Facilitation

Facilitation

• __________ is the process where a facilitator guide the group members in meeting to share ideas, opinions, experiences, and expertise in order to achieve a common goal and agreeable action plan

Importance

• Reduce burden

• Higher level of thinking and planning

• Discover the wisdom of your team

  • Ideas, experience, advise

  • High commitment

• Develop People

Meeting process

• Opening

• Discussion

• Concluding

Meetings are held to

• Solve problems

• Make decisions

• Share information

• Plan work

• Learn from each other

• Create projects/ new ideas

Facilitation framework source interaction associates effective leadership

• Process

• Results

• Relationships

Different aspects

• Strategy design

• Action planning

• Issue mapping

• Process mapping

• Problem solving

• Conflict resolution

• Project/Activity Prioritizing

• Visualization

• Team building

• Stakeholder engagement

Facilitator

• A_______ is simply ANOTHER MEMBER of the group who is helping to make the discussion happen.

• He looks for OPINIONS not answers. He asks what the person thinks or feels.

• He aims to bring EVERYONE into the discussion

• learner

• doesn't FORCE his own ideas

• SUMMARIZES and asks for applications

Teaching

• Teacher centered

• Teacher provide most of the ideas

• Teacher does most of the talking, while participants take down notes

• Teacher is the subject-matter expert

• Teacher is more concerned with effectiveness of delivery and content

Facilitating

• PARTICIPANT centered

• Facilitator DRAWS IDEAS from participants

• Participants do most of the talking, facilitator keeps discussions ALIVE and FOCUSED

• facilitator is the PROCESS (facilitation) expert

• facilitator is more concerned with the MANAGEMENT of group discussions and learning

Basic skills

• making everyone feel comfortable and valued

• encouraging participation

• preventing and managing conflict

• listening and observing

• guiding the group

• ensuring quality decisions

• ensuring outcome-based meetings

Make them feel comfortable

• get to know them

• use body language

• thank the organization

• thank participants

Small talk

• conversation opener

• gentle introduction

• space filler to avoid silence

• strategy for social interact

Direct

• health, looks hobbies, family

Indirect

• latest news, sports, television, fashion, fashion, restaurants, travels

Topics to AVOID

• financial status

• relationship status

• politics

• religion

• age

Tips on making small talk

• smile and say hello

• make comment about your surroundings

• ask questions. try find something in common

• listen actively, show interest

• lean about what’s going on in the world, so you can add to any discussion.

• Take your time. Don’t rush the converation and don’t look at your watch as much as possible \

• Answer people’s questions with interesting or funny stories

• Leave politely

• Keep in touch

Encourage participation

• use of open-ended questions

• use of visual aids

• dividing into small groups

• encourage silent members

• consult the group

Close ended questions

A. Yes or no questions: Do/did, is, will, can, or has/have”

B. WH QUESTIONS: Who, When, Where

Open ended questions

• further self-reflection

• A. What & How

  B. “What was your take away from the seminar?”

  C. “How did it speak to you through the seminar ?”

Greater response questions

1.Describe:

Ex. Describe your ideas

2.Summarize:

Ex. Summarize your ideas…..

3.Explain:

Ex. Explain the results of….

Exploratory questions

What else?

Redirection Questions

What do you think, Lemuel?

Feedback or clarification questions

• Who can paraphrase our position?

• Will someone summarize what we have discussed so far?

• if I heard you right, you are saying ...?

Refrain asking “why”

1.Asking “Why?” has sometimes a negative connotation when being asked of. It automatically questions one’s motives. – if not gentle, it can be taken as an attack.

“Why did you do that?” / “Bakit mo ginawa yun?”

2.Though you may ask “Why” questions that are not direct to them.

E.g., “Why do you think it is the right thing to do?

Increase understanding

• use team building activities

• set ground rules

• search for agreement

• agree to disagree

Listen and observe

• listen actively

• scan the room

• do not make assumption

• check for understanding

• rephrase their responses

• summary

• reap

• write it down

Hearing

• accidental

• involuntary

• effortless

Listening

• focused

• voluntary

• intentional

Stages of listening

• Receiving- intentional focus hearing the speaker

• Understanding- attempt to learn the meaning of message

• Remembering- improve your memory f message by processing

• Evaluating- judgung the value of the message

• Responding- sometimes referred to as feedback

Barriers to listening

• noise

• message overload

• message complexity

• lack of training

• preoccupation

• listening gap

Conversational narcissism

• caught up in their own thoughts and inclined to interrupt others

Guide the group

• delegate a time keeper

• refer back to objectives and agenda

• stay away from necessary agenda

• challenge their assumption

• encourage them to go beyond

• instill the concept of effectiveness and initiative

• ask about plan b and c

• ask about short term, long term, milestone and continuity plan

• use a parking lot

Ensure quality decisions

• remind the group of decision deadlines

• review criteria and supporting information

• review the decision-making process

• poll the group before major decision

• review decision

Ensure commitment to action

• review objectives for each agenda item

• record decisions

• develop an action plan

• ensure the team leader follow up

Good facilitator

• Encourages everyone to participate.

• Promotes active listening for all participants.

• Sticks to the objectives of the session.

• Is flexible with the group

• Hands over the “stick”

Bad facilitator

• Not prepared

• Makes self the center of attention (do most of the talking)

• Overly passive

• Let Disruptors Take Over

• Do not debrief or get feedback from participants

• Do not attend trainings

Be prepared

• Do an advance reading.

• Visualize your facilitation session from start to end.

  • Opening/welcome/ Getting to know

  • Lay down the flow and goals of discussion and discussion rules (agreements).

  • Discussion proper

  • Closing/Debriefing/prayer

    • Map out the goals of the session.

• Process how you’ll address issues that may come up.

Encourage the group to be an active listener

• Shows sincere interest

• Gives their full attention

• Maintains eye contact (where appropriate)

• Avoids interruptions

• Repeats back what they think has been said (paraphrase)

• Respects moments of silence • Is honest if they don’t

have the answer or don’t know what to say • Indicates

that they are paying attention through words and body

language

Intervene early when you are getting off the track

• have a “parking lot” list

• set aside things or ideas that are not part of the goals of your session.

• Appreciate the participant for bringing up a related idea for discussion.

• Tell the participant politely that you are going to go back to the said topic in your spare time

Address disruptors by showing respect to everyone

• Call them by their names/nicknames with permission,

• Acknowledge their contributions

• Commend their wisdom or vulnerability

• Take note of what they share.

Ask for feedback

• Include on your agenda five minutes for participants to provide their feedback on what went well and what didn’t go well.

• This will go a long way in building trust, facilitating connection, and improving the SESSIONS.

• This is particularly important if you plan to meet again with the same group.

• You can also use a simple Google Form or equivalent is an easy way to develop surveys and track themes.

Invest training

• Good training not only covers the fundamentals of how to plan, lead and organize a workshop but also provides real-life scenarios and techniques for when things go wrong.

• solid facilitation training will help you learn how to use and implement the input you receive at workshops in meaningful, effective and successful ways

Summarizing

WHEN: Useful when statements are

long, confusing, or convoluted.

HOW: Use your own words to

summarize the speaker’s main

points.

WHY:

⚬ It can be:

￭ calming,

￭ reassuring, and

￭ clarifying.

⚬ an opportunity to “hear” the key points.

Mirroring

WHEN:

⚬ a participant is emotional and needs to be heard/understood

⚬ there is a need for neutrality

HOW: Repeat the speaker’s exact words (if 1–2 sentences) or repeat keywords or phrases.

WHY: help to establish the neutrality of a facilitator and build trust.

Drawing people out

WHEN: Useful when someone:

⚬ isn’t participating in a discussion

⚬ difficulty clarifying an idea

⚬ statements are vague or confusing

HOW: Use open-ended questions to elicit information or gain understanding.

WHY: participants will feel valued, heard, and supported.

Stacking

• WHEN: several people have something to say.

• HOW: Identify, for the group, who will speak and in what order.

• WHY: lets everyone know what to expect re: who gets to speak, when, and how they can participate.

Tracking and sorting

WHEN: people are discussing more than one topic or one topic goes into many directions.

• HOW:

⚬ Say out loud the various topics you are hearing.

⚬ summarize the topics into broader categories

⚬ prioritize what will be discussed then

refocus the group and continue.

WHY: gets everyone focused on the same topic

Encouraging

WHEN: there is mistrust, defensiveness, low participation, or participants feel their ideas are not important or won’t be well received.

HOW: Ask for a different perspective: “Who else has an

idea?” or “Let’s hear from someone who hasn’t spoken yet.”

WHY: creating a place for everyone to participate without putting anyone on the spot.

Balancing

WHEN: one or more people dominate, or some are perceived as more powerful than others.

HOW:

⚬ ask for different views or ideas.

⚬ Ask people who have not spoken to give their ideas or

opinions.

WHY: encourages diverse views and equal participation.

Finding common ground

WHEN:

you are hearing some areas of agreement that have not been acknowledged

HOW:

⚬ Summarize areas of common ground and the areas that still need discussion.

⚬ Ask the group if that’s accurate

WHY: help a group feel hopeful about working together.

Intentional silence

• WHEN: people need time to think and process their thoughts or feelings

• HOW: Pause after a question is asked or when waiting for a response.

Stay relaxed and don’t allow others to fill the silence.

• WHY:

⚬ offers time for ideas to sink in

⚬ gives participants time to think before speaking.