The term facilitation refers to methods and processes that enable people to collaborate on a given subject, especially where there might be complexity, different perspectives on a topic or even disputes and conflict.
I was recently invited to prepare a detailed tender submission for a role leading a facilitation team for a large and complex workshop. The client asked for responses to different scenarios and descriptions of how particular goals would be achieved through the facilitation. An occasional problem in facilitation is that the individual facilitator is given too much prominence in the process, as if they are some kind of motivational speaker. So I liked the way the tender concentrated on the proposed methods and the effectiveness of the process, a point that led me to write this article.
The work of convincing a client of the value of the particular approaches is a valuable exercise. It made me think in greater depth than usual about some challenges in facilitation, especially what works and why. I think of this as seeing both the forest and the trees. While an idea for facilitating a session might be sensible and proven, we need to have a clear sense of why we are choosing it. Some facilitators talk about ‘micro skills’, meaning the things you do to help a process along, such as the way the facilitator starts a session, how active listening is encouraged and ways to manage unevenness in participation. These are skills used to respond to what is actually happening at a particular moment in the process.
We need to combine these micro skills with a broader set of fundamentals for making the process effective. Here are some examples:
Getting the mood right
Groups participating in a process are often diverse and people may be in a setting to which they are unaccustomed. So they need to feel welcome and comfortable rather than sensing that they are being pushed through a program. The importance of setting the right mood and tone for the process, from the beginning, is often undervalued. The first session in each day, especially on the first day, should be lively and warm so people feel engaged at the start. Importantly, it should explain the purpose of the sessions that day and how the results are planned to be achieved. The tone should be one of relaxed productivity.
Straightforward language
A common mistake in facilitation is that the facilitator feels he or she has to ‘perform’, meaning that they interject too much, dominate proceedings or over-elaborate what they say. It is much better for a facilitator to be economical in their contributions, providing information using plan language. Explaining exercises visually and writing key words and phrases on a whiteboard is always a useful approach.
Inclusivity
Participants are different in their expectations of a workshop. Some will want to ask questions and make comments more than others. A key principle is to find a way for everyone to contribute in a way that suits them. So if people are nervous about speaking up in English, then some sessions will be more effective if they invite contributions on cards or visually on flipchart paper. Sometimes participants can feel like passive recipients of a plan developed in private by someone else. Instead, the thinking that underlies each day and its proposed methods should be explained by the facilitator. Bringing people along, and inviting their feedback, makes for a more open, inclusive and shared endeavour.
Judging the right level of active time
I have heard the complaint ‘I was just settling into thinking about the subject and then the facilitator had us running around like chooks’. This is fair comment and points to the need for careful judgement of the balance within a process between practical activities and listening time. People often want to be active, for the program to keep them moving around and doing group exercises. Most participants only want to listen to the same voice speaking to them for short periods before the next program component commences. But there still needs to be time for reflection. Getting the balance right is critical to ensuring participants are full engaged, encouraged and challenged.
In Community Works, we have recently developed some new methods and techniques for use in intensive workshops for Aboriginal health promotion workers and through teaching we have been doing on conflict resolution at James Cook University. I will share those methods and the learning that has come from them, in a future article.
Straightforward language
A common mistake in facilitation is that the facilitator feels he or she has to ‘perform’, meaning that they interject too much, dominate proceedings or over-elaborate what they say. It is much better for a facilitator to be economical in their contributions, providing information using plan language. Explaining exercises visually and writing key words and phrases on a whiteboard is always a useful approach.
Inclusivity
Participants are different in their expectations of a workshop. Some will want to ask questions and make comments more than others. A key principle is to find a way for everyone to contribute in a way that suits them. So if people are nervous about speaking up in English, then some sessions will be more effective if they invite contributions on cards or visually on flipchart paper. Sometimes participants can feel like passive recipients of a plan developed in private by someone else. Instead, the thinking that underlies each day and its proposed methods should be explained by the facilitator. Bringing people along, and inviting their feedback, makes for a more open, inclusive and shared endeavour.
Judging the right level of active time
I have heard the complaint ‘I was just settling into thinking about the subject and then the facilitator had us running around like chooks’. This is fair comment and points to the need for careful judgement of the balance within a process between practical activities and listening time. People often want to be active, for the program to keep them moving around and doing group exercises. Most participants only want to listen to the same voice speaking to them for short periods before the next program component commences. But there still needs to be time for reflection. Getting the balance right is critical to ensuring participants are full engaged, encouraged and challenged.
In Community Works, we have recently developed some new methods and techniques for use in intensive workshops for Aboriginal health promotion workers and through teaching we have been doing on conflict resolution at James Cook University. I will share those methods and the learning that has come from them, in a future article.
