Facilitating

Facilitating involves making your specific outcomes (VICTORY) easier for you to achieve.  

The facilitator acts as a process expert to a group or team. The facilitator helps the group or team apply specific philosophy, principles, processes, methodology, tools, and techniques to achieve outcomes. The facilitator ensures the group or team does the right things right.

Facilitating Considerations

Focus on shared vision, mission, objectives, goals

Apply principles, methodology, tools, and techniques

Coach leader and team

Intervene when appropriate and necessary

Let leader lead and team perform

Act to help team manage conflict

Train specific processes and skills

Assess performance

Take the initiative to ensure the team does right things right

Encourage open communication and active listening

Facilitator's Role 

The facilitator role is to be:

Educator - Provide specific knowledge

Trainer - Equip with specific skill

Motivator - Give encouragement, support, and recognition

Coach - Develop total capabilities of the team

Mediator - Promote a collaborative environment

Negotiator - Assist in finding win/win outcomes

Devil's Advocate -  Stimulates open communication

Public Relations - Advertise teams successes

Story Teller - Communicates team's culture

Confessor - Listens to team members

Cheerleader - Provides boost to induce progress

Supporter - Assists with obtaining resources

Facilitator's Contribution to the Team

The facilitator is an outside resource to the team assisting the team in achieving a VICTORY.

The facilitator brings the following contribution to help the team:

Knowledge of appropriate concepts, philosophy, principles, processes, methodologies, tools and techniques.  

Skill in letting the team perform, especially allowing the leader to lead. 

Competence in effective team meetings. 

Ability to keep the team focused. 

Capability to apply and train the appropriate tools and techniques. 

Aptitude in using right intervention techniques. 

Proficiency in coaching. 

Ability to manage conflict. 

Talent for communicating, especially active listening.

Facilitator Qualities

Facilitators should have the following qualities:

Appreciation of the value of people and teams 

Ability to demonstrate flexibility, creativity, adaptability, patience, optimism, and high-energy 

Capability to think systematically and critically 

Sense of humor

Facilitating Process

Facilitating is useful for any situation involving a group of people working together. The use of a facilitator who is an expert in effective team meetings, team dynamics, interpersonal relations, improvement processes, tools, and techniques allows the team to concentrate on using their capabilities to achieve the desired outcomes without the additional worry of "how to" work as a team. The facilitator works the process; the team works the content. The facilitator guides the team through the process as painlessly and quickly as possible.

The facilitator process involves the following:

Analysis

Perform a review of the agenda before the meeting Assess the team leader and team members dynamics

Planning 

Generate alternatives

Evaluate alternatives

Develop plan to act

Taking Action

Perform the action considering the focus and relationships

Evaluation

Check the results of the action

Provide feedback as necessary

Review meeting with team leader after the meeting

Facilitating opportunities

Facilitating is useful in any situation that calls for a meeting. Some specific examples of facilitating opportunities are as follows:

    Strategic Planning

    Action Planning

    Implementing an organizational development effort

    Focusing meeting

    Enhancing innovation and creativity

    Performing problem-solving

    Initiating process invention

    Doing process improvement  

    Creating Self-Managed Work Teams

    Implementing Total Quality Management

    Developing Modern Leadership