Facilitation in business and organizational settings is that which is to ensure the designing and running of successful meetings. A Facilitator is a person whose role it is to work with group processes to ensure meetings run well and achieve a high degree of consensus. Meeting facilitation is a people business. A desire to help people feel good about themselves and their fellows is a must. A deep unwavering sense that there is good in each person is imperative. Good result oriented meeting facilitators know at there core that all people have something to contribute and have a desire to facilitate the giving of individual gifts to group purpose.
Be a “multi tasker”
A good Result Oriented facilitator keeps track of many things simultaneously: the current time relative to where we are in the agenda, the current question on the floor, issues in waiting that people expect to be addressed, the order of people being called on to speak, emerging themes, and a clear sense of what should happen next. In addition to these mechanical issues, facilitators are also tracking the emotional climate of the group. No matter how complex and emotionally charged a discussion might be, it is the facilitator who is expected to be able to say at any moment where the group is in the discussion and what’s coming next.
Communicate well
First of all, outstanding result oriented facilitators are outstanding listeners. A good facilitator can hear three minutes of talk and accurately paraphrase the core meaning in a matter of seconds. Good facilitators are able to discern simple themes from among a clutter of details. When a theme is not clear, the facilitator recognizes that and asks an appropriate question to bring clarity. In addition to being good listeners, facilitators are excellent talkers. They say things with few words and on point, yet they do so with respect for the culture and particular lexicon of the group and in ways that don’t offend but rather engage and inspire.
Show great body language
Top result oriented facilitators know that it is important to establish and maintain a high energy level. It has been found that high energy engages the group by getting their attention, gaining their interest, and keeping it fun. It also energizes the topic indirectly & Increases the perception of facilitator’s self-confidence (facilitators with low energy are perceived as having low self-confidence.)
It said that a good result oriented facilitator is someone whom everyone thinks is on their side. Indeed, good meeting facilitators convey warmth and friendliness to everyone in the group. Facilitators put people at ease. Good meeting facilitators recognize that groups are placing much trust in them. They earn such trust by demonstrating self-confidence, professional integrity, and that they can be counted on to keep agreements. Good meeting facilitators are consistently friendly and non-judgmental.
Exercise your audience
In every facilitated session, there are specific times when the facilitator stops speaking and is looking to the group to say quite a bit. This is very characteristic of brain-storming or listing exercises. Good facilitators figure out what questions they want to ask. Great facilitators are very conscious that the way they ask “starting questions” will greatly influence the quality of the responses. So they ask starting questions that draw a vivid image. People can “see” the question, and their answers, and are very quickly able to respond with information that is directly on the topic.
While meeting facilitators dwell in the world of group process, they never loose sight of the product, the end goal, the reason for the process. When a group gathers to make a decision, it’s important that decisions get made. These are the products. Good meeting facilitators are always mindful of the end goal. They are clear on the goals from the start and don’t lose sight of it. They are constantly pushing, often in very subtle ways and sometimes in dramatic ways, for tangible outcomes.
Analyze and respond
Good facilitators accept the responses given by participants and summarize when necessary. Top result oriented facilitators quickly analyze responses given and have a full toolkit of follow-up question types to apply to a variety of situations. Sometimes they will ask playback questions to verify what was said; other times they may ask direct probes to challenge, redirection questions to get back on topic, leading questions to get out of a hole, etc.
Top result oriented facilitators recognize the “power of the pen” and understand how abuse of the pen dis empowers individuals and can cause dysfunctional behavior. Top facilitators record the participants’ words (not necessarily all of them) instead of their own. They write what was said, regardless of their perception of value. Once written, they use their follow-up questions to get the participant to clean up the words. Every facilitation situation is unique. Yet top facilitators design customized processes to address a sponsor’s need. Top facilitators have a core set of standard agenda processes from which to draw and they know the cues for determining which agenda is appropriate in a given situation. They also have a method for building a new agenda process from scratch when needed.
Remain Nutral
Good facilitators understand the importance of remaining neutral and therefore allow the discussion to go where it will as long as it stays on topic and the ground rules aren’t broken where as Top result oriented facilitators separate neutrality from passivity. They are willing to challenge assumptions and seemingly questionable points to avoid the dangers of “group think.” They may float alternative ideas in order to get the group to consider a different course of action. They are careful however to speak of the benefits of all sides in order to avoid the perception of bias.
Maintain Values
Good meeting facilitators have certain values. They believe that there is good in every person. They believe in the value of collaboration. They believe that good process yields good results. The values and ethics of the International Association of Facilitators serve as an excellent representation of values held by good facilitators. Fifteen years ago, many thought that a flip chart and a pen was all you needed to be a facilitator. Today, we know it takes considerably more to be a successful result oriented facilitator.