Why is facilitation important

Facilitator programs are a very cost effective option in the sense that you invest to get your people trained as certified facilitators, who, in turn, can then rollout the training internally to more employees. Leadership Development Countless organizations select their high potential leaders to go through this process, because it teaches them invaluable skills, such as: how to best facilitate a meeting, how to improve their communication and presentation skills, and provides them the opportunity to help others grow.

This investment builds self-confidence in the individuals you train and adds something invaluable to your workforce. The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth.

Skip to main content. Moving to different functions can help build a girth of knowledge of the organization that will help individuals build good leadership skills. Most people learn through their experiences, so getting access to development opportunities is the key to keep the employees engaged. However, more often than not, access to good opportunities is mostly dependent on being in the right place at the right time or hearing about the opportunity before others.

While considering our most valuable employees, it is important to be determined in their development and to plan for key experiences that will help to develop the facilitation skills they need to become good leaders. Employees who are the most able to attract different phases in their lives which allows them to ramp up or ramp down during different events going on in their personal and professional lives.

Employees often get frustrated when they do not know how to get ahead in work or how to develop themselves for the future. By being clear about their performance expectations for the future, employees will be able to more accurately self-assess if they have what it takes to move ahead in their organization.

Sometimes employees may have an inaccurate perception of their ability to succeed in the organization, and having clear expectations will help managers with the same situation. Facilitation can take a lot of mental effort, meaning that it can be difficult to think about and contribute content at the same time while facilitating.

Neutrality is also very important. As an effective facilitator, one must know when to take a leadership role, and when to be neutral and sit back. Focusing on facilitation: Why is facilitation important? Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Facilitation is essential to successful team and group work. That means it is also critical to organisational success, especially given the presence of conflict in organisations.

Conflict is a natural part of working in a team. While conflict may at first seem destructive and may not feel very comfortable, it can be creative. Why is facilitation important? More to explore. Call us on Or contact us here. It's usually a good idea to have some "closure" in a meeting, especially if it was long, if there were any sticky situations that caused tension, or if folks worked especially hard to come to decisions or make plans.

A nice way to close a meeting is to go around the room and have people say one word that describes how they are feeling now that all of this work has been done. You'll usually get answers from "exhausted" to "energized! Even with a well-prepared agenda and key points you must make, you need to be flexible and natural. If people sense that you are reading memorized lines, they will feel like they are being talked down to, and won't respond freely. Are people shifting in their seats?

Are they bored? Looking confused? If folks seem restless or in a haze, you may need to take a break, or speed up or slow down the pace of the meeting. And if you see confused looks on too many faces, you may need to stop and check in with the group, to make sure that everyone knows where you are in the agenda and that the group is with you. Be careful about deciding where the meeting should go. Check back after each major part of the process to see if there are questions and that everyone understands and agrees with decisions that were made.

When you finish a point or a part of the meeting process, sum up what was done and decided, and pause for questions and comments before moving on.

Learn to "feel out" how long to pause -- too short, and people don't really have time to ask questions; too long, and folks will start to get uncomfortable from the silence.

Take a break to calm down if you feel nervous or are losing control. Watch that you're not repeating yourself, saying "ah" between each word, or speaking too fast. Watch your voice and physical manner. Are you standing too close to folks so they feel intimidated, making eye contact so people feel engaged?

How you act makes an impact on how participants feel. Be careful you are not offending or alienating anyone in the group. Use swear words at your own risk! Using body language to control the dynamics in the room can be a great tool. Moving up close to a shy, quiet participant and asking them to speak may make them feel more willing, because they can look at you instead of the big group and feel less intimidated.

Also, walking around engages people in the process. Don't just stand in front of the room for the entire meeting. Along with these tips on facilitation, there are some things you can do both to prevent disruption before it occurs to stop it when it's happening in the meeting. The most common kinds of disrupters are people who try to dominate, keep going off the agenda, have side conversations with the person sitting next to them, or folks who think they are right and ridicule and attack other's ideas.

Try using these "Preventions" when you set up your meeting to try to rule out disruption:. Get agreement on the agenda, ground rules and outcomes. In other words, agree on the process. These process agreements create a sense of shared accountability and ownership of the meeting, joint responsibility for how the meeting is run, and group investment in whether the outcomes and goals are achieved.

Listen carefully. Don't just pretend to listen to what someone in the meeting is saying. People can tell. Listen closely to understand a point someone is making.

And check back if you are summarizing, always asking the person if you understood their idea correctly. Show respect for experience. We can't say it enough. Encourage folks to share strategies, stories from the field, and lessons they've learned. Value the experience and wisdom in the room. Find out the group's expectations.

Make sure that you uncover at the start what participants think they are meeting for. When you find out, be clear about what will and won't be covered in this meeting. Make plans for how to cover issues that won't be dealt with: Write them down on newsprint and agree to deal with them at the end of the meeting, or have the group agree on a follow-up meeting to cover unfinished issues.

There are lots of ways to find out what the group's expectations of the meeting are: Try asking everyone to finish this sentence: "I want to leave here today knowing These folks may act out their frustration during the meeting and become your biggest disrupters. Stay in your facilitator role. You cannot be an effective facilitator and a participant at the same time. When you cross the line, you risk alienating participants, causing resentment, and losing control of the meeting.

Offer strategies, resources, and ideas for the group to work with, but not opinions. Don't be defensive. If you are attacked or criticized, take a "mental step" backwards before responding. Once you become defensive, you risk losing the group's respect and trust, and might cause folks to feel they can't be honest with you.

These folks can turn your meeting into a nightmare if they don't feel that their influence and role are acknowledged and respected. If possible, give them acknowledgment up front at the start of the meeting. Try giving them roles to play during the meeting such as a "sounding board" for you at breaks, to check in with about how the meeting is going. Facilitating Political Discussions from the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University is designed to assist experienced facilitators in training others to facilitate politically charged conversations.

The materials are broken down into "modules" and facilitation trainers can use some or all of them to suit their needs. Auvine, B. A manual for group facilitators. Bobo, K. A manual for activists in the s. Nelson-Jones, R. Group leadership: A training approach.

Schwarz, R. The skilled facilitator: Practical wisdom for developing effective groups. Skip to main content. Toggle navigation Navigation. Group Facilitation and Problem-Solving » Section 2. Developing Facilitation Skills » Main Section.

Chapter Chapter 16 Sections Section 1. Conducting Effective Meetings Section 2. Developing Facilitation Skills Section 3. Techniques for Leading Group Discussions. The Tool Box needs your help to remain available. Toggle navigation Chapter Sections. Section 1.

Learn how to plan well, keep members involved, and create real leadership opportunities in your organization and skills in your members. What are facilitation skills? Why do you need facilitation skills? How do you facilitate? How do you plan a good facilitation process? Facilitating a meeting or planning session: What's it all about?

Facilitator skills and tips Dealing with disrupters: Preventions and interventions What are facilitation skills?