Fact Sheet: Facilitation

Definition:

Facilitation is a set of strategies, tactics, and skills used to help people work more effectively together by improving their process, i.e., the way they work together.

Users:

Groups who need to work effectively together to identify problems and solutions, and make decisions.

Description:

When several people with different interests meet together, they often have trouble organizing content and communication. By choosing a person — who is acceptable to all the participants, who has no preference for any of the outcomes the group considers, and has no decision-making authority — to facilitate the meeting, groups are more likely to participate fully and work creatively and effectively toward a common outcome. The facilitator can be someone from the organization or an outsider.

The facilitator works with the group to help them design a meeting that will meet their objectives. S/he helps them get the right people to the meeting and works with the group before the meeting to develop the meeting agenda. S/he helps them decide how much time to schedule for different kinds of interactions and which interactions will help the group accomplish its desired goals. The facilitator may also help the group work productively between meetings.

As the meeting begins, the facilitator reiterates the goals of the meeting and the desired outcomes. S/he will also help the group develop and stick to any ground rules.

During the meeting, the facilitator will manage the interaction to create a productive and creative climate for creativity, full participation, mutual understanding, communication, and problem solving. Some of the tactics a facilitator uses include: paraphrasing, determining who speaks when, focusing the discussion, tracking different lines of thought, drawing out and encouraging divergent perspectives, and noting areas of agreement and disagreement.

As the meeting ends, the facilitator will help the group clarify authority, commitments, and accountability for any next steps or decisions. The facilitator will also ensure that any discussion, learnings, next steps, or agreements are captured in writing and shared fully for the group. This may be in minutes or in an informal meeting summary. Finally, the facilitator tries to make his or her strategies, tactics, and skills explicit so that the group is continually learning better ways to function as a group.

Example:

A pre-school has been having a problem with one of its teachers, who is disliked by many of the parents (who want her to be fired), but is strongly supported by other parents. The director of the school recognizes that the teacher has problems, but feels she can become a better teacher if given the time to learn.

After having received about 20 calls demanding that the teacher be dismissed, the director calls for a parent meeting to discuss concerns. She hires an outside facilitator to run the meeting, so that there are no concerns about conflicts-of-interest, and so that she (the director) can attend more effectively to what is being said.

The facilitator meets with several of the concerned parents and the director before the meeting, and on the basis of that, develops an agenda and a proposed set of ground rules. These are presented at the beginning of the full meeting, adjusted slightly on the basis of comments, and then accepted by the group.

The group moves through the agenda, identifying concerns and optional responses to deal with the concerns. The group recognizes that the problems are not all the teacher, but also other issues concerning school policies and parental responsibilities that were not being adequately fulfilled. The group comes up with an action plan to remedy all of the problems, while keeping the teacher who was initially identified as "the problem."

Application:

Facilitation is useful whenever a group needs to work together to make difficult or complicated decisions. Often facilitators are used as standard procedure for business meetings to keep the discussion focused on the agenda, to make sure everyone is heard, and that the meeting proceed as efficiently as possible.