INNERGISE!

  • 15 Jul 2015

    Facilitating Events

    Facilitation is the application of a “coaching” approach, to take a group of people on a journey, to reach a clear objective with defined milestones on the way.Facilitation is not just standing at a flipchart and brainstorming. Facilitation is about recognising that everyone’s input is valuable, recognising that creativity is not always forthcoming and sometimes needs to be rooted out, recognising that consensus is desirable but not always easy to achieve. It is about energising a group when they are down and, above all, keeping the group on track and ensuring that they achieve the objective that was defined at the start.

    An effective facilitator will use a range of tools and techniques to achieve each milestone, to re-energise when necessary, to monitor progress and to avoid un-necessary debate on side issues.

    As a facilitator you need to:-

    Before the event

    • Confirm the objective of the meeting or activity
    • You need to plan the journey and decide the milestones on the way
    • Decide which tools and techniques will achieve each milestone (such as Brainstorming, 5-Why’s, Fishbone, Pareto, Spider diagrams, Force Field analysis etc)
    • Plan the timing of each section and when to have breaks

    During the event

    • Set and manage expectations
    • Encourage, counsel, coach and persuade the team to contribute fully
    • Energise the meeting when necessary
    • Monitor progress and pace
    • Offer feedback on how well things are going
    • Keep the session on track and capture side issues without allowing them to detract from the main objective
    • Capture what was discussed and agreed (their commitment)
    • Seek agreement on what happens next

    After the event

    • Re-confirm what was discussed and agreed
    • Re-confirm the next step(s)

    Facilitation is more of an art than an exact science. It uses the skills, instinct and experience of the facilitator to judge the right intervention at the right time.

    The basic skills, tools and techniques can be learned; instinct and experience will come from practice, practice, practice.

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