Nov 26 2007
What Is ‘Facilitation’?
I believe that one of the core determinants of the success or failure of a facilitation ‘gig’ is the how the facilitator defines what they’re doing and how they define their role as compared to managers, participants, etc.
How do you define ‘facilitation’?
Here’s another blog I’m quite fond of by Viv McWaters!
An interesting take on the role of the facilitator in helping the group achieve their goals can be found here at Anecdote.com.
Another interesting take on Facilitation is this look at the Facilitator at The Human Imprint.
Typical tasks for facilitators are listed at Eventyr: Process Facilitator
Interactions is a blog which discusses the various styles of consultation which I found interesting.
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Excerpt From Jack’s New Book:
At the heart of many facilitation failures is a lack of understanding as to what facilitation is. We’re not going to get into an academic treatise here, so I’ll simply state what ‘I’ mean by the term.
When the term is used in this book (and when I use it in my practice), I mean:
• Providing a method/process to enable groups to achieve their goals
• Guiding the group through the use of the method/process
• Providing an environment for groups to succeed by engaging the whole group in the work
Facilitation requires/involves:
• Identifying, anticipating and helping to remove barriers in order to help the group achieve its goals
• Implicitly ‘modeling’ ways of working in an open, transparent and trustworthy way (no hidden agendas or ‘gotcha’s’ by the facilitator, the methodologies or the members of the group
• Encouraging, cajoling and cheerleading the group when they get ‘jammed ’.
• Remaining neutral.
Roger Schwarz defines facilitation as: “Group facilitation is a process in which a person who is acceptable to all members of the group, substantively neutral, and has no decision-making authority inter-venes to help a group improve the way it identifies and solves problems and makes decisions, in order to increase the group’s effectiveness”. (Emphasis provided by me).