitation. And to expand upon it, according to Google’s definition, a facilitator is a “person or thing that makes an action or process easy or easier”. These definitions bring us closer to understanding what a facilitator does and what facilitation is, but let’s dig in more into what the actual role of a facilitator is and how group facilitation skills can help teams be more productive. What is the role of a facilitator?A facilitator has a wide range of tasks to perform in order to ‘make things easier’ for people who participate in a facilitated discussion:
If we really want to understand the different angles of the facilitator’s role, then the following similes may help. A facilitator can be perceived as:
Neutrality versus involvement in the contentIdeally, a facilitator should maintain a position of joining the discussion as a neutral party. She simply “makes the conversation happen”, or facilitates, as the name suggests. Naturally, the facilitator needs to influence the group to help them stay on track, but must avoid dictating to it. It is essential that the group feels they have ownership of the outcomes they reach – that they have been guided to find their own solutions, without being told or offered solutions. Why is a facilitator important?There are several reasons why the presence of a facilitator can be important for a meeting:
What does a facilitator do?A facilitator is a person who essentially sets all the right coordinates for a meeting or workshop to take place and produce results. The process may vary depending on the situation, but most often, a facilitator has the following responsibilities when engaging in workshop or meeting facilitation:
What is the difference between a trainer and a facilitator?Earlier, we learned that the essence of facilitation is to make an action or process easy or easier. This definition allows for quite a wide application: you can facilitate a meeting to help your group achieve goals, but you can also facilitate a training session to help a group learn new skills. In fact, the terms trainer and facilitator are often used interchangeably despite some major differences between the two roles. While facilitation and training ask for some of the same skills, understanding the differences is important for facilitators and trainers alike. Traditionally, the focus of training is on learning. Therefore the primary job of a trainer is to teach new concepts and skills and to pass on knowledge to the training participants. In contrast, the focus of facilitation is on thinking. Therefore the primary job of a facilitator is to help the group achieve its goals by guiding them through an efficient and productive process. Traditionally, the world of ‘training’ is much more associated with presenting information than the world of ‘facilitation,’ which is associated with interactivity. But what if a training session is done very interactively? (An efficient training program should actually be designed to have a balanced interaction). Then you might be well-founded in using the term ‘facilitating a training,’ bridging the worlds of training and facilitation. Yet, even in such cases, there are some fundamental differences between process facilitation and training facilitation, as highlighted by Barbara MacKay
Training vs. facilitation skillsSince training is about teaching new skills and concepts, and facilitation is about helping the group in thinking, trainers and facilitators need to have different, if overlapping, skill sets. As a trainer, you need to put more emphasis on learning design skills and possess more knowledge about adult learning principles. Also, even in an interactive, well-facilitated training session, you will spend a significant proportion of time presenting concepts, as you need to provide certain theories and information to deliver the core content of your training. Alternately, as a facilitator, you would put the emphasis on process design and group interaction techniques in order to come up with a sound process. You need expertise in verbal and non-verbal facilitation skills in order to keep the group thinking and on the right track. Still, the two worlds do overlap when it comes to speaking in front of a group and managing group conversations. The ability to communicate clearly, both verbally and non-verbally, is extremely relevant to both trainers and facilitators alike. Facilitation skillsNo one is born an expert facilitator. It is important to work on facilitation skills that will help you become more effective as a facilitator, whether you are working with teams internally or externally. Consider this facilitation skills checklist the start of your facilitation training. Let’s get started! We have collected below the most important skills that a facilitator needs, divided into two parts of the facilitation process.
Let’s review which skills are required for a facilitator to perform effectively in each step of the process:
Facilitation skills for preparing a meeting:
Facilitation skills for facilitating the meeting:
Facilitation skills for preparing a meetingThe general rule of thumb says that preparing a group process / group facilitation usually takes twice as much as the actual net meeting time where the facilitation takes place. So, for a one-day group process, one would need at least 2 days of preparations, although more days may be needed to deal with complex requirements, such as a controversial topic with multiple stakeholders or a large group workshop where parallel work and a whole team of facilitators are required. Now let’s see what specific skills you will need for the process design: Asking the right questionsAny meeting or workshop needs to have a clearly defined goal, and as a facilitator, you need to be clear about the objectives. Ask questions to understand the underlying motivation behind a meeting, and develop a consensus with the client about their goals. You might go further during needs assessment to understand what the different stakeholders of an event might want in order to come up with a solution that meets your client’s needs. Group facilitation where the wrong questions are asked can lead to frustration or wasted time. A hallmark of effective facilitation is clarity and purpose – be sure to get this right early on! Process designWhen you know the outcomes you want to achieve, it is time to find the right process for that. But what does it mean to “find the right process’?
Agenda planningCongratulations, you have a process! Next, you need to make sure that your process works with the reality of time constraints, logistics, group dynamics and the natural attention levels of flesh and blood people sitting in your workshop room. Proper planning is one of your most important facilitation skills – do not rush or skip this stage. Your facilitation practice will benefit from nailing this stage and learning from it for future workshops and meetings. There are several factors to consider when planning a workshop agenda:
CommunicationIn most cases, it is necessary to inform the client about the process that you are planning, and, in general, to maintain steady communication to make sure that all preparations go smoothly. The best facilitators are in contact with their clients throughout the process and may even get in contact with some of the participants. Good communication at all levels is absolutely integral for a facilitator and anyone involved in group facilitation. Most of the time your client will have a natural interest in knowing the process and agenda for your meeting. They will have a number of people attending the workshop – meetings and workshop can be particularly expensive if you consider the time value of the people present – and they want to be assured that the group will be in good hands. Therefore, it is important to keep your clients updated throughout the design process for their peace of mind. This also offers a chance to get further insights about the goals and the group, helping you to come up with the right session design. Organising and project management skillsGetting the room properly set up for a meeting is important. Have catering arranged so food and drinks are available during breaks, and have the right workshop equipment at hand. This can be easy to overlook but ensuring you get this right is part of facilitation best practices. Missing a vital piece of equipment can be frustrating or stressful and make group facilitation more difficult. There are a myriad of minor tasks and to-dos on the logistic side of preparing a workshop. In some cases, you may get a helping hand from the client’s side, and someone will help you to have everything arranged as you have designed and requested. In other cases, you might need to do this alone step-by-step, checking that everything is going fine with the logistics and pulling the right strings when something is needed. Skills for facilitating a meetingAfter proper preparation, the most exciting part of a facilitator’s work is actually running and managing the session and guiding people through the process. Let’s see what facilitation skills a facilitator needs here: Create an inclusive environmentParticipation from all group members is essential for a well-facilitated meeting. One of the most important things you can do as a facilitator is to create an atmosphere that encourages participation. This comes partially from your session design: include ice-breaker and get-to-know games to help people open up and start speaking. The other part is ensuring that the room’s setting supports active contribution from people. Meaning, make sure everyone can see each other and remove barriers from the room. Group facilitation is hard if the group can’t hear one another! Communicate clear guidelines and instructionsWhile you designed the agenda for your session, you probably clearly envisioned how group members will act during the facilitation activities you planned. Now that you are in the room with the group, you also need to clearly explain what you are asking from them. Effective facilitation is predicated on clarity. Here are a few practical tips to help:
Group dynamics and group managementEach group has its own dynamics with the specific and sophisticated interrelations between its members. As a facilitator, you want to create a participative atmosphere where everyone is involved. Paying attention to the dynamics of the group and how individuals participate is important to any group facilitation scenario. You will need practice to master the skills of picking up on the atmosphere, measuring the emotional temperature, and helping the group achieve its potential. For all of these, empathy is one of your most essential facilitation skills. EmpathyConflict-ridden topics will stir up emotions in participants, and arguments are a natural part of a discussion; however, not all people get heat equally. While guiding the group toward solutions for the issues they want to solve, it’s important to pay attention to how individuals within the group may be feeling about the course of things. A facilitator without empathy is unlikely to be an effective workshop facilitator. Make sure that people are not left behind or left out of the flow of the discussions. By definition, group facilitation means helping everyone in the group contribute in a healthy, productive way. Active listeningA basic condition for an effective conversation is that people feel they are being heard and listened to. Active listening is one of your best group facilitation skills and it is often the foundation for a productive discussion. Practise your active listening skills as a facilitator, and encourage all participants to do the same. Also, basic verbal tools, such as paraphrasing, referring back and summarising help a lot to show the group that their thoughts are being heard. Verbal skills to facilitate conversationsSpeaking of simple verbal tools, there are a number of basic techniques that a facilitator should be able to use confidently at meetings in order to facilitate discussions, engage participants and to make sure everyone is involved: Verbal Facilitation Tools
Conflict managementThe ability to handle and diffuse tension is a skill that sets expert facilitators apart from the others. Group facilitation is often exciting and productive, though differences of opinion can form in workshops or meetings you might be facilitating. Remember, the group has a goal, and individual differences will need to be handled to achieve that. Given the time and scope of the session, not every interpersonal difference can or should be resolved; however, it is important that you know the right techniques and group processes for diffusing tension. Sometimes this might mean breaking up the work into smaller groups, taking a break, shifting perspectives or changing the scenery, etc. Handling difficult situationsDealing with conflict-stacked situations are among the biggest challenges to effective facilitation. Often, there are underlying conflicts behind disagreements taking place in a conversation. You might also encounter “difficult participants”. People have reasons for behaving as they do, and if you don’t make an effort to understand their stance, they might keep playing hardball in the session. However, you still need to keep in mind that the group has its own goals, and one person hijacking all the attention is a dangerous track. At certain times, you may be better off trying to speak to that person in private to discover what drives them, and at minimum, give feedback to help them understand how their behaviour affects the group. Interpersonal communication is again an important part of effective facilitation and ensuring you have these facilitation skills can make your job in a workshop much easier. Consensus-building skillsDifferent points of view naturally emerge in a discussion. It is the job of the facilitator to help the group find common ground among different opinions, simultaneously helping the group arrive at a decision that is accepted by everyone. Consensus, in this context, does not mean that everyone must agree with the final decision but that everyone gets an opportunity to share their opinion with the group, and that people are aware of the reasons why a particular decision was made. In other words, this is called creating a transparent process. For instance, if you choose to use simple dot-voting as the technique to come up with a set of the most preferred ideas after an idea generation activity, then everybody should be made aware why only those most popular ideas will be considered further. In that way everyone understands the process that leads to a final decision. Remember that facilitation is the art of making a process simpler or easier. Manage timeMeetings have time limits. This is especially true in effective and productive organizational cultures. A carefully crafted agenda must take into account how much time can be allocated for each activity during a session. Group facilitation with large or complicated groups especially ask for good time management skills. Part of the facilitator’s role is to guide the group in timely conversations and decisions. It is important that you are aware of the passing time during a meeting and that you let participants know when time is running short for an activity. In general, effective facilitation assumes efficient timekeeping, with only well-grounded exceptions for going overtime in discussions. Remember, if something takes more time than planned, it usually comes at the expense of some other item on the agenda. Gauge the energy level in the roomSome activities require more attention from participants, some require less, but no individual will maintain the same level of attention and energy during a full-day workshop. And that’s alright. As a facilitator, you should have a good eye for spotting when the group’s attention level as a whole is getting critically low. You can make sure to design sessions with varying group activities to keep people engaged, and give regular breaks every 90-120 minutes at least. Secondly, use some energiser activities to instill energy in the room when the energy level is lower than it should be for productive work. FlexibilityPlanning a good process for an event will help you immensely. Being prepared means you will confidently be able to handle unforeseen situations and adjust the pre-planned process more easily as necessary. Usually, activities and discussions end up taking more time than initially planned: the group might need more breaks; new agenda items may pop up; and so on. As a facilitator, being able to adapt on the fly is an essential skill, and it is also necessary to communicate and confirm the potential changes to the agenda with the group. At the end of the day, as a facilitator, you are helping a group achieve the common and agreed-upon objectives they want. So, if there are any change in the desired outcomes, they should be agreed upon by the group. Staying neutral
This is the natural credo for a facilitator. It’s not about your ideas, it’s about supporting the group in achieving what they want. However, there are situations when a facilitator does have a natural interest in the content. After all, one cannot bring an external neutral facilitator for every single meeting in the world. If for any reason you are not content-neutral as a facilitator, you should be clear about this with the group from the beginning. Try to make explicit when you are wearing your ‘facilitator hat’ and when you are using your ‘participant/content-expert hat’. Record outcomesRecording key takeaways of a conversation is essential for keeping group progress on track and avoiding circling back to the same topics. As a competent facilitator, you should make sure to capture and highlight the key messages – whether that is via visual recording (i.e. arranging post-it notes, sketches, etc. made by participants), or written records (i.e. writing up conclusions). All the insights recorded will provide a useful baseline for action-setting and follow-up. How can I improve my facilitation skills?It’s probably needless to say, the best way to get better at facilitation is to practice, practice, practice! Over hundreds of hours of meeting facilitation, you will encounter a myriad of different situations in group dynamics: heated debates, opinionated participants, power dynamics between people, etc. The broader your facilitation toolbox is, the more skilled you will be in applying the right processes to guide each unique group in its thinking. However, there are a few ways you can accelerate your learning in the realm of facilitation:
At the end of the day, facilitation is more of an art than a science. The more you do it, the more sophisticated your skills will become! In many ways, the best facilitation training is being on the job as a facilitator. Facilitator resourcesAt SessionLab, we’re passionate about helping facilitators improve their practice, discover new facilitation techniques and lead better workshops. If you’re looking to improve your facilitation or learn more about particular processes, we have you covered with a host of additional resources! A guide to remote facilitationBeing an effective facilitator in today’s climate means being comfortable with online facilitation and helping groups be effective while being distributed. In this guide, learn about virtual facilitation and be a confident facilitator, whatever the format. Method CollectionsBecoming a good facilitator is all about learning from our peers and building on existing facilitation methods and techniques. In our ongoing series, find methods for your needs curated from the SessionLab library.
How to have more productive team meetingsAs a facilitator, you’ll likely take part in facilitating everything from workshops to team meetings with both large and small groups. Helping facilitate effective team meetings is a great skill to develop and can improve your facilitation practice more broadly too. Find out more in this post on facilitating team meetings! Over to youAre any important facilitation skills missing from the list above? Do you have questions about something not covered in this post? Let us know in the comments! What are the 3 keys areas steps of contracting OD generally addresses?The contracting step in OD generally addresses three key areas: what each party expects to gain from the OD process, the time and resources that will be devoted to it, and the ground rules for working together.
What is the contracting process in OD?Contracting is the initial phase of every OD project. It sets mutual expectations for agreeing on the OD intervention at hand. The contract must involve the client, who has the decision-making authority to see it through.
What are the most important skills that an OD practitioner must have and why?However, throughout the life of a project, you may need to use both technical skills such as planning, scheduling, cost management and the skills and behaviours required including effective leadership, communication, influencing and impact, conflict management and coaching.
What makes a good OD practitioner?An effective OD practitioner recognizes organizational needs and typically acts as a consultant to help, advise, coach, facilitate and collaborate with a company's leaders. To become a trusted adviser, an OD practitioner must demonstrate the ability to influence and engage effectively.
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