Facilitation 101

Facilitation 101

Description

Learn the art of facilitating with confidence

Reading Time

18 mins

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What is this for? This is an introduction for anyone who wants to get better at guiding a group to achieve a common goal. Start facilitating with confidence by applying some simple, structured tips and tricks. Mindset and core principles The mindset behind learning the art of facilitation is about understanding the importance of including diverse perspectives and the value of design thinking principles. See also Advanced Facilitation tips for virtual workshops

Overview

Smart leaders are starting to realize that facilitation skills help teams work more effectively, and achieve greater success.

Facilitation isn’t just about having a fun afternoon playing with post-its (although it is fun). Facilitation is a set of learnable skills and structured methods that will help you lead and enable people to solve difficult problems for themselves.

We’ve collected these core tips and best practices to help you prepare and facilitate any meeting or workshop with ease.

“Tomorrow's leaders need to be facilitators… …In a world that can be seen as increasingly fragmented and chaotic, leaders who can build participation, alignment and meaning are finding more success.” Source: Forbes: Facilitation Skills Just Might Be The Best Kept Leadership Secret

Check out this video explaining 12 top facilitation techniques and tactics from the workshop experts at AJ&Smart.

How to prepare & facilitate with confidence

Before a session (prep)

Think about any materials you might want to prepare in advance

  • e.g. digital boards, relevant collateral, examples for inspiration, ...

Include diverse perspectives

  • Think about the right people to invite to the session
  • They might be more than just the first people you think of. Read more about benefits of including diverse perspectives
  • image

Write a session plan with timings

  • Think about how long each activity/section might take
  • Include warm-up, time for questions, recap at the end, etc...
  • Then add at least 5 mins buffer time between each activity

Prepare an agenda (and make it visible during the session)

  • Seeing an agenda helps everyone feel comfortable with what is about to come (a little like seeing a movie trailer before sitting down to watch for 2 hours)
  • It can be very simple!
  • An example from a digital workshop
    An example from a digital workshop

Put buffer-time into your session plan

  • While planning the timing of your session allow a good amount of buffer time in-between activities or you are almost guaranteed to run over-time
  • People love to talk and sometimes a topic might warrant further discussion. Plan for this and you'll never be caught out.

Avoid too much pre-reading

  • We all know that pre-reading can be very useful, to bring everyone up to speed and save time in the session, BUT if you assign too much "homework" people will start to feel less energized when they receive an invitation from you

Think about using a decider

  • They can be very useful to act as a tie-breaker in group activities
    • They allow several options to be quickly resolved into one clear focus
    • They help keep things moving forward and avoid unnecessary rambling discussions
    • In many activities and workshops a Decider is essential to ensure a successful outcome
  • The facilitator should brief them ahead of time about what's involved in their role. They can be a strong ally for the facilitator to enable smooth progress through the activities.
  • image

Think about inviting a co-facilitator

  • A co-facilitator is a supporting role that allows the lead facilitator to focus on the flow of activities and the needs of the group.
  • A co-facilitator can:
    • Help capture notes and ideas
    • Help arrange items clearly on the collaboration board and tidy up any loose ends
    • Act as a back-up for the lead facilitator (give them reminders if needed, observe and add useful suggestions, generally help the facilitator feel at ease and supported)
    • image

Starting a session

Start with a quick warm-up/energizer activity

Quickly talk through the agenda

  • ...and the objective of the meeting/session

Set any ground rules and logistics (if relevant), e.g.:

  • In a 3 hour workshop you can explain that you till take breaks every hour
  • Ask people to turn off notifications or put their phone away (except in breaks)

Allocate time for anyone to ask questions about what will happen (5 mins can be enough)

Get participant's expectations

  • A great exercise for this is Hopes & Fears. It's an effective way to gauge participants’ attitudes about a project, workshop, or any other collaborative engagement.
  • Source: IMB Enterprise Design Thinking
    Source: IMB Enterprise Design Thinking

Explain your role as the facilitator

  • You will guide the group through a series of steps. But they will have the ideas, input, questions, and decisions that will determine the outcome.
  • Despite what you might feel, you are not responsible for the outcome! The group is.
  • Taking this pressure off yourself will make you a more confident (and more trusted) facilitator.

During a session

Work "together, alone" when appropriate

Use a timer for activities (and discussion)

Cut out circular discussion

Start writing on the board

Give clear instructions

Closing a session

Recap what you all did together

Show the group what's coming next

Get reflections from the group (optional)

Checklist (am I ready?)