8 Tips for Effective Facilitation

If you are a, leading manager, consultant or trainer, it is likely that you will need to facilitate meetings, events or workshops from time to time. So what are 8 tips for effective facilitation?

Get clear on the objectives

All participants must be clear about the objectives or results that are trying to get as a result of the facilitated session. Make sure these are fully discussed and agreed.

Set ground rules

Facilitated sessions can be challenging and exciting and it's easy for things to get out of hand. Agree a set of ground rules with the group and make sure they are prominently displayed so that they can be used a reference point in case of disputes.

Keeping in focus

In a facilitated session, it is easy to drift off the point or go off on tangents. Keep the focus on goals and outcomes to ensure that your session remains on track.

Do not allow one person to dominate

This can be a challenge especially where people are older and seek to use their position to dominate the proceedings. As the facilitator must take control and deal in a way that does not endanger the individual.

Involve the quiet participants

Look for ways to involve those who are less vocal, which often have a valuable contribution to make that just need a little encouragement to express themselves. Just wondering what do you think Jim? may be a way to get involved.

Active listening

When you help make sure that you are listening not only to what is said but how it is said. You must also pay attention to nonverbal cues, such as the level of global energy and atmosphere in the room.

Remain neutral

Your task is to facilitate the discussion, bring out the ideas and capture them. They are not part of the group or team and you need to stay neutral. This means keeping your points of view out of the session and not take sides.

Summarize periodically

Sessions facilitated move to the beat. A lot will be under construction and is therefore useful to summarize periodically. This will help keep the group focused, on track and provide a basis upon which to build.

Facilitation is an extremely powerful approach for working with groups and teams. Use these 8 tips to make the experience a success .......